You recently released your new record, Throw it to the Universe, after all this
time and this being your seventh record, where do you find inspiration for your
songs?
The inspiration is simply what is now.
The title, Throw it to the Universe, is pretty bold. Does it reflect how you
want the music out to the world?
It is the purpose of this
record and everything we´ve done in the past.
Communion was such a massive album for you, a double-record! After making that
album, was the idea to go back-to-basics for Throw it to the Universe?
It was to fulfill the idea
of our presence as a group.And now it´s finally done.
Seven albums in, you show no signs of stopping, yet, with all the touring and
recording, is this still exciting for you?
This is the signal of
entering a period of recordings to end.To undo repetition. Very exciting and
promotionally thrilling for us.
So many people make up this band, does ego, philosophy and arrogance ever
interfere with making a record?
Ego does basically
interfere with everything in this so called life. But it is a necessity to
experience the wish to complete the time that has been given for this entity. Arrogance
may be one of the great obstacles but as we move on - it is all about
overcoming the fear of what is within. And the philosophy is to make the
narcissist become a narciss. Which is the basic meaning of the term
"walking on water". A way to find balance so to speak. As a group of
paranoid and self-involved entertainers.
Sweden has become the new musical Mecca with so many artists like Robyn, The
Sounds, The Hives, the reunited Refused and yourselves along with so many others
are huge internationally. Are your proud to see Sweden on the musical map?
I would rather see
bands like Caviare Days, The Oholics, Långfinger and Silverbullit represent the
so called Scandinavian music scene on this planet. Though I think Refused
did a good job in the past along with my old band Union Carbide Productions.
After all these years what is your favorite memory being in The Soundtrack of
Our Lives?
Playing in Egypt and
Mongolia for people who did not have any kind of reference to anything.
When the band formed in 1995, did you think that in 2012 you would still be
making music?
Yes. That was the
idea and the timeline. In 2013 we are no longer working as a group.
You have said before that there has to be a certain amount of mysticism in
music or it does not work. Do you feel many artists these days lack that?
Well I have to say it
depends what apparatus running this world is spreading for the moment. Mysticism
is a way of feeling things by intuition. And bands who are in that sphere are
far more interesting than wagon jumpers looking for temporary fame and fortune.
It´s been a shallow soundwave indeed ruling this world for the last decades but
there´s also been a lot of interesting things going on under the surface
currently. Good thing do always last. Like the year of 1966 for instance, and
2012 of course, and real mystic oriented artists knows that. Even in death, like
Steven Jobs and Arthur Lee for instance.
From Noel
and Liam Gallagher to Little Steven Van Zandt to critics around the world, this
band has been praised by so many. How do you respond to the acclaim?
By making this new
album. And to introduce these people to new exotic stages of reality
distortion.