Crutches is one of Sweden's best hardcore bands. Oskar is a jack of all trades and here he was really kind and answered a whole bunch of questions for a really good interview....October 2025

You have been around since 2010 approximately, how did the band come about and why?

O: We started when mine and Tom's (bassist in the band) old band was going to close down. We wanted to continue doing things together but felt that we needed new energy in some way. Then we started Crutches.

Have there been many member changes over the years?

O: Not too bad, we started the band together with Jallas on drums. I then played guitar and sang, Tom played bass. Wanted to try with only singing so we got Andreas on guitar. Jallas wanted to leave after a short time with the band, we had time to do some tour, our demo and our first 7th together. Then he chose to go on a trip and didn't want the band as a must. We checked with our old friend Daniel, Tom and I have known him since we were teenagers, and it was really only meant as a stand-in over the summer. Daniel got stuck in the band since then, which feels incredibly good. We have also had a second guitarist named Eddie with us for a couple of years but it just didn't work, so we are back as it really took off.

Which past and present bands are today's members of or have been in. Tell us a little about each current member?

O: Me and Tom played together in a band called Project Hopeless. It was the band that was the foundation of Crutches more or less. Tom hasn't really played with that many bands except these two. I have played in a band called Avfart 33. Also Voidfiller which still exists and a band called Ursut. When we were teenagers, Daniel and I had a band together called Attitydproblem. Daniel has played in a band called Tumultus, also Henrik Peterzon's Orchestra. Andreas has a band called Genöme. That's it. I may have missed something.

You have been quite active on the release front, is it important to get physical records out?

O: We've been around for a while now, 15 years, so it still feels quite reasonable to have released some records. When it comes to releasing records, it has probably been more important for ourselves than what others take to heart. We have lost a bit of the release pace if you compare to in the beginning. But it has more to do with the logistics of it itself now that not everyone lives in Malmö anymore. But I think it's important for us as a band to have goals. Releasing a record and making new music has been part of what we can feel as inspiration to continue. It has just as much to be out and play live, which we do quite a lot for our energy as a band.

You have a record label Not Enough, is that why it feels more important and maybe it's easier to get them out too?

O: I wouldn't say that it feels more important to release records because we can do it on our label. It's more a part of what I would consider the whole community of the d.i.y.punk scene in general. Me and Tom started Not Enough together in 2002, today it's mostly me who runs it. Things change. But I appreciate that the physicality with records and what punk brings.

What is the dream band to release on Not Enough?

O: I can probably feel that we have probably already done the dream release with Uncurbed Keeps the banner high. That's not what drives it all. It's rather the desire to get things out to those who find records interesting and that it somehow expands the interest in creativity in music and all that it brings.

Which is the most exotic band you have released?

O: Hard to say. It's mostly friends who have been included in Not Enough, so exotic might not be something I would think about.

Any upcoming releases to tell you about?

O: An upcoming release is a split LP with Crutches and Japanese Life that should come out at the end of the year. It feels very fun to do this together with them. Especially since we have been invited to do another tour in Japan, some gigs together with them. It feels incredibly nice.

That Crutches sounds like you got, how did it become like this?

O: Very mixed considering how much different kinds of music everyone in the band is into. But what they have in common is raw and hard raw punk/mangle. So where we are today is this nice mix of the people in the band and all our influences. I find it hard to believe that some people would think that we listen to what we do if we had said so. I also don't think that anyone can hear just a part of what we do. But it definitely affects how we sound.

You sing in both English and Swedish, what is the best thing to sing on do you think?

O: It all depends entirely on the song. It's so incredibly different to sing in the different languages. It gets a little different feeling in some way. Can feel so much rawer to shout in Swedish. But it's still a sense of what feels to fit best in relation to the music.

Who writes the lyrics?

O: I mostly write the lyrics. Nothing that excludes anything else, it has just become that way. I've felt pretty good when I sing the most.

Is it important to have texts that mean something? Or can you play a song with a lyric that is just blaha blaha?

O: Text content feels incredibly important to me personally. Would feel very strange not to have a meaning in the creation. Especially when you somehow get an opportunity to actually get someone to read what you write, to influence others to be creative. We have a fairly clearly stated anti-fascist approach, which also feels incredibly important.

Do you think people care about your lyrics, do you have any example of that?

O: Someone definitely does, but I don't think everyone necessarily would. It's just a fantastic privilege to be able to get people to listen to what you have to say. But if people don't listen, we can't force them.

There is a band from the US which is also called Crutches, have they contacted you even if you were the first with the name?

O: We've actually played in Seattle where they're based, but we haven't met. No one has said anything about it either, doesn't feel like it matters that much.

How did it happen when you agreed on the band name?

O: It was me and a friend of mine, who is not or has not been part of the band, who sat at home in our collective and tried to come up with a good name for this band. We sat and looked at the titles of records with bands that I like. Found the split with SOL/Pack. Checked the back and found one of the Pack songs called Crutches. We even used it as our logo from the cover itself. Feels like a very fun detail. The fact that the name can still feel very symbolic in the form of dysfunction in a society created for some and definitely not all, is just a bonus.

Photo:Ia Ingvarsdotter

If you had to describe your music in three words to someone who hadn't heard you, what would you say?

O: Mangeling for freedom

Now you've been on a Balkan tour and a tour of England, tell me, did you go alone or with other bands?

O: We have just been to Croatia and Slovenia now as I write this. We're going to England in a few weeks. We haven't gone with any band and won't. Feels quite ok. Fucking pep with more gigs.

Have you been abroad a lot and played? Where is best?

