Happy New Year and Stay Hungry

Let's start 2011 with an interview with one of the best European Straight Edge bands around at the moment: they're from Sweden, they're hard, they're hungry: Stay Hungry. Staffan Snitting was kind enough to answer some questions.



First of all how does it come that hardcore and punk are such strong scenes in Sweden. People all over the world know bands like Refused, Millencolin and Satanic Surfers. Right now there seems to be a whole new generation of good bands coming from your country like Atlas Losing Grip and yourselve.

First of all I have to say that I can't think of any other country in Europe that has the same level of quality and quantity when it comes to bands as Sweden at the moment. Finland is great as well right now but don't have as many bands. We most definitely have a large amount of bands that are amazing. Punk rock bands, fastcore bands, NYHC-type bands, crust bands, early 80s hc bands, straight edge bands... There is a lot of diversity and for some reason the quality is high all over the field right now. It's hard to say why, or at least I don't have an answer to that. Except for the fact that we have a lot of people in different cities that are working hard as hell to make it happen.

'Against The New Wall' is the new record. In my opinion it's more varied, melodic and a bit less fast. What do you think are the main differences between your debut and the new record?

Is it really not as fast? Hell, we should do a bpm check. Personally I am sort of a speed freak (I once walked into a tattoo studio in San Francisco to get "play fast" done on my knuckles, thankfully they had no open slots that day). There are surely some really fast songs on the first 12" but I think tracks like "Dedication", "Disgust" and "Ingen plikt" are just as fast. Out of the 14 tracks on the new LP, including the intro, 10 are one beat fast ones, that is OK in my book haha.

But to answer your question, I think the main difference is that the small metal influences on the 12" are gone with the wind. We actually stole riffs from black and death metal bands on that one and twisted them around a bit to make it sound HC. Nothing new, Slapshot has done the same. It might be true as you say that it's more varied, but we did work hard to make it a more genuine and focused hardcore record. In that process we scrapped a bunch of ideas and whole tracks that didn't fit in. It's more Floorpunch and less metal, I guess.


Am I right in thinking Against the Wall is also some kind of tribute to older bands I mean titles like 'Against The Wall' and ' Something Must Be Done' sure remind me of other bands. As well as your songstructures which have more in common with bands like Judge than a new band like Defeater.

The idea when we started the band was to do a fast one beat in your face straight edge band in the vein of Internal Affairs. I guess we are closer to that now than before actually. But yeah, there are loads of references to more or less old hardcore in the lyrics at least. Some more obvious than others. Uniform Choice, Minor Threat, Antidote, Battery, Youth of Today... I personally like stuff like that, such as when Skull Crusher used a line from Judge on their 12". As for the music, I think we just went in to do a fast hardcore record without pretentiousness or metal influences. "Against the wall" is what came out.


Are you the kind of older guys who tend to dwell in the past or are you as stoked on newer bands as well and if so which newer bands do you really love?

Nah man I wouldn't say so. Sure we all love the old stuff and most covers we have played are so to speak semi old (as in late 80s, Citizens Arrest, Chain of Strength, Project X etc) but we all follow new music quite a lot. I can't say I enjoy everything that comes out, but who can?

One of the things I have enjoyed a lot the latest couple of years is the new wave of straight edge bands in the US that have sought their way back to the roots of it all, to hardcore PUNK and all that comes with that both sound and attitude wise. I'm talking about Black SS, Blank Stare, Sick Fixx, Coke Bust, Poison Planet... Awesome stuff.


What is the Swedish song on the new record about and why did you decide to keep that one in Swedish.

"Ingen plikt" can be translated to "No duty" and is about people who consider drinking to be their personal business even though it makes them a part of a social problem in society. It's not meant to throw punches at alcoholics and people that have real problems that they need help with, but rather all the people that get pissed on weekends, glorify drinking and refuse to acknowledge that they're a part of the problem. We decided to do a short and really fast song in Swedish and I think it turned out really cool.

I think a lot more people recently got interested in your country since the popular books of Stieg Larsson as well as the whole story about the mystery sniper. Sweden doesn't seem to be the peacefull quiet country were all is good, which I imagined it would be growing up. So what is the situation in Sweden like at the moment? How is it to grow up there?

Well I recently sat down and discussed drug policy with the guys in Coke Bust, who are from Washington DC, and our opinions definitely clashed but we also realized that our perspectives vary due to our radically different environments. They spoke of a "murder rate" and I mean...

Sure people get murdered here as well, but nowhere near that level that they are used to. Anyway, this will be an answer that reflects my opinions since we all don't see things the same way in the band.

