Strikt has released their debut LP after a few minor releases before. They have sailed up as one of my absolute favorite bands right now when it comes to Swedish punk. This interview was put together in October 2025.

Tell us the story of Strikt, when you started and why?

N: It started as a kind of minstoradag-project where I, who am actually a drummer, wanted to try shouting my own lyrics and front a band. And it's good to have a reason to meet friends.

Members? Instruments, age, other bands before or next to?

Nikko Knösch, 33, vocals

Reine Keskitalo, 33, bass

Erik Tesell, 37, guitar

David Persson on drums, 26, drums

Carl Wigur, 27, guitar

Would be a pretty long list of previous and parallel bands even if we only write what David has and has been up to so we skip it.

Some of you look like skinheads, is it the case that you often have to explain where you stand politically etc because you look the way you do?

-No

I was going to put the record in my collection on Discogs and there it says that you play pub rock....is not really true right? How would you describe your music in a few words?

N:It's cool rock roll we play, and mostly in pubs. So maybe it's pub rock then. I would describe it as punk, not a subgenre but just pure punk. The way punk should sound.

Now you are releasing your debut LP you could say, how is the feeling? Is it nice to release a physical record?

N: Yes you can say that, releasing physically feels more real than releasing digitally and CDs are so small that you can hardly see the cover.

Why did you choose Beat Butchers? (fuck with Mårtens death too)

D: We have both our good friends in Hyrda Knektar and the Beat Butchers themselves to thank for that. It was because we and Hyrda Knektar wanted to do a split together that we got the chance to release music on Beat Butchers. After the split and a gig at BB's 40th anniversary festival, it was obvious to ask them first if they were willing to release our album. The news that Mårten had passed away was and is devastating. We have him in our thoughts when we play the record and do the iron live for him, Beat Butchers and everything that Mårten and Jojo have done together.

You released a split with Hyrda Knektar a few years ago, is splits the ultimate way to release records?

D: If all the bands on the split are good, it's a great concept!

N: To do a split with a band you like is fun and the whole purpose of playing music together is to have fun. Ultimately, I don't know, but it's a nice way to increase the community in the community and it doesn't cost as much if there are more people sharing.

I understand that you like Hyrda Knektar but is there other really good Swedish bands that you want to highlight?

R: By newish bandsBomber, Liminal-s, Steel Freight, Inga Anor, Time of Desperation, Bulls Shitt, Existence, Feels Like Heaven, Give Today, Invader, Akimbo, Suitcase nuke, Blood Will Tell, Speedway, Remain in Grief, Outstand, Master Killer, Vidro, DSM-5, Tjuvkoppla, Prisao, Småjävlafötter

D: Royal Dysfunction, Nine Blank, Dosmer, Stop Lying, Yellow Snow, Devil's Cigarette, Rawheads.

N: I like Grisen Skriker the most actually. But everything that feels like real I think has something.

Let's move on to the lyrics... Is it important to get politics and opinions when you play punk?

N: I think the most important thing is to write lyrics about things that are close to you. That you care about. Then if it's political opinions, despair, love, sorrow or which beer on tap tastes best in August, I think it doesn't matter. Punk which is written to be appreciated by others is not so interesting even if it is of course fun if others appreciate the punk which is written.

Is there any bands which plays punk but which don ́t have so much "important" lyrics that you like?

D: It probably depends on what you qualify as "important" texts. Any suggestions would have been appreciated haha.

N: Yes, I don't really know what you mean here but if the lyrics are not even important to the band that performs them then they should probably stop. There is no point.

Tell us a little about the following texts

Blåljus

N: The song is about a loss of confidence in the monopoly on violence. About the so-called rotten eggs who should have chosen a different industry. (If you empty your magazine into a guy with a water gun, maybe you shouldn't have a gun license.) It is about a security that has turned into a threat, about fear and rage, and about refusing to give in.

Välkommen in

N: Veronica has probably told me about that in old interviews.

Dom som är dom

N: "Dom som är dom" is about the idea that all people belong to the same family. That we share both the light and the dark within us, and that the boundary between "us" and "them" is mostly a mirror image. It is a human circle of worry, disgust and aggression, where we carry the same dreams and nightmares but still continue to create distance between each other. Basically, it's a song about belonging, self-loathing and the hopelessness of hating what you're a part of.

Sjutton

N: This one is about the feeling that arises when you see a picture of yourself as a twelve-year-old, smiling at the camera, obviously happy. And wonder what the hell really happened. Where did he go? It is also about trying to live on with everything you have not managed to leave behind, about guilt, shame and slowly drowning in the memory of yourself.

