Adrian Erlandsson - Needleye / Nemhain
*Pearl Europe Artist

I started playing drums in 1981, pretty soon after i could hold my first beat down me and a friend that played guitar tried to form a band. We tried to be a heavy metal band but it sounded really lame with today’s standards. The first song we learnt was "I love rock n roll" by Joan Jett.

• Adrian's Kit Masterworks Series Carbon Fiber A. 24x18 bass drum x 2 B. 8x8 tom C. 10x10 tom D. 12x10 tom E. 14x12 tom F. 16x16 floor tom G. 18x16 floor tom H. 14x5 Ultracast snare     drum

Adrian Erlandsson.com

However as we progressed as musicians we got a couple of other guys in and pretty soon after that we were doing covers of bands like Def leppard, Dokken, Twisted sister, Thin lizzy, GBH, The exploited etc. This band went in and out of existence from 1982-1988, during that time we had a couple of different names... the most outstanding being Berits Polisonger (swedish for Berit's sideburns, Berit being a girl’s name).

In '88 i got in contact with some guys into thrash that looked for a drummer for their band, Penance....i joined and we wrote some classic songs.. Edge of damnation, Visions of insanity etc...However before we got to record our first demo... the band decided to quit... At that time i had already started jammin’ with a few guys in Gothenburg, that band later took the name At the gates. We got signed straight away after our first demo "Gardens of greif" (which got released by Dolores rec as a ep) in '91. We got signed by Peaceville and did 3 albums for them namely "The red in the sky is ours" '92, "With fear i kiss the burning darkness" '93,"Terminal spirit disease" '94.

Then we got signed by Earache records and did one album for them called "Slaughter of the soul" '95. After slaughter of the soul we toured extensively for about 7 months. Since we hadn't done that much touring before there was a crack developing in the band.... and when we got back from the last tour in the states we decided to quit in july '96. I formed The Haunted, together with Jensen (Seance, Witchery) the next day....We released one album for Earache records in aug '98.

I got approached by Cradle of filth at the Dynamo gig '99 where we played with The Haunted. 2 weeks into June I was asked to join Cradle of filth in England, mainly to help them out with some session recording and a few gigs… Since it worked so well… I ended up joining the band on a permanent basis…So far the albums I have been on with the band include “From the cradle to enslave”, “Midian”, “Bitter suites to succubi”,
“Damnation and a day” and finally our new album which is due out on the 23rd of September this year on Roadrunner records, called “Nymphetamine”… Worldwide touring will then commence once again…. So hope to meet you all either on the road.........

Nemhain 2006

Adrian announced in November '06 "I have enjoyed my time with CRADLE but it is now time to move on. I feel I am going out on a high as 'Thornography' is definitely our best album to date." Adrian continues to move forward with his two side projects Needleye and Nemhain (which is fronted by Erlandsson's wife) are taking up more and more of his time and has made the decision to leave Cradle, so he can concentrate more of his energies on them.