O: I would say that we have played outside Sweden more than we have played in Sweden. There aren't that many places for bands like us to play here in Sweden, but it's always fun with new places of course. What is best is always different, it depends entirely on the situation, if something special has happened right where we are right then and there. It matters a lot. The most important thing is usually that there is a genuineness and that there is actually a scene that supports bands that want to play, that people come to the gigs. Nothing to take for granted.

Are you more popular abroad than in Sweden?

O: Hard to say what popular would really be. There may well be different forms of pep over the years. It's a bit difficult to appreciate this question as a person in a band. Sometimes it feels like it's more than other times, but whether people are more into us or not can only be determined by seeing people with our merch on. It's incredibly nice.

How is it otherwise to play hardcore/crust in Sweden today?

O: It's fun! I would love to play in more places in Sweden that I haven't done before.

Do you have Swedish bands that you really want to recommend?

O: Lautsturmer, if you missed, check it out right away! Fantastic friends and insanely good.

Ten favorite records all time?

O: Uncurbed, Keeps the banner high

Wolfpack, A new dawn fades

Disrupt, Unrest State of Fear

Laleh

When you play live, what do you think your strength is?

O: We are relatively self-critical and have a pretty good idea of how we want to present our things. We have rehearsed a form we like very much with enough energy to get ourselves going, which in turn usually works quite well with those who come to watch us. I feel that we are a relatively vibrant live band and that is something I appreciate about other bands. We always try to do things as well as possible, even if it can sometimes fall for various different reasons.

You're a bit involved in your girlfriend/wife's Arseik store in Malmö as well or how is it? How is it going?

O: Arsenik is run and has been created by my partner Cilija. For those of you who don't know what Arsenik is, it's a store with a focus on punk, metal and other things connected to underground music lifestyle store located on the pedestrian street in Malmö. This in an old cinema so the venue itself is fantastic. At the beginning of the year, she started a bistro with the same name. Where you can eat vegan and drink beer and wine. I help with a few different things like building some metal stuff and things that may be needed if needed. For those of you who are into this, a visit is recommended if you are in Malmö. It has been a bit of a struggle lately considering the economic situation around the world, but it is being fought at full speed!

You have a lot of irons in the fire, you have children too, record companies, bands etc etc, how do you have time for everything, what do you work with otherwise?

O: Me and my partner have two little ones, 4 and 5 years old, since before I have a daughter who is now 20. I started a printing company a few years ago and it is one of my main income today mixed with different construction jobs that I get sometimes that include welding jobs type. I also work with making art so I guess that's what I do for a living.

How do you think it is to live in Sweden today and then I mean politically with SD and the idiots who rule, racism etc etc?

O: I would say that it feels like living in a headwind. I don't know where I would like to live instead of Sweden, I like it here, but it's incredibly sad to live in a country with such good conditions as we have had and yet it looks like crap in many places. It feels like society is getting colder, harsher and more mean. It is tragic and more important than ever that together we can give young people a so-called alternative view of life when they are fed with competition and difficulty. That embodiment of today's person is terribly cynical and empty. I usually wish I could stop thinking and caring about certain things, but it's kind of impossible since I as a person can't seem to handle not caring. Today's self-hatred has led to an incredible number of people having lots of opinions on the internet, where they have given themselves the right to heckle and comment on everyone's posts precisely because that's what we should do, say what we think. But at the same time, it feels like this is completely backwards and only degrading. SD and their allies unfortunately have an incredible amount to gain today from people's poor self-confidence and self-image. It is as if life has gone out for many and that they thus have an outlet for hatred and contempt. The most important thing not to forget. Fascism must be crushed!

There are many small punklabels in Sweden which release music, is it a lot of cooperation between you?

O: Yes, yes, it has been over the years. But sometimes it has felt more profitable to share releases with record companies that are located in other places around our planet. I've focused more on that. Just to get the bands' music out in the best possible way.

Which is the best record label in Sweden besides your own if you take to bands they release?

O: I wouldn't say that Not Enough is the best. It is part of the common resistance. I think that everyone who helps each other within our scene should feel equally important and not forget that it is thanks to them and their friends and their friends' bands that allow us to change things together.

Future plans for Crutches? I know you're going to do a split with Japanese Life, will it be on No Enough?

O: Yes split with Japanese Life in the works as I mentioned before. Will be released on Not Enough in Europe. Then on Desolate and Mundo A chaos in North America. Acclaim records in Japan. Distort records in Southeast Asia. That's what I know so far. More plans for Crutches are more tours for next year. Japan, Mexico a little more in Europe and everything to prevent the restlessness.

For yourself?

O: I'm just going to try to do a little more things. I don't feel like I've done enough.

Words of wisdom?

O: Take care of each other, fight, hate the state! Crush fascism!

Something to add?

O: Thank you very much for wanting to interview us. If you have tips on bands, chaos groups, creative people that you think your friends or others should know something about, let them know. Spread the word. There are many of us who do things and sometimes we miss because you don't just say it sometimes. And just like that. Say for example the band that you just saw and were so excited about, I'm bad at it myself sometimes, that you liked it. We need to support each other.

When you play live, what do you think your strength is?

O: We are relatively self-critical and have a pretty good idea of how we want to present our things. We have rehearsed a form we like very much with enough energy to get ourselves going, which in turn usually works quite well with those who come to watch us. I feel that we are a relatively vibrant live band and that is something I appreciate about other bands. We always try to do things as well as possible, even if it can sometimes fall for various different reasons.

You're a bit involved in your girlfriend/wife's Arseik store in Malmö as well or how is it? How is it going?

r.