Asta Kask (From Schizo Fanzine #6, the punk illegal special)
1. Hey Asta Kask, how was your gig at Punk Illegal 2010? My opinion is that is was almost in same class that your gig 1992 at Fryshuset
Dadde: It was a bit stressful since we arrived about 15 minutes before the gig and our backline was in another van that was even more behind the schedule than we. But when we were playing it was just as fun as usual, even though it was a bit chaotic when like 30 punks stormed the stage.
Micke: It was fantastic. Lot of stress before the gig an arrival 15 min. before gig. When our sound engineer started the recorded intro I run to the Toilet for a quick shit. I know that it takes 2 minutes.... Quick drop. When we got up on stage it was like always... fantastic. And the storming punks in the end was like in the 80 s. (Yeah it was just what I thought, I have seen old Asta-videos from the 80's and it remember me of that/ Schizo) This is the second time in 30 years that we did not played RINGALS BRINNER. The people on stage said stop now stop now... I think the crazy punx smashed the scene if we had played that song.
2. What do you think of Punk Illegal in general? Did you watch any bands or visit the camp area?
Dadde: I think it's a great festival and a nobel cause. I think it's a great thing that they do and I'm proud that the punkscene actually do something constructive to help people. I of coursed watched our friends in The Baboon Show, From ashes Rise and saw some songs with Doom and EATER.
I was at the camping and played an acoustic gig with my other band Sju Svåra År around 3 in the morning haha...
3. You belong to the veterans, another band that are veterans are E.A.T.E.R, what do you think of them?
Micke: I have knowned the guys in E.A.T.E.R. for many years. They visit me in the 80´s in "KLOAKENS AAS" even as the early band " IN CHARGE". They recorded their first and classic ep "Doomsday troops" in Kloaken anti studio. What I think about them? Crazy guys... And in these days... even crazier and more fat than before. It was a fun reonion at Punk Illegal... lot of hugs and talking memories.
4. What is the 3 biggest differens when it comes to your old era and this era when it comes to your gigs, the people and the punk in general?
Things are more organized, or rather we are more organized today. We won't do a gig without getting our expenses payed, food, drinks etc... That's the least you can ask for for doing a gig. I guess it all comes down to experience, we are more experienced, the organizors are more experienced, and punks in general are more organized nowadays. But still just as whiny ;)
5. Do you have anything else to say about Punk Illegal or whatever you want, any last comments?
Support them in everyway. If you can organize your own supportgigs! Every penny is needed. Thanks for the interview, see you. Cheers / Dadde
Here's an update interview with Jobby from Power is poison. I wanted to know
about their new recording and what they will do in the future. This interview will
you not find anywhere else than just here. These exclusive interviews is a reason
to check out this site with a big frequency because I will update pretty often.
(2011.12.07)
1. So tell me about the new recording are you satisfied?
Yeah really happy with the new songs and sound we got this time.I think we done a good job this time no unwanted noise in the background as we have had in the past and the bass is pretty clear and audible on theses recording .Something we never really got right in the past.
2. I have listen to one of the new tracks which I liked a lot, how many new will it be and what is your plan, what kind of release will it be?
There are a total of 5 new songs for what we hope to release either as a 7'' Vinyl with just us or maybe a split with 3 of the songs and the other two can go on compilations we might be on.Nothing is definite yet but we are easy going on how they get released as long as we like the other band and their attitudes(Anti fascist bands only) as with compilations it need to be something we agree with.Most comps we go on are benefits for various stuff.There's also a possibility we will make this record a benefit for Anti Fascist groups in the UK.But as i say nothing is definite and we are still open for offers/help.
3. Any labels that have been in touch?
Yeah the Pumpkin collective/record label will be helping us for sure.We have worked with them for a few years now by either releasing our records or helping each other with gigs so we are always happy to work with the Pumpkin heads .Good honest people unlike some in the D.I.Y world theses days.We are also in contact with 2 US labels who are interested in releasing our stuff in The US but we are still at the talking point about that and of course due to the world being fucked financially not a lot of labels have the cash to put out stuff at the moment so like other records we put out we are trying to get a few labels interested to split the cost of getting the record pressed..any labels out there wanting to help us out get in touch.
4. Can we expect something new in the music or will it be the traditional Power is poison sound?
No nothing new still the same raging anti -fascist Punk Rock we have become known for.There's not any chance of us jumping on the screamo crust bandwagon.Our music will still be 80's inspired Punk.
5. Tell me about the recording line-up, will you keep that for the future?
Yeah There's been a few line up changes at the moment and on the new record I am playing Guitar and have taking over on Vocal duties we also have our original bassist Gradus back who was with us in the early days and on the first record and a new drummer who goes by the name Smokey Shoplifter as a mate of mine would say he's a right top cat! However this line up is just temporary as I am moving to Scotland and the band will then be based there.I got a few mates lined up and ready for it although we are still looking for a drummer so anyone reading this in the Edinburgh/East Lothian area and wants a bash ...get in touch.
