Rëdlite Interview

INTERVIEW WITH RËDLITE
Date: October 2025
Interviewer: Jerzy Nykiel
Photos: First photo by Jerzy Nykiel; Second and third photos courtesy of Rëdlite

In the RIP magazine back in the day, there was a ‘Fresh Blood’ column where new promising bands on the scene were introduced to the readers. The RIP magazine is all but a memory but luckily, new exciting bands are not. Rëdlite, a five-piece glam metal crew from Stockholm, Sweden, is one of those bands and Sleaze Roxx readers might want to take note. For the record, the band consists of frontman Hannes “Haz Roads” Salomonsson, guitarists Johnny Flame Lee and Elias Lange, bassist Calle Shots and drummer Freddie Kraft.

I had been aware of Rëdlite for a few years courtesy of YouTube but the sheer coolness of the band stage presence and the urgency of the band’s material didn’t hit me until I saw them perform live in Stockholm in October 2025. This interview itself was very spontaneous and took place shortly before the band was to appear onstage. Very spontaneous was also my whole visit to Rëdlite’s show. I showed up at the venue, bumped into bassist Calle Shots and drummer Freddie Kraft and asked them whether the band would be up for an interview for Sleaze Roxx. Calle gathered up all the guys and in search of a quiet place to talk we ended up in a backstage shower booth (how much more rock ‘n’ roll can it get?). The result is a thorough introduction to the flamboyant world of Rëdlite.

Sleaze Roxx:  You’re one of the newest bands on the hair metal scene in Sweden. Could you introduce the band to Sleaze Roxx readers? What’s the story there?

Hannes “Haz Roads” Salomonsson: Hello! We’re Rëdlite, a glam rock band from Stockholm, Sweden, inspired by the hairspray fueled look and feel of the ’80s. We have been together for five years now. Freddie, Calle, myself and our previous guitar player Riley found each other on this super ancient, Craigslist type website called Bandfinders. Freddie put up an ad there to start a glam band and we all rallied around the flag, so to speak. We didn’t know this when we contacted each other but as soon as we met up in person, we realized we’ve all at some point met at various underground concerts. About three years ago, Johnny and Elias arrived and completed our current line-up, which feels like a match made in heaven.

Sleaze Roxx: In your first video “Playing With Death” [released in 2021], you were a four-piece band, is that correct?

Hannes “Haz Roads” Salomonsson: Yes, that’s right. We had our previous guitarist Riley back then and there were four of us. So, you are completely right.

Sleaze Roxx: Are you all Swedish? 

Hannes “Haz Roads” Salomonsson: The band is 80% Swedish. Four of us are Swedes. Johnny came from New Zealand.

Johnny Flame Lee: It’s about as far as you can get from Sweden really. People say if you get a shovel and start digging a hole here you might reach New Zealand eventually.

Sleaze Roxx: You all seem very young and you obviously can’t remember the ’80s scene. But your sound and look are unashamedly rooted in that scene. What makes young people like you go for that sound and start a band like Rëdlite?

Johnny Flame Lee: I grew up in New Zealand where rock music wasn’t all that big of a thing. As a kid, I’ve always been into the original ’80s Sunset Strip stuff, like GnR [Guns N’ Roses], Mötley [Crüe], Skid Row, Faster Pussycat, etc. I remember watching this really old documentary called ‘The Decline of the [Western] Civilization’ on Youtube about glam metal and thought those big hair dudes were hilarious and looked really cool. I thought, “Man, I love this stuff! Too bad people don’t play this kind of music anymore.” Then one day, by pure chance, I found Swedish sleaze rock bands like Crashdïet, Crazy Lixx, Vains of Jenna and Hardcore Superstar on YouTube. I was totally blown away by these guys, and thought to myself, Sweden is the place to be for rock ‘n roll! So the kid version of me always fantasized a bit about one day moving to Sweden to play glam rock, but thought it’s just a bit of a pipe dream. Then one day, I just went, “You know what? Life is too short. You’ve got to pursue your dreams.” So, I hopped on a one way flight to Sweden.

It’s pretty funny actually, you’ll find this is a super common thing among musicians in Sweden, especially in the glam scene. Many came from other countries and kinda got lured here by the sleaze rock revival led by Crashdïet. Our friend Andy [Hekkandi] from Trench Dogs will tell you a pretty similar story.

Sleaze Roxx: Of course, Andy has a similar back story. He came to Sweden from Australia. 

Johnny Flame Lee: Exactly. He and I knew of each other a long time ago back in the day. When I saw he moved from Melbourne to Stockholm, I thought, “Damn that’s cool! I wanna do that too!” And a few years later, I did actually make it happen. Funny how life works. Actually, Andy was the one that introduced me to the other boys in Rëdlite. That’s how we met.

Sleaze Roxx: Sweden is probably the only place in the world that still has some kind of hair metal scene. Do you feel support from the other bands? What are your relations with the other more established bands? 

Hannes “Haz Roads” Salomonsson: Crashdïet is like our sleaze-uncles. They are taking good care of us.

Calle Shots: They took us under their wing.

Hannes “Haz Roads” Salomonsson:  Exactly. They’re very supportive. Martin Sweet [Crashdïet’s guitarist] has helped us out a lot. We’re good friends with Peter London [Crashdïet’s bassist] and Eric Young [Crashdïet’s original drummer] as well.

Sleaze Roxx: I know that Martin Sweet produced and directed the music video to “‘One of the Kind’. Do you have any more material produced by him? 

Hannes “Haz Roads” Salomonsson:  Yeah, of course. The first EP [‘Bite My Bullet’] and the early singles we have released were all produced by Martin Sweet. He showed us the ways of recording “real music” [laughs]. Without him, we would be still recording our demos ourselves in the rehearsal space on our phones. Crashdïet’s support means the world to us. They have really paved the way for us for what we do.

