Big Fish came in the early '90s and
drove us over with its medieval-like
punksynthrock or whatever to call it. Now
they're back and it was 27 years ago last. But
they touch me as much now as they did then.
July-2022
It's been a while since you were heard
and seen, what's happened since the last
time...:... have you played all the time... many
membership changes?
-We have all kept going in the meantime,
Tomas and Andreas and I have played in several
different other bands right up until now, and
Arvid has also made music in his own way. We are
the same line-up now as we were in 1990 when we
recorded our first record!
What's the difference do you think
playing today if you compare it to twenty years
back in time?
-It probably feels a bit more focused
and kind of professional, for lack of other
words. Before the gig at Hultsfred -94, for
example, we drank a six-pack of Åbro and a
bottle of Aurora before each. You don't have to
do that now!
How
old
have
you
been
now?
No
thoughts
of
retiring
from
rock
music
(I
had
it
at
the
age
of
45
but
it's
passed)?
-We'll
be
almost
50
all!
And
we're
in
top
shape!
Our
music
feels
like
a
very
vivid
and
important
expression
for
us
in
the
here
and
now.
What
does
punk
mean
to
you
today
and
what
did
it
mean
to
you
at
the
beginning
of
your
career?
-Right
at
the
beginning
it
was
mostly
synth
for
me
but
I
identified
early
on
as
a
punk,
maybe
around
the
age
of
14.
In addition
to
all
the
Ebba,
Clash
and
Pistol
songs
on
alternate
nights
at
the
youth
centers,
it
was
mainly
Bad
Religion
that
made
me
seriously
like
that
expression
when
"Suffer"
came
out
in
1988.
It
was
also
with
punk
that
we
decided
to
start
singing
in
Swedish,
because
such
a
style
of
music
needs
a
very
direct
appeal
to
the
audience.
SD
got
18.5%
of
the
vote,
comment
on
that?
Comment
on
the
state
of
politics
in
Sweden
at
all?
Easily
messy?
-
So
parliamentarism
can
get
exactly
this
messy
and
tends
to
be
in
many
places
when
it
starts
to
be
about
issues
that
are
really
outside
of
politics,
such
as
religion
or
lifestyle.
Look
at
the
United
States,
they
have
a
similar
chaos.
Since
much
of
the
financial
elite
in
the
world
relies
on
more
conservative
systems
to
survive
but
the
greater
amount
of
voters
has
an
economy
that
is
at
the
lower
end
of
the
scale,
it
is
easy
to
find
sponsors
for
theories
that
seek
to
unite
low-income
people
toward
more
contrived
problems
than
the
actual
economic
injustices.
I
really
like
the
lyrics
on
När idag blir igår(When
Today
Will
Be
Yesterday),
were
there
problems
with
Nazis
at
your
gigs,?
Did
they
get
the
sense
that
you
were
a
Nazi
band
or
what?
-So
we
often
played
at
anti-racist
events,
so
then
they
were
drawn
there
to
fight.
But
even
early
on
when
we
were
a
more
pure
synth
band,
there
were
some
fascist
flirters
in
that
crowd,
we
had
to
make
it
clear
on
a
few
occasions
where
we
stood.
Then
there
were
also
for
a
period
of
time
skinheads
and
Nazi
punks
who
actually
liked
our
music
but
"disregarded" the
lyrics,
very
problematic.
In
general,
it
was
quite
often
that
the
groups
were
confronted
at
youth
events,
many
times
the
Nazi
gangs
had
sat
and
drunk
somewhere
and
wanted
to
go
out
and
fight,
it
was
their
way
of
socializing.
Do you think it's important to make
songs where it's about important things? Or can
you make songs about banal things?
-We make songs about love, drunkness,
the universe, stress, sadness. Everything is in
a way banal things, it's about trying to portray
it in a valid way so that one's experience
becomes accessible to several.
Do you play any covers when you play
live?
- Not nowadays. But before, we have done
songs by Blue for Two, Beatles, November,
Depeche Mode, Cornelis, Cassandra Complex and
Einstürzende Neubauten among others.
What types of bands do you play with at
gigs? Are they just like-minded bands and what's
the weirdest thing you've shared the stage with?
-I don't know if we have any like-minded
bands in Sweden really... We often end up alone
at the concerts lately. Once in Prague, there
was a guy playing before us who wore a gas mask
and sang through a vacuum cleaner hose stuck in
his ass. It was fucking alternative.
