When you think about that if you take three guys from Staf and add up their ages, I'm still older, but music has no age and preferably not good music. Staf storms forward like Oasis with a pair of brothers, but now it is not the Gallagher brothers but the Staf brothers who make up 2/5 of the rock group Staf. With a digital record in their back pocket they released a few months ago Alla änglar är döda and this is a group that has the future ahead of them. It is Sebastian who answers the questions one day at the end of March-2026

Tell us a little about when you met and why you decided to form a rock group?

-The band consists of me and my little brother Jonathan, so he and I have been "forced" to get to know each other. We didn't really have a choice. He and I have always liked rock music and played together since we were little and learned to play together. From the beginning it was just the two of us, but then we realized that we needed another member. Waldemar went to the same school as me and Jonathan, but one grade below Jonathan (and two for me), we saw that he wore bandshirts with bands we liked and then we saw that he played guitar too. After he played with us once, we became very good friends and asked if he wanted to join. Benjamin was in the same class as his brother in high school, and we were looking for a guy who would do synths. Then it was bonus points that he had a driver's license too, of course! Alfred (who is now in the military) we got to know through skateboarding I think, and we needed a bass player for the band so he could join (even though he was actually a guitarist). Now he's in the military so our friend Alex plays with us instead, he's actually from Östersund but moved down here to study. He had booked us for a gig up in Östersund and became good friends at an afterparty up there. After that we kept in touch and then we found out that he was moving down to Gothenburg around the same time as Alfred went to the military service, so that was perfect. 

Tell me a little about each member, instrument, age, if you have other bands on the side etc etc?

-I (Sebastian Staf) am 20 years old (2005) and play guitar and sing, or do my best anyway. My brother is 19 (born 2006) and plays drums. Walle is 19 (2007) and plays lead guitar, Benjamin is 19 (2006) and Alex is 20 (2005). My brother sings in another band that changes band names as often as you change underwear, but they are actually very good. Very Primal Scream, Chemical Brothers inspired. I think Walle has started jamming with them lately but those guys are so unclear so I don't really know. Benjamin sings and plays guitar in his own band Respit, a newly formed indie-pop band. Me and the others in the band used to go and watch them to tease Benja, but now they've become so good that we can no longer do it. He sings well, sounds exactly like his father (David Urwitz). Alex has started with some weird boy band but I don't really know, it seems fun. Personally, I'm only doing with Staf right now, it's way too much otherwise.

You are quite young, is that an advantage do you think?

-Yes, I would probably say so, at least the age we are in now. Now we can play in bars and clubs and still be so young that it still feels exciting. I actually think we were too young when we started, to be taken seriously, but after all the years we've played, people are probably starting to understand. At the same time, it's good to start as early as we did, to be able to build real relationships with those who listen and then have a few years on your neck without being old and wrinkled.

Is it so that many young people don't start bands today or is it a common phenomenon today?

-It probably depends on which circles you are in. The way I understand it, there are many more people who start bands now than there were a few years ago, but it can also have to do with the people I hang out with. It feels like live music and bands as a concept are starting to come back now, almost like a backlash to digitalization and the lack of a community.

I've listened a lot to a podcast called Den Vingliga Vägen hem and there Jönsson from Attentat participates, and he has always been passionate about you, does it mean a lot when an old rock guy like Jönsson praises you?

-Fun! It's a fun podcast. Yes, I have understood that, and it is great fun. He is a legend in Swedish punk and Gothenburg and it is very fun that he likes us, because we love Attentat! So it means a lot, especially when it feels a little unexpected that he will like the music we do. I actually remember him once telling me that he thought our early stuff was bad, but that he liked what came after. But really it doesn't matter so much if someone likes the music we make or not, we don't write the music for others, but for ourselves. Because I feel that I have to write about something, or because we want to make good music together. The fact that other people like what we like is a plus.

How have the reviews been otherwise?

-They have been very good, the reviewers usually like our music much more than we like our songs. We get tired of our songs after a maximum of two weeks. However, many people seem to have a hard time letting go of our age, which is sad because it's the music you should focus on and not how old we are. Music is something that should erase such boundaries, I think. However, it was a guy who reviewed the latest album and found some really deep meaning in the song "Ingen vill va" that we hadn't even thought of ourselves. That song was actually a parody of all the "Kent copies" that almost compete to see who can make the most depressing music. But it was kind of funny that someone can find such depth in it!

