Post by karro on Jun 1, 2008 19:19:04 GMT -5
MILLENCOLIN
GOJIRA ATTACKS!
by Scott McLennan
Maybe it’s because of the endless tours and amount of time spent confined together in airless and sweaty venues, but punk bands remain one of the music genres most susceptible to internal rifts and creative implosions. Orebro punk rockers Millencolin are celebrating 15 years of the same line-up by releasing their seventh album, the aptly titled Machine 15. Although suffering from the flu, lead guitarist and band graphic designer Erik Ohlsson speaks to Rip It Up about Millencolin’s united focus in the wake of numerous side projects.
“Everything’s really good and it feels like we’ve progressed, which is what we really wanted to do,” Erik begins. “It’s super important these days, since we’ve been doing this for quite some time, that we find inspirations. Nikola [Sarcevic, vocalist and bassist] is getting his singer songwriting stuff out and then he can focus on playing the harder music with Millencolin; Matthias [Farm, guitarist] is also doing stuff with Franky Lee; I started my own graphic design company; [drummer Fredik] Larzon is playing drums with his thrash punk band. It all adds up to getting new influences from different places and you bring something back into Millencolin. Millencolin is still the number one focus, 100 percent.”
The three-year break since 2005’s Kingwood has ensured the quartet is fully committed to Millencolin’s growth rather than letting internal friction splinter the group. Erik suggests that while the Millencolin of 2008 offers camaraderie, in the late ‘90s there was great hostility among the ranks.
“The first few years were crazy non-stop touring. Nikola crashed into the wall a little bit with his whole personality and you had to wonder if this is what we’d become. We were on tour the whole time and it kind of felt like there was no stop to it. It felt like we’d done everything, so in 1999 we took a break which lasted nine months. We really didn’t know how long the break would last but after six months we started to miss each other and miss Millencolin. We realised we loved doing this and ever since then we haven’t really fought a lot, since we respect each other.
“Before that it was crazy – almost fist fights sometimes!” Erik laughs. “I think if we hadn’t taken that break we wouldn’t be a band today, because after that we also took control of the touring, too. We started planning a little more professionally so that we could get time off and not feel like we are doing the same thing. It’s the recipe for lasting a long time.”
Erik, who designs Millencolin’s artwork, was visually inspired to produce the latest band graphics by Nikola’s suggestion their new album be titled Machine 15.
“When Nikola suggested Machine 15, I saw in front of me a Godzilla-type of machine guy and then I had that as the concept for the album, so that’s what I included in the artwork.”
So you’re not joking about that you’re now rock dinosaurs?
“I just thought about that now! That’s wrong – we never see ourselves as dinosaurs and maybe I should have stuck with some little fresh squirrel or something! That doesn’t ring well being referred to as dinosaurs. What sort of creature is Machine 15? I saw it as being like Godzilla, so it’s not referring to being older and dinosaurs. Things feel fresher than ever, so we’re super excited to go out on tour. No dinosaurs on tour here!”
Erik has also added the little dead bird avatar, which has previously featured on Millencolin CD sleeves and T-shirt designs, on Machine 15’s cover.
“It’s something I drew on our first demo tape cover without any reason, but that little guy has followed us along. I’ve said sometimes he represents the Melancholy of Millencolin, because although we’re generally a pretty happy band there’s some sadness behind it too. There’s no real reason behind him, he’s just a little mascot sort of thing.”
After completing production with Lou Giordano in Sweden, the mixing of Machine 15 was completed at the revered Hansa Studios in Berlin. The site of infamous recordings by David Bowie, Iggy Pop and U2, Erik assures that the studio wasn’t picked merely because of its cool history.
“We picked Michael Ilbert for doing the mix and he happens to be working there at that beautiful studio. We wanted to work with Michael because he’s worked on such a range of productions. He did the last Hives album, but he’s also worked with Roxette! He’s worked with a lot of Swedish punk rock bands so he’s got the roots, but we also wanted his dynamics on the album.”
With side projects having filled their diaries over the past few years, it’s no surprise to find Millencolin pushing ahead with new inspirations on Machine 15. What may surprise some fans are the collaborations with the Swedish Philharmonic Orchestra on songs such as Ducks And Drakes and Done Is Done.
“The first contact we had with the orchestra was them asking us if we’d like to do something like Metallica[’s S&M album]. They wanted to try something like that, but it wasn’t something we really wanted to do when we were focussing on sounding like Millencolin. We wanted to have bigger production on this album so we decided it would be great if we could have these powerful strings on the songs in a minor key, so we asked them and they happily came and performed. They are bringing something to those songs and creating a whole mystique, but I don’t know if we’d do it again.
“It would be great to put on a huge show though where all of a sudden a backdrop falls and a string section is sitting there. It would be super powerful, but it would be quite a hassle to rehearse. We’ll definitely have to see about that – we’d prefer to look forward to coming to Australia!”
Millencolin play HQ on Thu Apr 3 with Stolen Youth. Machine 15 is out now through Shock.