Hi, Urban! How is good ol’ Sweden doing, and you in particular?
- Hi! Sweden is doing just fine I think ... the world is probably heading for disaster, but Sweden is doing fine relative to that. And I am doing fine thank you.
As far as I get it, every member of the band is concentrated on other band’s activity right now. You have a death metal project, tell us about yours and the other members projects, I think this will be interesting to our readers.
- Well, our base player Johan is by far the most active and has just joined Entombed AD and will be out on tour for the rest of the year at least I think. Our drummer plays doom bass in Ocean Chief. Our vocalist has no other bands I know of ... and I had a metal band I played with for 3 years - Crucifyre. Old school metal influenced by old Bathory, Venom, Slayer and stuff like that. Not your typical "old school Swedish death metal any way". I quit Crucifyre earlier this year though, but our (well, their I guess) second album just came out. Right now I am thinking about getting back to writing my own music instead - I didn't write anything in Crucifyre. And I kinda miss d-beats and blast beats :-)
- It's ok ... yeah, that was cracy. Sort of miss it ... and sort of don't want to do it again. That was just way to much travel time! But the shows was amazing for the most part! And I am so glad we decided to do that - we never even discussed the band after Mieszko ... we just stopped playing. Which was natural considering the circumstances ... but also very weird. So it was nice just doing a last thing and saying good buy to old and new fans. The most memorable things were really just the crowds at some of the shows and festivals ... I really did NOT expect so many people to show up at our gigs. Some of those gigs were just downright the most fun shows ever, like OEF, Hellfest, the show in Tokyo ... and the last show in Stockholm was very emotional really. Not so much crazy things happened though - we had really insane schedules all the time, so we just came to ome town, sound checked, had dinner, had a beer or two, played and then had to pack and leave the country. We were on New Zeeland a total of 14 hours ... and I think we spent 5 of those on the airport trying to explain why we had the wrong type of Visa. And actually the same thing happened in Australia ... we got the Visa our local promotor told us to get ... and the border control was NOT impressed. They were going to through me out ... becasue I am a lousy lier I guess, but since they alredy let the rest of the band pass they said OK, you can do it this time, but you're not getting in another time. Wit the wrong Visa I assume ... but I haven't checked.
Old bands one by one retire or hibernate, but new generation doesn’t waste time and fills the holes in defense. What do you think about young grindcore bands in Sweden and nearby countries? Do you like Afgrund, Feastem, GAF, Livet Som Insats, Infanticide?
- Well ... the people playing in old bands probably like playing music. That's how it is for me - I love playing grindcore. I get a huge kick from the intensity! And that han't really changed in 25 years. And I assume it is the same thing for most old bands ... most of them don't do it for the money I think. Kiss does it for the money, but I think bands like Onslaught don't do it for the money! They just miss playing metal. There are lots of great new ... or "new" (most of them have played for a while now) grindcore bands out there. Afgrund and Feastem are really good, and I listen to Livet Som Insats and Infanticide sometimes ... but not much. Well ... just when I was writing that I decided to listen to Infantice (From our cold hands) and ... well, it is really good! I totally missed GAF ... which I guess is closest to RGTE in some ways. I listen more to staright out grindcore than grinding death metal or "goregrind" (which usually is just death metal with some blasts). Never considered Pig Destryer to be grindcore for instance - that's death metal. Napalm Death is grind core ... no d-beat? Well then you're not playing grindcore. And I like grindcore. BUt I know I am just splitting hairs ... everyone has their own name for different genres.
- Hm ... yeah ... well ... we are not the worlds most active band and have never been. We had a 5 year paus after recording the first full length album. And then we just realized that maybe we should do some new music. And we didn't split up back then and didn't split up now, but now I think we are actually on an eternal paus - our vocalist has decided he doesn't want to do another recording or play live. We just turned down an offer to play Maryland Deathfest next year. So ... at this point I think the chances of ever seeing or hearing RGTE with our current line up is pritty slim. I do feel like playing some grindcore, so ... I don't know ... maybe I will just start a new band. But I am really mostly interested in writing music, so I might do some new music ... time will tell. Most of the new bands do it better than me anyway :-)
Urban, I heard that you like to travel, visit some historical memorials (churches made of bones, stone castles and other stuff). Do you have a plan when you come to a new place, or you just let things happen and go with the flow?)
- That would be 50/50 I guess ... I like researching stuff, but I don't like plans. So I will usually try to figure out what interesting stuff there is to see ... and then go there and improvise. If I go to a town with some macabre stuff or old castle I HAVE to visit that. I would feel stupid if I went to a town and missed a church filled with bones or something like that!
How often do you get requests for re-releasing your old material? ‘Cause it’s pretty damn hard to buy something from your discography… I asked other bands, but I think it would be right to repeat that question here: what do you think about tape format? Have you ever thought about releasing full RGTE discography on tapes, for oldschool freaks?))
