Viktor who sings and plays guitar in Tear Them Down is the one who answered the questions from me to Tear Them Down. A really good punk/hardcore group or how to describe them now. June-2019

 

A little story about the group?

-We have been around since 2010, released four EPs and a full-length CD and been around and played the most in Europe. The highlights were a crazy turn to Russia 2012 and last year we went to Japan which was sickly powerful.

 

Tell us a little about every member, age, job, family, band before and band next door?

-We are four guys in their 30s from Hisingen, Mölndal and Ljungskile. Works with everything from turning paper to serving beer.

 

I can hear very old American hardcore but also but part of USHC on this record, I hear right? Was it better before?

-I want to believe that the best thing is in front of us in terms of music. It is easy to become nostalgic and we try to find inspiration from both what you listened to when you were young but also newer stuff. On this EP there is the definitive element of hardcore that we did not have on previous records.

 

Tear them Down, are you happy with the name? Was there any particular thought behind the name? If not the best band name had been busy, which name had you chosen then? I mean which is the best band name?

- An alternative that lasted a long time when we chose the band name was Worst Holiday. I will therefore always be satisfied with Tear Them Down. Do not know if I have any favorite band name, Sick of it all is well stable.

 

Is the discography complete on Discogs https://www.discogs.com/artist/3702697-Tear-Them-Down

-It´s correct.

 

What is the best thing about playing live?

- Shortly it´s to play live as we are doing this.

 

Where is best to play, where is the worst?

-Japan was powerful, no matter how many people it was in the audience, so everyone was always at the front and tried to sing along even if they not could the lyricst. The worst thing I say is Enköping, where we played for zero paying once, but with another band. Step up Enköping!

 

How is it to play this kind of punk in Sweden today?

- It has definitely seen its better days, but that kind of thing goes in waves. Do you  continue to play and write better songs people will listen.

 

How would you describe your music in three words? What do people usually compare you with?

- Shirt right out. Slightly depends on who you are asking but one of the most common names that people usually is said is well Bombshell Rocks. Voice of a generation is quite common as well.

 

What does punk mean to you, is it just a word or is it a lifestyle?

-Punk is for me an affiliation. Feel a lot more community with people you meet at gigs wherever you are in the world than in any Swedish lunch room.

 

How do you see on downloading, mp3 and the like?

- Had never come in contact with some bands when you were younger if downloading did not exist. Not even in Gothenburg it was possible to get hold of records from mainly the USA and ordering could be complicated. Remember that a mate to me would go to New York in 2004 and I asked him to bring a bunch of CDs to me that I could not find. Really sick. However, one should remember that if you want the smaller stage to live then it is good to support the band by buying music but it is up to each one. If you want to listen to good music then you have to pay for it in the long run I would think.

 

How do you think it is to live in Sweden today, politically?

-You get a short answer, it's about to go in the wrong direction.

 

Are there any good bands in Sweden today? In your hometown?

- There are so many. Like Trubbel, Stilett, Perkele - then it's good that No fun at all have started again, they are old favorites!

 

Do you play anything outside Sweden?

- Almost only, we just got back from a tour now in Germany and Switzerland to support the record.

 

Other good bands from abroad?

- Yeah, well, there's no end. Played with a cool German band now called Affenmesserkampf. Find them, please. Fucking good live.

 

Your lyrics, what are you influenced by? Sometimes Swedish, sometimes English? Can't you decide yourself?

-We had always made songs in English but over the years our bassist who writes most of the lyrics had a small bundle of Swedish texts that we thought were too good to skip. So it resulted in our Swedish EP. But it was probably the first and only time, but you should never say never.

 

Is there anything you will never write about? Have you ever written a tribute to any football team, political organization or the like? Can you think of doing something like this or do you not want to be placed to a special compartment?

-The time may tell it, we will probably not start writing music jingles anyway. Indirectly, we have done homage both to one and the other, it is enough to listen to it to understand.

 

Politics and music, does it always belong together?

-No that I do not think but it belongs well together.

 

Best political band / artist?

-Leftover Crack is good at provoking and awakening thoughts for example.

 

Do you think music can change someone's life, then I mean lyrics etc?

-Definitely. Then there are well different degrees but for my own part there are how many choices in life that I had not taken if it had not been for the music I have listened to.

 

Your cover is really cool on your records, who has done it. Is it important to have a cover so that you understand what type of music you play? No sleep to Aröd, where did that name come from?

-The guy who painted the actual cover for this record is called Mario Velazquez. The other records are the other ones that have been more or less involved. If the cover is an art form in itself, you do not think that you need to set up any of your own regulations for how it should be linked to the music or something else. We've have done what we felt good. Of course the name flirts with the Beastie boys classic No Sleep 'to Brooklyn, Aröd is the industrial area where we have our rehearsalroom on Hisingen in Gothenburg.

 

Is it important to get out physical records? Vinyl or CD or both? Is there any good record store in your hometown?

-It feels extremely odd just to release a disc digitally. I actually order most records directly from record labels or distros, it is nice to look around in a record store but the impression in recent years is that it is most expensive presses of old albums is the one they signs with the most.

 

Please tell me something really fun that happened during your career on stage or behind stage etc?

-A guy in Russia pulled down this pants and began to put fire on his pubic hair. Then he made a completely epic stagedive from a speaker right down to the floor.

 

How does your audience look? Which type of people? Are you missing some types of people?

-It's pretty mixed. Everything from a bunch of crustpunks in some squat in East Germany to skatepunkers in the Czech Republic. The common is that for all contemporary punk is well that it is bad with refill from below but what I was into earlier is that this surely comes in waves.

 

Please rank five your favorite records, five favorite concerts?

- There are too many records but you can get five pieces that come this year instead: This Means War! - Heartstrings The Old Firm Casuals - Holger Danske Anger You $ t - Pretty Buff Be Like Max - Save us all Bouncing Souls - Crucial Moments (EP) Regardless, I almost always think concerts are best on the move than goingon them at home. Then you remember them for more reasons than just the gig, so never forget to check if there are some gigantic gigs in town if you´re out and traveling!

 

Is it boring with interviews?

-If people are genuinely interested in what you do, it is never boring.

 

If you could choose five bands from the past, dead and alive to have a concert together with your band, which are the dreambands then?

-I think about this way instead. Five dead people are allowed to play in a band that plays with us. Then it would have been fun to let a bunch of classical composers do modern stuff and see what had come out. Let them listen to some Dead Kennedys and Black Flag before or something like that. Bach, Vivaldi and Brahms are doing well.

 

Is music a great way to get out frustration and become a nicer person? Are you angrier today than you were young punks?

-Says as our bass player. We are not angry, we are pissed off.

 

What is the weirdest question you got in an interview?

- There are only strange answers

 

What is the question you never get, ask it and answer it?

-What is your favorite store at Autobahn's picnic areas? Segafredo! Mostly for the name.

 

Future plans for the band?

-Right into the tile to quote a cozy stockholm guy.

 

For yourself?

- Survive the tile.

 

Words of wisdom?

-Do not ask what punk can do for you, ask what you can do for punk.

 

Anything to add?

- Thanks for the questions! Thanks for your interest!

 

Youtubelink to "The Nihilist Tone":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_xtei4lJ-o

 

The single "The Nihilist Tone" on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/track/3JPYGT55CFlctIOFNdYhiT?si=fFfChSEdQUKb_wIzbcq07g