Knifven has made a
really good tribute album to Linköping's punk
band. They have done a lot of good things before
but I had never had the chance to interview
them. But now comes the long-awaited
interview.....June 2024
First of all,
congratulations on the fantastic Linköping
album....no thoughts of doing one like this for
every city?
Thanks! Awesome to hear
that you like the album! At the moment we have
no thoughts of making another cover album. On
the other hand, there have been a number of
other awesome songs from Linköping and
Östergötland that we look at a little bit, so
you should never say never, but to make a record
about any other city or region I think we leave
to a band that comes from that part of the
country. Linköping felt natural since we grew up
in and around that city and in that way have a
natural connection to many of the bands on the
record.
Which of the songs are
you most satisfied with?
We are very happy with all our interpretations
and think that we have managed to get them into
"Knifven-land", both with how we play them and
that we have translated several of the lyrics
into Swedish. If we have to choose a track,
maybe it will be "Meningen med l,ivet" by Raped
Teenagers. A fantastic song to play that also
"sat like a hit" right away and which is also
written by a band that has meant a lot to the
punk and hardcore scene in Linköping.
How did the idea for an album like
this come up?
Our guitarist Anders started producing a
documentary film about Linköping's hardcore
scene in 2021 and when he digitized a large
amount of old demo cassettes, vinyls and CDs, we
discovered what a treasure trove of songs
Linköping was holding. Then the idea was born to
make the album and also release it at the same
time as Anders' film, which we also managed to
do. On May 25, 2024, the film "ÖS – The Story of
Linköping Hardcore" premiered at Skylten in
Linköping and we were there and had a release
party for our album.
Tell us a little about each member, age,
name, previous bands and what you do when you
not playing music?
Everyone in Knifven was born in the same year as
"The King" died, i.e. 1977, which makes us 47
Earth spins old. Anders Carlborg played during
the 90s in the hardcore band Backside from
Linköping. Since then, he has been in the metal
band Damien (Karlstad), the punk rockers The
Comedy (Sthlm) and the surf punks Skinvest (Sthlm).
On a daily basis, Anders works as a TV and film
editor in Stockholm. Joakim Andersson was part
of the Linköping rock and indie scene during the
90s and played in bands such as Youth Confusion,
Primary Fuse and Samways. Jocke currently works
as a project manager at IKEA in Malmö. Adrian
Hörnquist banged the drums in Linköping's metal
scene during the 90s in e.g. Thornclad and Rabid
Crew. Today, Adrian works with communication at
the City of Malmö, including responsibility for
the Malmö Festival.
How did you come together as a group in the
first place?
We got to know each other when we studied in
Norrköping in the late 90s and early 00s, but it
was only when we all moved to Stockholm that we
came up with the idea of forming a band. This
was probably around 2006/2007. Then we formed
the band Melu who played some form of indie rock
with post-rock influences. We were a quartet
then and when the other guitarist left in the
autumn of 2010 we formed Knifven quite
immediately. Stylistically we went in a
completely different direction (punk) and we
also started writing lyrics in Swedish. In the
spring of 2011 we released our first demo "Kungariket".
On that recording we sound like a hybrid of the
previous band (Melu) and what Knifven came to
be.
Photo:
Luc
How do you think the music life is going on
in Sweden today, any bands that you want to
highlight that you don ́t think my readers have
control of?
A very good question! Which is not entirely easy
to catch in just one answer. It's great that
there are still conditions for live music around
the country. Then it's clear that those
conditions are not always the best, at least not
if you as an unestablished band want to go out
and play. When you talk to bookers and venues,
you don't always get the brightest picture of
what life is like for many of the enthusiasts
who still put up gigs around Sweden. It is
probably not always so easy to get the finances
together and then you as an organizer may often
choose what feels like a little safer card. And
it's easy for there to be a lot of "no, thanks"
for bands that are newly formed or that lack
contacts and networks. If you look at the
musical, there are a lot of good artists and
bands, some who should be paid more attention
and get more chances to play on the live stages.
Instead of mentioning a lot of bands, we'll
mention one. If you haven't heard or checked out
the Scanian punks in Golvad Grävling, you should
do it immediately.
What does punk mean to you, is it just a
style of music or is it a way of life?
