Hi there! Birdflesh is alive but slow nowadays. Too much other things going on like other bands, work and family. But we do some shows and have a recording planned.
Your split with PLF came out recently. Dave wrote that your sound is much heavier and aggressive than on previous releases. I heard a few songs on Bandcamp, it kinda reminded me of Jigsor Terror. Is it some kind of evolution or just an experiment?
I guess it's just because the people involved with the recording didn't know how to record grindcore. And thanks to Jimmy who mixed it, we could get a pretty good sound. The first mix was horrible. Only hi-hat and vocals, haha!
As I recall, your guitar player has some relation to farming. Did he find some mystical circles on a field?)
Yes, he is a total farmer. Unfortunately he doesn't play with us anymore. He found the band Mystic Circle on his field one day. That was crazy.
Sometimes I sleep with my drumsticks. But only when my wife is not at home. It's about planning. All three bands are not fully active at the same time. Sometimes we combine the shows too. Like playing with both Birdflesh and Entrails at the same show. Like this years edition of Maryland Deathfest. Since music is the only thing that sticks in my head, it's pretty easy to remember the songs. But once a decade I fuck up.
Let’s talk about other of your bands (‘cause I already mentioned that Birdflesh isn’t your only band) General Surgery and great death-metallic Entrails. How did you end up there?
General Surgery asked me if I wanted to join them when they were looking for a drummer. So I said yes. And when I heard the first album from Entrails I asked if I could join the band. And they said yes.
How’s the ideas for funny lyrics comes to your mind, I mean, is it from real-life experience, or you just write all kinds of stuff from your head, maybe the products of movie-industry?
When we write lyrics today it's mostly when we are bored at work. It's perfect to take a couple of breaks every day to write stupid things on a piece of paper. So mostly it's just things that comes to mind when it's time to write. Back in the days it could be anything like movies or stealing lyrics from better bands.
Politics.
You keep touring around the world and spreading grind-infection for more than 20 years. I bet there are a lot of stories related, isn’t it time to release and autobiography?)
If we could remember all the things, maybe. That biography would probably end up in like one page.
Two years earlier you performed in eastern Europe, specifically in the capital of Ukraine. What was the most remarkable things that you remembered there. As I remember, crowd on a gig was asking for more))
The pizza I got diarrhoea from and the club named Bingo. Show was good but maybe at a too big club.
Your position about religion is crystal clear even to the dumbest person on the Earth. Who came up with idea of making the christianity an object for the jokes in your lyrics?
Don't remember who came up with the idea, but the subject is so easy to write about. It's just to invert everything into the opposite. Like the cross. Just invert it and it's much better. And the lamb, invert it and it's a goat.
Underground grindcore scene in Sweden is really strong. Do you have there something like Obscene Extreme festival or something? What do you think about the hard work that Kirby’s doing, all these festivals around the world (by the way, how it was in Australia, was it hot there?)
Sweden doesn't have any extreme festivals. We only have a few really big metal fests. Sometimes some extreme bands play on these fests but no fests that only have extreme music. Curby is amazing. He does an incredible job for the whole scene worldwide. Australia was the best ever! Everything was perfect. It wasn't so hot at that time. Indonesia was hotter. Wet and hot.
Yeah, the costumes has followed us since our first show in 1993. It wasn't really meant to be funny. It was our former bass player who was so ashamed to play so he hide his face behind a mask. So on our next show we all wore masks or wigs or whatever. Wearing a tuxedo is too elegant and expensive. Our clothes can only cost 10 euros max.
By the way, Smattro, your tattoos (and elements of scenic image) has a lot of Japanese motifs. What’re the things that attract you in this enigmatic country?
Japan is crazy. Crazy fun. The people are really special and their history is awesome with samurais, ninjas, geishas and kamikaze pilots. Sushi is really nice too. And I think japanese art is really cool too so I made a japanese tribute on my arm.
While reading a lot of interviews with you, I couldn’t pass by your affection to movies. What movie makes you laugh yourself out, and what movie makes you drop a couple of tears?
I laugh at swedish classics from the 70's and 80's and I cry to Titanic.
Thank you very much for this interview. I’m looking forward to see you again in Kiev. Cheers!
Thanks for your support! Take care everyone!
For more info go to:
