Anders from Lustan Lakejer has this new band
that he calls Svart Tulpan Pop in the same
spirit as Lustans, Scocco, LeMarc etc etc. I
decided to interview him and this happened in
July 2025.
Tell me a little about how the band started
or is this a solo project, who are the members
if so and where do they come from otherwise, do
bands mean bands etc?
-The band started in 2023, it is in many ways a
solo project, which took its starting point in
songs I wrote and that we recorded. But all
music is recorded "old school", i.e. by
musicians playing at the same time in a
recording studio. The same band plays live. That
characterizes the music. So in that way, there
is a band. They are Norpan Magnus Eriksson
(drums), Matts Alsberg (bass), Fredrik
Hermansson (piano), Fredrik Helander (synth).
Max Lorentz has produced. Norpan and Matts are
legends who have played with countless artists
and bands, including Lars Winnerbäck and Staffan
Hellstrand. Fredrik & Fredrik play keyboards in
Lustans Lakejer!
How did you come up with the name Svart
Tulpan?
-The name comes from the album's title track. We
played with different names, but came to the
conclusion that Svart Tulpan suited the
aesthetic well.
You have been in a lot of bands before like
Lustans Lakejer, Ubangi and the punk band Bodens
Fästning but you have been in bands like
Änglarna, Capricorn Rossi of Sweden, The Amazing
Bryatollah Ferrarys....tell me a little about
those bands too? Did they release any
records? (How can you get hold of Bodens
Fästning single?)
-"Änglarna" was not really a band, but Johan
Kinde's name for me and Mauro Scocco when we
sang choir together! He thought it sounded
angelic :). Rossi of Sweden was/is a project
that my friend drummer Stephen Rossi started
together with Max Lorentz (who has also produced
Svart Tulpan's album). That project is a bit fun
in the way the songs come about. Stephen usually
starts by recording a drum groove over which Max
adds a few chords (and sometimes vocals). Then
this is sent to me and the bassist, who
independently makes the toppings it thinks and
then sends it back to Max who completes the
song. Everything is intuitive and fast and it
becomes a kind of collage. Very inspiring and
with great freedom! The Amazing Bryatollah
Ferrarys is a now defunct band where I sang,
played guitar and wrote songs. The band also
included Stephen Rossi, Elias Saile Eliasson and
Fredric Holmqvist. We released an album, an EP
and a single. Bodens Fästning was my first band,
which me and my friend Thomas started when we
were 14-15 years old. We weren't a punk band
really, but were inspired a lot by the attitude
and DIY spirit that prevailed. We did everything
ourselves. Peter Kagerland also has us in his
books Punklyrik and Ny Våg and we are on the
compilation album "Vägra Raggarna Benzin Vol. 3
and 4 (Punk from the provinces 78-82)"
(Massprduktion2015). Bodens Fästning made a
single (Människor av plast, 1980), then we
released some songs digitally in 2015 in
connection with having a reunion concert to pay
tribute to our old music teacher and the
Municipal Music School in Boden who turned 50
years old. Bodens Fästing's single is available
on digital services and on the mentioned
compilation album, but the vinyl single must
probably be looked for in second-hand bookshops?
Do Lustans Lakejer play together yet or how
is it?
-Yes, Lustans Lakejer puts out music and plays
live still and I'm in the band. We last played
this spring, among other places at Pustervik in
Gothenburg and at Maximteatern in Stockholm.
We have a pretty big
audience in Gothenburg!
A bit funny with Lustans I feel... You
started out as some kind of punk band, then
became a very glamorous band with lyrics about
diamonds, beautiful girls etc etc to come back a
few years ago with almost political lyrics...
How did this come about?
-I think it's simply about development. That
Johan (Kinde), who writes all the lyrics, has
over time started to write about other topics
than when the band started. Johan was only 15-16
years old when "Diamanter" and several of the
songs for the first albums were written!
You tried a foreign career too....how did it
actually go?
-Ha, ha, yes, it didn't go very well. But the
album, Lustavision, was released in Japan,
Australia and in a few other countries, I think.
The most die-hard fans know the different
pressings! I think Per Gessle/Gyllene Tider also
tried around the same time and it didn't go so
well either. But Gessle succeeded later with
abroad!
It's not something you will try with Svart
Tulpan or because you sing in Swedish?