Any new good bands in Sweden you can
enlighten me about?
-Love Daniela Rathana!
Progress Productions, tell us about
that?
-A steady and good synth company in
Gothenburg that loves the new material and has
backed us to the max!
What do you prefer most CD, cassette,
vinyl or digital?
-I love vinyl records!
Many people don't think you have
released something for real if it is only
available digitally, what do you think?
- It depends on the number of listeners
actually. If it's narrow stuff that might
attract a few hundred, it's more real if you
give it out on cassette or vinyl compared to a
sad Soundcloud file without spin.
Tell
us
a
bit
about
the
following
songs
and
how
the
lyrics
came
about.....
Döden vidJärva
Krog:
To
be
brief,
I
needed
to
find
a
strong
and
specific
memory,
a
crucial
event
in
my
life
to
be
able
to
depict.
I
hadn't
written
lyrics
in
decades
and
needed
to
get
started.
The
song
is
about
when
I
drove
from
Stockholm
towards
Uppsala
to
check
on
my
father,
who
suddenly
became
unwell,
and
at
the
interchange
Järva
krog
in
Solna
received
a
phone
call
from
my
aunt
that
he
was
already
dead.
Bösebrucke:
Again
back
to
my
dad,
he
was
born
east
of
Berlin
in
the
middle
of
World
War
II,
and
fled
from
there
with
his
mother
and
sister
as
a
child.
Had
he
remained,
he
would
have
ended
up
in
the
GDR,
and
I
sometimes
play
with
the
idea
that
if
I
had
grown
up
there
instead,
then
I
would
have
been
16
years
old
when
the
wall
fell
and
this
could
be
my
story.
I
like
to
study
specific
transformative
events
and
imagine
the
individual's
perspective
on
it
all.
I
have
spent
a
lot
of
time
in
Berlin,
both
before
and
after
the
wall,
and
think
I
have
a
slightly
more
multifaceted
view
of
the
event
than
is
usually
reproduced
in
the
Swedish
media.
This
song
is
also
about
the
obedience
to
prevailing
systems
that
humans
tend
to
develop
both
here
and
there,
and
for
which
they
are
rarely
rewarded
in
the
end.
Färdvisa från Röda Linjen:
I
live
in
Vårberg
outside
Stockholm,
a
so-called
"vulnerable
area",
and
I
really
like
it
there.
It
becomes
so
clear
up
close
how
the
tragic
settlements
between
criminals
are
hated
and
bemoaned
by
all
those
affected
but
are
maintained
by
a
strong
economic
cycle
that
extends
far
into
the
residential
suburbs
on
the
opposite
side
of
the
metro's
red
line,
i.e.
Danderyd,
Lidingö
and
Djursholm.
I
was
trying
to
write
a
song
about
all
the
human
activity
going
on
simultaneously
along
this
logistical
cross-section
of
town,
and
how
people
interact.
How
would
you
describe
your
music
in
three
words?
-Heaviness,
melancholy,
precision.
Do
you
play
a
lot
outside
now,
abroad
there
has
been
a
lot
there?
-No,
we
don't
play
much
at
all.
One
of
our
members
Arvid
Eriksson
lives
on
the
opposite
side
of
the
globe.
When
you're
making
songs,
is
it
one
of
you
doing
the
song
and
coming
to
the
rehearsal
or
how
does
it
work
when
you're
doing
songs?
-Often
one
of
us
comes
up
with
a
relatively
clear
idea,
then
we
try
to
get
the
arrangment
and
the
song
to
sit
together.
Latest
record
you
bought?
-Per
Svensson-Gothenburg
Sounds
What's
your
relationship
to
punk
like?
-A
bit
divided,
you
could
say.
As
a
creative
impulse,
punk
is
completely
inevitable,
none
of
the
music
that
made
us
start
a
band
would
have
existed
without
punk
and
mainly
its
backlash
which
is
usually
called
post-punk
or
new
wave.
Punks,
as
a
rule,
are
good
people.
Then
punk
can
become
quite
dogmatic
these
days,
and
a
lot
sounds
the
same.
Tell
us
about
the
worst
gig
you've
ever
had
with
Big
Fish
and
the
best?
What
makes
a
gig
good?
