When Tomas Lindberg isn't fronting At The Gates, he's teaching social studies at a school in Sweden. In a recent interview with Loudwire, Lindberg said teaching was originally a side job between tours for him that turned into something much more.
"It started as an extra job in-between tours, but I got into it more and more because of the gratitude I received from students," he said. "I was still in the teaching program when we were planning the band reunion [circa 2008], and I knew that I wanted to do social studies because of my interests in politics and religion. So, I got a master’s degree in it and spent the first few years teaching fourth- to sixth-graders. Pretty soon after, I realized that I wanted to deal with more adult kids [laughs], so now I’m with ninth-graders mostly."
Lindberg also touched on the topic everyone I'm sure wants to know – do other teachers care he's in a famous band? They do! Though Lindberg said he purposefully avoids the topic at work.
"What’s interesting is that it’s usually other teachers who — like, if you’re a writer or a musician, they think you’re cool. They want to know about touring stories. I’m like, 'Um, no.' I tend to downplay it more, you know? I’d rather be the nice-but-a-bit-boring teacher."
At The Gates' new album The Nightmare Of Being is out July 2. Pre-orders are available here.