Sweden is still a very good country to live in. For sure. But like any other western country we have seen the public sector and welfare system being slaughtered the last three decades. It's a horrible and tragic development that escalated with the membership in the European Union in the 90s. The thing is that the Swedish working class has been completely defenseless against the attacks of the right wing, big business and so on.

Which is a bit ironic since our unions are famous for being large and strong with massive organization levels. The thing is though that it all rested on a system of class cooperation between labor and capital. And when capital ended their part of the cooperation, starting in the 70s and accelerating in the 90s, the main labor organizations just continued dwelling in the past. Absolutely no attempts whatsoever to counter the massive attack on all the things the workers had gained during half a century of positive development. These things take forever to build up and seconds to destroy.

I've witnesses this first hand as an auto worker in the Volvo factory in Gothenburg, where we had to battle both the company and the union sitting idle, silent and obedient in their lap. A couple of months ago the right wing government that has been sitting since 2006 got re-elected.

The political climate it so perverted that the conservative party campaigned as "the new worker's party" and such nonsense. Anyhow, long story, but all this has led to drastic widening of class differences and injustice, which in turn leads to social unrest of a spontaneous and unorganized fashion, especially in areas of the larger cities dominated by immigrants, who rightfully believe they have been left outside in the cold. This election also saw the entrance of a right wing populist party into the parliament, for the first time in Sweden really.

There was one party in the early 90s but it was a one time thing and they didn't pose a threat like these assholes are doing. Unfortunately some workers fall for their crap. I see co-workers sometimes with their party logo. It's very disheartening. But to sum up and return to your question, I think you need to look upon the recent shootings in Malmö through this perspective, even though I am quite sure the guy responsible is more of a looney than a political strategist.

Sweden is getting more and more segregated, the welfare state is dismantled, more social unrest is around the corner. My only hope is that the latter will take a positive form.


You were supposed to do a eurotour with Skull Crusher, why didn't that happen?

That cancellation was a pain in the ass to go through with. We were really looking forward to touring with Skull Crusher, their 12" is amazing. Basically, we had to make some tough decisions when Reflections pulled out of our LP. They were supposed to do the record but in the end had to face the fact that they had too much going on right now.

So all of a sudden we stood there with a recorded LP, a tour booked and no one to release the record. We decided to release it ourselves, which feels great, along with our friends Daniel from Green Menace Records and Dave from Get This Right Records.

Obviously it felt shitty not to have the LP on Reflections, as we truly felt at home there and Johan and Suzanne are just the greatest people alive more or less. But we decided not to whine about it, but rather make the best out of the situation. But with this new development we realized that it was highly unlikely that the LP would be out in time for the booked tour. And we just can't tour without the record being out. We have jobs and stuff and when we take days off, we need to choose the opportunity wisely. So we cancelled, and it turned out to be a good choice since the LPs arrived several weeks after the tour was due to start.


What's the story behind the new swehc website?

We originally started talking about doing an online blog where we could post articles from out of print issues of Law and Order zine, which I am involved in. Then my co-editor Fredrik (of Law And Order Records) started planning a (more or less) free sampler CD of many of the most interesting Swedish hc acts together with Daniel from Green Menace Records. These two ideas sort of merged in Fredrik's head and swehc.com is what came out of it.

It's mostly done by the three editors of Law and Order zine (except for me and Fredrik, there's also Marcus) but we are hoping to get help from more people. We will post news, short interviews, video clips etc that for most of the time have some sort of connection to Sweden and hardcore. Apart from Swedish bands it can also be foreign bands touring Sweden, old video clips that were filmed by Swedes and haven't been seen online before etc. It's a way to cover hardcore and support the Swedish scene that is meant to complement the zine, which is the main focus still, at least for me.

What are Stay Hungry's plans for 2011?

Well we just got the LPs last week and all the pre-orders have been shipped. We're also working hard booking a tour for April. We will do 16 shows. A lot of it is already booked but anyone interested in helping out can get in touch, we still have slots to fill. We are booking this tour by ourselves so our whole operation is pretty DIY now which feels cool. It's been totally mind blowing how helpful people have been so far. So the main focus now is to spread the word about the LP and finish booking the tour.

We also just added our friend Johan on guitar, so we are now a five piece. We have done two shows with him so far and having two guitar players is a big step forward for the band, without a doubt. I guess we will start looking at new material next year. We live in different cities so we have to sort of focus on whatever lies ahead and is the most important task. Right now that is obviously to get ready for the tour, new songs is kind of secondary I guess.

