Protestera I have long been thinking about
interviewing. Johan who used to do Pie Mag and
now runs Flyktsoda where he writes and releases
records and he
also play guitar in Protestera and also
scream out his anger. I let him speak out late
in October 2017.
The new record Pengarna eller live(Money or
life) comes out on CD and LP, I'm grateful
because like CD but how's this in these vinyl
times? You would never imagine only release it
digitally?
-Yes, we want our songs to be available to
everyone, so at least every record should be on
vinyl and digital but now Danne (Halvfabrikat
rec) would also release the new record on CD and
that's just fine. Just releasing songs digitally,
I do not think any of us are interested in that
because we want to write things and do layout as
we like. We spend a lot of time and effort on
making the records a whole, partly because of
taht it took over two years to get the album
ready hahaha.
The title of the record Pengarna eller
live(Money or life),does it mean something
special or was it just a good title?
-It is a good title, we think, and it is based
on capitalism's predecessor on our planet and on
our entire social context as human beings. No
human being owns the right to his own existence
as it is now, but we are forced into
constructive social contexts where we primarily
have to slaughter for capital and consume and
reproduce, instead of living our lives as free
people. So the title is like choosing to be a
slave for money or living the life, well then
the answer is obviously to live.
You have, like me, been in punk for a long time,
how do you think it has been developed / changed
over the years? What are the good developments
and what are the bad things that have become
worse developed?
-Yes, I belong to those who do not think it was
better before. I always find new bands that are
great, the punkscene in Scandinavia is more open
now and not only a lot of guys in the bands and
in the organizer groups, and this has been a big
boost because it has made more people feel
welcome and dare to start own bands, fanzines,
labels and playgroups. Those who look back to
the late 80's and are nostalgic seem to have
forgotten how limited it was then and how little
people who came to the gigs, at least in most
cases. Then there are trends that come and go,
around the turn of the century, it was ok to be
a political band, now it's more black-metal
influenced and defiant in general, suppose that
it follows societal developments in general
where it is prohibited to convey any kind of
left message . But trends come and go. When the
so-called hardcore scene was the biggest in the
90's, I think it was most uninteresting; the
bands did not play hardcore at all, they played
more some kind of slow machometal that I could
never identify with, hardcore should be fast and
cool! I think ... Now it's even better on that
front.
Protestera has lasted for a long time, how long
is it and have you chaned many members?
-We started playing 1999 and at the beginning,
members were exchanged quite a bit, when the
set-up was done properly, I and Anders (guitar)
had been around all the time, but Kalle (drums)
came with -02 and Hanna (bass / song) -03 and we
four have stayed together since then, then we
have had singers who have come and gone and come
back and stopped again but now we have been a
quartet with the same staff for about ten years
and when we've been together for so long and
been
so much together, we know each other
before and before, so it would be difficult for
someone new to join the group.
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Tell us a little about today's members, names,
age, family, jobs, other bands and something
really fun, no-one knows about every person in
the band?
-We all worh with care, school and care.
Everyone except I'm born in the 80's, I'm born
... eeeeeh, before that we can say ... Everyone
except Kalle has kids. Something fun about each
person .... Well, Hanna brushes her teeth as
soon as she gets the chance and is a real "doer"
who gets things done. Kalle has a very good
local feel; once when we played in Zûrich he sat
asleep in the back of the bus and we went wrong(there
was no GPS at that time and we had only been in
the city once before) suddenly he shouted from
the back seat "here we will turn right and then
is it left ... etc "in the middle of the night
... how did you know that? I asked "I passed by
when I posted a letter once". Anders is a
personal trainer and has actually contributed to
training an actor in the film about Håkan
Helllström, also partly in charge of the
national team in MMA. I'm really bad ffinding
places and once I went wrong on the toilet on
the German ferry ... followed a guy who would go
out (I thought) but he pushed the door towards
me and I pushed back, then he said "no!" And
then I discovered that It was not the exit and
the guy would go in to the toilet and obviously
he didn´t want my company there.