-We
did
some
boring
gigs
when
we
started
touring
full
time,
around
93-94,
strange
bookings
like
2
pm
at
city
parties
in
Gävle
and
Friday
night
at
some
costume
and
tie
place
on
Avenyn.
But
then
we
decided
to
always
go
all
in,
especially
if
the
response
is
weak.
This
meant
that
we
haven't
experienced
so
many
bad
gigs
since
then.
Best
is
hard
to
say
but
Pustervik
on
this
Saturday
was
great,
definitely
up
there
in
the
top
10
ever.
How
does
the
avarage
Big
Fish
digger
look
like?
-
There
are
slightly
different
categories
I
think
I
see.
Hippies
and
green-wavers,
sensitive
bikers,
extreme
hard
rockers,
old
synths.
Slightly
other
younger
completely
normal
people.
A
couple
of
Finnish
dudes
in
their
30s
always
cross
the
Baltic
Sea
and
show
up
when
we
play.
They
look
like
normal
IT
guys
but
get
loose
worse
than
anyone.
Then
I
can
reveal
that
famous
artists
in
both
hip
hop
and
black
metal
are
among
our
fans,
It's
mixed
simply.
Do
you
read
reviews
on
your
records?
What's
the
weirdest
you've
ever
gotten?
-
Yes,
it's
pretty
fun
with
reviews.
I
don't
remember
much
though,
there
was
some
time
we
got
sawed
in
Slitz,
which
was
some
kind
of
semi-porn
lifestyle
magazine
for
men
in
the
90s,
they
hated
all
of
our
style,
our
lyrics
and
our
fans.
I
didn't
want
to
bother
but
took
it
anyway
I
remember.
Do
you
have
any
favorite
zines
etc
that
you
often
come
back
to?
-Nope
not
directly,
but
love
that
there
are
zines.
I
was
doing
zines
myself
in
kind
of
elementary
school,
that's
how
I
learned
to
draw
and
kind
of
design.
I
was
just
in
New
York
and
found
a
fanzine
store
with
great
zines
from
all
over
the
world
at
low
prices.
Bought
with
me
a
bundle.
Unless
one
of
the
prime
ministerial
candidates
can
put
together
a
government
and
one
of
you
is
asked
to
take
the
opportunity
to
form
a
government.
What
would
you
do
then?
-I
would
use
the
enormous
infrastructure of
the
Social Democrats
and
build
a
solidarity-based
welfare
state
that
everyone
really
has
confidence
in.
It
shouldn't
be
impossible,
we
have
a
lot
to
be
proud
of
in
this
country
after
all.
Five
favorite
records,
five
favorite
concerts,
and
the
five
most
important
things
in
life?
-For
Big
Fish,
these
five
are
super
important:
Haus
der
Lüge
with
Einstürzende
Neubauten
Songs
from
a
pale
and
bitter
moon
with
Blue
for
Two
L'eau
Rouge
with
The
Young
Gods
Suffer
with
Bad
Religion
Some
Great
Reward
with
Depeche
Mode.
Tomas
and
I
were
and
saw
Neubauten
at
Fryshuset
in
September
1989,
which
was
absolutely
crucial.
Then
there's
that
important
concert
I
saw
with
my
dad
in
Berlin
in
1988,
with
the
industrial
jazz
band
Vladimir
Estragon.
It
gave
me
a
blueprint
of
what
our
band
would
sound
like
when
I
got
home.
I
still
have
the
poster
on
the
wall.
I
also
pitched
into
a
Blue
for
Two
concert
in
Bollnäs
in
1988
as
a
15-year-old,
and
even
managed
to
get
into
the
lodge
and
meet
Freddie
Wadling
and
Henryk
Lipp.
Lucky
that
I was
fearless
haha.
Future plans for the band?
-Very hard to say, the response to the
new record has been so good so it doesn't seem
like a total mistake that we made it. But right
now we are in a state of contentment with what
we have managed to accomplish rather than future
plans.
For yourself?
-It is powerful and tumultuous to stand
on stage and sing again, but it also awakens old
things in me that are not completely
uncomplicated. If I may wish for myself, I would
probably like to be able to calm down a bit and
be happy with it. But you are the way you are,
even if some can be worked with.
Anything to add?
- No, this was verbose, I think. Thanks
and hello!