Do you think lyrics in music can change anyone's life? Do you have an example of your own?

D: Changes can be big or small. Sometimes one sentence can be enough to make you think a little. It's also a bit funny when the text doesn't always preach to the saved, so I'm going to say the text to Think Positive with RKL.

N: Of course

Playing tough music, do you think it solves many knots and you become a better person outside of music when you get frustration out in this way?

D: I absolutely believe that "tough music" can be a vent for what is boiling on the inside.

How do you think it is to live in Sweden today, politically, Sd, high food and electricity prices etc etc?

N: It's cold and bloody, but you get a lot of ideas for lyrics.

The world situation with a dictatorial Trump, where the hell are we going?

R: To hell, fast

N: yes, it's going to hell, and we're running there

Do you do anything political outside of music?

N: Not me anyway

Many bands make their own beer etc, is it something you can imagine doing, what would it be called in that case and what kind of beer would it be?

R: A quart of vodka, minimal design and it would be called Sprit.

N: A very expensive Champagne called Undergången

What is the craziest thing that has happened during a live gig with Strikt?

N: It always feels a little sick when there are people in the audience singing along.

R: No, there hasn't been that much sick stuff happening during our gigs so take that as a call, and not just at our gigs but all gigs. DO SOMETHING STUPID! JUMP ON YOUR BUDDY! HIT SOMEONE! BEAT US! COME ON, IT'S GOING TO BE FUN!

What kind of people come to your concerts? Ages? Are there any that you are missing?

D: It's usually a decent mix of ages and people. Missing and missing, our focus is on the audience that is there.

Your record you call Hur fan kunde vi stå ut (How the hell could we stand out)....any special meaning with that title?

N: Taken from the lyrics to Undergången, and it plays on a general mood through the album and in us. Because how the hell could you stand it really.

What does punk mean to you, is it only a word, only music or is it a lifestyle? How did you come into the punk world yourself?

R: Punk has been more or less my whole life since I got into it, in the beginning of seventh grade in Kiruna. And its meaning has probably changed over the years, but I see it as some inner fire that both shapes how you look at the world, not having to live by someone else's set path or rules and as a protection against all the crap that you have to endure.

E: Has been a part of my life since I was a child. I have no idea who I would have been without.

Wasn't it strange that the name Strikt, wasn't already taken? Did you have any deeper meaning with the name when you decided on it? Because your music is not so strict?

R: Isn't it? I think we all think that the music is straight on, no lull, verse, bridge, fat Magnus Uggla chorus, repeat.

The cover of the new album, tell us a little about the front? What kind of picture is that?

N: The picture is a photo of two friends from when we traveled to Perstorp and played. The importance of it we hold to ourselves.

Tell us a little about the following albums and what you think about it today.

The first record you bought or got?

E: Kiss - Revenge

R: Uncertain but probably Markoolio – Dikter från ett hjärta

N: Would bet on hits for kids

The album that changed your life?

E: Varning för punk (all three records)

R: Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotten Vegetables

D: Minor Threat - Out of Step

N: Bakverk 80

Last album you bought?

E: Lions law - Evermore

R: Speedway - A Lifes Refrain

D: Devil's Cigarette - I want to Be on TV

N: Alvilda- C'est D​é​jà L'heure

 The album you're ashamed of?

E: Not dealing with shame

R: Ditto

D: Good music is good music. No shame here either.

N:

The album that makes Strikt sound like they do?

R: One of them is definitely Stockholm's negrrer - Brutal disciplin

N: Yes, there are probably quite a few, we are 5 people in the band who all bring their own references to this soup cooking national team.

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

R: In the Car/Every Afterparty Skarhead - Kings at Crime / Night Fever - Vendetta / Hard Times - Scandinavian Hardcore Insanity

D: Scooter - 20 Years of Hardcore

N: Pomme and Joy Division, any album.

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

N: STRIKT's next one, but it will probably come

Future plans with music? Hope there are plans for even more albums to be released... ?

-We will try to gig on the album as much as we can until next summer. No more album for a while but definitely more music. Will surely come a 7 in the near future when we have had enough new annoyances that we have to write off.

Future plans with your life otherwise?

N: Continue to continue with this and that

Words of wisdom?

-He who hates nothing loves nothing

Something to add

N: No, it feels like we've written a national test in being band members already. But come and see us live, buy all the records, listen damn much.