6. And while we talk about the future, what will happen, any gigs or tours? And at last, what do you wish for should happen in 2012? Thank you very much. Take care mate / micke.
Yeah gigs!! Yes we are planning a little tour of the UK next year(2012) with our mates Global Parasite and Dead Subverts.We will also be doing a few local ones in and around Scotland.Really looking forward to it after more than a years break from gigging.With the new line up we will be recording more shit .Hopefully enough for our first proper album.After a string of 7'' vinyl it's a bout time we got our arse's together and done a full length.Gonna be recording that at Pumpkin studios based in Manchester.What would i like for 2012?The usual ...and end of racism and fascism.. because its just wrong.
Thanx for the questions Micke and have a good 2012 mate!
J Jobby
Power Is Poison
1.Hello, let's start with a introduction of the band, who are you, when did you form the band and have you released anything yet?
We are four girls from Sweden who play in a punk band. The line up consists of; Jonna Vallsater, bass; Linnea Snell, vocals; Ronja Lehtonen, guitar and Malin Gustafsson, drums.
We formed the band in August 2008, from the start we had a guy on drums, but he moved out into the wilderness to drive a tractor instead...Our current drummer joined the band January 2009, after that Glidslem developed, in our opinion, a better sound.
We recorded our very first demo in the summer of 2009, and when funds allow, we are ready to go back into the studio.
2. How would you describe your music, and from wich bands do you get your main influences?
Even if our music is pretty "tra-la-la!", the lyrics are aggressive and anti, and we get our inspiration from our community and whatever we believe is important. We feel we really do have something to say, and we don´t try to live up to some punk cliché. Our greatest sources of inspiration are the Swedish government and Carola ( Swedish so-called music icon...)
3. Glidslem consists of 4 girls, so you are a female band, if you had been 4 guys wouldn't you have been called a male band. Why do you think this is?
It´s more common for guys to play in a rock band, so let´s assume that´s the reason why. We ourselves find it tiresome; one shouldn´t name a band depending on gender of it´s members. That has nothing to do with music.
4. Why do you think that punk girls often behave like "ordinary" girls, that they move out of the way? Or am I've wrong? I think it seems like the girls are in a minority in the scene, is there an explanation? It's almost like "the hero vs. the whore-syndrome". Are equality just a word?
How do "punk girls" behave compared to "ordinary" girls? We believe that there are no definable rules on how a "punk girl" should behave. The more classic definition is to be yourself, and speaking only from our point of view -- we´re not gonna move out of the way from anyone or anything!!!
5. What is true punk for you? Do you call yourself punx or do you just play punk? That's a tricky question according to what I think punk is about.
Linnea: I´ve never called myself "punk", it doesn´t seem relevant. The punk music and what it consists of, however, has indeed formed me into what I am today, which means not accepting any kind of oppression or fascism.
Malin: People call me "Cruster", so I guess I am punk...True punk is to not let anybody control you, and not to give a shit about what everybody else says!
Jonna: It´s about being who you are, it´s as simple as that. Fuck the clothes! The punk attitude is not to be found in what you´re wearing. Having said that, I do like the "typical" punk style, but prefer to wear my own mixed outfits.
Ronja: I agree, you have to be yourself. I suppose you could look like hell, but still be the nicest person in the world. I´m not "hard core punk", but definetely punk!
6. If you get one wish each, what would that be? Do you think it's easier for you as girls to reach your goals? I mean, it must be so much more all-boys bands than all-girls bands.
We both find it positive and negative to be a part of a so-called "girlband". You meet people who find an all-girl band cool ( we don´t necessarily agree on the label), but you also meet those who seem sprung right out of the 50s, and don´t believe that a girl is able to hold an instrument, even!
Our goals are to be heard, to try and influence and change people and society. A new punk revolution doesn´t seem like a shitty idea, consisting of a lot of girls that dare to make themselves heard!
7. What's your opinion about Suicide Girls?
Everybody is allowed to make their own choices, we don´t have that strong opinion in the matter. We feel that these girls, however, desperately need to be seen. But, it´s their life!
8. Okay, back to Glidslem, write some lines that you think it's necessary to know about the band? And please, give us some crazy story that have take place.
What´s necessary to know about Glidslem, is that we are four pissed off ladies in our prime; one pill-popping on sick leave; one homeless homo; one permanently poor student and one who works with whoopie cushions! We intend to revolutionize Sweden ( but rather the hole world...) !!!
