In Flames Announce New batterista Joe Rickard 

In Flames recently revealed plans to release their next album

on Nov. 11, but the group had kept the identity of their new drummer under wraps … that is, until now. Over the weekend, the band officially welcomed Joe Rickard to the band with a statement on the drumming position and a video of Rickard introducing himself to the fans and giving a tour around the studio.

If the name sounds familiar, that’s because Rickard previously played with RED for the better part of a decade. As he explains in the video, he’s done plenty of session work for producer Howard Benson since his exit from RED and was invited to join In Flames in the studio. Apparently that experience went well, as Rickard has joined the band.

In a statement on their social media, In Flames discussed the exit of longtime drummer Daniel Svensson and the addition of Rickard. Their statement can be read below:

As you know — our longtime drummer, friend, and brother that is the almighty Daniel Svensson has left In Flames to pursue other dreams. He is still with us in spirit when we write our music, in our lives, and someone whom we will cherish forever. We are truly grateful for the nearly 20 years that Daniel devoted to In Flames. Because of each other, we’ve grown exponentially as musicians and brothers. Our 12th studio album is the first we will release without Daniel since 1998, so entering the studio this time around was a bittersweet moment. At the time, we didn’t know who could even replace him, and making new music without him felt strange. We were missing a piece of In Flames.

From February to April of 2016 we recorded our newest album, “Battles” with legendary producer, Howard Benson. Howard and his team pushed our boundaries and kept our energy high every day while navigating us through a new process. Suddenly, we felt at home. Howard introduced us to one of his trusted and so talented studio drummers, Joe Rickard. Joe had formerly been a member of Grammy nominated RED, toured with numerous bands such as Islander and RED, and has played drums on many successful albums for artists such as RED, Vamps, Starset, Brian “Head” Welch and our very own “Battles”. Joe had such natural talent behind the kit; it seemed effortless. Once we witnessed him laying down drums to our own songs with parts we couldn’t have imagined better ourselves — we knew we had to have him join In Flames.

During nearly two months recording in Los Angeles with Howard Benson, Joe quickly became not only a musician that we highly respected, but also a friend. We are proud and excited to finally announce that Joe Rickard will be taking over the drums for In Flames. We feel by adding such a talented and pure musician to our band and brotherhood that we are doing Daniel a great justice in ensuring his hard work and talent will continue on.

Daniel, thank you for your incredible talent and time dedicated to this band and family that is In Flames. We are so honored to have had the privilege of playing music with you all of these years and we couldn’t have achieved so much without you.

Jesterheads, please welcome JOE RICKARD to In Flames and make him feel welcome! We will see you all out on the road very soon.

Rickard will make his stage debut with In Flames when the band touches down at Knotfest Japan in Tokyo on Nov. 6. The show comes a few days before the Nov. 11 release of

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Filed Under: In Flames | Joe Rickard Category: Metal | News

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