- We do get some questions about it I guess. I think Relapse was interested too, but I actually get far ore requests from people that want to release my old death metal band Crematory (no, not the German goth band!). But I am not really not too interested myself in seeing the old stuff released. Tape format? Hmmm ... well that would be a pain in the ass! No, I think it would be cool, but what we have always like was releasing some new format and we allready released stuff on tape, so we prefer is someone came up with something new. Like releasing it on VHS! :-) As for me personally I wasn't in RGTE the first years, so the really old EP's ... I had nothing to do with them, so I can't really say anything about a complete history release - that would be something for our vocalist t answer. But his answer would be that he isn't really interested I think. Sorry. Maybe later.
- I think the only country where we had any problems was Germany. They had lots of censorship debates back then, and demanded censored versions of lbums and computer games (Quake was censored if I remeber correctly). But Relapse just put a band photo on the front of the CD, but the cover was there when you opened it. I actually never saw the censored version of Carnovorous Erection. I would love to get a copy of that! Relapse loved the cover and really pushed the album because of the cover, so it probably sold better than it would have done with another cover. Me personally ... I think it is funny, but a bit silly. We are not a "porn grind" band. I hate that - that is just retarted. We didn't really have anything to do with the idea behind the cover - we came up with the title, but Wes Benscoter came up with the cover concept.
What do you think about reunions of old bands? For example, Carcass, have you listened to their last album, or they’re long dead for you?
- Reunion of old bands ... I think it is great ... when it is bands that I care about. The other ones ... well, that's nice for them. Carcass is realy a band I do NOT care about. I liked Reek of Putrefaction sooo much ... but again - Carcass is death metal. Nowadays it is melodic death metal. I would put them together with bands like ... mmm ... Nightwish I guess. Yes, really. Napalm Death is still so much better. I never stopped listening to Napalm Death (ok, not entirely true ... I was kinda disappointed by Harmony Corruption when it came out), but Carcass was a long time ago I said I liked. But around their first two albums I was a hug Carcass fan - that was also when I was playing death metal. Then I realized I preferred playing grindcore. And that was over 20 years ago.
In different interviews you have told that you play music just for fun. But this fun had let you travel all over the world and because of that you’ve met a lot of people. Do you keep going that way? Playing music just for your own pleasure and not for stupid fame and money?)
- Of course I play music for fun! No one makes money playing grindcore ... or? I never tried making a living from it. I have a job I like and I have no interest in making a living playing music full time - that would destroy the fun. And getting to travel the world IS a great bonus - I admit that! Unfortunatelly I have travelled a lot, but I had very little time exploring the places I went to - VERY frustrating. So now I just feel like catching up on the sightseeing. And I really did not work hard on any fame or money ... all RGTE demanded when we played was to cover our expenses for travel etc. And I am totally pleased that most of the places I visited I went to "for free". I am pleased that I made it to a level where I at least not had to pay to play in some other country.
- I hate it.
Let’s talk about some personal stuff. What was the title of the last book that got you all emotional, that was like a shot in your face? Or maybe you like to go watch opera in the meantime?)
- I mostly read non-fiction, so maybe most of it isn't really emotionally moving, but I do get a dizzying feeling reading some books about the universe and the evolution of life and stuff like that. I am totally fascinated by that. But I also read books about the environment and political stuff - I did read a very fascinating book about North Korea. And stuff about R*ssia that is a bit scary.
As I remember, your vocalist has two kids and he’s busy with his family. What about you, are you a family guy or you still single and keep it that way?)
- Yes, he is a family guy ... all the members of the band is really. They all have kids. I don't have kids, but I do have a girlfriend and I am not much into having a "crazy" life. I guess we are pretty ordinary people.
- I don't really think we have a choice ... we will end up killing ourselves if we don't watch it, so I prefer keeping track of what is happening in Sweden and in the world. But I am not too outspoken about it. It don't like preaching about stuff - I just want to know for myself so I can justify my choices ... but I never really used music to tell anyone what to do. Music is a hobby. Nasum had a message in all their songs - but I didn't write the songs or lyrics even though I can stnad for what they say. RGTE don't really have any message. At all. It's just ... well ... music.
- That is an interesting question! And even though I grew up with two parents that love jazz I mostly got to hear intrumental jazz like Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Chet Baker, Cole Porter etc ... well the only Louis Armstrong song I know is "What a wonderful world" ... and maybe that's the one you were thinking of? I heard a lot of jazz, but never started listening to it myself though. It is pretty far from grindcore after all. But to answer your question - What a wonderful world is not the ideal song for the apocalypse - I did some research nad I think I would chose "Kiss of Fire". Sounds more suitable I guess. MY favorite jazz song would be Milestones by Miles Davis though (the one from '58), so I guess I prefer to take that one with me ... I kinda like the mellow stuff on Kind of Blue.
Well, we’re at the finish line! Thank you so much, Urban! And a couple of words from you for Regurgitate fans, please!
- Well, thank you ... I haven't done an interview in years really ... we are keeping a low profile. And sometime in the future when no one expects it we will probably - maybe - release another album. But ... don't hold your breaths, OK!?
For more info:
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RGTE official site