We have never, EVER, done anything crazy, we would never, EVER, put ourselves in jeopardy, in any way whatsoever!!! We are honerable citizens who attend church every Sunday ( accept Jonna, ´cause she´s gay and won´t be let inside!). We would never, EVER, use nicotin, caffeine, alcohol or any other drug, it´s a sin according to the Reverend ( whom Ronja is having intimate relations with). The only alcohol we´ve ever tasted is the sacramental wine, and you don´t even get a buzz from that. One time, though, Linnea combined too many pills with the sacramental wine, and she was found passed out on the church bench...
The craziest thing about our band is Malin, really -- she suffers from a split personality disorder, unfortunately. On and off she calls herself " Torrghnina" and behaves a bit strangely, and wears ONLY black clothes. We have also found a pentagram(!) on a wall in her home, painted in blood (!!) and an altar with a chopped off goats´ head(!!!)
Otherwise we are rather normal and well adjusted...
9 Write a short report from your area
a) try to involve what kind of unity you have among the girls
b) and a short scene report in general
a). There are, unfortunately, not that many "punk girls" in our community, but in between those that do exist there is some unity, however could be a lot stronger.
b). It used to be better. A few years back several punk gigs occured more frequently, but lately not so much. Our home town is pretty dull, you don´t find that many punk bands around here, at least not the kind we like, it´s more hardcore. So in all, the punk scene sure could grow in our opinion, especially a more varied mixture.
10. And well, let's finish this interview, do you have something to add? Oh, I forgot, tell me about your future?
Thank you very much, We´d like to transform Sweden; to make a change before our society falls into pieces. We´d like to influence people with our music, let them know how we feel, and be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. To spread some kind of hope -- without sounding like fucking saints. We may be angry, we may be young, but we feel we do have a grip on the state of this country -- which is HELL! Our first and foremost goal, however, is to make sure that Carola is caught up in a hurricane , and when we are filthy rich we´re gonna donate money for a hair transplant to (our current prime minister) Mr Fredrik Reinfeldt...
1. Hello SIR REG, please introduce the band, and don't forget SIR REG, who's that?
Hi! SIR REG is a 6 piece Celtic Prog Punk band consisting of Dubliner "Brendan Sheehy" on vocals/guitar and Swedes "Karin Ullvin" on fiddle," Robin Rönnlund" on whistles, mandolin & keyboards, "Erik Ullvin" on drums/vocals, "Juba" on bass & "Jimmie Willefors" on electric guitar. SIR REG is a pet name that Robin had for singer Brendan which just kind of became the name of the band. Weird? Yes indeed!
2. Write some lines about the past, what happen to The Barcrawlers and tell me about the new band The Banshee bones? And what is the main difference between those bands and SIR REG? The Barcrawlers had toured itself to death and lost a few members along the way. We were more frustrated than anything else, not knowing what direction to take as we'd felt we'd achieved everything we'd set out to achieve as an Irish folk cover band. So eventually we decided it best to end the "fairytale" & move on to new pastures with our own tunes resulting in SIR REG.
As economic times are bad, myself, Karin & new bassist "Juba" decided to create "Banshee Bones" as a cash cow. It's concept is similar to that of The Barcrawlers in that it's an Irish folk covers band but this time instead of being a 5 man band we are 3 plus guest musicians. Makes us a bit more flexible & just three egos to deal with now instead of five, harhar...
3. I think that The Barcrawlers was one of the best irish folk bands among in this very exploited scene. And now is SIR REG one of the best. What do you think is the reason that you succeed all the time? As I said, the scene is really big, wich bands would you put on a top-5 list? And which bands influence you?
Haha, Cheers for that Micke! The Barcrawlers always had an explosive energy which quickly became our strong point. What we lacked in playing skills we definitely made up for in energy! We were lucky to play as many great gigs as we did and gain a loyal following who came to all our shows.
With SIR REG, well we're only in our infancy so we'll just wait & see what happens. We've the same energy as The Barcrawlers anyway which is a good start.
Our top 5 bands in this genre would probably be: 1. The Pogues 2. Horslips 3. Flogging Molly 4. Street Dogs 5. Dropkick Murphys
A lot of bands influence us. We're all into different types of music from punk to classical & I think it's evident in the sound of our new tracks. We've tried to squeeze everyone's influences into what we do and even managed to explore the wonderful world of disco in our track "Golden Days". Seemed like a good idea at the time, haha.
The reaction from folk who've listened to the new stuff has been quite different with some saying we sound like Flogging, The Pogues & Dropkick while others even mention Oasis & King Crimson. We're delighted If people compare us to Flogging or Oasis. Can hardly be a terrible thing. As said, we're only a new band so still have to find our bearings in terms of style & content. Looking forward to what the future brings!
