TUESDAY OCT 02, 2018
Mustasch
"It´s an impressive CV the band has achieved since their first release in 2001: Seven albums, a huge hit with "Double Nature", sold-out tours in Scandinavia, opening- and headline tours with Motörhead, Kizz, Rose Tattoo and Volbeat in Europe, four Swedish Grammy Nominations whereof two Grammy Awards for Best Metal Album for Latest Version Of The Truth 2008 and Mustasch 2010, and the following studio album "Sounds Like Hell, Looks Like Heaven" 2012 reached gold status in Sweden in just two weeks. After all this, the band reached a turning point. Full speed ahead focusing on the band or nothing at all. No half-hearted solutions, no compromises. All or nothing.
- That’s the way I work as a person, Ralf explains over a cup of coffee a Tuesday morning in Stockholm. Drunk or sober, angry or happy, all or nothing. There are no in-betweens in my world.
The band now celebrates it´s 14 anniversary with Ralf and Stam as the sole original members. In 2008 David Johannesson (ex. Sparzanza) came aboard, and after that Jejo Percović (ex. Candlemass, Infinite Mass) joined the band in 2012.
The song-writing for Mustasch has been unusually painless, which Ralf credits the new members and the new band-order. Today everyone is free to write as they find best, follow their instincts and above all: focus on the best possible songs.
- Earlier, I wrote a little bit every day. These days I have to gather the ideas and write in more concentrated sessions. They´re not as frequent, but on the other hand there’s more material to pick from. The lyrics are the same as always: anger and frustration - desolation.
- I’ve got my roots in folk-music, Ralf explains. My first instrument was the accordion and I’ve been to quite a few accordion-music sessions. As my parents do a lot of folk-dancing, it was at these sessions I spent my summers. A few years ago, when the whole band shared an apartment in Gothenburg, we always played Jan Johansson and (swedish crooner) Evert Taube at our after-partys. It was the best way to come down after a night of partying. I don’t think I’ll be mixing in more folk-music with Mustasch, however. There are others who do that a lot better than us.
All or nothing. Nothing else will do. Mustasch is the evidence of that."
"It´s an impressive CV the band has achieved since their first release in 2001: Seven albums, a huge hit with "Double Nature", sold-out tours in Scandinavia, opening- and headline tours with Motörhead, Kizz, Rose Tattoo and Volbeat in Europe, four Swedish Grammy Nominations whereof two Grammy Awards for Best Metal Album for Latest Version Of The Truth 2008 and Mustasch 2010, and the following studio album "Sounds Like Hell, Looks Like Heaven" 2012 reached gold status in Sweden in just two weeks. After all this, the band reached a turning point. Full speed ahead focusing on the band or nothing at all. No half-hearted solutions, no compromises. All or nothing.
- That’s the way I work as a person, Ralf explains over a cup of coffee a Tuesday morning in Stockholm. Drunk or sober, angry or happy, all or nothing. There are no in-betweens in my world.
The band now celebrates it´s 14 anniversary with Ralf and Stam as the sole original members. In 2008 David Johannesson (ex. Sparzanza) came aboard, and after that Jejo Percović (ex. Candlemass, Infinite Mass) joined the band in 2012.
The song-writing for Mustasch has been unusually painless, which Ralf credits the new members and the new band-order. Today everyone is free to write as they find best, follow their instincts and above all: focus on the best possible songs.
- Earlier, I wrote a little bit every day. These days I have to gather the ideas and write in more concentrated sessions. They´re not as frequent, but on the other hand there’s more material to pick from. The lyrics are the same as always: anger and frustration - desolation.
- I’ve got my roots in folk-music, Ralf explains. My first instrument was the accordion and I’ve been to quite a few accordion-music sessions. As my parents do a lot of folk-dancing, it was at these sessions I spent my summers. A few years ago, when the whole band shared an apartment in Gothenburg, we always played Jan Johansson and (swedish crooner) Evert Taube at our after-partys. It was the best way to come down after a night of partying. I don’t think I’ll be mixing in more folk-music with Mustasch, however. There are others who do that a lot better than us.
All or nothing. Nothing else will do. Mustasch is the evidence of that."
Beitthemeans
"Just when you thought Southern rock was said and done, along comes Beitthemeans, swaggering out from a dark shed somewhere deep in the pines of Sylacauga, Alabama. The name is fitting for a power trio that is all about boot straps, whether it’s pulling them up or using them to beat their way out of a smoldering genre that could benefit from a whipping or two. With swelling riffs, bluesy throwbacks and a lead singer with a screech that must be part owl, BITM certainly cracks the whip on Southern rock. Bassist Casey Wilson, drummer Nathan Kelley and singer/guitarist Josh Jones partnered with Birmingham’s Ol Elegante studios and producer Lester Nuby for the band’s latest effort, Head Held High. It’s a natural pairing, considering Nuby’s roots in alternative Southern rock. He currently plays in a Birmingham-based band called Vulture Whale, was a founding member of the band Verbena and has worked extensively with folks like Amy Ray and Dave Grohl. “They’re Southern rock, no doubt, but with a hint of the occult,” Nuby says. “And, lyrically it’s completely truthful…singing songs about salvation and sin, about getting by in crazy, small-town Alabama.” It doesn’t hurt either, that Jones’ startling scream is a full-on invocation to the dirty ghosts of rock and roll’s past, present and future. The band challenges all that has been and is to come of Southern rock and roll, making Head Held High a revival of sorts. Instead of resting on the laurels of the music royalty they admire: Son House, Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers, Soundgarden, Nirvana, BITM left inspiration at the shed door and emerged on their own time, only after capturing a hell-bent sound they could claim as their own. And that’s what rebel punks should do."
"Just when you thought Southern rock was said and done, along comes Beitthemeans, swaggering out from a dark shed somewhere deep in the pines of Sylacauga, Alabama. The name is fitting for a power trio that is all about boot straps, whether it’s pulling them up or using them to beat their way out of a smoldering genre that could benefit from a whipping or two. With swelling riffs, bluesy throwbacks and a lead singer with a screech that must be part owl, BITM certainly cracks the whip on Southern rock. Bassist Casey Wilson, drummer Nathan Kelley and singer/guitarist Josh Jones partnered with Birmingham’s Ol Elegante studios and producer Lester Nuby for the band’s latest effort, Head Held High. It’s a natural pairing, considering Nuby’s roots in alternative Southern rock. He currently plays in a Birmingham-based band called Vulture Whale, was a founding member of the band Verbena and has worked extensively with folks like Amy Ray and Dave Grohl. “They’re Southern rock, no doubt, but with a hint of the occult,” Nuby says. “And, lyrically it’s completely truthful…singing songs about salvation and sin, about getting by in crazy, small-town Alabama.” It doesn’t hurt either, that Jones’ startling scream is a full-on invocation to the dirty ghosts of rock and roll’s past, present and future. The band challenges all that has been and is to come of Southern rock and roll, making Head Held High a revival of sorts. Instead of resting on the laurels of the music royalty they admire: Son House, Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers, Soundgarden, Nirvana, BITM left inspiration at the shed door and emerged on their own time, only after capturing a hell-bent sound they could claim as their own. And that’s what rebel punks should do."