You have done a lot of tours over the years and
especially then in old Eastern Europe or how is
it? I have read a lot about it in Flyktsoda
about your tours, but do you have any really
funny memory you did not share tjere and
something really hard you want to tell us?
-Now, we have toured most in Western Europe, we
have only done two shorter rounds in Poland and
some gigs in the Czech Republic and in the
Balkans. There are so many funny memories and we
having a hard time. When it comes to bad stuff,
there's no hit when we have a been in a car all
day, finding out to the venue and it turns out
they did not prepare anything at all, or type
forgotten ... have just happened a couple of
times. Otherwise, we almost always have fun and,
as I said before, we feel so well and trust each
other so it's seldom strange nowadays. OK, I can
tell you a cool thing; We had to go away and
play 3-4 gigs in Germany in the winter, meet
early in the rehearsal room, it was cold and
snow and one of our members came in a vest,
stretch jeans and leg warmer and that's all, no
packing, no sleeping bag nothing. This person
obviously forgot that we should go away, but
thought that we would only rehearse but did not
want to lose his face and said carefree; "I go
like this, nice with light package". Without
sleeping bags on squats in Germany where there
is not always heat. I asked this unnamed person
did not want to borrow a sleeping bag from me
... "Well ... ok then, if you're nagging".
Is it very varied how those who book have
steered things up before or does it always work?
-It works almost always good, now we have got a
pretty good network of contacts, so we know
about how it gets, it's mostly south of Germany
where people do not seem to have the right
breakfast, they eat a little white bread with
possibly marmalade on which we think is hard ...
we are the real breakfast people all, so a big
breakfast and coffee is something that we really
appreciate.
Which is the biggest band you played with?
-Big band ...? Hm ... yes, I do not know, I'm
not so impressed with "big bands", that's
subjective, I think Sara and Josefin / Burning
Kitchen / Sju Svåra år/ Abductee SD etc are the
best songwriters we have in this country and we
have played with them. Then we have toured with
Apatia No and played with so many bands that I
have difficulty choosing a few.
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If you could choose five bands from history,
living or dead to have a concert together with
Protestera, which five had you chosen?
-Now it's only me who answer so I write what I
think about right now:
Sju Svåra år
M.D.C
Bratakus
Witch Hunt
Asta Kask
Have you received a lot of complaints on your
name or have you received it most positively.
You were not afraid that any other band would
have taken this eminent name before?
-Haha, at the beginning there were many who
wondered and didn´t like but now we have been
there for so long that people are used to it.
No, we have never thought it's a great name, as
anyone would like to snoop, but now there's a
band called Protester, which is damn like, and
that pops up when looking for our name. But now,
that said nothing we think much about longer.
Did you have any other names you talked about
when you were going to name the band?
-Ohh yeah .... All suggestions were pretty bad,
so every person who joined the band then voted
for two or three suggestions that they
absolutely did not want, so the proposal that
got the least votes "won" and it became
Protestera.
It works well with Halvfabrikat Records I
understand? What's the best about that company?
-Yes it works great! Skuld releases released our
first album -00 and halvfabrikat Records
released our first EP -04, since then it's
mainly the two who released our albums and they
have collaborated earlier when we released
albums; Skuld has released the LP and
Halvfabrikat the CD and almost all of our EP's.
Then this terrible accident with Kleister /
Skuld releases happened when he unfortunately
went away (which I still find it hard to realize
because he was one of our best friends) and now
Danne / Halvfabrikat wanted to release the new
disc on both LP and CD so there was never any
hesitation. Halvfabrikat let us do what we want,
but are still careful about how the editions
look and he seems to have a large network of
contacts so the discs are spread. Of course, it
is also a DIY label, so nothing is paid for
money here and there, we get a certain
percentage of the discs printed as we can sell
on gigs and when they sold, we can buy more at a
fair price.
