by Helle Hellcat

The Hellacopters just keep on driving the pedal through the metal and I don´t think they need no further introduction to our readers? Even though they are now on a big international record label (Universal), have videos running on MTV and are determined as a ”major” band the members of The Hellacopters seem to be the same small-town-down-to-earth nice boys suffering from a strong urge to ROCK OUT! Hellcat made an exclusive date with Robban (drums) and Stringen (guitar) at this year´s Roskilde Festival in July and here´s the chit-chat about playing big festivals, rockstar attitude and that skinny guy called Mick jagger that came out of the sweet meetin´ in this Q´n´Á interview.

H: Hellacopters played Roskilde Festival 1997, 2001 and now in 2003 you´re playing the Orange Stage (biggest stage at the festival). What are your expectations for this year´s festival?

S: I think we´re not as big as you should be as a band when you´re playing that stage but I´m looking forward to it ´cause it´s fucking cool.

H: You don´t feel any pressure?

S + R: Not really …eh …he he he …
S: I remember the first time we played here and the show was great so we have to top that.
R: Yeah … but it´s too bad that it started to rain out there. It would be better to play in a tent if it´s raining of course but we`ll do our best.

H: You have, as mentioned, played here before. How would You compare RoskildeFestival to other festivals you´ve played in positive and negative ways?

R: It´s better organized …
S: Yeah, and it´s more laid back and the people behind the festival are not stressing you out …
R: A couple of German festivals are really well organized too. They have, you know like, proper food and toilets and showers and all that. Sometimes festivals don´t have anything. ”Here´s your ticket, go get yourself some food somewhere” …
S: … help yourself …
R: Here it´s like the backstage area is functional and the security is cool.
S: Yeah, you can see that´s it has been going on for a while …what is it? 30 years?

H: Actually it´s the 33rd time this year …

R: You should have some experience then, eh?
S: Yeah, you feel that the people working here treat you really good and listen to you if you want something.

H: There should be no major stars at Roskilde Festival. They try to treat each band equal. I know this is a frequently asked question, but do you prefere to play festivals or are you more into the smaller rock clubs?

R: I like both. Sometimes I just hate playing festivals when they are like I told before. When the catering sucks, there´re no showers and so on but with a festival like this it´s really good.
S: yeah, I´ll say I like both too, it depends …

H: Most rockbands say they prefere smaller clubs ´cause it´s more ”authentic”?

R: I think it goes in two different ways ´cause when you´re playing at a club the audience is very close and you get an immediately response to it when you play. But when you´re playing these big fields, you know, like Lynard Skynard or an old some kind of biiiig 70´s rockband played the audience is like 20 meters away and you – bam – you see people everywhere and that´s very cool.

H: Yeah, it must give you a special kind of rush of adrenalin?

S: Yeah, it´s a strange feeling …
R: Also you´re getting a good response from a big audience at a festival ´cause you can´t point out one or two people like you can at a club that´s, you know, like VERY into it. At a festival it´s like – pow – it´s a whole mass of people and it´s fun in two different way. It´s very hard to compare.

H: These big stadium concerts are also what we saw on tv as kids right?

S: yeah, yeah ”this is what it´s all about”…
R: ”This is rock´n´roll” (laughing) …
S: …Yeah, you feel like Aerosmith.

H: yeah, and now you´re opening for Rolling Stones? It must be like ”oh oh”?

S: Yeah, it´s going to be Rolling Stones, ZZ Top and us ….
R: So we get to be the youngest again …
(All hysterically laughing by the thought of opening for these two megabig rockbands)
R: … the young boys …
S: Yeah, like 25 years again or something he he …
R: The Hives are opening some of the Rolling Stones shows in Scandinavia.
R: I heard that Mick Jagger apparently read about The Hives in some of the English magazines like ”Q” or ”The Rolling Stones” and then picked them. Then he called for our biography or whatever and a couple of days later we were on the shows, so apparently he´s got something to say himself. It´s not like the record label just picked some bands to play with The Rolling Stones, he picked them himself. So he personally asked for us. At least that´s what i heard.

H: I think the bands on the bill will make a great mix.

R: yeah, I think so too …

H: When you look back now and reflect on the last 9 years do you feel like all your dreams regarding the band have come true? Or have you just been taken by surprise?

R: A lot of it has been taken by surprise but, you know, before we recorded our first album (”Supershitty …” ´96) we didn´t even think that we were gonna make a record. Then when that record came out …that itself was like a dream come true. Then with the Kiss gigs and all that – you never really thought that it all would happen and the same with The Rolling Stones gig now. It´s too big to even be a dream. We´ve done five records now and we´ve been touring on four continents and that´s overwhelming but it´s still like …phew …we want more, you know? You kind of like stretch your goals to be even bigger. If you start to feel content and lay back, then I think it would start to suck.

H: It would just be any ordenary job?

R: Yeah, and I don´t see this as my job, I see it as … and I think it goes for all five of us … that we simply just love music and want to make it as good as possible and make better records all the time, playing for more people and so on.