Karin, one of the best fiddleplayers out there
4. Will you just play your own stuff with SIR REG or can we expect any classic covers? What is the plan with the songs you have recorded? For the time being SIR REG will be an original compositions band only. We've done the covers thing to death over the years and we feel it's about time to have a proper crack at breaking into the Celtic Punk scene with an orginal band. There's a gap in the market here in Sweden for this type of band as our American counterparts Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys, Street Dogs etc.have been gaining huge fan bases in this part of the world for many years now. The plan for our recorded songs is to release them digitally over time. We've already released a 6 track mini-album called "This Is SIR REG" which can be purchased on Amazon & hopefully also on Itunes in the coming weeks. We're due to be released on Spotify too. We'll be putting some new tunes up on our Myspace every fortnight or so & will release the remainder of our tunes depending on the feedback we get, which so far has been really positive.
5. Your really great song Fuck the Celtic tiger have a message, what is the Celtic tiger and what's your opinion?
The Celtic Tiger is the Asian style tiger economy Ireland enjoyed from around the end of the 90's up until a year or so ago. Ireland's economy became one of the strongest in the world and all of a sudden Irish people found themselves wealthy. When the bubble burst, mass unemployment reared it's ugly head & many people who had enjoyed the economy's generous rewards were now forced to sell their houses & cars and settle for a wage from the dole. For the first time since the 80s, emigration among young people rose with many heading off in the search of a better life. The song itself deals with those issues and the hope for a better life abroad for a young Irish man.
6. Here's an obvious question. Tell me about your first whistle player that you had in The Barcrawlers?
Haha, great question! The great "Schizo Fanzine" founder Micke Ström himself was indeed our first whistler! We enjoyed many a great gig in the presence of Micke who could drink any man, woman or horse under the table aswell as playing a great whistle. Fantastic memories! 7. Since you are such a great band but maybe a bit after the culmination. what will you do to tell the world that you exist? Because I still think that you're not just a band among all others. But whats your future plans and whats your future dreams and goals?
We'll use our Myspace at first to gain contacts and see where it goes from there. Our Myspace has been up a little under a weeks now & already we've been contacted by American radio stations who've been interested in playing our stuff. Suppose a few interviews like this help spread the word also! ;)
Our plan is to write quality songs and get out and perform them as much as possible, hopefully getting to support the bigger Celtic bands when they come to Sweden. That'd be a great opportunity to get our message out to the fans of this genre. We're new at all this so will take every day as it comes & hopefully we'll be in the right situation at the right time and things will take off for us. We're dedicated 100% to making things happen anyway! 8. Can we decide over a pint that SIR REG wont be too influenced by the plasticpaddy(boston)(american)irish scene?
We can decide over a couple of pints If you're paying! ;) Is impossible to say we won't sound similar as we use electric guitars & trad instruments but, we'll do our best to define our own sound. We've got a mellotron fetish which can only be a good thing..erm...yeah.
All Celtic punk bands have at some time been labelled as copying The Pogues. And now years later bands are said to be copying Flogging Molly or Dropkick. Maybe in the future bands will be accused of copying SIR REG, who knows? As long as the scene continues to pump out great music it will thrive and win new fans all the time. At least we've a real Irishman in our band! haha..
9. Okey, let's finish this interview, feel free to write what you want.
Thanks for giving us a chance to do this interview. Hopefully If/when things take off for us we'll give you a more interesting interview! Check out the Myspace & drive your neighbours mad with our tunes! All the best!/Bren from SIR REG.
1. Hey Mattis, what's up? You have just come back to Sweden from your US-tour. Was it a successful tour? Did you met any good bands on the tour you can recommend?
Hey. We came back like a month ago and im still recovering from the jetlag. The tour was a hit. 17 gigs in 23 days! We played from LA to Seattle and finished off in Brooklyn NY. We met lots of awesome people and bands that we for shure want to meet again. We toured with an American band called Trench Rot. A really good hardcore band with members from Tippers Gore, C.O.P, Neon Maniacs and more. We met awesome bands like Bad Antics, Kromosom, War Cry, Death Crisis and White Wards.
2. You have 6 releases out today, please list your 3 favourites and tell me about them
My absolute favourite is the latest LP. Im really satisfied with the songs and Chrille from Evil Grill did a hell of a job with the sound. Second on my list is the first EP and the split 7” we did with Nice Idiot. An old friend of mine called Doltz (that also played guitar on those recordings) did a great job with the sound. The third is our first LP, the sound is a little blurry but I still like it.
3. So, tell me about the members in Makabert Fynd, which other bands have they been in before?
The line-up in Makabert Fynd is: Kalle - drums, Anders - guitar, Rikke - bass, Poffen and me (Mattis) on vocals. I use to to play drums in bands like Valjakkala, Dobermann Cult and a bunch of other bands. Kalle also plays in Skitsystem and Sexpistolstanten och mockfjärdsvapnet. He used to play in Dispense. Rikke also plays in Spotlicks. He used to play in Sighstens Grannar. Anders also plays in Rubbad and Valjakkala. Poffen also sings in Krig I Hudik and he used to sing in Totalitär and Krigshot.