Rëdlite‘s “One of A Kind” video:

Rëdlite — One of a Kind

Official music video for the new single “One of a Kind” by Stockholm based rock band, Rëdlite Directed and shot by Martin Sweet of Crashdiet Follow Rëdlite on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2jKjTM6wl6CiHrBakMReOX?si=1a9fc4e2d03c4c41 Visit Rëdlite’s Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1SDDP1EDmFEqVNHPQYHtMg Connect with us on Socials: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redliteband/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redliteband/ Lyrics Baby, do you want me, You

 

Sleaze Roxx: Are you going to release an album or are you going to continue with digital singles? What’s your approach to that? 

Calle Shots: The goal is absolutely to release an album. That said, our current strategy is to release a series of singles consistently, so we can pour more promotion effort into those. The consistency will also help us to do better with algorithms on all the platforms. These singles will then be tied into an album.

Sleaze Roxx: I’d love to hear a full-length album from you guys. Many Swedish bands in the past have dreamed of moving to LA. I think Vains of Jenna was the last one that actually made the move. Before you had bands like Shotgun Messiah and a few others. Do you have dreams like that?

Hannes “Haz Roads” Salomonsson: Who wouldn’t want to? Everybody in this genre would like to live on Sunset Strip and play [the] Whisky A Go-Go.

Calle Shots: If [the] Sunset Strip was not in America, I’d love to live there [laughs].

Hannes “Haz Roads” Salomonsson: Playing in America would be a huge moment for a band like us. In the same way, who doesn’t have a dream of playing the Wembley stadium [in London]? But seriously, I don’t think we’re going to move to the US. I think we are pretty ok up here in Sweden, even though the scene is not as vibrant as it once was. Things are still happening.

Johnny Flame Lee: Recently, we were in Turku [Finland] playing a festival organized by our friends in Daze Dolls. We were really impressed with how the scene was in Finland. There is a group of super dedicated people who work really hard to make things happen, and lots of young people coming out to see rock and roll shows. It’s all very vibrant. In fact, our friend Tomi [Hyena, Lovers Left Alive singer], who’s playing here tonight, he’s one of the big promoters in the Helsinki scene. He travels around to see bands, and brings bands into the Helsinki circuit. I think the Nordics and Europe in general is still one of the best places to be for rock n’ roll. For example, at the show tonight, we have people coming from all parts of Europe, such as Germany, Finland, Scotland, Netherlands. We genuinely feel blessed to be here and do our thing for such a passionate group of people.

Sleaze Roxx: It’s probably the best place to be right now. Rëdlite has this classic sleazy sound, harkening back to the halcyon days of the ’80s scene. What are your influences and why do you want to play this kind of hair metal?

Johnny Flame Lee: I’m a guitar player by trade, and it’s no secret I’m a massive fan of Slash. I know it’s a super cliché answer, but I have to own up to that one. I love his way of phrasing his guitar solos. It has a vocal-like quality to it. Another major influence is John Sykes of Whitesnake. That kind of really, really ballsy sound like the riff in “Cryin’ In The Rain”. When it comes to songwriting, I like classic glammy, rock n’ roll bands like Hanoi Rocks, Dogs D’Amour. I’m a sucker for a good catchy melody and a singable chorus. To me, the whole song is an excuse to get to the chorus where the hook is. That’s the whole point.

Elias Lange: For me, it’s about the live performance. I was really influenced by Van Halen. When playing a song at a show like ours, you really want to play songs that get people going and dancing. You want to bring on a show, which really means a lot to me in terms of the whole showmanship that comes with this type of music.

Freddie Kraft: I agree with that. I’ve always loved this type of music, and I wanted to be a part of it.

Hannes “Haz Roads” Salomonsson: I have always looked up to the great showmen in the business. My favorite is Axl Rose. You can thank my parents for loading my Nokia phone with that kind of music. Like Johnny said, the riff of the song is the most important thing. When you can recognize a song by the trademark riff, that’s my kind of thing in music. That’s the essence. When it comes to particular artists, you name it. It’s Guns N’ Roses, Mötley Crüe, it’s the whole sleaze genre and every artist that brings on a great show. A great show is also what I want to bring on when I’m onstage.

Calle Shots: I’m into more of the same. My biggest influences are Peter London and Duff McKagan. And I second everything that’s been said about putting on a great show. Look at the classic Bon Jovi videos where everybody has so much fun. How can you not want to play this kind of music? I don’t get how you could want to play grunge, for example, which is just sad. That’s my take on it.

Johnny Flame Lee: At some point in time, it has become not so cool to dress up in an outrageous way and put on a real show. It’s like people have become too self conscious and don’t dare to express themselves so boldly, or something. We aim to bring that vibe back. We don’t just want to be dudes in jeans and street clothes up there. We want people to come to our show and be entertained, you know. Right now the world is in a bad state — wars, bad economy, you name it. We want to help people forget about the pains in their daily lives and just be in escapism, even only for an hour or so, while they’re here with us. We’re entertainers, that’s what we do.

Sleaze Roxx: That’s a great conclusion to this interview. Thank you guys for taking the time to talk to Sleaze Roxx.

Rëdlite‘s “Party of 8” video:

Rëdlite — Party of 8

Official lyric video for the single “Party of 8” by Stockholm based glam rock band, Rëdlite Follow Rëdlite on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2jKjTM6wl6CiHrBakMReOX?si=1a9fc4e2d03c4c41 Visit Rëdlite’s Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1SDDP1EDmFEqVNHPQYHtMg Connect on social media Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redliteband/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redliteband/