Mårten Lärka was happy when I asked him to do an interview and felt honored about this. Mårten has sent me records the last few years and it has been interesting to follow his antics over the years. December-2025

Tell us a little about Mårten Lärka, age, why he plays music and how long this has been going on, what else do you do when you are not playing music?

-Born and raised in Jättendal, in northern Hälsingland. In the real countryside. It has been necessary to create and invent one's own reality or fantasy. And the space has been there in practical terms. It has been a creative stew, but music creation took over in her later teens. Is 54 years old. A staggering age, for this business, one might think. I remember when Charlie Watts turned 54. He received a standing ovation at Stockholm Stadium and we in the audience sang Happy birthday. At that time, he was the oldest in the Stones. Now I'm a few months older than he was then, which gives perspective. I don't really have any problems with age, but playing music also helps you feel timeless, ageless and immortal. You become like Dracula and are constantly resurrected. Creating and performing music has become a way of life. I've adapted a lot of other things in my life to make room for music to this extent. I don't have a permanent job. But I support myself by working by the hour in lots of places; in care and in crafts. Has my own company and is a trained nurse etc. Lark is a family name on my mother's side.

You have done a few different styles it feels like and is very difficult to put in a special box, how would you describe your music?

-I don ́t think it ́s even music I ́m doing really. I've long said that it's an expression, but I've now come to the conclusion that it's probably just an expression. It will be what it will be and what comes to mind. It is a way of living and relating to reality and the environment. A kind of nutrition.

You made an album with Stig Dagerman lyrics, how did that idea come about?

-A friend of mine, Daniel Östersjö, made an announcement where he was looking for new Dagerman compositions for a festival in connection with the celebration of Stig Dagerman's 100th birthday. I had never done any composition, so it was a big challenge. In addition, Stig Dagerman is a favorite author. The heirs said yes, so it was clearly backwards, and the songs wrote themselves. It just kept rolling.

Now you have released five new songs and I got them on a cassette, will it be released on record too I hope?

-We are currently working on a large amount of songs and aim to release it physically in the future. Preferably on cassette, but also other formats.

Tell us a little about the following songs

Nine

-Photographic memory from the ninth grade. A time I remember with warmth. Romance or navel-gazing, but a new way of writing lyrics for me. Like an uncensored diary.

Inte imponerad

-Obstinate feeling of not being seen and heard in the noise of everything else that is better, more important and more credible, and standing there longing to go home to your Slade records. An alienated feeling I think I share with many.

Cornell Woolrich

-Another favorite author. Saw a French TV series, when I was far too young, that left a deep mark. Based on the Woolrich book "The Moment of Vengeance", it would turn out. Recently, certain events appeared in my life that brought to mind characters and similes that are usually found in Cornell Woolrich stories. Horrible things took place. I don't want to go into more detail. I intended to both draw attention to Cornell Woolrich and interpret my own experiences of what took place.

What inspires you to write the lyrics?

-Life itself. Things I experience or experience. Preferably things that might not otherwise be noticed. Often with an underdog or an outside perspective. Many ideas come from my work with people with special needs.

Politics?

-I don't know anything about it. Feels like it's difficult to orient oneself politically today. Seems to be mostly about populism and egoism. Politics is important really, I think. I am on the side of the weak; Whether it is politics, I do not know. Maybe I'm pursuing my own policy?

 You have done a lot of songs in French too, how come?

-Have a Renault 4 "Laban". Wanted to do a tribute song to that car. When I realized that I could rhyme Voulez-vous with Volvo, I saw a future in French. In addition, I have a soft spot for Jacques Brel, Serge Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy and others. I have a friend from Algeria named Hamid Khodja. He started writing lyrics for me after he heard the song about the Renault, "Belle Quatrelle". Will continue with that too. A fun way to learn a language; to start at the wrong end. First sing songs and making records and then learn the language.

I compare you to everything from Olle Ljungström, Neil Young and Nick Cave, what is the strangest thing you have heard besides this?

-Extremely flattering comparisons. Was compared to a Dutch artist once, Hermann Van Veen. Never heard of. Just today I got another comparison: 22 Pistepirko, but that's pretty accurate anyway. Always interesting with fun comparisons. Nothing is too strange.

You ́re almost a little punky in Inte Imponerad? What is your relation to punk?

-Got extremely inspired by a radio program about punk one Sunday in Advent 1986. Tenth anniversary after "Anarchy in The UK" was released, I think. Recorded almost everything. There we have the first lines of text in "Nine" as well. There was an attitude and a simplified pop form that I hadn't found in hard rock. I have a photographic memory so I remember such important dates and almost times... I remember how I fell immediately, especially for "I'm stranded" by The Saints. Ten years after everyone else... It was like hearing David Bowie for the first time again, but boiled down to something I almost imagined I could accomplish myself. Clearly inspiring.

What's the weirdest review you've ever received?

-Some unjustified sawing of course, but usually try to forget those.

Do you care about reviews, would you ever think about changing something because someone wrote some kind of criticism?

-I care less the older I get, but I'm overjoyed if someone likes what you do, whether it's a reviewer or a friend. But has zero adaptability.