4. And the name Makabert Fynd, what's the meaning behind that? And since your songs are in Swedish, could the people over there join in the songs in US?
The idea of the name Makabert fynd came when I watched a Swedish show called Efterlyst. Hasse Aro (the host of the show) was speaking about a murder committed in the area where I live. Somebody did a “Makabert Fynd” (Obscene Find) walking his dog. He found a corpse in the woods. Makabert Fynd is often used in media when someone for example made a weird or nasty discovery. Americans love Swedish bands even if they sings in Swedish. Bands like Totalitär, Avskum, Fy Fan, Masshysteri are huge in USA..even if the sing in Swedish. We tried to translate the titles of our songs and explain what the songs were about. Don’t know if they got it or not. It looked like they liked it.
5. Time for some classic name dropping... Your influences and favourite bands? Ohh…. The list is very long…. I grew up listening to bands like early Metallica (kill em all, ride the lightning), Motorhead and Slayer. Later in the 80s I got into bands like Totalitär Missbrukarna, Circle Jerks, Bad brains etc.. Herätys is my favourite Swedish band right now. Love their LP and 7”!
6. What does it mean for Makabert Fynd to have Poffen in the band since Totalitär is well known around the world?
I have known him since I was like 13 years old. Poffen is a great guy, one of my best friends, and one of my favourite hardcore singers so.. It’s awesome to have Poffen in our band. Poffen has a unique voice. I I’ve loved Totalitär since I heard Multinationella Mördare. We both grew up in Hudiksvall.
7. You also run a label, Skrammel Records, when did you start that project and what have you released so far? Do you focus on any special kind of punk genre? Do you have any interesting upcoming releases?
Me and Robert started Skrammel about 2 years ago. So far we have released: Ignatius/The Nature split 7”, Brainbombs – Burning hell, Slöa Knivar – Ingen klass, ingen stil, Krig I hudik 2, Sexpistolstanten och mockfjärdsvapnet – Det ärliga cv:t, Brainbombs - Genius and Brutality... Taste and Power and Makabert Fynd s/t.
We release stuff that we think is cool. So far we released a mix of different kind of music. Mostly punk/Hardcore but also bands like Brainbombs and Sexpistolstanten och Mockfjärdsvapnet.
Some of our upcoming releases is: Missbrukarna, RAS, Novalties, Bad Antics, Trench Rot and more. We release what we think is cool. So far we released a mix of different kind of music.
8. How did you get in touch with the labels that have released your stuff, its 4 different if I've count correct. Has it worked well or have you been ripped off sometime?
We have been lucky. No one has screwed us yet. Flat Black, Kranium, Yellow Dog, Sorry state and D-takt råpunk has been awesome. I got in touch with all of them via email or MySpace. Daniel of Sorry State is in a band called Logic Problem. They crashed in my apartment 2 years ago when they were on their European tour.
9. Tell me about your future plans? And please finish this just how you want
We will record more stuff. If everything goes as plan we will do a European tour with Trench Rot next fall and we also want to go back to USA 2013 and tour the east coast.
1. What do you think of the fucking extreme right wing winds that have hit Europe? Its a nightmare in the making.It's been creeping up on us for the last decade and it seems it is almost with us.Have we learned from History? no we have not.The new right wing has reinvented it's self to look respectable .Suits and ties but if you are listening closely you will hear the same old racist rethoric spewing forth from in between the lines.
2. Are you political active in some way? If you mean active then yes i am in some manner.I will admit i am not as active as i used to be to health reasons I am mostly active with anti fascist groups.Helping promote anti fascism in the current climate is beginning to be a bit of a dangerous thing to do.While the media bend over backwards to accommodate the likes of Geert Wilder's and Britain's Nick Griffin to talk hate under the disguise of freedom of speech anti fascists in Holland are getting a rough time in the press.Something stinks and i do not like it.
3. Please list the 3 best active bands, and tell me why like them so much? OI POLLOI because they have never stopped doing what they do.They have stuck to their roots for more that 25 years now.Still playing squats small venues and releasing records in a D.I.Y way.
BURNT CROSS have been a favorite of mine ever since i went to their myspace page 3 years ago.Although this bad dose not tour or do many gigs they are active releasing records and spreading a worthwhile message and i just love that they do it all at home in the bedroom. D.I.Y to the core in my opinion.
GLOBAL PARASITE are a newish band from Wales who are impressing me a lot with their new album and the gigs they do are great.Again this band have got something to say and are not afraid to say it as are the Dead Subverts who are making me pogo evertime i hear them.
4. Well, over to power Is poison for a while. Who are the members in the band? And how would you describe your music? At the Moment i write POWER IS POISON are just my self Jobby on guitar and Rene Riot on vocals .A new drummer and bass player are being tried out very soon.
