Femtekolonnare is bound to become a name to be reckoned with. After three demos they've unleashed enough aggression and brutality in the form of blasting punk to satisfy anyone's need for a complete mental blowout. The band's 'fuck all' attitude and deep sense of humour, alongside the extremely good music, made me very interested in learning more about what this constellation's actually all about.
We conducted the interview by e-mail. I sent the first bunch of questions on the 29th of April and I received the final bunch of answers on July 21st.
Well hey there. Sorry for taking so long, but here we finally go with the interview, and let’s start out simple by having you introduce the band and let the readers and I know who’ll be answering the questions.
We are Femtekolonnare, the most brutal band in town. The smålandic power trio, a mangle platoon without mercy. Fritjof plays bass and sings, Jonas guitar and sings, Carl play the drums, we answer the questions together in a choir as the equal fucking socialists we are. I hope that this school English of ours is understandable. We'd rather written in Swedish but what the hell...
I’m not entirely familiar with your history, seeing as Femtekolonnare’s still fairly new to me. But if I’m not entirely wrong you started out in 2009, and that’s about it. Any previous bands and projects I might have heard of? Any line-up changes since your start?
Carl and Jonas played together for a while when they were young and stupid and started Femtekolonnare in 2009 when their old band quit. But as a gift from above came Fritjof with his old BC Rich bass and we started to mangle together. This became, as we know today, the beginning of a new era in Swedish music history. We have not had any line-up changes at all actually. We are so damn good friends that any changes are not needed. And if we become adversaries, we just fight about it and let our fists talk. Well, anyway, we tested a new drummer at one time when Carl had problems with broken limbs. The body was broken after too much grinding. But we fucked that and let Carl play anyway, no other drummer could possibly reach his standards anyway. He'll probably play himself to death, but that's cool, no pain – no game.
You’ve certainly been extremely productive, at least during 2010, releasing three demos the same year. Does the music just keep coming to you, are you an endless resource of blasting punk? I mean, can we expect the same kind of frequency in releases in the future?
The thing is that we are so damned talented musicians that it's a piece of cake for us to write these hit songs. However, we do not really expect us to be as productive in 2011, we have not even rehearsed so much, the times we've seen each other, we have been busy with drinking booze. But we might have time to release some heavy shit in 2011, we actually have some exciting stuff going on.
Speaking of future releases, have you had any interest from labels? I think I remember reading you were supposed to have some split released, but the label disappeared or something like that.
Hell yeah, the offers perfectly rains on us. We’ve even decided to record some stuff that we will release in a near future. But exactly what this is may be a secret a little while longer, but I can promise you that it’s some brutal motherfucking shit from hell. And, yeah, we were going to do a split with some fucking Dutchmen once, I have no idea what happened to that.
So no hints or revelation about upcoming releases? What’s the exciting stuff you have going on?
It’s just more anti-hippie tunes from the heart of Småland. Killer songs in blasting speed, nothing else matters.
In one of your songs (“Vinylpunkare”) you have a somewhat harsh tone towards the pressing of punk records on vinyl. So does that mean that you’d turn down an offer for a vinyl release? The split 7” is a rather popular format in the scene.
But it's so fucking ridiculous to press vinyl records. It’s just so you can frame them and put up on the wall in your fresh apartment in Södermalm, it’s just cheesy fucking hipster manners. Why can’t you just as easily burn a CD-R? Or put the crap out for downloads? Walking around and being all retro and shit, that’s just stupid fucking nonsense.
Well, I can only speak for myself, but I do really like vinyl. First off, there’s no deterioration like with CDs (and CD-Rs, for that matter), causing it to rot after a number of years, and I actually like the typical crackling of a vinyl. A lot of people argue about the superior sound quality, but since I don’t know that much about I can’t make that another argument for the vinyl. But I agree that putting stuff up for download is a good option, in particular for those who can’t afford to buy records, or simply don’t want any. So when will you spread your releases digitally?
Deterioration, I don’t even know what that means. Vinyls are fucking stupid and that’s about it. We have already spread our music digitally. We’ve uploaded some shit at different communities and there are a lot of blogs who shares it all. Just search for it and you’ll probably find it. Of course we could share the music from like a website or so, but there’s no point when the hipster blog kids already do it for us.
“Valguiden” was released about a month before the Swedish parliamentary election, where you had one song for each political party, critiquing them all. It was definitely a great idea, and I was just curious as to how you came up with it? It was released only a few months after “In vino veritas”, so was the release a result of a hurried process?
That was a suggestion that came up in the rehearsal when we were done with In vino veritas. We wrote all the songs in a crazy short time, but that’s just how we roll. But we don’t feel any pressure when we write, we write fast and kick ass songs. There's like no point to change anything about the songs for us, they are perfect right away.
To me it seems like you changed slightly in between “Valguiden” and “Med Segerrika Vapen”, going for a slightly more pure grindcore sound, but I still have a bloody hard time actually labeling you with a specific genre. You mix and match from hardcore, crustcore, grindcore and even some black metal. How’d you label Femtekolonnare yourself?
We like, a bit humorous, to call it hard fucking turbo punk / fastcore / thrashcore / grindcore / hardcore / powerviolence / mangling punk / kängpunk / raw punk / crust / black metal from hell. But that is just to make some fun of all the fucking genre designations. There's like no point to call the music for something special, really. I like to call it turbo punk, mainly because I think it sounds damn funny. But call it what the hell you want, just do not call it reggae.