Punk is definitely a way of life even if we are
in no way any classic punks, at least to the
outside. D.I.Y is something that has shaped us
since we were young and played in Linköping's
various music scenes. The desire to create and
take care of things ourselves is something that
drives all three of us and permeates the band.
If we hadn't had that, it would have been
difficult to keep the flame alive as we have
sometimes been very spread out over both Sweden
but also abroad. Of course, it is based on a
strong friendship but also a drive that probably
stems from those formative years in Linköping.
To name a band Knifven with that
spelling, how come and who came up with it?
We had a wet evening with some friends and tried
to come up with different band names. Kniven was
one of all the suggestions. We liked it, no
other "bigger" band was called it (The Knife
doesn't count ;)) and to make it a little more
unique we added the old Swedish spelling. The F
also makes the word itself a little more
graphically pretty.
When you make music for your own music, how
does it work, does someone do everything or how
do you do it?
Anders and Jocke often come up with song ideas,
sometimes a completely finished sketch or just a
riff. After that, it's a very democratic work,
where we mercilessly postpone things if someone
or a few don't feel that it works.
You would never get the idea to sing
in any other language than Swedish, would you?
Germany is a country we have visited several
times and even if they like the Swedish and the
music it would maybe be easier to get gigs if we
sang in English, with that said we have thought
about it but writing lyrics in Swedish was one
of the reasons why we formed Knifven so it would
feel wrong to suddenly switch to English.
What is more important, the music, the
lyrics or having a catchy chorus?
The simple and short answer is probably that all
three are important.
Name five favorite records right now?
Meat Eaters – Give me a hamburger for half the
price (demo 1984)
Vidro – Upp till dans
Pissed Jeans – Half divorce
Royal Headache – Live in America
Prison Affair – Split
Tell us about the five best concerts you have
been to?
Anders (without any order and five isn t
enough)
- Dillinger Escape plan (Klubben 2013)
- Night Birds (Helsingfors 2016)
- Futureheads (Quartfestivale 2006)
- Madball (Linköping 1998)
- Turmoil (Linköping 1999)
Adrian
-Wire (Roskilde, 2004)
- Pissed Jeans (Way Out West, 2013)
- D’Angelo (Köpenhamn, 2015)
- Alicia Keys (Way Out West, 2013)
- Neurosis (Fryshuset, Stockholm, 1999)
Jocke
-
Impalers
(Stockholm 2015)
-
Arcade Fire
(Stockholm 2005)
- Entombed (Linköping 1991)
- Bob Hund (Linköping 1994)
- Ramones (Hultsfred 1993)
Do you have any new music of your own on it´s
way?
We are currently working on new Knifven songs and the idea is to try to make a digital release in a reasonable future. When, where and how we don't dare to say yet, though.
When you release a record, do you think it's
important to release one physically or does it
feel just as good to just release digitally?
A physical vinyl feels more real than just a
digital release. But our thought going forward
is probably to try to get more smaller and
digital releases, as it feels like "the future".
Far from all people have the energy to plough
through an entire album these days.
The futureplans for the band?
The idea is to focus on getting out and playing
"on the record" during the fall and we have a
handful of dates booked. Alongside that, we
write new songs and hope to be able to have time
to record them during the fall.
Are you record collectors yourself?
No, but Anders collects old rental films from
the heyday of VHS.
The first record you bought, the
latest and the most embarrassing record in your
collection?
Anders – I may not remember the first one, but I
have a strong memory of buying Entombed's
Wolverine Blues in 1993. The last record I
bought was Fat Boys' "Big & Beautiful" at a flea
market. Most embarrassing thing in the heck ...
The Smurfs on LP, is it embarrassing? "Hallonsaft"
is a hit.
Jocke - The first vinyl record was KISS
"Destroyer" on vinyl (together with his big
brother). I'm not a KISS fan, but damn the
opening track "Detroit Rock City" is good. The
latest album is probably "Now dig this!" with
"The Creeps" from Småland. A curiosity is that
Patrick Ohlsson, who played drums with The
Creeps, also played drums in Spy (whose song
"Jag måste gå" is on our cover album). Most
embarrassing? I have two vinyl singles with the
poodle rockers "Bad English" that I bought when
they came out. But I liked it in 1989, so I
stand 100% for it.