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Is there a lot of unreleased stuffjust waiting
to be released in a large LP / CD box with
Protestera or is most of the recorded already
released?
-Haha, as long as it takes for us to get out of
our new songs there is guaranteed no not
published material. By contrast, Halvfabrikat
has been talking about releasing a collection of
singles and other odd songs on a compilation-CD
next year, so we have sent all the songs and
lyrics to it anyway.
Who makes the lyrics and what are you most
inspired of?
-All are well-involved in the texts, usually
someone has written a text and we are filing the
formulations together. I can not speak for the
others, but a new disc with Thåström or Burning
Kitchen or Sju Svåra År gives me a lot of
inspiration to write, even though the lyrics are
not influenced by the ones I mentioned, I'll be
as peeped as I listen to them. Generally, in
terms of texts, we try to write positive texts
and avoid misery and pessimism, and there are
enough people to do that, we want to make texts
that people get pepped and create affiliation
and struggle. That's our goal.
I understand you think politics and music belong
together, but are there any bands that make
music without politics that you like a lot?
-Well, I'm listening a lot to The Breeders and
that fluffy indie, Hanna and Anders listen a lot
to death and black metal, Kalle is listening to
everything you can imagine.
Is there something you would never write a text
about?
-Hm, what a difficult question, I do not really
know what you actually mean. There is no
phenomenon we could not imagine writing about.
I know you support AIK, are the others
interested in football and, of course, what
teams do they like?
-It's right, I'm probably the worst. Hanna is
probably more interested than the others, and
she is into GAIS, Anders support on all teams
coming from Gothenburg but most I think IFK Gbg,
Kalle, I have never heard talking about soccer
...
So a tribute to AIK is not applicable to
Protestera?
-No, hardly it would feel ridiculous too and
nothing that fits our band. Being a football
supporter is more like a disease and nothing I
recommend anyone else to become, get stuck in
it, it's more anxiety than fun.(There I really
agree as a supporter to GAIS/editor)
You also make Flysoda and are very diligent with
releases there. What drives you to do it and get
it out as often as you manage to?
-Yes it is true. I am currently doing a issue
where the theme is fanzines and where I try to
explain my love to fanzines and the total
freedom it means to make a fanzine. I
participated in a fanzine collective in the 90's
and after we settled down, there has always been
a sigh after making a new fanzine. Almost four
years ago I started and now I have just released
my 17th number. What drives me is mainly that
there's so very much good music to write about
right now. After all, it has always been that as
soon as I get a new number from the printer, I
am dissatisfied with something and want to get
started immediately to do a better thing ... and
then it will continue.
If you think about reviews you've received on
your discs, do you have any really weird or odd
reviews that you can share?
-Yes, the worst is still the review on the first
LP in
Close-Up, where they called us
Stalinists. If anyone writes after reading the
lyrics, then the person does not know a shit
about what Stalinism is ... we thought it was
entertaining. That's the only thing I can think
of as being weird, but I do not like Close-Up,
the commercial stuff they do so it was good in
that paper.
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Do you care as a musician a lot about the
reviews really?
-Most people say no to that question, but I
think everybody cares ... we've laid down soul
and heart on our records so if someone thinks
it's shit, I'll be a bit sad at least, but soon
it's over and there is always someone who likes
what we do and then we get energy from them
instead.
How do you think the punkscene in Sweden is
right now? You are well aware of new bands, are
there any bands that you can recommend to
readers and please describe what style they
play?
-Oh yes !!! The punk in this country has never
been better! STRUL have just released a new 7 "called"
Föredrar ju fest"which is a real damn fast hc
record that is really recommended! TROTS
self-titled 12 "is also one of the best releases
of the year, punk / hc with aggressiveness as
well as melodies, if it had come in the 90's,
certainly Profane Existence had released it. SJU
SVÅRA ÅR soon releases a new 7 " with threechord
punk rock with the world's best lyrics, among
the best I've heard. SHAKING HEADS self-titled
debut album that I released along with Ken Rock
garage punk with incredibly good record. The
ISOTOPE SOAP-is mad synth-hc which have released
a 7 "and a 12" both of which are totally
sovereign. HEAVY BLEEDING is recording a demo
that I am very eager to hear. So, there are so
many good bands!