I would describe our music as punk.I would say we are influenced by the 80's anarcho punk movement but sound more like CHAOS UK style punk with a little tint of 90's crust throw in to piss the "purists" off.
5. Can you give a small scene report from where you live? We live in Den Haag(The Hague) which is Holland.Its a very small town but still has a few squats that do gigs/shows.I mostly go to a place called the Pirata Bar as thats where most of the punk gigs go on.It also has a Vegan cafe band practice space and workshops for artists and theater groups.The squat i also live in does much the same but not as many punk gigs as i live with a lot of electro/tekno lovers.Theres also a few more bands formed recently and there is a busy antifa in our town.There is also an anarchist library thats worth a visit which also has a little cafe.There used to be a lot more but since they have been persecuting squatters a lot of squats have closed down.
6. What have you released so far and tell me about the response?
On vinyl we have released 4 split 7'' with the bands SCATLOVER G.B.O/CHICKENS CALL and TOTALICKERS. We also put out a 7' EP' all to ourselves called If not us ...who If not now when? which was nice and we had a track on the six ways to fuck shit up comp.We also put up an Internet download EP via the moshpit tragedy label from Canada.The response has been really good most of the reviews we have for the records have been good Still got a box of them under my bed though.
7. What do you think about the DIY-scene of today? Its got really strong i think the .We never have much problem booking D.I.Y tours.And its good to see so many people involved.Lots of new enthusiastic punks are working hard with it.
8. You (Jobby) have a fanzine as well (If I have understand it right) Here you have the chance to promote it. Write all you want about the zine... Well to be honest i am not doing the Zine too much any more.It was just a project for Myspace but since no one uses it any more i dont do much with it theses days. I was gonna ask if i can write reviews for this Zine in the future.
9. And while we talk about fanzines. What do you think about the zine-scene? Personally can I say that all blogs have destroyed all the good old papers-zines, what's your opinion?
I have mixed feelings on this one.I love the Zine just the concept of it is great that some punk somewhere took the time to contact bands /people to do interviews go to the print shop and copy them themselves a lot of effort goes into theses Zines we sometimes pick up for free at gigs.I love getting home and emptying my pockets and having a good read of what i picked up but you just don't get as many theses days as a lot of people moved on to internet Zines/blogs which i do like.The advantage of them is they are automatically available and can get out to more readers easily.The internet has helped Power is poison lots.Without it i doubt we would be doing this interview.But you cant beat the real thing.
10. All tourists think that Holland is a very liberal country, what is the truth and what about drugs, is it legal? There are places in Holland who are really beautiful, but if you scratch the surface, what will you find, is there any welfare? And how is the situation for the people? Holland is not a liberal country any more far from it. Drugs have never been "legal" in Holland they just don't enforce the laws where cannabis is concerned.You can still go to jail for growing it and selling it on the street although hard drugs are unfortunately easy to get they are still illegal but they will send you to rehab first before Jail if you have problems with them..The welfare system is based around what you put into it you get back but at the moment with the newly elected government things are changing in a negative way.they are making cuts to all benefits..even disability s benefits are getting slashed.
11. Ok, back to Power is poison. Have the sound change anything after you switched members? Nah i don't think so I write all the music so it sorta stays the same. I mean we are a D.I.Y band and we even record our own shit without really knowing what we are doing so the overall "sound" of our records are different form each other but i think the style of songs are the same.When we started everyone just labeled us a crust band because they saw dredlocks then a few people says we had turned punk.Well if they had listened they would have know we never turned punk because we were punk all along.Too many people judge by what they see and not what they hear.We play fast we play punk.
12. What is the plans for 2011?
It will be a quiet year for us as we have been really busy the last 5 years a discography CD will be release early 20011 via pumpkin records and we will spend a most of our time as band in the recording studio as we are hopefully gonna make an album for release late 2011 then tour to promote it in 2012.We wont be touring(sorry) but might do a few local gigs to try out new songs live.
13. What do you prefer to drink when you're gonna get wasted? And what is the most common drinks at punk shows and partys? I don't drink any more due to health reasons but when i did i was into beer mostly anything else's just made me puke.In Holland beer is the most common thing you will see at punk gigs..its cheap ..very cheap from the supermarket and as most squat venues allow you take your own thats what most people drink.You find a bottle of vodka/whiskey floating about though.Also legally we can't sell hard liquor in squats.We get shut down if we do.But beer is ok.So its beer beer beer.
14. Mention some bands that you would go on a tour with, and don't forget why? Burnt Cross because i have never met them in real life we are just internet buddy's and i would just love to hear their songs live.We have done a few gigs with Global Parasite and the Dead Subverts but not a tour but i would love to as both bands have great attitudes great songs and are up for a bit of fun.
