Human Waste - Interview in ATTACK FANZINE Once again I have chosen to translate an interview from the best zine in Sweden at the moment: A Monument To Failure. The reason is simple enough, why should I interview them when someone else has made such a good job? And theirs are in Swedish so a translation brings it to so many more people. And the band deserves the attention. Nothing more for me to say, the interview speaks for itself. Thanks to Jocke and Anders for letting me use this. Krogh - June 22, 2003 Jocke asked the questions and the whole band answered, except where stated otherwise. Uncle Charles has only been around for a few months and still you've already recorded and released a CD-R, a 7" and made a split tape. While other newly started bands normally stay at the rehearsal room for a long time before they're ready to release a record you rather seem to do the opposite. Where do you get all the creativity from and aren't you afraid the material will feel rushed when you're in a too big hurry to record it? Hasse and Sylen talked while being drunk at the "Gatufesten 2002" that it would be fun to have a less serious band that played some fast shit. Said and done. They got down to business after Storjöyran and rehearsed some already written stuff that Sylen had in store. At a start it was only Hasse and Sylen that was a part of the project and they had no plans whatsoever that it would develop into the serious band it is today. After recording 16 songs (with just drums and bass) at Hasse portable digital studio (studio 914) the question of who would do the guitar and vocals surfaced. Fredrik, who hadn't touched a mic in years, was asked. The reasoning was that he was a nice guy and had an impressive shouting. But it's always more fun and varied to have dual vocals while playing käng so we wanted another vocalist as well. Sylen had seen Ullis in Mislead Youth perform earlier that summer and thought she was a kick ass girl to get her aggressions out via the mic, so even she was asked. They both said yes. Dimman was close at hand so he got to do the guitars, even he a cool fucker. These 16 tracks were pretty much rushed together and recorded in less than 3 days, and if you were to look back at the recording we could've put a lot more time into everything. The material is hardly the best and most varied that's been made within the scene either. Now a days we put a lot more effort into all the songs and everyone is involved from beginning to end and can state their opinion when we write the songs as a band, which we hardly were from the beginning. There's been lots of bands with "funny" and different names popping up like Your Halo is a Radar, Trapdoor Fucking Exit and Robot Has Werewolf Hand within the punkscene lately and you're not an exception, 'cause Uncle Charles isn't a typical name for a band that plays raw käng. Why do you think this is? Are people simply trying to be more original and realized that it's actually pretty boring with bands that start with a "Dis", or is this just another passing trend? Why did you choose the name Uncle Charles? We had a lot of name suggestions before Uncle Charles came up. At first we were going to be called Cobra-Kai, but that was unfortunately taken. It's more fun with a band name that's not obviously stating what kinda music you're playing. And that Fredrik has a Polish uncle that's named Charles also has done its part. We can't answer to why others have weird names. As the dirt digging and scandal smelling writer I have transformed into I've also gotten to know that three of you also plays in bands such as Human Waste, Misled Youth and Saturday's Heroes. Isn't it hard to find the time to rehearse with Uncle Charles? How highly to you prioritize the band? Are you serious and give it all or is it just a fun thing to do when time and opportunity are given? The only thing that's messing things up is that we all work/study at different times of the day so it's hard to make it fit for everyone to be available to rehearse at the same time. We prioritize Uncle Charles as much as any other band and we are of course giving all we got, at the same time as it's of course a lot of fun to rehearse when there's time. Music should be fun. And if it feels forced you're not into the music 'cause of the fun. And then you should take the time to think about why you are actually doing it. Considering the dark past of Hasse one can't help but to wonder if he sometimes forgets himself and starts to do some backbeat instead of d-beat at rehearsals? By the way, he's starting to get a hang of the käng. Maybe soon the nice and sophisticated music he's playing in Saturday's Heroes are as swept away, or what do you think? We agree. Hasse's really starting to get a hang of the two-beat. Soon the sophisticated music will be long gone, and if the truth should come forth Hasse has ordered a studded jacket and a pair of Scotch-checked pants from Blue Fox and are going fulltime kängpunk. So soon Saturday's Heroes can look for a new drummer. How do you like to live in Östersund? Myself I can find it pretty boring at times since there's seriously nothing to do, but also