Who are you playing with now, I mean who is there when you play live?

-emligheten is Martin Hellquist on drums, Lutten Larsson on keyboards and Lars Olsson on bass. The same band that played Stig Dagerman with me.

Do you have any other groups besides Mårten Lärka?

-The Trimatics (power pop), T.Rec (T.Rex cover band) and Studio Noll (quasi-intellectual studio pop on a long bench).

Living in Sweden today, how do you think it is, politically etc?

-It is probably better than what we who live here are aware of. There are many worse alternatives. But it's still not the Sweden I grew up in. Just the fact that educational associations and youth centres no longer receive the same financial support will make cultural life increasingly poor in the future. Here, many music performers disappear as they do not get the opportunity they themselves got; to start a band and be on stage etc.

Is there any really good bands/artists that you want to highlight?

-Hanoi Rocks and Slade are always so badly underrated, but they are foreign. Magnus Uggla I have probably listened to the most among Swedish artists and he gets away with most things. Ida Lova's song "Svagare än jag" is probably the song I've been most hooked on among new Swedish songs this year. I've heard a little Kite too and like it. Some acts I have personal connections to are Second Place from Hudiksvall and Bodinrocker and Spela död, based in Gothenburg.

When you play live, what kind of people come?

-Curious children, cultural adults and conscious young people, I usually say. Tua, my future wife, usually comes too. That's probably how we met.

Ten favorite records of all time?

-Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers",

David Bowie "Hunky dory",

Hanoi Rocks "All those wasted years",

Serge Gainsbourg ”Histoire de Melody Nelson",

Brian Eno ”Here come the warm jets",

The Beatles "The Beatles (White album)",

Miles Davis ”Kind of blue”,

Bob Marley "Live",

The Velvet Underground & Nico ("bananplattan"),

Francois Hardy "Le premier bonheur du jour".

The first record you bought or got?

-Got Abba "The album" on cassette from my dad and a portable tape recorder with recording cassette, when I was 6 years old. A whole new world opened up.

The album that changed your life?

-Have to say David Bowie "Best of Bowie", which I bought with my own money on cassette (I like cassettes). But Mötley Crüe's "Shout at the devil", on vinyl, the following year, is probably hot on their heels...

Last album you bought?

-Daniel Östersjö "The Portraits".

The album you're ashamed of?

-There is nothing like that. Music is never something to be ashamed of.

The album that makes Mårten Lärka sound like it does?

-If Mårten Lärka would be a single song it is probably "Oh la la" by The Faces. Show in shuffle, low-key but with an unpolished attitude. French title too. All in one..

The album that always has to be on the tour bus or before you go on stage?

-Maybe no album; but songs like "Stephanie says" by the Velvet Underground, "Satellite of love" by Lou Reed and "Waiting on a friend" by the Stones and almost anything by Jonathan Richman of course. "With a little help from my friends" by the Beatles is probably included too. Things that make you laugh are important. Also the Scooby Doo signature from the first seasons.

The album that you would have liked to have played on?

-I'm very annoyed with "Born in the U.S.A", as a song. Would have been very fun to be on the Beatles and Stones recordings of course. But I've almost been involved in these anyway because I've seen so much of what is documented.

Do you buy a lot of records these days?

-Yes!

Photo Joakim Brolin

How do you listen to music yourself, is it CD, vinyl, cassette, digital or how do you listen?

-Cassette before I go to sleep. Right now very old self-recorded cassettes from radio in the 80s; Rockbox and stuff. Falls asleep best to heavy metal. Vinyl and some CD. I don't listen so much digitally. But digital is otherwise good for discovering things, especially BandCamp. Otherwise, I'm mostly a backward thinker. Want music physically. Music is not just the sound, it is also the smell of a cardboard envelope and the feeling of the inner bag or the flipping of the tray and shelf. Even the plastic boxes are not like any other plastic boxes.

I don't play music myself unfortunately but I am just a listener, but do you usually listen to your own work or do you only listen right after you have released it and are in the recording phase or how is it for you?

-I like to listen to old demos and ideas on cassette if I can't sleep. I occasionally listen to the finished productions, to have some kind of inner dialogue with myself. Maybe to understand myself or something.

If you think back to when you had your first gigs with your first band, what's the difference with if you compare to playing live today?

-No difference. There were more people and a little more pulse at that time. Well, you are perhaps a little better prepared nowadays. But expectations are still sky-high

What is the kick of playing live?

-Surpass yourself. A way to socialize with fellow musicians and audience.

Is it easy to get gigs in?

-No. More difficult than ever.

What is the strangest thing that ever happened during a concert with a band that you have been in?

-I remember a gig in Hamburg, at a small smoky club in the Reeperbahn. I played my self-titled song "Mårten Lärka" when a man and a giant dog dance the steering dance throughout the song.

Future plans with music?

-Continue to create and record as well as do good live shows. Find new interesting topics to write about.

For yourself?

-To stay healthy and happy and spend my time on what I and my loved ones feel good about.

 Words of wisdom?

-Courage, conviction, perseverance.

Something to add?

-Love is good.