Commitment Crew - What Are You? - lp

I guess I don't have to tell you the swedish hc/punk scene is rocking with bands like Anchor, Stay Hungry as well as Masshysteri to name but a few. Commitment Crew is from the Goteborg scene and another prime example of good Swedish hardcore.

The band is an odd one on the Crucial Response roster which is mainly known for it's youth crew orientated bands. Like Insurance Risk Commitment Crew also take their influences from an earlier era in hardcore or should I say Oi!?
Because Commitment Crew sounds more like early Oi! influenced Agnostic Front with a burly singer whose voice at times reminds me of the guy from Brotherhood and on other songs of No For An Answer- era Dan O' Mahony.

With twelve solid songs on stupid television shows, having no goals and feeling alienated 'What Are You?' goes over fast, but the songs are divers enough to want to put the needle on the record once again. Especially since some songs are so damn catchy you automatically raise you fist and want to circle pit.

Another reason to get this record is the artwork by Henrik Skog, it really makes the record unique and reminds me of the classic early Underdog-s/t record. Instead this time it isn't a crowd of people around the corner but a bunch of moshing and diving creatures from hell.

Commitment Crew - What Are You just might be the surprise record of the year.

Commitment Crew

Stay Hungry - No Beginning, No End - 12"

When is the last time you heard a pissed off straight edge band that didn't play metal? Fortunately Sweden's Stay Hungry recently released a killer 9 songs lp on Reflections Records. It's fast, it's hard and it's great.
You can definately hear some of the Swedish sound known from bands like Outlast, Final Exit and even DS-13. Yet Stay Hungry is less trashy as aforementioned bands and stick more to the hardcore groundrules of fast, short songs with some breakdowns and singalongs.
Songs like Bottoms Up For The Weak and Loud And Clear are brutal displays of great hardcoresongs. Record closer Bloodsucker is just brilliant in it's own mind and the I can't wait to start hammering people sticks in your head for a long time.
Stay Hungry is a great addition to the Swedish and European straight edge scene. Get this record and play it loud (and clear).

Stay Hungry

The (International) Noise Conspiracy/ Refused

This interview was already published on Asice late last year. Since I did it and I kinda like how the whole thing turned out, I decided to republish it here. Refused were a big influence on me when I first started listening to hardcore so it was nice to talk with Dennis Lyxzen about his old and his current band.

So are you happy about the collapse of the economical system in the USA and worldwide. Because both Refused and The (I)NC always had an anti-capitalist stance? And aren’t you out of topics to sing about now that you were proven right?

Well, I’m not going to be all like ‘hey, I told you so’. And though the collapse proves me right, there’s nothing to be happy about. If anything it will make the situation worse for a whole lot of people who lose their jobs and their houses. I always thought the capitalist system would fail in the end because it’s not based on morals, it’s inhuman. Karl Marx already predicted it’s failing two hundred years ago. The worldwide crisis doesn’t solve anything I’m afraid. It will only set up a whole bunch of new problems. As a band we still have a lot of things to sings about I think.


What’s your opinion on Obama as the man who will save the USA and the world?

I think with Obama instead of curing the disease only a part of the disease is cured. I admit it’s interesting that a conservative nation chose a black person for president. And he’s more progressive than any of the presidents before him. But he’s still the president of The States. He’s not going to drastically organise social welfare. He’s not going to take power away from the big industries. Simply because he’s only one man.

The (I)NC has a lot of criticism on the United States. But who are you to judge another country? Wouldn’t it be better if you stick to problems in Sweden or is everything all right there?

Lately things in Sweden are very bad. The right wing is in control. As a band we have set up these sort of rock against… concerts in Sweden, so we’re active in our own country. We also walk in protests and stuff and when we play in Sweden I address local topics on stage. Yet as a band we try to reach as much people as possible. That is why we called the band the International Noise Conspiracy. During the year we spend our time all over the world. So the topics of our songs are international as well. It’s just easier for people anywhere to sing ‘Washington Bullets’ instead of ‘Bullets on Saab’ or ‘Bullets on Bofor’ the two biggest weapon industries in Sweden.

Refused had a clear straight edge and vegan message something that seems to be all gone in The (I)NC. Why?

