Ten Questions to ... Mattias Ruejas Jonson of Then Comes Silence.

Then Comes Silence have been the name on everyone’s lips in the post-punk/darkwave world this year, blowing in singer Alex’s words “a sweet cool breeze through the garden of post-punk.”

Last month, just as the world was entering its temporary Coronavirus hibernation, the self-styled "Swedish captains of Post-Punk" released their fifth album, Machine to great acclaim, their first release featuring the new twin-guitar attack of Hugo Zombie and Mattias Ruejas Jonson. The pair need no introduction to long-term fans of the band as they have part of Then Comes Silence’s live set-up for the past two years, bringing their own distinctive style to the band’s unique sound.

Mattias Ruejas Jonson on stage with Then Comes Silence, 

Edinburgh July 2019 (pic: NVL)

Not content with the new album, Then Comes Silence have also kept fans’ spirits high by using imaginative techniques to record quarantine cover versions of The Velvet Underground’s All Tomorrow’s Parties and Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Christine, the latter the undeniable highlight of the Gothicat Festival livecast over the Easter weekend.

In order to find more our about the band’s background and motivations, I have had the pleasure of interviewing the band in the chronological order of their joining the band, so this week’s respondent to my Ten Questions …. is lead guitarist Mattias, who has really grown into his role over the past year. I am hugely grateful to him for taking the time to give such detailed replies to my fairly predictable questions!

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1. NVL: Before joining Then Comes Silence, you were a member of fellow Stockholm post-punk band A Projection and played on their breakthrough second album Framework, usually listed as playing bass. Do you just play bass or did you contribute other instruments?

Mattias: I wrote one of the songs and the guitars which I had recorded for that demo is actually on the record (unintentionally). The then guitar player for A Projection Amos Pagin is fantastic and a mastermind in writing music but I think they liked some of the guitar parts I had done. I was the bassist until the point when Amos quit and one of the former members wanted to join the band again, so I switched to the guitar and have been mostly a guitar player since then.

2. NVL: You first played with TCS at fairly short notice standing in on live dates in late 2017 in place of Jens. How did that come about?

Mattias: Jens couldn’t do the tour because he was going to be a father around the tour dates. I got a message from Alex wondering if I wanted to some shows with them covering for Jens and I said “yes” right away. They had asked Amos first and Amos couldn’t do it and said “You should ask Mattias, he’s a good guitarist”. We rehearsed for about 4 months and then embarked on the Blood tour.

3. NVL: Which of the songs most impressed you when you first started out with the band?

Mattias: I was listening to a lot of TCS when we toured in 2017, and two songs stuck out as fantastic songs. In Leash from Blood and New Life from II - there is something magical about those two.

4. NVL: When you recorded the new album Machine you had been confirmed as the new lead guitarist. Did you feel under any pressure replacing such innovative guitarists?

Mattias: Yes I did, it began early during the songwriting process where I would go home to Alex and record some guitars for some of the songs that would later end up on Machine. I wanted to make sure that I was doing my best effort and I listened to a lot of the older stuff to get inspiration for some of the parts. Seth and Jens are phenomenal guitarists and I have my own way of playing but I think it merged together ever so slightly on some of the songs.

5. NVL: Alex told me in his interview that you had free rein to do your thing over the basic song structures worked out by himself and Hugo. How do you go about doing this? Do you try lots of different ideas and then go with the ones that seem to work best? On Ritual I think I counted at least six different riffs!

Mattias: Alex writes most of the stuff from the start, it’s more about tweaking things and making some changes. Ritual for instance I am just doing what the synths are doing and then there are some solos, the song came out perfect from the start. Other songs like Dark End had some minor tweaking to the verse riff and to the guitar part that Hugo plays but it’s all done on the spot. When it comes to solos I usually prefer to listen to the song and come up with a solo right there and then.

6. NVL: You mentioned Kill It and Glass as your other favourite songs on Machine. What is it about those two songs which you particularly like?

Mattias: Glass has the coolest bass guitar parts on the whole album (according to me) and guitars are more about layering the cake that’s based around the cool bass, the drums and Alex vocals. Kill It is the one song on the album that sticks out from the rest of the song on Machine, I am really proud of my work on that song.

7. NVL: Visual style is a key element of the overall TCS package, and you are rarely photographed without your military style “garrison” hat. Where did you get it from?

Mattias: It used to be Alex’s, he gave it to me when I was trying out different stage outfits and it’s been stuck with me since.

8. NVL: You play a Shergold guitar, as favoured by Bernard Sumner (Joy Division), Gary Marx (The Sisters of Mercy) and Porl King (Rosetta Stone/Miserylab). Did you choose that brand because of its post-punk associations?

Mattias: Yes, but it was mostly because of Bernard and Peter Hook. I’ve been using all sorts of guitars but have been mostly playing Telecasters. Around Christmas 2018 I saw that ACTORS got a sponsorship deal with Yamaha and it occurred to me that I could perhaps reach out to Shergold and see if there’s an interest. Lucky for me they wanted me to be one of their “players” and have been enjoying it since.

9. NVL: I’m sure you’ll have seen the video Nuclear Blast put out before the release of Blood where Alex and Jonas flick through and talk about some of the albums which influenced them growing up. Had you been in Then Comes Silence at that point, which LP’s would you have brought along?

Mattias: Japan - Tin Drum

David Bowie - Black Tie White Noise

Slayer - Divine Intervention

Pink Floyd - Dark side of the Moon

I think those albums have shaped me more musically with how I work nowadays than 15 years ago.

10. NVL: The band has recently put out two “quarantine covers”, All Tomorrow’s Parties and Christine. Did you try out any other songs? If the band allowed you personally to pick the next cover version, which classic song do you think would suit the band?

Mattias: We sometimes play covers for the joy of it and we have performed a TRAITRS cover with Mikkel from The Foreign Resort and we have done some other stuff but in 2018 we actually rehearsed on a small set of covers so we all had some idea about All Tomorrows Parties. Alex have been talking about Christine for a while but we haven’t had a chance to try it out together yet beside the online thingy. One song that would be cool to cover would be Roxy Music - In Ev’ry Dream Home A Heartache.


Many thanks to Mattias for answering my questions. Then Comes Silence's albums and merchandise can be ordered via their Bandcamp page