So what are your own personal music preferences? Do you as individuals bring different influences to your sound?
We listen to raggarrock and raggarrock only.
“Med Segerrika Vapen” came delivered to me smeared with blood, a hint towards both your humorous aspect and your black metal influences, I suspect.
The blood was not so much about humor, really. It was more like that we were drunk at Fritjof’s place, he works as a craftsman and have a lot of fun working tools at home. And our merch guy / driver / boyfriend had been nagging about getting a blood-marked tape, you know he is a serious, all for real Satanist. So we just went crazy with Fritjof’s tools and flooded the whole apartment in blood. This was the same day we first got the cassettes, we couldn’t keep calm with all that alcohol in our blood.
Lyrically you definitely kick to both your left and your right, and it’s all done in a very sarcastic and humorous manner. But underneath it all I sense a very serious tone, and also a fear for what’s becoming of this land/world. Are you politically active as individuals? You seem to hate just about everything there is about organized politics.
Surely we hate everything associated with organized politics. But we hate all fucking hippie activists who run loose on the town just as much. We are politically active in that we make political music, but we do not go around with a Greenpeace bag and molest honest people in town if that's what you mean.
Have you managed to make enemies already, or do people get the sarcasm in your lyrics? I’m thinking of songs like “Jkpg hardcore” where you spew hatred on the young hardcore scene of today, “Ta en folköl och var som folk” where you dis straight edge rather hard, “Hippiesvin” where you speak very negatively about the general hippieness (not really a word, but I figure you’d know what I mean) of the working class…? The list could go on and on, ‘cause you really do seem to be pissed about pretty much everything, and aren’t afraid of critiquing your own scene/movement (whatever you’d like to call it).
No, people've no sense of humor, irony or self-understanding. We have heard the whining from both Christian bitches in Jönköping, edge vegans and another scum. All becomes sad and offended by us but it is only because they are so damn self-absorbed idiots who are terrified that their entire world will fall apart if someone criticizes their bloody sectarian behavior.
What have the general reactions to your releases been like? It seems like everyone loves Femtekolonnare, but still you feel rather ‘unknown”, so to speak.
True. Everyone loves the Femtekolonnare motherfuckers. We have received quite a lot of reviews now and everyone has been positive. But we of course deliver the country's roughest and most insane shit so it’s not that surprising really. Unknown? Oh, what a problem, we'll might have to attend some reality show now so we can get famous. Oh my God.
What’s the gig situation like, many opportunities? You’ve played a metal festival, which I suppose was somewhat of a shock to the audience seeing as your sound isn’t exactly that of polished metal.
We are not looking for gigs directly, we rather spend our time drinking beer. But if someone asks and we have time and are up for it we usually say yes. We have been around the country in both north and south, a little anyway. It’s just so damn fucking boring to be on the road playing, because you have to eat those fucking vegan stews with bulgur. Give us a bloody steak, some beer and a hell lot of money and we’ll probably be there.
So how’d you wind up playing the metal festival, and how did people react?
Some guy asked us and we just went there and showed the fuckers how to roll. Some people started bitching about us making fun of the conservative major of our home town at that gig. But I don’t know, I think that clown makes more fun of himself than we ever could do, so what the fuck.
I suppose we won’t see you touring Europe or anything like that then? I’m surprised at how many newer bands that actually hit the road.
If someone arrange it and pay us, sure. But you know, we have to work and shit to make a living. Touring punks are just brats, their parents give them money so they can afford playing at shitty shows with dirty people.
I guess it’s time for my standard set of questions:
Latest record you’ve bought?
Carl: I can’t afford buying any records, I spend all my money on alcohol. But I listen allot to Stick och Brinn, Tinner and Jesus Cröst for the moment.
Fritjof: The Devil’s Blood - Come Reap
Jonas: Raein - ah, as if...
Latest record you’ve listened to?
Carl: I’m listening to Jedi Mind Tricks - Violent by Design right now.
Fritjof: Watain - Lawless Darkness
Jonas: Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town
Latest book you’ve read?
Carl: Can’t really remember. But I like to read Sture Dahlström.
Fritjof: Carsten Jensen - Vi, de drunknade. A novel about the Danish sailors in the 1800s
Jonas: Jack Kerouac - On the Road
Latest show you’ve went to?
Carl: Säkert! at Gröna Lund
Fritjof: Pentagram at Muskelrock, Tyrolen
Jonas: Bright Eyes, Albert hall
Crappiest record you’ve bought?
Carl: I haven’t bought any records since I was a kid so I guess they were all kind of crappy.
Fritjof: Naglfar - Pariah.
Jonas: Michael Jackson - Thriller.
And that’s it. Thanks a lot for your time. I actually hope for some Femtekolonnare vinyls in the future, but I suppose we’ll just have to see about that, hehe.
Any last words, final statements or whatever?
Thanks for your interest man. And I guess we’ll have to see about that vinyl. Final statements? Fuck yeah. Death to all hippies. Keep playing brutal. Fuck the word. Clan in da front. Dink alcohol, be cool, but stay in school. Yeah, whatever.
http://www.mylastchapter.net/index.php?page=femtekolonnare
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