H: So it´s still fun to tour?

R: Well, if you´re on a tour for three weeks and you play like twenty shows in twentyone days or something of course a few of them are gonna be like – phew – it´s getting hard to motivate yourself to go up and play but if you think of it it´s the best and it´s all I ever wanted to do.

H: I think a lot people believe that touring includes a lot of glamour, totally wild cocaine parties and naked groupies running around in hotel corridors.

S: Anyway, it´s not 24 hours of fun all the time but …

H: I saw a Hellacopters rockumentary at swedish television and there´s some shootings from backstage areas where you clearly can see that it´s not always total action time and fun all the way?

R: No, and that was the intention with that movie – to show it like it really is. We don´t want to glamourize the whole thing. Normally when people do these documentaries they take the best parts and use shootings of the biggest audience in all sequenses.
S: We wanted it to be very honest …
R: yeah, like the opposite to all the other documentaries. You know, if there´s a band argument it should be in there …
S: … and if we´re all having fun, maybe we should put that in as well? …
R: Yeah, exactly, so just film whatever is there and put it out! A lot of people have been saying that ”Oh, we thought you were bigger in the States. Where´s the action at?”.

H: Yeah, you see a lot of packing gear, soundchecks and boring waiting time in the video.

R: Yeah, and that´s what it´s like. But I think it was a fun movie and it´s going to be out on DVD in a near future with some extra material.

H: More waiting scenes from airports?

All: laughing
R: Its a good friend of ours that are doing it and we haven´t seen it all yet, but we recorded a comment track and that was quite funny.

H: All this touring and success must have meant a big change in your personal lives?

R: Of course …
S: Hell yeah …

H: How did your friends react? Have you met any envy or backstapping amongst your friends and colleagues ?

S: I have met some envy – of course they will never admit this – but I have met this and I don´t really know how to react to this …
R: You know, You try to be as normal as possible …
S: …Yeah, and then you hear people talking behind your back ”Oh, he think he´s a rockstar now”. You know, I´m from a small town and sometimes when I´m there and out drinking beers they treat me like ”Don´t think you are a rockstar or anything!”

H: It´s like that ”Jante Lov”, you know ”Don´t think you are anything”, ”Don´t think you´re better than us” and so on …

S: Exactly!
R: I´m coming from a small town too and it´s the same. I remember the first time when I came back to the place where I grew up and I think we had been on TV once after ”Supershitty” was released and some guy at a bar was like ”Hey, buy me a beer” and he´s an old friend of mine and I said ”Well, I only have 300kr and they are for the trainticket back to Stockholm tomorrow so, sorry, I really can´t afford buying beers. He went on ”Hey, you must have a lot of money. I saw you on TV!” and I said ”Eh, Yeah well, I don´t earn money from that” har har har …. I wish I did though …That was the first time I got encountered to envy and that was very strange. I used to be riding in the back of his car, you know, like doing nothing so that was rather weird and sad.
S: But you can tell now who´s really your friends ´cause your best friends they go ” wauw” and they´re happy for you when things are fine.
R: They ask you: ”so what have you been up to this weekend?” and I say ”Well I´ve been in Germany and Roskilde” and so on and they just say ”well ok, should we do something tomorrow?”. They´re relaxed and laid back about the whole thing and it´s just the same as always and that’s nice.

H: So you still have some good friends left?

S: Oh yes!
R: Yes yes. But it´s sometimes difficult to keep up with your social life when you´re playing maybe 100 – 120 shows a year, so whenever we come back home someone´s got married, someone´s got seperated from their girlfriends or boyfriends, someone´s got children and so on and we go ”Shit, we didn´t know that?” and it happened two months ago.
S: It´s hard to keep up with things.

H: You don´t have the time to write letters and e-mails all the time?

R: No exactly, but I don´t complain either. I do what I wanna do.
S: Yeah, I wouldn´t change it for anything in the world.

H: I was told that Nicke bought a house far out on the countryside?

R: Oh yeah, he did two years ago.
S: There are NO neighbours.
R: No, no neighbours at all. Not even if you use binoculars. He´s got his own little road to the house.

H: It sounds kind of nice?

S: Yeah, a red house with white corners. Traditional Swedish style you know.
R: Just a lawnmover that you drive you know he he he …

H: Do you have any plans in that direction?

R: Well, I just bought an apartment …
S: I wanna buy a house as well sometime but not that far away from the city. And I´m not afraid of neighbours.

H: You think Nicke is afraid of the neighbours? (Do we sense some weird rockstar behavoir here?)

R: Oh yeah, he hates neighbours …
All: Laughing
R: Well Bobba bought a boat. He´s out fishing a lot. Kenny´s still living in the same house as always.

H: Well, it must be nice being able to buy a place to live so you don´t have to continue sharing the same two-room flats in Stockholm, right? And still you don´t seem like the types who buys ton of pink cadillacs either?

R: No, and we´re not like millionaires or anything …
S: No, just rockstars he he he …