Someone smashed a window on our tour bus in broad daylight and stole some stuff while we were doing the soundcheck in Stockholm. They stole my bag that besides my clothes for the weekend, contained a laptop and a digital camera. I had some important word-documents on that computer, such as all order details and pre-orders from the past weeks. So that meansthat I willfall behind.....again. This is gettingridiculous.
Please hear me out, Idon't ask forsympathy orsupport, only your patience and understanding thatitmighttake a whilebefore I'mback on track. Of what they stole I mournmy Frigöra and Nightmare City t-shirts, notebook (w/ lyrics, plans and ideas), my favourite Fjällräven backpack and the lost photos on my camera the most. Fucking assholes! Steal from the rich and give to the poor, not vice versa.
Well I guess I should take this opportunity tosay thank you to the organizers and all who came to our shows in Stockholm, Göteborg and Sundsvall. We truly had a great weekend and I really hope to see you all again soon. Even Stockholm. Hahaha.
Taken from the upcoming 4 track E.P. "Helvetespunk" on D&R later this spring. We will also have new Korsfäst 12", Anatomi-71 12" and Damaged Head 7" released. Busy, tight and brutal schedule!
Wecan finallyannounce that ourdebut album "Satyagraha" is at the pressing plant! Its been a long time coming but nowwe seethe light at theend of the tunnel. We have put our whole heart, soul and grief into the creation of this album andthat's whyit feels extra excitingto finally getto sharewhatwe havebeen up to lately. 'Kaihou' shouldmost definitely be playedat maximum volume!
April 1, "Ubåten" (see below) was only an April Fool. Yes, I'm guilty of having a dry old man's humor, sorry! Haha. Now, let's talk seriously...
I would probably say that Strebers (next to Asta Kask and KSMB) is one of the 10 most important bands from the early years when I found out about punk for the very first time. Since our drummer literally can't stand Asta Kask (Kasta Bajs) and it feels impossible to capture or recreate KSMB's genuine feeling we decided to record a cover of Strebers. But choosing the song was harder. Our first choice was not "2 Skott" but "Sanningen", the opening track on their debut LP. Even if the song actually might suit us better and has a rawer sound, it lacks what I associate most with Strebers, namely the melodies and the elements of old Swedish folk music. 2 Skott covering all the ingredients of a really good song by Strebers. "Levande död", "39 Steg" and "Gud hör bön" were three other really strong candidates.
Again, we wanted to choose an unexpeted band but also pay tribute and show respect to a band that most people who are listening to Paranoid otherwise might not listen to that much. We started, as always, with all the instruments, we then had a break for a few weeks before we entered the studio again for the vocal parts. When I opened the studio project and listen to what we have so far recorded I felt immediately that I was not completely happy with the guitar sound so I forced Henrik, to his delight, to re-record all the guitars. It gives you perhaps an indication of how seriously we take this cover project. When it was done, it was finally time for vocals and somehow Henrik got the feeling and sang like Ulke. Haha. It sounded like shit, I mean, there is only one original and I was really worried about how it all would end. We called it a day. The week after we made a new attempt and then everything went like clockwork. But there was still something missing. I heard clearly a melancholy violin playing in the background in my head. Now that I barely can master a four string bass we had to call a friend who backed us up in the studio.
Little did we know that Strebers would be highly relevant with the scheduled tour dates later this year when we rehearsed this song. Fate? I had the pleasure of seeing them live at Gamla Tingshuset in Östersund during their reunion in 2001, fun times and great memories.
In the mid-90s, about a year after I first heard Strebers, I found Ulke's home address, so I wrote him a letter. I know it sounds ridiculous today (in 2015) but in my defense, I was only 14 years old and I was blissfully unaware of the technological future that awaited. Imagine my surprise when, a few weeks later actually got a response. There are not many people know that we actually were pen pals for some years in the 90's. Well, "pen pals" might be an exaggerating, I wrote him and he always replied politely and friendly. I had previously had Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Metallica as idols, and there I was 15 years old and had direct contact with the vocalist/guitarist in one of my absolute favorite bands at the moment. It was huge and it meant a lot to me. I had the honor to follow the entire development of Dia Psalma through Ulke's letters and he sent me the first Mcd "Hon får..." as a gift when it was released. Although I would choose Strebers before Dia Psalma any time and any day, no question about that.
Having that said, I just wanted to draw attention to all who believed and said that Ulke/Dia Psalma was a sellout (punk-rockstar) due Dia Psalma's successes. Even in their busy periods he took the time to sit down and write a handwritten letter to some random guy from the northern parts of Sweden that he had never met. For that he got my respect. Therefore, we thought it would be extremely funny if Ulke wanted to join us on this cover song. We got in touch by email, but sadly lost the signal. We are very pleased with the end result anyway and who knows, our paths may hopefully cross some other day. Up the trallpunx!
We wanted to choose a very unexpected song with an unexpected band. Now that we're from Sweden and since Strebers is one of our absolute favorite Swedish bands of all time there was no doubt that we would do a cover on them. We assume that people expect that we at least would record a few Swedish songs during this project, but probably not this one.
At first we gave "Betongbarn" (of course) a few tries, but we felt that it was too obvious. The reasoning in Paranoid was that we always complicate everything so damn much that we just wanted to take on a short, but most important, simple cover for once.
"Ubåten" is according to us a forgotten, hidden and underrated song among all the other brilliant trallpunk/folk music classics in their back catalog. Strebers needs no further introduction and since it's a short song, short story behind. No krångel. Play it fucking loud and singalong; I left my ubåt in Kvicksund!
Det sägs ju att de kom ju allti en morronda, hur djupt man än sov, hur bra man än har nä. Just den Morrondan är i morron. Det är fredag, klockan är 05:47, en lång och hård arbetsdag väntar. För att vakna till liv värmer jag upp med lite gammalt hederligt mangel och en köpp svart. Ma ses i måra punkjävlarrrrr!
Therearemanywho mail us and ask for specific cover songs, but Paranoid areno fucking jukebox...until now. We've decidedto recorda songof TOTALITÄR and now we need Your help tochoose which one! We feel that itis quite impossible topick only onesohere's your opportunity toparticipate and influence. The song thatgets the most votesis the one wewillrecord. Go ape shit! Leave a comment hereon the blogor email usat pndftw@gmail.com
Most people who listen or listened to punk has a relationship with The
Exploited, whether you love them or hate them. It wasn't the first band
we talked about or had in mind when we started this cover-project.
Although it was actually a pretty obvious choice when you think about
it, given that both me (Jocke) and Emil grew up listening to The
Exploited. They were one of the first punk bands that we both got in
touch with. Probably just because it's an easily accessible band for the
inexperienced in the punkrock jungle. I still think it's a great band
and even though I don't listen to them every day, I do listen to them
occasionally. Especially the first three albums. The choice of song was
very spontaneous. We had a dinner break during a recording session and
while we ate, we listened to a few select songs. After culling among our
favorites there were two songs left; "Attack" and "Don't really care".
We
brought both songs back to the studio and started jamming. We felt
quite soon that it would be difficult for us to make "Attack" sound
good/raw. It was simply too "happy" chord progressions. Then we tested
"Don't really care" and we all agreed that it suited us much better. The
verse even reminds very much of one of our songs. Maybe the song
remained somewhere in our subconscious when we wrote it, unconsciously
inspired by The Exploited.
Not everyone wants to admit that they
like or have been listening to The Exploited. I can sometimes even get
the feeling that it's not as cool to listen to them. It might as well
have to do with all the bad rumors about the band. Or due to the fact
that many didn't like their new crossover metal-punk style they
developed in conjunction with the release of "Death Before ...". It's
only speculations. They are still a big part of my youth and Wattie
was the reason why I shaved my first mohawk. If you ask me, they have
undoubtedly a bunch of classics in their back catalog. But the first
thing that caught my attention was not the music but their
covers/artwork. Not to mention the immortal skull-logo made by Pushead
that most people usually associate the band with.
Anyway, now
I'll take you back in time. The year is 1993, a friend and I took the
bus downtown to visit the local record store called 'Guntans' (R.I.P),
to buy a punk record for our monthly allowance. We both wanted to buy
"The Massacre" (only cause the front cover looked rawer) so we drew
lots. He won and instead I bought "Death Before Dishonour". I guess
there was a greater purpose than that I would just listen to this record
when I lost that draw 22 years ago...