Five favorite records right now?
-Bratakus ”Target grrrl” (12”), Strul ”Föredrar
ju fest” (7”), Shaking Heads s/t (12”), RAS
”Entreprenad” (12”),
Trots s/t (12”)
Politically, it is turbulent in Sweden right now.
What's the worst thing going on now in the
country besides SD and NRM and the like?
-Yes it may be worse than ever, where all
parties are in the same line more or less; an
extremely neoliberal policy mixed with racist
shit. Disgusting that the socialsparty, along
with most of the Alliance and Nazis in SD,
closed the borders in early 2016 while a
humanitarian disaster is taking place in Syria.
This racism such as SD and NMR is the extremes
of being sanctioned by the government and the
alliance-I feel bad when I see how racists
question is mad over the government and call
them "left elite, pc" etc when it's the exact
opposite. That people are so blown that they do
not see the connection with completely bizarre
tax cuts for the richest (who have never done a
handle throughout their lives besides owning
things and moving money) and worsening in the
public sector, but seriously believe that due to
the fact that there are refugees here ... but
it's all about brainwashing - when the
rightwingghosts repeat their lies repeatedly,
people finally believe that something is behind.
-How do you think the election will be next year?
-No idea, or I'm 100% sure that the richest ones
remain in power and there will be no so-called
democratic election to a parliament to change
Do you vote? Why or why not?
-I've done it sometime but felt dirty afterwards,
as if I had approved this dictatorship we live
in. However, voting or not voting does not make
any difference.
Is there a lot of interviews? What do you prefer,
mail, face to face or how do you want to be
interviewed? Is it boring to be interviewed?
-Now it's not so often nowadays, it's easiest
with mail, so one can think after a little ...
But when I look at results when I interviewed
people to my fanzine, it's face to face fun to
read but that's the way is hardest to do, I
think. No, it's not boring, this is the most fun
I know to talk about so being interviewed about
it's just fun.
What is the strangest question you received in
an interview? Do you appreciate getting strange
questions or do you feeling tired when people
try to be fun and have idiot issues?
-Haha, well, we have not received so much
strange questions. The strangest thing was when
a couple of idiots tricked us and sent an
interview where they pretended to be a girl from
Spain with a fanzine and when we responded they
thought they "put us there" and released it in
their fanzine (Meskalin I think it was called ),
it was really stupid because there were no
strange questions and we did not answer
strangely.
Will there be a lot of gigs now with the new
disc?
-We will go on a short tour with Myteri now in
late November to Germany and Denmark, then we
will try to make three gigs in Scandinavia
together with MASSMILICJA in the spring and I
hope we will have a "real" tour of a couple
weeks next year, if we can get it with all the
small children and jobs and stuff, but we have
managed to do that earlier.
Do you have any favorite place to play in
Sweden?
-The last time we played in Umeå at the work was
absolutely superb, Sicksounds arr at Sthlm
Cyclops, as well, it's always fun to play here
in our town as well.
Future plans for the band otherwise?
-It's good to go out and play as much as
possible. We have always prioritized to try to
thank yes to all the gigs we get and to tour as
much as it goes, a little at the expense of
writing new songs and it has always felt quite
right. So, we'll try to continue the same way,
but hope that it does not take long before we
get out some new material.
For yourself?
-I'm quite pleased with what I have, the band I
would like to spend more time on, especially in
the rehersalroom but it's probably not possible
right now. Otherwise, my plan is to continue
with the fanzine, expand the distro I have and
eventually bring together more money to release
more records.
Words of wisdom?
- Do it yourself - together!
Easy to add?
-Thank you for the interest! See you in the
corridors of the big hospital