Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

Have any of you played in other bands?

All of us have played in other bands.  The bands you might have actually heard of are Swinging Utters and Filthy Thieving Bastards.  Mikey our guitarist played in both and actually helped write the first Filthy Thieving Bastards album.

Mikey and I also currently play in a band with Allen StIritz the original drummer from LA's Wasted Youth.  We play the whole Reagan's In album with him and his son sings.  Fun side project called AL's Wasted Youth.

How is it that you started playing Music?

If you mean me, I lived in a house where music was always on and my father is a musician so it was in my blood to also play.  

If you mean the band, we all just met and started jamming music that we all like.

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?

Sam, OLD! I sing or shout or whatever you want to call it.

Mikey, OLDER! Guitar

Dudel, Almost Old. Drums

Dash, Youngest. Bass

Have you had other previous members? We have had like 7 guitar players but 3 that lasted longer than 3 years.  Our drummer is leaving soon but we have some new guys we are going to try out soon.

Did you make music even when you were young? I started playing bass in punk bands when I was 13

Where are you from? I was born in Oakland, California and lived in Norther California until I was 26

What year did the band form? The end of 2003

What's your style of genre? I guess you could call it 80s HC punk. Some people call it 80s technical skate punk.  Whatever, we just play what we like

What inspires you? Daily life and problems we face on a regular basis.

How often and where do you rehearse? We try to practice once a week but it does not always work out.

How have you developed since you started with the music? Well we have learned to play better and tighter.  We like to try and push things as far as possible.

Do you have other interests of work outside the band? The band is sadly just a fun hobby that helps us travel the world.  We all work.  Our guitarist and I teach English and print shirts for other touring bands.  Our bass player makes basses and repairs instruments and our drummer is a driver. 

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? We book with Destiny but also still do a lot of it DIY.

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? We also release our music through Destiny.  It helps cause we are so busy with our lives its hard to distro all alone.

What made you decide to make this music? It what I grew up listening to and playing.  And for some reason I just can't stop

What are your songs about? Daily life, problems with work, the government, alcohol, skateboarding, language barriers, bad luck, and more.

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? We all write the music but I write almost all the lyrics

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Its a mix. But most of the time the music.

Do you compose in a certain environment? Not really.  Most of the time someone comes to practice with a riff and then we go from there.  Loads of the songs have riffs written but all of us which I find really cool. A few are all written but one person but not so often.

Have you done any covers live? Yes. Black Flag, RKL, Elvis and a few others. But we mostly play originals

What language do you sing in? English 

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? Some shit gigs on a Monday will only have like 5 people there and some support of festivals gigs with have like 5000 people there. 

What ages are most of your concert attendants? Not sure maybe around 25 to 30, but we also have a lot of older fans but they can't always make it to gigs cause of family and work

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? It changes a bit.  We are doing a lot of stuff from the last album �SORRY STATE OF AFFAIRS� at the moment.

Do you have a regular place you play live often? Love the Au in Frankfurt and Sonic Ballroom in K�ln or Immerhin in W�rzburg or Schaubude in Kiel.....too many to name.

What was your first gig like? We played a house destruction party.  It was chaos.  100 people destroying a house as we played and then the police came and we had to run but not all of us got away.  Some people went to jail.

What was your latest gig? We played with Negative Approach in Karlsruhe.  Was total chaos for Thursday.

Have you had to cancel a gig? We hate to do it but yes.  Sometimes life gets in the way.  We had to cancel some UK gigs cause our guitar player was having Visa problems.  But we have done tours where I had surgery on my testicles the week before and was bleeding for the first half of the tour.  So we do our best to not cancel, but as we get older our health is becoming more important.

Where have you played live this year? All over Europe, we did Finland for the first time which was awesome and also in Indonesia.  That was a crazy tour.

Where do you plan to gig the coming year? Our first priority is to get a solid drummer again and then write some new music, but we are always playing in Europe and maybe we can make it back to the USA in 2016

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? We started doing merch as soon as we started playing shows. We have shirts, hoodies, hats, CDs, LPs, tapes and some other goodies

Where can people buy your merchandise? www.badpress.deor at a show!

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? I prefer vinyl but I understand that it is easier in the busy world we live in today to just download.

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? In some ways it put the power back into the hands of the artist. You can record and post your music for free or charge people for it and not need a label.  That is great for smaller bands getting started. 

What do you think of my work? Not sure.  What is your work? The interview has been nice if thats what you mean.

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? Well I hope that some people that don't know who we are will get to know us and then maybe check us out.

Do you have any role models or idols? No idols, but I respect people that stand for peace and the good will of others and think about others before themselves.

Why do you think that they exist? So people have examples of what we should strive for.

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Both.  I really like some of the newer bands and I am extremely inspired by the older bands that are still going for it.  Makes me know I don't have to stop anytime soon. 

What have been your biggest obstacles? Visa troubles, alcoholism, the government, jail and bad luck

What advice would you give other bands or artists? Do what you love and do it with all your heart and good things will happen

How do you get psyched for a gig? I remember when I was young and how much the bands that really put on a show impressed me and inspired me.  And I hope that the younger people at the shows get that same feeling when we play.

Do you have any new material? We have some new songs floating around

What are your web sites?

How can people reach you? [email protected]

What are your plans for the future? Support the scene, play shows and write music...

Do you have something to add? Thanks and hope to make it to Sweden some day! My ex girlfriends was from Sveg.  Beautiful area.  I was there twice.