It's hard to compare you with anything else but which bands have you heard comparisons with?

-Thank you! We try to sound as own as possible and create our own sound. Ironically we have been compared to Kent, which is fun because Kent is good but we hate that so many new bands just try to sound like them all the time. There has been some wave of Swedish alternative music where everyone tries to sound like Kent, and it's a bit boring. We have also been compared to Radiohead, which is a shame because we hate Radiohead... Then we've also heard that we sound like Imperiet and The Cure, which feels a little more reasonable. Personally, I'm very inspired by Nick Cave, The Cure, Bauhaus and such. But Tom Waits, too, loves Tom Waits. 

You have done a record before, Håll truten borgarunge but it doesn't exist physically or? No thoughts in that case of letting it go physically as well?

-No, exactly! Unfortunately, it does not exist physically even though we previously had thoughts of releasing it physically, but do not think we will do so in the near future. We are quite tired of it and think it sucks a little. But if there is demand, we will see what we can solve!

The title of that record has surely stirred up emotions or how is it? What do you mean by the title?

 -You can say that it did. The title "Shut the Trout Bourgeois Kid" is also the name of the first track and the lead single to the album, and the name of it ironically comes from when some crust punks yelled it at us during our second gig ever (fFaggelberget 2022 if I remember correctly). They didn ́t think we were punk because we didn ́t just stud and had spiky hair. Which is a little bit weird because punk is about being able to express yourself freely and not let yourself be boxed in by any rules (like that you have to dress in a certain way). We thought it sounded good and chose to write a song about it, which among other things is about, then we felt that it was a good name for the album as it conveyed what we wanted with the whole album. To show where we stood politically and give a finger to people who think they are above you. You are not better than someone else just because you have different financial conditions or something else. 

The new record is called "Alla änglar är döda" and it sounds good for a GAIS-fan like me What was the idea with that title?

-Hahaha! Jönsson talked about that too, but the title actually has nothing to do with Swedish football or Blåvitt. It's a line from the song "Amor" that we thought sounded good as the title for the album, which is a pretty dark and gray record that is a lot about hopelessness. The songs are very much about broken hearts, mental illness and hopelessness in a society that oppresses you. We thought that the line summed up the album well, that "All angels are dead" can be perceived as that the hope you have is gone and there is no one left by your side. It signals hopelessness as well. 

Who does the lyrics and what inspires?

-I'm the one who writes the lyrics. Often I write the lyrics before the music is created, the music comes naturally after I write. The lyrics often come from what I myself experience, see and feel. Sometimes it can be that I want to tell a story, but often it's mostly about me having to get something out of my body that I just have to say. Writing is my best way to express myself, I've never been good at it verbally so often my thoughts are written down.

You have named the band after your last name, was there a lot of discussion before you decided on that name?

-Actually, not at all. When me and my brother started a band it was almost obvious that we would be called Staf, Van Halen named his band after himself so why shouldn't we? There was a while when I wanted to change the band name but the others in the band actually said abruptly no, so we're still called Staf!

You had a gig at a secret place in Mölndal last year that Foggy Days organized, was it a fun experience, tell us a little?

-Exactly! It was an incredibly fun experience and a perfect way to round off the year. It was fun to have it in a secret place, which was then in the "Catacombs" in Kvarnbyn. The venue was perfect for the atmosphere we wanted, it was dark, lit with lots of candlelight, underground and incredibly intimate. We also managed to squeeze an unexpected amount of people into the room so it was packed to the brim, which was really fun. We chose to do a semi-acoustic set, and then we got the chance to rework our songs in a completely different way than we could do before. Now we could give the songs a completely different structure than they had before. It was also fun to have so much freedom in how the whole event should be, everything from the lighting, the decoration and the soundscape to how we wanted the audience to be placed and how everything was marketed. Then Ebbot Lundberg and Jossy showed up as guest artists. Jossy is an incredibly talented singer and songwriter and it was great to work with her and have her on one of our songs (Inatt). Playing live with Ebbot was a bit like a dream come true for all the members, we are all big fans of both TSOOL and Union Carbide and improvising an extended version of "Nevermore" is something that we will never forget. 

Do you only have a young audience or do you come old men like me to the gigs too?