Adrian - The first record I bought was two:
"Slippery when wet", Bon Jovi and "Girls girls
girls" by Mötley Crüe. The latest album I've
bought is the awesome desert blues rockers Etran
De L'Aïr from Niger and their album "Agadez".
The most embarrassing record is probably a vinyl
with Paula Abdul, "Shut Up and Dance: Mixes"
which I bought in the early 90's. Paula is cool
but the embarrassing thing was mainly that I
bought the record to appease my parents who were
worried that I listened so much to heavy metal
during my early teenage years.
Photo: Zäta Settergren
Tell us a little about Skivspill och rester,
will it be on vinyl?
Skivspill & rester was a project we took on
during the pandemic when we couldn't see each
other and write new songs. Then we dug out a
pile of demo recordings from the rehearsal room,
as well as recorded versions of songs that had
never been released. These were then released on
a limited cassette and unfortunately will not be
released on a vinyl. It's not 100% certain that
this cassette would have been released if the
pandemic hadn't happened. With so much time at
home, it was a perfect occupation to sit and dig
into both digital and analogue archives from the
last 10-15 years.
You have basically released everything
you have done at Gaphals, is it a company you
like... No other offers?
In fact, we have never received offers from
other companies, so it has become quite natural
to stay at Gaphals. But the biggest reason is of
course that we love the people who stand (and
have been) behind the company since it started.
You get a hell of a respect for what they've
done, when you think about how long they've been
doing it now. They have always been honest in
terms of both criticism and pep about the ideas
we presented and have been a fantastic sounding
board over the years. It would probably have
felt a bit strange to go to another label this
far into Knifven's "career".
When you play live, what kind of audience do
you draw?
It's probably a bit mixed. We prefer to play
with other bands when we play outside. And
preferably local acts. And depending on how the
act in question is style-wise, there can be very
different character in the audience from night
to night. We are not a band that necessarily
attracts a younger audience. But when we played
in Visby in May, 70-80% of the audience was
probably between 15-20 years old. An incredibly
nice experience, which will linger for a long
time in our memories.
What is the most fun place to play?
All places have their charm and it's extremely
rare that we don't have fun when we're out. But
if you have to name a place that is always a
little special, it has to be Dirty Deeds
Rockklubb (DDRK) on Hisingen in Gothenburg. The
world's finest people, both in the organizing
group and the audience. Which at the same time
are completely crazy! :) We have done three gigs
there now in recent years and had extremely fun
every time.
What is the strangest thing that ever
happened during a gig with you?
The strangest thing is perhaps when the chef at
a place in Lund came out with a bunch of
schnapps and poured us in while we played. After
that, he came out with a fire extinguisher and a
kitchen knife and pounded the beat through an
entire song. Loud, surreal and extremely
entertaining.
What else do you think about living in
Sweden, politics, inflation etc etc?
We haven't been so damn cheerful in recent
years. The pandemic brought with it a lot of
shit, where there is certainly a lot of mental
illness lingering among people. When the
recession kicked in and a couple of harsh
winters on top of that, you're not so damn
cocky. Knifven has never been a
placard-political band, but we do have a strong
belief in solidarity, equality, peace and the
fight against social injustice. Considering how
miserable it is in many parts of the world, the
party political game often feels rather silly in
comparison. You get most tired of the sandbox
level.
If you got the chance to play with five dream
bands [both existing and defunct bands], which
five would you like to play together with at a
one mini-festival with Knifven as the main band?
Masshysteri, Royal Headache, Trubbel, Ramones
and Eddie Meduza.
Is there be a lot of interviews, boring or
fun?
Interviews are fun! You should have great
respect for the fact that someone is interested
in what you do. If no one listened or cared at
all, it would have been difficult to keep doing
this.
Which is the strangest question you have
received?
Unfortunately, I can't remember that we have
received any particularly strange question.
Which is the question you never get but want
to have, ask it and answer it?
Which song with Eddie Meduza do you always
upload with before the gig? Answer:
Bodybuilding.
Words of wisdom?
"Listen when I say that life is the meaning,
that you should end with an exclamation,
question mark or point".