Urarta is a band that is really interesting. They play many types of punk/alternative music and I just love the group. Hope to see and hear their music in physical format soon as well. End of May 2021

A little story about the group?

-We started Urarta in March 2021 and got the chance to be on Grönpeppar rec’s compilation album Ursäkta röran 2. It was our first release and our first contact with our audience. We have started in the middle of the pandemic so we have not been out playing. We are not yet fully formed as a band. On the recording, we have a temporary guitarist and we are currently looking for a guitarist.

Tell us a little about each member, age, job, family, band before and band next to it?

-Ketty: born -70, psychologist, 2 children. When I was younger, I played in a little different constellations, but those bands never found their way out of the rehearsal room. My only lasting imprint in punk history is that I wrote part of a text for Satanic Surfers song Equal rights. At the age of 25, I quit playing. 1.5 years ago, I was asked if I wanted to play bass again, in the band Projekt Mistits, and it was just the right situation in life. I started making songs, which I have never done before, and that's the way it is. I have a band with Jarmo Vehmanen (Puke, Urban Landslide) who is on ice at the moment.

Monica: born -75 and has been hanging out in the punk scene for over 30 years. Works with study circles at Folkuniversitetet. Lives with Mattias Persson (Kontrovers, Ursut) and has 3 children together. Have not played in a band before but have a couple of music projects together with Mattias and a friend (Sanna Lindeberg) including Larm which is also available on Spotify (LLRM - Skånska mord). Has been on stage once in her life and screamed a bit on a song with Crutches (Smittohärden). Looking forward to the pandemic giving up so it will be possible to be on stage again.

Tove: Really old. Works in the construction industry as a tiler and lives in a village with her cat family. Also plays in Projekt Mistis and has played in bands like Ragata, Bomben, Those Pityful men, Unzip, Truck, Boel Janzon in 72an, Leanders slem mfl. Shorter or longer time.

I can hear very different influences from underground music, you like many different styles? But in Energy suckers it gets really punky…?

-It is true that we like different styles. We all have a great interest in music that has followed us through life. There have been periods when you have listened more or less to different types of punk, post-punk, goth, metal, alternative rock, etc. It can take 20-30 years, then you rediscover an old favorite again and you get as knocked out as when you were a teenager and heard it for the first time. We have slightly different tastes when it comes to music, but we meet in the music in Urarta. It feels natural to be inspired by everything you have listened to and listened to and let what is growing up.

Urarta, are you happy with the name? Strange that noone has taken it before! If the best band name had not been taken, which name would you have chosen then? I mean what is the best band name?

-We were also surprised that Urarta was available as a band name. We are very happy with the name. It is very difficult to find a band name that is not already busy. We like band names that make one curious about how the band sounds, like Desire and her drunks or Rome is not a town. Urarta should make one curious, right?

Tove: Best band name, there are a few. Totalt Jävla Mörker is one of them and was a damn good band!

What is the best thing about playing live? Do you miss it now in covidtimes?

-Ketty: The best thing about playing live is the contact with the audience and the adrenaline rush. Unfortunately we have not played live with Urarta yet. Of course we miss being able to play outside and go to concerts.

Monica: Ketty and Tove have played some live before, and miss it. I think it's scary but look forward to do it.

Tove: So damn fun with the audience, the atmosphere, Everything!

Where is the best to play, where is the worst?

-A good concert venue in Malmö is Odd Ruck and Plan B, Mässingshornet.

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

-Monica: It is easy to find good music today in all digital services and it is also easy to spread your own music. It may be a small crowd that likes your music but the important thing is that it is fun to play.

How would you describe your music in three words?

-Honest, beautiful, raw

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

-Ketty: I was drawn to punk because it was a community for the imperfect, for the angry, those who were not satisfied or cared to keep up a facade. Since then, punk has changed and so have I. When I encounter injustice, rudeness and general bad behavior then I get my power in punk and punk music. Then I feel strengthened and out of it comes a joy. So for me, punk is both anger and joy.

 Tove: Heard punk the first time at the leisure center then I was stuck. Grew up and hung out with Rolands Gosskör and others.

Punk was just so obvious to me, both the music, the lyrics, the values ​​and the community - everyone is welcome. I believe that everything is politics more or less.

Monica: Punk has always been in my life. When 800 grader with Ebba Grön came I was 6 years old and it was the only song I walked around and sang on. Then I have always been drawn to what was different. Punk is so much, just like Ketty says, both anger and joy and is about values, emotions and togetherness. And good music.

