Jerry Cantrell

BIOGRAPHY – Jesper Strömblad

Jesper Strömblad is the founder and former guitarist of the Swedish melodic death metal band, In Flames. He was born on November 28, 1972 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Jesper started playing music at age 4, playing the violin. He stopped playing the violin and picked up the guitar when he was 12.

In 1989, he started playing in his first band, Ceremonial Oath, for whom he played bass. Jesper left Ceremonial Oath in 1993. He also played drums for Hammerfall from 1993 to 1997. Jesper was credited for playing drums on their debut, “Glory to the Brave,” although he did not. He has been playing bass in Dimension Zero since 1995, and he played guitar for Sinergy from 1997 to 1999. He performed on their album “Beware the Heavens.” He also played guitar for All Ends in 2003.

Jesper started In Flames in 1990. In Flames released their debut, “Lunar Strain,” in 1994, on which Jesper played guitar, keyboards, and drums. In Flames gathered a much larger following after releasing their sophomore album, “The Jester Race.” Jesper adopted his melodic death metal style on this album. On “The Jester Race,” drum duties were taken over by Björn Gelotte(who would later join Jesper on guitar.)

“The Jester Race” through “Soundtrack to Your Escape” continued Jesper’s melodic death style of playing. On their sixth album, “Reroute to Remain,” Jesper and the band changed their style a bit, adding more elements of alternative metal, which was rejected by some of their fanbase. In Flames have continued to use the mixture of melodic death metal and alternative metal through their most recent album, “A Sense of Purpose.”

In February of 2009, “A Sense of Purpose,” the band announced that Jesper would not be performing in the Australia/South America/Japan tour because he wanted to get treatment for his alcohol abuse problems. Later that month, the band cancelled their United Kingdom and Ireland tour so that Jesper could continue treatment for his alcohol abuse problem and the birth of bassist Peter Iwers’s child. In February of 2010 the band announced that Jesper was leaving the band on good terms so he could continue his fight with alcoholism. He also said “I’m far from done with music, metal, or whatever my direction is taking me, so be sure to hear from me in the future.”

Since “Reroute to Remain,” Jesper has been using Gibson guitars. Before then, he was an endorser of ESP. He used his signature EX Series before switching to Gibson. He has played Gibson Flying V, Explorer, and Gothic Explorer II models.