Both Refused and The (I)NC are anarchist bands. But with Refused we were put in the vegan edge scene, that’s also where we started. We were way more political than a lot of those bands and the scene became narrow-minded over the years. We wanted to talk about other things besides veganism. That’s also one of the reasons why Refused broke up. We felt imprisoned in a way. With The (I)NC we’re not part of any scene. You see punk kids, hardcore kids, rock kids and political kids at our shows. That’s what we want. I’m still vegan though and as of lately I do address the meat industry once again. It keeps getting more clear that this industry is the biggest polluter of our planet. The biggest benefactor or global warming is the meat industry. But that’s not a topic many politicians want to touch.


Has Refused’s ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’ become a burden for you as the record is seen as a milestone in hardcore whereas the records you’ve made with The (I)NC so far haven’t received that kind of recognition?


I still think it’s quite of ironic that the record we wrote as a big fuck off to the scene, is seen as a classic. But the record isn’t a burden. ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’ made me see what I wanted next, which became The Noise Conspiracy. I also think that the records we make with The (I)NC are less easy to label therefore they won’t be seen as a milestone of any scene, because they don’t fit in a scene. When we started the Noise Conspiracy people tried to place us under garage rock, but we’re way too political for that. Now we’re just The Noise Conspiracy.

Have you never thought about spending the energy and time you now put in the band in a political career? You might achieve more doing that.

Oh no. Music got me into politics. Not the other way around. I could never be a politician. As a musician you can exaggerate on stage to set people in motion. As a politician you always have to make compromises. I’m not very good with that.

Some people say you’re full of words but lack on action.

Only idiots say things like that. In my opinion individuals all fight their political struggle in their own way. I choose to do it through the band. We play numerous of benefits every year. We support Swedish left wing groups. We are part of demonstrations and visit areas like Palestine to help out. However most of these things we do as individuals. We don’t brag about it, because it’s just what we want to do.

You said that music got you into politics. Which bands are responsible for that?

Before I learned about hardcore I found out about punk. Bands like The Clash and Dead Kennedys got me interested in left wing politics. But it wasn’t till I found out about Born Against and most importantly ManLiftingBanner that I really became more political myself. Especially ManLiftingBanner was a big influence to Refused, most people don’t seem to know that. But to hear of a European straight edge band with communist ideas, that was so inspiring to us. That really fuelled me and the other guys to do a band as well.

Lions Den - s/t cd

The water in Sweden must be polluted cause here's another great hardcore band coming from that country. Where Go For Broke and Balance fit in the youth crew box I love so much, Lions Den plays hardcore that usually is a bit out of my league.
We all know Terrors' Lowest Of The Low is a modern classic that influenced a lot of other bands. Most of these bands exaggerate the metal riffs though and end up as a fast but lame version of Hatbreed. Lions Den however mainly uses the anger and rage we all know from Terror and combine it with songstructures which could've been on early Blacklisted and Guns Up! records. This formula combined with a personal message pretty much sums up Lions Den.
The record sounds very hard and tends to get on my nerves because I like a little bit of melody every now and then between the fast riffs and moshparts. That said Lions Den proves one of the worthy successors to Terrors' thrown and is one fine more example that straight edge hardcore still lives.

Myspace: Lions Den
Label: Ugly and Proud Records

Death Is Not Glamorous/Another Year 7"

Another record from Take The Risk records, this time a split 7" with Death Is Not Glamorous on one side and Another Year on the other. Two Scandinavian bands with Death Is Not Glamorous being the most well known, so I'll start with their contribution to this record.
For those who don't have the Undercurrents record by this band with exmembers of Damage Control, shame on you. Especially if you like Lifetime, Shook Ones and Gorilla Biscuits because if anything DING is the European answer to these bands. A position they once more confirm on this split. Especially 'Compassion' about the meat industry is a great song. It's up there with 'No More' by Youth Of Today and 'Cats and Dogs' by Gorilla Biscuits. In fact this song sounds like it's lyrics are written by Cappo during the heydays of Shelter, the music is made by Lifetime and Civ and Ari Katz are both singing. This split is worth to check out if only for this song.

Another Year brings a more standard approach to hardcore. The songs rage like the faster Go It Alone songs on their first record. Other bands that come to mind are American Nightmare (minus all the poetic stuff) and one way or another Battery. The Another Year songs aren't bad but rather pale in comparison with the Death Is Not Glamorous site.

Myspace: Death Is Not Glamorous
Another Year
Label: Take The Risk Records

Atlas Losing Grip or the comeback of Swedish Punkrock

Swedish punkband Atlas Losing Grip pleasantly surprised me with their debut record ' Shut The World Out' on which they manage to put me in a timemachine and warp me back to an era when Swedish punkbands like Satanic Surfers and No Fun At All were on top of the foodchain. Time for a little chat with bandmember Stefan.