-From the beginning we mostly only had a young audience but lately we have also managed to attract a slightly older audience as well, which is really fun!

Releasing a vinyl, how was the feeling?

-Incredibly fun! It's not a matter of course that you do it nowadays, with the digitization of everything. It's really cool to have something you've created physically printed, so that you really have something to leave behind and a kind of receipt that you've done something. 

Do you buy records yourself or is it just for old bumps?

-We are all real vinyl maniacs! Without a doubt the best way to listen to music I think.

How do you listen to music yourself, is it Spotify or how do you listen?

-When I'm at home it's often via my vinyls, it's the best sound that way and it's a completely different feeling. But when I'm not at home, it's unfortunately Spotify. But you can't have an everyday life without music, it's not possible, so you have to listen via Spotify.

Playing live, what's the best thing about it?

-Everything! Playing together is fun in itself, but to do it in front of people dancing and singing along is a whole other level. It becomes such a community and it's fun to do everything in real time, if something goes wrong you just have to make the best of the situation. It's fun to give the audience a chance to interact with the music they listen to. Live music is everything!

What is the strangest thing that has happened during a gig with you?

-Oh, I don't really know. Some strange things have happened, both from our side and the audience, but also technically. It has happened that some of us almost fainted on stage due to the heat or other factors. It has happened that couples stand and make out during the entire set at the front, even during the least romantic songs, it's a bit odd. Once a sound engineer turned off our sound after 4 songs because he thought we had played too long, we were just under a quarter of an hour into the set and we had half an hour set, I just think he didn't like us...

On Discogs it says that you play punk but that is not really true but you were a little bit punkier on the first "record" or how was it?

-No, that's not really true, we have been classified as punk which is not really true. It's probably that people think it is for lack of any other genre to describe us as.  We have never really been a punkband either, except that we are very clearly political, but you should be that regardless. Our music is closer to post-punk maybe but it ́s not really that either. The first record is a little bit punkier, because it's faster and rawer but it's not that punky either. 

How would you describe your music in three words?

-Oh, it's hard, it doesn't really work but I'll try. "Really fucking good"? Dark, different and interesting? I don't really know, we are quite a lot of things so it's hard to use just three words haha. 

How else do you think it's to live and work in Sweden?

-It's still pleasant, this is where you have your friends and all the connections. I love Gothenburg and I am happy to have grown up here. You have it, despite all the problems that exist in the country, it is after all good here compared to how you can have it in other countries. That said, there is a lot that Sweden needs to improve on and Sweden is far from a perfect country. 

Music and politics, does it belong together, do you have any really political song?

-Music is political, you can't get away from that. Culture is political. Art is political. Art is questioning and one of many reasons why it is so important. Without art, people would all fall into the same ranks and become increasingly sheep-like creatures without an individual thinking. We have some political songs that are clearly political, especially on the first album with " Stäng truten borgarunge " and "Ett vanligt land". Then all our songs have political messages, but a little more subtle. Life is political, so it is part of it becoming political if you sing about life. Everything can be linked to something political. An example is perhaps "... som idioter".

Is there any really good bands in Sweden that you can recommend?

-Yes, definitely! The Family Men from Gothenburg are without a doubt among the heaviest and most interesting bands that have emerged lately. Very industrial and heavy. Then I also like the punk band Deppa from Umeå, they are awesome! Then I think that Diset from Stockholm is spot on in what they do. 

Ten favorite records all time?

-Oh damn how hard. There are so many good things but I'll try. List them below.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds-Henry’s Dream

Depeche Mode- Songs of Faith and Devotion

Munly J Munly- Jimmy Carter Syndrome

Tom Waits- Rain Dogs

The Rolling Stones- Let it Bleed

The Cure- Disintegration

The Birthday Party- Junkyard

Einstürzende Neubauten- Haus der lüge

Hurula- Vi är människorna våra föräldrar varnade oss för

Lars Winnerbäck-Kom

Futureplans for the band?

-At the moment we have mostly planned to gig a lot and go on as we have done, we just released the album physically so we hope to be able to tour with it for a while longer!

For yourself?

-The band!

Words of wisdom?

-I have absolutely nothing to say, everything I say is mostly so if I say something it's best to filter it out and see it as a noise in your ears.

Something to add?

-No, thanks for the questions, have a nice time!