Dutch metallers ROYAL HUNT recently parted ways with bassist Per Schelander and has replaced him with Andreas Passmark (NARNIA, ROB ROCK, E-TYPE).

The band have issued the following update:

"Now: meet the new “Lord of that horrifying Rumble” - Andreas Passmark. Found by Marcus - assumable by accident - in the deepest forests of Sweden, this guy landed the gig without even auditioning (we thought - check out his picture - that he was Marcus’s lost n' found twin brother and didn’t dare to ask too many questions :-).

We do admit - the guy can play a little, but almost impossible to communicate with... He does talk a lot (but Marcus swears that it’s not Swedish) and all our fair attempts to explain the true nature of this album (remember - all that vintage gear etc?) in English, Danish, poor German and the most brutal and explicit version of Russian - failed miserably: the guy kept clinching to his ugly 5-string Warwick bass, weeping and shaking his head wildly than presented with a perfectly fine Fender Precision from '78.

Than, all of the sudden, André went alarmingly polite and asked everybody 'to give him a few minutes alone with this individual', but Allan categorically refused to leave the room; saying that he won’t bury "another musician the Dragon didn’t like” in his backyard, as the ghosts of numerous, previously “rejected ones” are already harassing his dog daily with their versions of 'Knocking On Heaven’s Door' ... and not any good versions, but the one of GN'R... dammit!!!

Everyone agreed (except for André, of course) that it was quite an unfortunate situation for Allan (ok, mainly for his dog) and stroke a compromise: Andreas will be playing his monstrous 5-string bass BUT through the old 70's Ampeg stack (Geezer Butler’s all-time-favourite :-).

NB! The decision was made regardless of the fact that Andreas (without - we can’t stress this point enough - WITHOUT any kind of encouragement) put 5000 Euros on the table :-).

Hell, all of the sudden... this guy sounds good! Check it out."