15. Well, it's time to end this. If there is somehing you wanna add, feel free to do it or if you have any question for me is it just to ask. Thanx to you for the interview and eveyone who has helped us along the way. A big fuck off to the cunts who are selling our MPS online without even asking us. Any one who wants Power is Poison MP3 can get them at this site. http://moshpittragedy.com/main.php
1. Hey Spotlicks, you are the band of the month which means that you are the band
on Myspace that I've found most interesting for this month. Please describe your
music and let me know some interesting info about the band?
We play traditional punk in Swedish. Rikke and Staffan started the band, and through Mattis
Ruwe (Makabert fynd) Rikke got in touch with Elin, who joined the band in February 2010.
We’ve been in the studio two times during the year, we recorded six songs in July in Mattis
studio and those are the songs you can hear on www.myspace.com/spotlicks . We had our
first gig in May at Club probation (Snövit, Stockholm), and we will probably play at Kafé 44 in
Stockholm, sometime in the autumn. We love to play live, and we hope to get more gigs soon.
2. Your lyrics are pretty personal, what inspire you when you write the lyrics?
And when it comes to the music, let's do some traditional namedropping of bands
that influence you
We get inspiration from everyday life: newspapers, friends, books, relationships etc . Some
bands and artists that we like are the Damned, Hüsker Dü, Ebba Grön, the Freeze, Rattus,
Poison idea, Misfits (danzig-era), Operation ivy, Dinosaur Jr, the Rezillos, Buzzcocks, the Clash,
the Vibrators, 999, and many more..
3. It was not too long time since you formed the band, what have you done before
Spotlicks? Staffan and Rikard have been in the punk scene for a long time, what do you think about the scene in Stockholm and what is the biggest changes that you can see?
Both Rikke and Staffan have played in different bands since they were teenagers. Elin started
playing guitar when she was 14, but she hasn’t played in many bands, mostly rehearsing
with friends. Staffan has played in Kurt i Kuvös, Hux Flux, Browneye, The Crooks and Stajnas
Lobos etc. Rikke has played in Sighstens grannar, Bong Hit, HCHC, etc. and is now playing
bass in Makabert fynd.
The biggest changes that we can see in Stockholm’s punk scene during the years are that there
are more people playing in bands, going to gigs, and that there are more gigs in general. In the
80’s it could be that you had to suffer through some old boring blues band before the punk
band you wanted to see finally played. These days the gigs are better organized. Looking back
we think it has been different kind of “waves” in the punk scene in Stockholm, at the moment
it is a lot of D-beat bands.
4. What do you think and feel about the election in Sweden 2010? It's the first time
we have a party with neonazi roots in the government, why? How could that happen?
Total fucking disastrous, it is really sad. Why it happened? Probably the conservative
government the last four years, in combination with the economic recession, people wants to
find someone to blame. We hope that the anti-racist movement will grow strong again, and
that people will become more tolerant.
5. Do you think that you can take any advantages because your lead singer is a female?And also, do you think that you will be treated different in any way because of that?
We haven’t thought about it really. We look at ourselves as three friends who like to rehearse
and make music together. We haven’t noticed any advantages, but if there are any, we would
like to have them (laugh).
6. Well, I hope there are people out there that will be curious of Spotlicks and especially
show up at the euro tour we are planning for the spring 2011. Is there anything you wanna add? Feel free to write what you want.
We would like to thank Schizo Fanzine for the honor to become the band of the month. All the
best to you Micke, thanks!
1. Hey, you are the band of the month in Schizo Fanzine, please introduce the band. You are a very political band, what topics are you most keen of? What do you think is the best way to get rid of fascism when bureaucracy and shit like that is just something to laugh at?
We are a five-piece anarcho-punk band from Helsinki in Finland called Kansalaistottelemattomuus. Lyrically we cover a lot of different political topics but everything is interconnected - I don't think you could say for instance that we're "more into environmental protection than anti-fascism" or whatever - all our problems, from fascism to pollution etc, are a result of this fucked up capitalist system and you've got to attack the root of the problems as well as the symptoms. Our remedy for fighting fascism and most of the other problems is usually one and the same - a mixture of direct action, community activism and education/propaganda work. Since you specifically mentioned fascism we should emphasise that we don't go along with some macho idea that the only way to fight fascism is by street-fighting alone. Physical opposition to fascism most certainly has its part to play but there is also a need for people to be involved in intelligence gathering, education and propaganda work, antifascist prisoner support etc etc so there's a role for everyone to be involved in.
2. I must ask, how did you pick the band name and what does it mean?
If you want the honest truth I actually just got it from looking through a dictionary! The other guys asked me if I had any ideas for what we could call ourselves and, since we wanted a Finnish name rather than an English one, checking the dictionary seemed the best idea as I'm not a native Finnish speaker myself. Kansalaistottelemattomuus means something like "civil disobedience" in English so it's fairly suitable for a band like us given our politics and it's also got four "A"s for drawing circles round so what more do you need?! It does seem fairly difficult for a lot of people from other countries to spell though so the spellings on gig posters in other countries can sometimes be a bit funny. Some people find the name difficult to pronounce too - and when we played in London some guy there thought we were called "Kansas Hippopotamus" - excellent!