-Well, nothing that is planned anyway. I have
chosen to sing in Swedish. I think that some
Swedish artists who write in English "hide" bad
lyrics behind the English language. For me, the
texts are important. All songs on Svart Tulpan's
album have started with a line of lyrics or a
title. However, I have recently guest sung on
some songs that other artists have done. It is
in English and will be released in the autumn!
But I think Svart
Tulpan will continue in Swedish!
Your lyrics, where do you get the inspiration
for Svart Tulpans lyrics?
-Inspiration comes everywhere, e.g. from events
in everyday life. Lyrics and songs usually come
at night, in the state between waking and
sleeping. Then I get up and put it on paper or
make a voice memo on the phone.
Tell us a little about the following songs
-Som Folk är mest
A
catchy pop song about ordinary people and their
ordinary chores. Everything is nice and happy on
the surface. We can shop, consume and arrange
our lives according to given and safe routines.
But how does it really feel?
-Pojkvänsjeans
I heard the word " Pojkvänsjeans " a few years
ago. It is, I was told, a jeans model for
girls/women that is cut so that it looks like it
is borrowed by a man. I thought it was a very
catchy word, so I memorized it. Some time later,
pretty much the entire song and lyrics came to
me in one go, with melody and everything. I'm
very happy with the composition itself and how
the lyrics and music work together: the song is
at first glance simple, almost banal, but if you
look a little closer you hopefully see something
more!
-Vi har satt en son till världen
The title was a line of lyrics that just came,
along with the melody. I think it has a bit of a
summery feel, hence the arrangement with soft
synths, piano and choirs.
You don't want to mix politics into your lyrics?
Or do you think you've made some political
songs?
-I have nothing against political texts - or for
that matter any subjects, but have not done any.
" Den ena handen vet vad den andra gör " with
Blå Tåget (later published as "Staten och
Kapitaletl" with Ebba Grön) is for example a
brutally good political text. My texts come to
"by themselves", often landing at night, based
on a title or line of text and without any real
planning in advance of what they should be
about.
While we're talking politics, what do you think
it's like to live in Sweden right now?
-Sweden is a very good country to live in, but I
am concerned about the authoritarian and
right-wing extremist currents that exist in
Sweden (and in the world) today and that want to
tear down what we have built up over the last
two hundred years.
Now you have released an LP on your own label or
how is it?
- The album is released on a small record label
called S-Rock Music Production and is
distributed via Border Music.
Was it important to get it out on a physical
record?
-No, it wasn't really that important to me. I
pretty much only listen to music in my iphone
(with really bad headphones)! It was the record
company that wanted us to make a vinyl. But I
have to admit that it was very, very fun to get
the finished vinyl in my hand! It became more
clear that we had simply made a record!
If you were to describe your music in three
words to someone who has never heard Svart
Tulpan, what three words would you choose?
-Safe Swedish pop.
Like me, you have crossed the "magic limit" 60
years, how do you think that feeling is? Is it
really just a number that many people say?
-I thought it was really hard to turn 60. I hate
the thing about "age is just a number". At the
same time: stop crying - the alternative is to
throw in the towel! And I don't want to do that.
So you have to make the best of it. Try to keep
body and soul in reasonable shape and not claw
again. Some acquaintances in the music industry
questioned whether I really could/should "debut"
as a 60+ person ("it's really hard at all and
your age is not exactly a trump card..."). It
strengthened me - I like to work uphill! I think
it's my approach from punk that haunts there...
When were you happiest in your musical life, was
it with Bodens Fästning, Lustans, Ubangi or is
it now with Svart Tulpan?
-Since I'm not much of a look-back, I say that
my best time is now. And I really mean that. Now
I make exactly the music I want - without the
fear of not being credible, as I had in my
youth. But of course there are highlights of the
past. When we as seventeen-year-olds in Bodens
Fästning received the first calls from
organizers who wanted to book us, such a
highlight was such a highlight. When I did the
first tour with Lustans Lakejer.
Me and a friend who is still punks just like me
even if you don ́t look like then but I know
that we were both "ashamed" because we liked
you. We had a full scribbled leatherjackets with
punkbands but under one sleeve we had both
written LL to show that we liked you too. Is it
something you recognize that old punks liked you
even if it felt wrong with your lyrics about the
beautiful life?
