“ABC City”
BPM: I read that you guys work in a factory? What kind of factory is it?
A. Strandberg: It’s not a factory.
A. Spetze: It’s a warehouse, but it’s really not interesting. Us three, not Andreas, we work there. I don’t know. We said it – to someone.
AL: I think we said it to one that we work in a warehouse.
A. Spetze: Yeah, someone asking what we were doing. And they picked it out from…
AL: They thought it was a factory, and it got out of hand.
A. Spetze: I think I got fired before the tour so I’m probably am not going back there.
A. Strandberg: I want to quit. It’s so fucking boring.
A. Spetze: It’s really boring and stupid.
A. Strandberg: The only thing we do is to put books in boxes and send them to people. It’s really boring.
BPM: That’s not as bad as putting meat in boxes.
A. Strandberg: Meat?
[everyone laughs]
BPM: I can’t imagine like…
AL: Do you speak this from experience?
BPM: No, but I don’t eat meat so…
AL: This is a weird thing to say, “I don’t want to put meat in boxes! That would be the worst thing!”
BPM: Well, for someone who doesn’t like the smell of the meat or…
[everyone laughs]
“I think I got fired before the tour so I’m probably am not going back there.”
A. Spetze: Fish meat would be the worst.
AL: Not for Anton (Strandberg). He loves the smell of fish.
A. Strandberg: I loooove fish.
AL: We were at the Seattle fish market, and they throw the fish.
A. Strandberg: Yeah, it was weird.
AL: And the only thing Anton could talk about was how much he loves the smell of fish.
A. Strandberg: Yeah, I love the smell of the fish. I think it smells really good. I’m from the west coast and everyone there fishes a lot and loves fish.
BPM: I gather that Sweden has tipped more to the right wing under prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s rule. How has the political situation affected your lives as a working class? And has that had any influence on your songs?
AL: Not that much has changed since the Social Democratic Party. They were in charge for, I guess, 12 years? The last three terms? They had the power in Sweden for I think 90 out of 110 years. Something like that. But not that much has changed. Still super shitty.
A. Spetze: Doesn’t affect the music at all.
AL: No, definitely not.
A. Strandberg: No, we’re not a political band.
AL: We’re not politically active. I guess. We try to live our lives, but things are pretty shitty. I think.
BPM: This is your first US tour and first time visiting this country (except for Andreas). Has there been any culture shock or anything unusual?
A. Strandberg: In Sweden, you take your shoes off when you come into a house.
A. Spetze: You don’t take your shoes off here.
A. Strandberg: But I hate to have my shoes on inside so I take them off anyway. Of course, it’s a really crazy experience to be here. This country is super extreme in every aspect.
A. Spetze: Yeah, we’re not used to tip a lot.
A. Strandberg: No, we don’t tip.
A. Spetze: Are we supposed to tip you?
[everyone laughs]
BPM: No. Not me.
AL: That’s good to know.
A. Strandberg: Should we tip Hoppie (tour manager)?
BPM: Yeah, that is a big difference, but when I go over to Sweden, the drinks cost more but tip is included in the cost.
AL: You’ve been in Sweden?
BPM: Yeah, couple of times. The last time I was there was last March.
AL: You like it?
BPM: Yeah! I actually want to move to Malmö.
AL: Malmö is a nice town. You’ve been to Stockholm?
BPM: Yeah, been to Stockholm couple of times. Last time I went to interview Johan (Angergård) of Labrador Records… so expensive. $5 to ride the subway – even if it’s just five blocks.
A. Spetze: Yeah, the subway situation is really fucked. It’s just getting more and more expensive.
BPM: Would you ever want to move out of Stockholm?
AL: I’ve been thinking about it a lot actually.
A. Spetze: Yeah, sure. I love being away from Sweden.
BPM: Where would you like to go ideally?
FS: New York.
AL: I’ve been thinking about Copenhagen.
A. Spetze: Copenhagen is really good.
AL: It’s really nice there. And it’s close to Sweden.
A. Strandberg: Close to your mom.
AL: We can move anywhere we want within European Union. And if I would choose, I would choose Copenhagen.
A. Strandberg: I would choose Zurich.
AL: Zurich? [laughs]
BPM: Zurich? Switzerland?
AL: He’s kidding.
A. Strandberg: Yeah, I’m joking.
AL: We’re going there next month. We’re doing an Euro tour – one month long. I think we have three weeks after this tour, and we’re back on.
BPM: Have you guys been working on new songs?
AL: We play a new song on our set in the States. We’re working on some new stuff, but Anton (Spetze) is going to stay in the States for a while.
A. Spetze: Yeah but we may have some time to rehearse. After the Finland show.
BPM: I’m going to Finland next month.
Everyone: Why?
BPM: Why? You don’t like Finland?
AL: No. It’s fun in Finland, but it’s super strange. Because they like to…
[Strandberg and Spetze burst into laughter]
A. Strandberg: Why?
AL: They like to be in the woods. And everyone carries a knife there.
A. Strandberg: Why? Why do they carry knives there?
AL: They go into the woods, sit with their knives, and carve stuff. It’s true. They’re all carving stuff all the time man. [everyone laughs] And that’s where they think the best. Then they go to the sauna. And in the evening, they go and dance tango. Finnish tango.
A. Strandberg: Stereotype Finnish.
AL: So yeah, it’s a weird place. You should watch your back. It’s going to be exciting. Going to dance some tango.
BPM: How much time we have?
A. Spetze: One hour. [laughs]
FS: Two minutes, alright? Go!