3. You really impressed on me when you played at the Punk Illegal festival. Since I have a special in this issue about Punk Illegal, what do you think of that fest, playing, purpose, people etc... And what do you think of festivals like Rebellion?
We all had a great time at Punk Illegal and were really impressed with how smoothly it went, the great mixture of music and the excellent atmosphere. It was very impressive indeed and we all appreciated how much work must have gone into planning it and making it happen over the weekend - respect to the organisers and all the volunteer workers too. All for a good cause as well obviously. My only one tiny criticism isn't really related so much to the festival itself but is that while I know that they must get overwhelmed with e-mails it was a bit of a shame that despite writing to them three times my other band (who had played twice at Punk Illegal) could never get a reply about buying more copies of the excellent video they made at a previous festival that they were selling as a fundraiser and which we wanted to sell for them at our gigs. We could have sold so many copies for them on tour and raised a load more money so I don't really understand why they didn't seem to put much effort into getting the DVD out there when so much work had obviously gone into making it. Whoever put it together did a really good job and with all the great bands on it they could raise a load more cash if they would get it out to more distros. So yeah, I'd say they should get some more volunteers to help answer their mail! Overall though - amazing festival - anyone who missed it should make sure they don't make the same mistake next year.
Fucking "Rebellion" is a very different story though. I fucking detest that kind of shit - just total commercialisation of punk and completely stripped of all politics - it's all just about money making, entertainment and consumption - it makes me want to be sick - seriously. I've also met the main man behind the thing a few times in the past and I was not impressed with his attitude. My other band's guitarist was in a band once that played at one of his gigs and he told me about how they got totally ripped off by him so obviously we're not gonna be into anything that is about making a fat profit for rip-off businessmen - fuck that - this is not what our idea of punk is - it can be so much more than this.
4. What do you think of the D.I.Y-punk scene nowadays if you compare just 10 years back in time?
I think compared to ten years ago the biggest changes are probably due to widespread adoption of information technology within the scene - you know really widespread use of internet and computers by almost everyone involved in the punk scene nowadays. On the plus side this can make organisation of stuff like tours and so on really easy as you can get really, really quick replies from people all over the world at very little cost and you can also get your music out to people everywhere via webpages and mp3 files. On the down side the fact that so many people are just downloading so much music for free means that they are buying a lot less hard copies of the music and that does make things difficult for bands like us. We really notice the difference in how many CDs and LPs were being sold even five years ago to the situation now. Yeah, it's great that people can get music for free but sadly it's not free for bands to get decent quality studio recordings and if people don't buy the CDs then how do you get the studio costs back? Certainly not from gigs when you're a DIY punk band playing so many benefit gigs for free or other gigs just for travel costs or even less. We used to be able to subsidise loss-making gigs by using money from record or CD sales and pay for recording costs that way too but nowadays that's a lot more difficult. You can make a bit of money to help with that from t-shirts but not so much so you're really put in the position of having to cut back on the number of gigs you can do unless you can subsidise the band out of your own pocket which is pretty difficult for us as we're all fairly poor. We did try the recording an LP cheaply on a friend's laptop option too but the results just weren't good enough sound quality-wise. It does cause difficulties for people like us so we'd like to thank anyone who has actually bought any of our records or CDs as they are the people who are helping to keep us gigging and recording - thanks and respect!
5. What will happen with Kansalaistottelemattomuus in the future? As I've understand is it a side project. Is that right?
We have plenty new releases planned from stuff that we've already recorded - tracks on compilations etc and maybe a new 7" and then after that a new LP and tour to coincide with that. We've also got quite a few local gigs coming up over the autumn and winter so we're keeping busy. All of us play in other bands - for instance our bassist Lari plays in the industrial band No I Ain't and our guitarist Janne plays drums in local anarcho-punk outfit Heterofobia but I wouldn't dismiss Kansalaistottelemattomuus as a "side project" at all - we're a fairly regularly gigging proper band who just happens to be made up of members who also play in other groups. Certainly from our experience that's not so unusual in the punk scene.
6. Please, add some last words, whatever you want
Our next release should be out later this month and is a split EP with Oi Polloi which has been released as a benefit fundraiser to help the campaign to rebuild the Cyklopen autonomous centre in Stockholm that was burnt down by neo-nazis at the end of 2008. We played at Cyklopen just a few days before it was destroyed and were really inspired by the place so we really wanted to do something to help. Any readers who are interested in helping the Cyklopen activists should check out their website at www.kulturkampanjen.se - we can't just sit back and let nazis close down our spaces like that - fight back!