How do you see on downloads, mp3s and the like?

-Monica: Actually, I like physical records the most, but the simplicity with Spotify - finding new music but also just listening makes Spotify going on.

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

-Unfortunately, they have had to get used to the fact that there are many in this country who are willing to put their votes for the class bullies. It is rewarded to grab and elbow forward. It is so more and more organized such as schools, health care, care, etc. and it seems to be out to be kind and work for the common good. There are probably many people in Sweden who feel that a lot is wrong. But the solutions you are looking for are scapegoats and cocky leaders, so you do not have to take responsibility.

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

-We live a bit scattered in Skåne and here there are as many good bands here; Oh-no’s, Kneagt, Mary Jane’s polar rig, Vet hut, HAG, Herr Gårman, Golvad Grävling, Ursut, Remiso, Beckmörkt, Sardo Numspa, Bäddat för trubbel, Fullmånen från helvetet,Spader Kung ...lots…

Do you play anything outside Sweden?

-Monica: Nope, not yet anyway…

Other good bands from abroad?

-Ketty: I'm weak for bands like Coathangers, Fea, A place to bury strangers, Gojira, Tropical fuck storm, Amyl and the sniffers, Le Butcherettes, Deftones, the Bronx, Fucked up, Rome is not a town etc.

Monica: Right now it's a lot of Kylesa, Chelsea Wolfe, Brutus, Black, Bloody Knives, Junius

Tove: There is so much good, I like to listen to mixed lists that can consist of tex.Vidro, Smierc, Kong kong, Planet trash, Snake, Honjävul, Slaveriet ...thw lst can be so long.

Your texts, what are you influenced by? Never in Swedish? Would be fun to hear you in Swedish.

-Ketty: Songwriting can take different paths but it can start with a line of text that appears. It can be big or small that inspires, but big and small can often be united. A feeling such as that the surroundings do not see where it is going can be experienced both in relation to forces that are close to one and far away.

Monica: We have done some songs in Swedish that we will sing in skånska(A swedish southern dialect) and there will be more of it. We are influenced by current things in the world. Right now I am very much affected by the widespread violence against women, which makes me very angry and it can probably affect me when I write lyrics.

Tove: As a drummer, I have done a few songs and written a bunch of lyrics in my life, I mostly stick to drumming.

Is there anything you will never write about? Or  is nothing sacred. Tell us a little about the lyrics on the new album

Mighty Crew

Ropes

Energy Suckers

D.I.Y.

-Ketty: I got an insight a few weeks ago. I played a song we're doing for a friend. We talked about the song and what it was about. He would rather not have known what it was about because he had received his pictures and associations of the song. I've been thinking about that and that's it. There are songs that are about something specific to me, that capture a certain feeling for me, but it does not have to be the songwriter's intention. So the listener gets to decide what the lyrics are about for that person. That's the beauty of a release. The music is out there.

Politics and music, do they always belong together?

-What an interesting question. It feels quite philosophical. Music is communication and a lot is about emotions, maybe everything. So are all emotions political? Feminism has its slogan "the personal is political". We think that the lyrics to DIY are political but everyone may not agree with it. Sometimes it costs more and is a bigger challenge to stand up for yourself in a smaller context than in It is perhaps a bigger and more inconvenient position for a person to distance himself from stereotypes about how to be and instead be genuine with who he is than to do something else that on the surface may seem more political. , you probably will not find the definitive answer to it ever.

Best political band / artist?

-Ketty: It's going to be 2: Bikini kill, New model army

Tove: Lastkaj 14 tex.

Monica: there are many ...

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

-Ketty: Absolutely. I myself am an example of that. You can feel understood and confirmed in music and lyrics.

Monica: I think so too. I think people can find support in music and in lyrics. A lot of the sense of belonging, to fit in, to recognize oneself.

Tove: Agree

Your cover is really cool on your latest release, who did it? Is it important to have a cover that you understand the type of music you play? Which is your favorite cover of all time?

-Monica: Thank you very much! I've done the cover. I imagine that the cover will convey a feeling. There are typical covers for a certain genre and it's nice in its own way, that you immediately see what kind of music it is.

Tove; Yes, Urarta's cover was nice, a bit magical, Monica did well.

Ketty: Yeah it turned out fine.

Is it important to get physical records? Vinyl or CD or both? Is there a good record store near you? Does it not feel like you made a record if you do not release it physically or what do you think?

-Ketty: Both. I like records, both vinyl and CD, but I usually stream anyway.