Please explain the bandname to me because it's not a common name for a band I think?
Ok dude, the band name is not so hard to understand with some fantasy and some knowledge about stuff like greek mythology. According to the original myth Atlas was a titan and was punished to carry the weight of the heavens on his back. A common misconception of the myth says that he was forced to carry earth on his back. Anyhow, feel free to interpret as much as you want, the world will remain fucked.

During the nineties bands like Millencolin, No Fun At All and Satanic Surfers were really popular worldwide. What happened with the Swedish punkscene afterwards cause I can't recall such bands coming out of Sweden for a while except for maybe The Hives.

Actually I don't know what happened. I spent the nineties going to a lot of concerts with both swedish and international bands and we were really spoiled here in Sweden since a lot of the bands from here got so appreciated worldwide. You could check out great bands all the time. That created a huge interest for melodic punk and when the interest of that music started to fade away back in the late nineties I guess people just bought what happened and moved on. I believe that crust got bigger for a while and then the emo crap started to persist to torture our ears. I really hope that the melodic punk rock will find its way back somehow, now that everything is supposed to be soooo retro. By the way, I personally hate the Hives, haha!

Rodrigo from Satanic Surfers did some vocals on three of the songs on the 'Shut The World Out' record. Why did you ask him?

Well, Rodrigo is a good friend with a great voice. It felt natural to ask him, I thought the melodies in those songs would suit his voice perfectly. I've always loved Satanic Surfers, hold them as a strong influence of A L G and thought it would be cool to have him sing a couple of lines on our album.

How does a Swedish band end up on a Dutch label?

We got a deal with the Japanese label Bells On Records at first and we spoke to the guys of Antillectual after a gig and they told us to contact Shield Recordings which we did. Shield liked our shit and we liked theirs so everything worked out just fine.
There are also other labels included in this release. No Reason Records in Italy and DV..s Records in France.
We also have distribution deals with some other labels such as Eating Shit Records in Spain and one for Portugal coming up.

The song 'Tearing International Treaties' is about the US governement and their refusal to particpate in the Kyotoprotocol. But what does the Swedish government do to protect the earth? Is that enough? What do you do yourself?

In Sweden people are pretty aware of the climate issue and I think that people try to live there after. Yet with the government we have here today I'm not so sure that the climate issue is one of the highest priorities. The international work to limit the climate changes is mostly regulated by the UN and I don't really know Swedens part in the whole situation.

All the members of the band support fairtrade, vegetarianism/veganism and recyceling for example.

Can you tell me what the song 'Affordable Solutions' is about?

It's about the care of old people, people with psychological problems and how a lot of them are stuffed with drugs instead of having their real issues and the roots to their problems dealt with, how money and lack of empathy lay ground for suffering - both mental and physical.


One of the songs on the new record is an Adhesive cover, why that band and why that song?


I love Adhesive and they are friends of ours. The lyrics of the song are sane and true and it is a great song. Thats why.

Can we expect more new bands coming out of Sweden and if so which bands?

If you like more aggressive hardcore check out our good friends in Balance and also check The Indecision Alarm (if you did'nt already), Sista Sekunden and We Live in Trenches.

Thanks for the questions! Heavy Mental! / Stefan

Myspace: Atlas Losing Grip
Label: Shield Recordings

Atlas Losing Grip - Shut The World Out (cd)

You remember that time when you bought a record from Epitaph and you didn't have to listen to it to know it was quality punkrock? The same days when everyone in Sweden seemed to be playing in a hardcore or punkband? When Satanic Surfers, No Fun At All and Millencolin were able to sell out venues? That was the time when I started listening to punkrock and going to shows. It's clear that those days are gone but here comes Atlas Losing Grip with a record that puts me in a timemachine and slings me back to those days.
You can't misinterpret the influence that early Strung Out, Ten Foot Pole and Satanic Surfers must have had on this band. Still 'Shut The World Out' doesn't come over as a relic or as an outdated record. That has to do with the quality of the songwriting, which is great, and the production as well.
What is also good about this release is that most of the songs are very political instead of other typical subject for bands in this genre, being girls, summer and skating. Opener 'Decreasing Development' is about the western world funding civil wars in Africa and 'Tearing International Treaties' is about the US government not participating in climate control.
If this band was around in the mid nineties they would have a bright future ahead of them for sure, still their music and message is as relevant now only the style they play isn't the big thing anymore.

Myspace: Atlas Losing Grip
Label: Shield Recordings