As they gear up for their appearance at the Heavy Psych Sounds Festival - GR (03-04/04/2026), Greenleaf return to the forefront of the heavy rock scene, bringing with them their signature sound that balances groove, melody, and psychedelic intensity.
Tommi Holappa speaks to RockOverdose about the band’s journey from a side project to a fully active band, the evolution of their sound, and the importance of a scene that continues to grow worldwide.
RockOverdose: Greenleaf started as a side project in the late ‘90s — did you ever imagine it would evolve into such a long-standing and active band?
Tommi Holappa (GREENLEAF) No, I could have never imagined this back in the day! Greenleaf was just a side project for me while we where on breaks between Dozer tours, a project where me and my friends could just jam and show our love for classic 70’s rock etcetc.
But then Dozer went on hiatus and I could feel the urge to be creative so slowly Greenleaf became my ”main” band and we started touring and writing more with Greenleaf. When Sebastian and Arvid joined the band in 2013 we turned into a ”real” band, Greenleaf wasn’t a side project anymore.
RockOverdose: Over the years, the band has gone through multiple lineup changes while still maintaining a distinct identity. What do you think defines the “core” of Greenleaf today?
Tommi Holappa (GREENLEAF)Well, the line up changes were only because we were a side project. We would ask different singers to guest on our albums just to keep everything more interesting, this was very much influenced by the Desert Sessions vinyls that Josh Homme did…invite a bunch of friends over and see what happends in the studio.
But now, after Greenleaf became a”real” band in 2013, we are a lot more structured and a lot less ”jammy” in the studio. The idea of Greenleaf is still the same as back in the day, it’s all about having fun and write music that makes us feel good! The past 11 years Greenleaf has been Tommi, Arvid, Sebastian and Hans. And that’s the core of Greenleaf, those 4 minds melting together and creating music!
RockOverdose: Your more recent albums, especially The Head & The Habit, feel both refined and deeply rooted in classic stoner rock. Do you see this as a continuation or a reinvention of your sound?
Tommi Holappa (GREENLEAF)We are always trying to write stuff that feels fresh for us and try not to write the same album over and over again. I Don’t think we are reinventing anything but it just keeps growing a little bit for every album we do.
RockOverdose: Coming from Sweden, a country with a strong legacy in heavy rock, how did your environment shape the Greenleaf sound in the early days?
Tommi Holappa (GREENLEAF)Well, there are a lot of good bands from Sweden! Of course some of them influenced us when we started this band. One band we listen to a lot back then was this band called November and they were heavy rock sang in swedish. They have a song called ”Gröna Blad” which kind of influenced us to choose the name Greenleaf. If you are into 70’s rock you must check this band out, it’s a hidden gem!
RockOverdose: The Heavy Psych Sounds Fest brings together bands from across the global stoner and psych scene. What excites you most about being part of this kind of collective experience?
Tommi Holappa (GREENLEAF): All these kind of festivals are a blast to play at! The atmosphere is always so on top and people are there to have a good time and see lots af great bands. Good times and good bands…what more can you ask for? Oh yeah and of course good beers! Hahaha!
RockOverdose: Given your connections with bands like Dozer and the wider scene, do you still feel that same sense of community today, or has the scene changed?
Tommi Holappa (GREENLEAF): I think the scene has changed for the better! The scene is bigger now. We can thank festivals like Heavy Psych Fest, Desertfest etc etc for this…because of them the community of heavy rock loving people keeps growing.
RockOverdose: Greenleaf has always balanced groove, melody, and heaviness. When writing new material, what usually comes first — the riff, theatmosphere, or the rhythm?
Tommi Holappa (GREENLEAF): The riff always comes first! I sit at home with my acoustic guitar and when I come up with something that feels good I bring it to the rest of the guys when we meet up at the rehearsal room…and then we jam.
RockOverdose: Many fans see Greenleaf as a “hidden gem” of the stoner rock world — a band with a deep catalog but still somewhat under the mainstream radar. Do you embrace that status or wish things were different?
Tommi Holappa (GREENLEAF): We have no big dreams about becoming huge rockstars or anything like that. We just do whatever we want to do, write to music we want to hear. And so far we are growing a little bit every time we release an album and we are extremely greatful for that.
RockOverdose: Festivals often demand shorter, high-impact sets. How do you adapt your typically immersive sound to that kind of environment?
Tommi Holappa (GREENLEAF): It can sometimes be a bit hard to choose which songs to skip when we do a shorter set. In a perfect world we would play around 80min so we can do a nice mix of songs and do a little bit of jamming also. But a shorter set is also no problem, just skip some if the jamming and if we can’t play all the songs people want to hear they just have to come back the next time…hahaha!
RockOverdose: Looking back at your journey from small clubs to major festival stages, what has been the most surprising or unexpected part of the Greenleaf story?
Tommi Holappa (GREENLEAF): It still keeps surprising me everytime we play a packed club show! We were so used to playing half full venues back in the day with Dozer and Greenleaf so I take nothing for granted. So every night is a big surprise…hahaha!
Thank you very much for your time!
See you soon in Athens - Greece!
On behalf of RockOverdose,
Vivi Zapantiotou
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST 2026 | Εισιτήρια online! | More.com
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