Monica: I would have liked to have released our music, especially on vinyl, but I think we need to be a little more established first. I think it's nice that so many people can take part in one's music in a simple way with Spotify and other digital services. But the vinyl has struggled and seems to survive. It is good. We have a superb record store in Malmö called Rundgång.

Tove: Would have been fun to release on vinyl once in a lifetime! Do not listen to CDs more than in the car, it's so easy to start Spotify.

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

How does the audience look like? Which type of people? Do you miss any types of people?

-Because we have not played live yet, these questions are difficult to answer. But what's fun is that everything has gone very fast.

Please rank five favorite records, five favorite concerts?

Ketty:

First best: Cure, Clash, Ramones, Roskilde 1985

Last best: Fullmånen från helvetet, Plan B Mamö 2020

In between other things that were best there and then.

Bands and albums: When I fall for an album, it's directly. Then I listen to it over and over again and now it's Gojira's Fortitude that counts. Previously, for example, it has been:

Siouxsie and the banshees The Scream

Sonic Youth Daydream nation

Killing joke

Suicidal Tendencies Lights camera revolution

Monica: I have always been a little extra weak for the dark and slow and especially with female singing. Here are some favorites that have gone on to repeat parts of life.

Siouxsie and the banshees: The scream

Dead Kennedys: Fresh fruit ...

Mushroom Attack: Masters Of The Glueniverse (split with Disorder)

Doom: a single collection

Chelsea Wolfe: Abyss

God machine: Scenes from the Second Storey

It is also difficult to to say the best concert to go to gigs is one of the best there is, but some who have a little extra are Ministry at Hultsfred 1996, Chelsea Wolfe at Loppen, Copenhagen 2015 and Bloody Knifes at Shackwell Arms , London 2018.

Tove: Best of all you've seen in your life, it's impossible to answer when you've seen so many good concerts in 36 years.

Clash, Ebba Grön, Siouxsie, was for example very fun to watch in my youth.

Is it boring with interviews?

Ketty: Haha, no.

Tove: No, but impossible to answer the best here and there when there is and has been so much good.

Monica: Agrees with previous speakers.

If you could choose five bands from history, dead and alive to have a concert with your band, what are the dream bands then?

-Ketty: Sonic Youth is the first thing that pops into my head. Patti Smith seems so insanely nice, it would have been nice to perform with her. One person I admire is Kate Bush, not least after watching a documentary about her when she toured as a 21-year-old. She's so original. It would have been great to be part of her creativity. And I say The Gits and Candysuck as well.

Tove: I think it's fun to play with bands you like, but have no favorite like that.

Monica: It would have been cool to play with Siouxsie,

Tove: Yes, really cool!

Is music a good way to get out of frustration and become a kinder person? Are you angrier today than you were younger?

-Ketty: Music is definitely a way to get an outlet but I do not know if I will be kinder immediately. But it can make me feel more genuine.

Monica: I was very angry when I was younger. And dissatisfied. I'm definitely not as angry now but still dissatisfied with a lot. This thing about making music and writing songs is new to me, but I feel that if there is something that is a little extra good to get out of music, it is anger. But it is important to appreciate what is good and be able to get some good feelings out of it as well.

Tove: Music is medicine for me. I was angrier when I was younger, shitty, today I am more sad about what it looks like in the world, that we have not come any further.

If someone paid for the recording and printing of a record and asked you to record five cover songs, which five would it have been?

-Ketty: There's a cover song I want to do. But persuasion of the band is going on so it must be secret. Otherwise you know a thousand…

Monica: With a little processing, Ketty will probably get to do her cover song. I may think it's boring to do covers, but if the song is completely reinterpreted and made into its own, it can work. Trying to play the song exactly the same is just sad.

Tove: I'm allergic to playing covers, usually the original is so good in itself so I see no point in it.

Ketty: Haha, I have a little headwind. But it's a different and special song I'm thinking of. I will not give up :)

Monica: Haha, we'll see how it ends… ...

What's the weirdest question you got in an interview? (Except this one then)?

-First interview actually so it simply has to be this one.

Future plans for the band?

-Find a guitarist and work with the songs we have going on.

For yourself?

-Ketty: My New Year's promise was to start reading poems. I do. I want to learn more about bass amplifiers and pedals. A little nerdy. These are probably my future plans.

Monica: My future plan was to sing in a band at some point in my life and I have reached that point. Now I have to get a new plan. Teaching me to play guitar…

Tove: I have such a sad dream - to get well!

Words of wisdom?

-I rather feel like shit than be full of shit (Mike Muir)