it can be real nice to live in a smaller town. How do you like it here? Östersund is after all a pretty cosy town, but boring from time to time. And it's up to oneself to make something out of the situation. Hardly anything will happen if you sit on your ass complaining that nothing ever happens. The bad part of living in a small town is all the shit talk and badmouthing. In Östersund people really wanna know what's going on with everything and everyone, and people are gloating at others mistakes and fuck-ups. Östersund also has the tendency to start things that never gets finished, e.g. all the halfassed sports arenas and other obscure projects. There's hardly any "scene" for hardcore and punk in this town anymore. It was different for say 6 years ago, when Gamla Tingshuset almost always were crammed with bums and other loose people who'd came for some thrash. What do you think is the reason is that this has happened in Östersund when at so many other places in Sweden people still are showing up at these gigs? The interest for punk isn't as big as it used to be in Östersund anymore, like it was some years ago, but there's left a bitter group of people muttering about that society's shit, having a beer and listens to punk. What could have caused this is nothing I have any know about. Maybe it's cause "the new generation" rather sits at home behind a computer than doing something creative like playing an instrument e.g. Just take a look at all the youth centers in Östersund. There used to be and easy 7-8 bands at each center (there's like 10 centers = 70-80 bands) and now it's merely 7-8 bands at all the centers all together. That's often the place we all started at one time. Anders and me have at times discussed your sound and has come to the conclusion that many bands that's are or has been going around here are slightly reminding of each other when it comes to the sound. Is this just coincidences or did you make up from the start what kind of sound you would have? Why didn't you e.g. start to play "Tragedy-käng" which is so popular within the punkscene at the moment? We don't know if we can agree on that all bands in Östersund has the same sound, but when it comes to us we had made up our minds on that would play straightforward, simple, raw old faithful kängpunk without any frills. Why follow a trend? Sure, we think that "Tragedy-käng" is great, but it's not the kind of music we chose to play. For most bands it's pretty natural to develop as well, so who knows where Uncle Charles will be in the future It's started to show up more and more beards within the punkscene, something that confuse me a little. A few years ago beards was seen as an old-mans-thing but now it's pretty common attribute among kängsters and crusties. I mean, is it punk with beard or\u2026? Is this yet another fight against the civilized society? It's punk as fuck with beards!!! Sylen has saved his beard just 'cause he wouldn't be as punk as he wanted to otherwise. He has not saved it due to strong growth and laziness. As far as Fredrik goes, he has beard to come as far from the civilized society as possible. He will also move into the woods and live in a cabin and live of off cones. Neither Sylen or Fredrik are very young anymore. They are nothing but two crappy old-timers. From the beginning the guitar was handled by Dimman (Human Waste and A*Teem), a role that now has been taken on by Crille (Opposition). Why did Dimman quit? Did he get fed up, or maybe you got fed up with him? Any juicy details? Dimman did the guitar on the recording, but has never been a part of any rehearsal. He's a drunken bastard who gladly can be a part of crap bands as Human Waste and A*Teem, but bums like him don't belong with Uncle Charles. And he already has way to much on his hands so we sat down with him and came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be much time left for Uncle Charles on his part, and we wanted a guitarist that could be involved in every rehearsal and not a forth of 'em. Crille got in at the same time as we got our first own rehearsal space. Crille is a nice bloke who is both easy to teach and fun to hang out with. There seems to be many nicknames and aliases in Uncle Charles and the surroundings. Is this a way for you to hide inbreed among the bands or don't you find it cool to write "Thomas - Vocals" on a record cover when you play kängpunk that commands respect? Everyone has nicknames so why not use them? Or what do you say Trashank, Zodiakk, Punkarn or what it is you call yourself? There's not that much inbreeds within Uncle Charles anyway, is it? Neither Fredrik nor Crille has any other band by the side and Misled Youth might be put on ice for an unknown time so then Uncle Charles are the only band for Ullis too. And we have absolutely nothing to hide! Uncool as we are we're now going to write out our full names: Fredrik Myrdhén - vocals, Ulrika Harmén - vocals, Joakim Staff-Sylsjö - bass and vocals, Christian Rudin - guitar, Hans Lundkvist - drums. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know most part of Uncle Charles don't usually turn up at demonstrations here in Östersund. Personally I can feel that some of the demonstrations are meaningless. At least in this restricted town. Sure, it's mostly about important questions, but the ones that care are already in the demo while people standing on the side watched are just shrugging their shoulders. If there is to be a change I think it will take more than worn out slogans on the streets. It's almost proven that civil disobedience is given more attention since it's a hell of a fuzz in the press as soon as someone has taken things in hers/his own hands. What you think about this? Do you agree or do you have another opinion? All within Uncle Charles has been, or are, more or less active with demonstrations. Sometimes though it can seem pretty pointless to demonstrate, but there's always someone who starts to think among the public. Of course civil disobedience is given more attention in the press, because it's illegal. We still think that civil disobedience is the best way to do things, but one thing doesn't rule out the other. A question that somewhat touches the same subject. Your first 7" is called "Action Speaks Louder Than Words" and you've also done a track called "Höj Era Röster, Höj Era Nävar" (Raise Your Voices, Raise Your Fists). Which gives the impression that you're a pretty revolutionary band who really wanna try and change the society. Just as say the people must go to action and not just words for things to change. What do you do as individuals except writing and singing about it? You can be a revolutionary without wearing a ski mask and throw rocks at the cops, but not that we necessary think that is wrong. All within the band believes in a revolution, but we have different opinions how it will happen. Revolution is a FUCKING big word. Everyone in the band fight his or her own way. Some by action and some by other methods, but our united message is brought forth in out lyrics. You played Punkfest 6 in Umeå last year. What did you think about that gig and the festival in all? How come you got to play there? Had any of the arrangers heard about you or did you contact them? Before that gig you had only played live once before, but will you try to get more gigs around Sweden now? Punkfest 6 was a damn good arrangement. Good bands, a lot of people, distro/record stands and good food. It was Klas (on of the arrangers) who took contact with us and asked if we didn't wanna come up and play and we naturally said yes. The gig went well except that we were pretty dull on stage, but it was fun to play. We haven't been around that long as a band so we haven't gotten that much live experience but it still seemed as some people enjoyed it, 'cause some told us after. We're going to rehearse now at a start and then we'll write some new songs, but of course we're going to try to get as many gigs as possible in the future. To get out and play is the most fun there is. You get close to eachother as a group, meet a lot of new people and get the chance to see places. As I just mentioned Uncle Charles has stood on stage twice. One thing that struck me both times was that in connection with the song "Hjärntvättad" (Brainwashed) you say that one shouldn't believe everything that's written or said in the media. What makes your message so much more truth worthy than theirs? In my eyes many punk bands themselves serves as some sort of media, which close to dictates what's right and wrong. It's not often that I stop and think about that what's been said is truthful or not. Most of it you swallow whole as long as it doesn't sound too crazy. How can people chose what to believe in and why chose to believe what a punk band like Uncle Charles has to say before the media like newspapers, TV or radio? That you shouldn't believe in everything that's written and said in the media is something people should know by now and that everyone should believe in everything that Uncle Charles says isn't something we've ever claimed. We just advocate the view we have on things, then it's up to each and everyone to make their own opinion. I wasn't going to ask, but as we're on the media subject I've been thinking about one thing. At several occasions when the press here in Östersund has brought attention to Uncle Charles it seems as the focus has been on the fact that Sylen plays in the band. Could you say that he's the bands front or is it just the local press' invention 'cause of the fact that Sylen is "famous" for his involvement in different bands and project since before? We have absolutely no front figure in Uncle Charles. Everyone fills his or her place very well. Why the local press writes that it's "Sylens band" you'll have to ask them. We have nothing to do with what they write. Sylen: This is nothing I've chosen or strive for. I'm pretty fed up with the fact that the local press has to make such a big deal about that I'm a member every time. Everyone gets so high expectations as soon as I do or are involved in anything, and that puts a very big pressure on me which I think is really heavy to deal with! Everyone's eyes is pointed at me\u2026 I'm never alone in a band or in a project I do. Every little helps, but they don't seem to