-I definitely recognize that. There were - and
still are - a lot of old punks among the LL
fans. And Johan (Kinde) and the rest of the band
comes from punk/new wave. The first songs he
wrote were punk songs, with some political
lyrics.
How does Svart Tulpan's audience look like, I
mean what kind of people do you draw to your
concerts or maybe you haven't played live yet?
-We have only played two
livegigs so far, the first one as support - at a
punk gala actually – with
En
Svensk Tiger, Tomma Intet and Världen Brinner,
nice bands all three. For the second gig, this
spring, came, in addition to friends and
acquaintances, a rather mixed audience, many
musicians - and old punks actually.
How do you see on punk, is it only a word or is
it a music style or even a life style?
-I probably see it as an approach. I want to
have that kind of approach and think I have it.
I want to do things intuitively and not analyze
too much. It should be simple - but must never
be plain out. It must be felt and touched (and
may upset).
Have you listened to punk anything since the
Bodens Fätsning time? If so, is there any bands
you would like to highlight in the punk style?
-Yes, I absolutely have; I listened to Ebba Grön,
Dag Vag (even if they don't count there) and
later Imperiet a lot. Among contemporary Swedish
bands I would like to mention again Världen
Brinner and En Svensk Tiger which we have gigged
with (and which were also very nice). And my
friends Ronny Svensson (who drummed in Kai
Martin and Stick) and Bosse Johander with their
band GABBA, where they play ABBA songs as if the
Ramones had done them!
Five favorite records that are going the most
right now?
-1.
"Prelude to Ecstasy" - The Last Dinner Party,
2.
"Bodensia" - Mattias Alkberg,
3. "Mixing Colours" - Roger Eno/Brian Eno,
4. "Lighthouse of Glass" - Sofia Härdig,
5. "Saravah!"
- Yukihiro Takahashi.
Five favorite records all-time that you can't be
without?
-1. "Hunky Dory" - David Bowie,
2. "Ziggy Stardust" - David Bowie,
3. "Marquee Moon" - Television,
4. "Paul Simon" - Paul Simon,
5. "September of my Years" - Frank Sinatra.
Do you buy records yourself yet? Have you
noticed the vinyl hype?
-I don't buy that often, I buy when friends
release records. Yes, I've noticed the vinyl
hype now that we released the debut album on
vinyl. It comes in three different variants:
smoke, white smoke and splattered vinyl. Some
have bought all three variants! I really hadn't
expected that there would be such a pull around
the vinyls! We have had signings in vinyl stores
and there you can clearly notice this!
Tell us a little about the following albums and
what you think about it today.
-First record you bought or got? I
don't really remember, it may have been "Hej
Clown" with Jan Malmsjö! I don't think I liked
it then. And not now either...
-The album that changed your life? Television's
"Marquee Moon." Masterpiece still.
-Last album you bought? It
was probably "Människornas
planet" with Eric
Palmqwist. Which I bought from him.
-The album you are ashamed of? I
don't think I have an album I'm ashamed of, but
from the things I've participated in, I don't
think the album "Lustavision" is great...
-The album that makes Svart Tulpan sound like
you do? Unfortunately,
I have to take care of this. I don't have a good
answer!
-The album that always has to be on the tour
bus? We
have never yet ridden a tour bus - it will be
exciting to see what it will be!
-The album that you would have liked to have
played on? Ultravox's
first album! Mainly because I would have liked
to be on the awesome cover!
Is there a lot of interviews, is it boring?
-I haven't done many interviews. And it's not
boring - just fun! That people are interested in
my music is a blessing!
What is the most common and boring question?
-I can't answer that - ask me again in a year!
Futureplans with the band?
-Soon, in August, we will start recording new
music. On August 23, our next single, "Vild",
which is written by Mauro Scocco (Mauro has also
been a co-producer), will be released. In
September we will go out and play live. During
the latter part of the autumn/winter, we will
release additional new material as well as some
artist collaborations.
Future plans with your life otherwise?
-I've never had so many plans - you'll see where
it all goes and follow along!
Words of wisdom?
-Try to be present - here and now. Don't think
too much. Show gratitude. And be kind to
everyone.
Something to add?
-Please. And helpful. And kind. And show
gratitude.