understand that. I just want stuff to happen and push it all I can. Attack Tapes released a split-tape with you and the American band Straight Edge Kegger last year. I had never heard about them earlier, but I must say I didn't like it that much. What kind of band is that and how did that tape happen? It comes about as pretty unnecessary when you already own the CD-R Krogh/Blindead (if we may correct you), got in touch with us and asked if he could release a split-tape with an American band and us. We didn't have any unreleased songs at the time and he wanted to get it out as soon as possible so he asked if he could use the tracks from the CD-R. And the fact that that one only were pressed and sold in 100 copies made us go along. It's like a second pressing, only on tape, and for the same price you get a second band too. Straight Edge Kegger comes, as said, from USA and has members of Hate Mail Killers if you've heard them. Sylen has been somewhat in touch with Lon and Meg, but we can hardly say we know them. Feminism has been "in style" a while now. What's your thought on feminism and what does it mean to you? I've seen myself as a feminist since I want a equal society, but recently I read an article about this where it said that it's important that it's the women who fight this fight alone since it's only then a equal society can be reached. What do you think? Can a man really call himself a feminist? You can call yourself whatever you want to, but we think it's hard for a man to know the women's situation. There are different opinions about how the feminist fight should be fought within the band, but we all strive for a equal society where women and men have the same rights. In the last issue of this mag I wrote a column about the "community" in the Östersund scene and I sometimes get the feeling that people are only interested in their own bands and don't want to support others that struggle. How do you think it works? Have you yourselves had bad experiences or is everything just dandy? We function pretty good on our own and don't demand that people should support us. Then there of course are the ones that talk about supporting each other and every band who's seated in Östersund, which is something we hardly notice. There are some experiences of people/bands that fucks you over. As soon as things start to flow for one band and they start to get attention everyone immediately has to start to talk a lot of shit! There's so much good music in Östersund and instead of helping each other one rather try to stop them to make it bigger for oneself. Sylen: Personally I try to buy most of what's released locally and do everything to support the local scene by doing everything from buying records to attend gigs. You might not like everything you buy, but when there are friends playing in the band you of course buy to support. It's always to get to know how they sound! It would be fun to actually get to know how many of our friends who actually bought a record. I bet you didn't think this question would come, but carping as we are in the editorial staff we included it anyway. Why did you steal the A Monument To Failure logo? Was it an aware move to actively split the scene? If we're going to talk about whom steals from who, you can hardly accuse of anything. There's easy over 1000 punk bands/zines/distros/labels that has used the font "Adler" in some sort of text whether it be a cover or flyer. And stars are hardly a new invention that you were the pioneers with, or are we wrong? You might have patented you logo, what do we know? In that case you'll have to file a complaint against us and we'll straighten things out in a court if you're willing to go that far. Hahaha\u2026 Ah, seriously. If we're going to be honest we hardly had the AMTF logo in mind when we were doing the cover, and as we've already said it's not a very unusual font we/you have used. A little bird told me that you in your turn have stolen the logo from Regression Records It feels kinda cheeky to ask considering your productivity, but do you have any new records or gigs planned? Future plans are to rehearse as hell and record a bunch of new tracks that will end up on various compilations. It would be fun to be able to get out and play a little as well. Besides that nothing much is planned. We simply go at it one day at a time, and we'll see where that takes us. Just as everything fun here in life, this interview also has an end. Thanks a bunch for the interview and I wish you the best of luck in the future. Do you have anything to add or perhaps a few thought worthy words to share before we end? Thank you very much for the space and participation in your zine. Besides that we want to congratulate you on a very good and well written. Without a doubt the best zine in Sweden at the moment. Keep it up and good luck in the future! By the way, I almost forgot\u2026 Since you're living in Östersund I must ask if you've run in to the good Rimi-Peter? Rimi-Peter? Isn't that the guy who makes his own wine and likes to shit himself? Latest news: Uncle Charles has now also gotten a new 6th member in the shape of Funky Jens on vocals.