J of Bastards of Bohuslän

 Interview with J of Bastards of Bohuslän

Hail my friend, you are very welcome to Archangel’s Lantern. Introduce to the readers your awesome page Bastards of Bohuslän. When and how did you start it? What is the main goal of Bastards of Bohuslän? 

(I’m so thankful to you for sharing my interviews with my dear Swedish metal-bother, Carl-Gustav Karlsson)

J: All hail mighty Archangel’s Lantern!

Bastards of Bohuslän is a project me and a friend started in 2013 because we were bored and wanted to have something to do. Shortly my friend left to do his own adventures. The main goal for me is to promote and help my friends and other local musicians to spread their music. NO SELFGLORIFICATION!! I am a person who prefers to be in the background. It took years for some friends to realize that it was me who was behind the page. 

Yeah I don't have any problems sharing interviews with great people. Carl is an awesome drummer and a genuine nice person! 

How and when did you join Swedish underground movement? What was/were your very first stuff and which bands did you see for the first time? 

J: Hmm, I’m not sure I am a part of the underground…

I was born in 1981 so I think I am a bit too young to have been there in the beginning.

But as a young little fart I was at parties with older local musicians who are now my friends. I started out as many before me with listening to my older brothers vinyls. There were albums like Maiden's Number of the Beast, GnR’s Appetite for Destruction and the early Helloween albums. Those are still some of my favourites today. It was a great day when I saw Kai Hansen perform some Walls of Jericho tunes on Sweden Rock Festival many years ago. But in my brothers small collection there was a mixtape with a song on it that caught my ear. I listened to it over and over again but I didn’t know what it was. Later I found out that it was the song Terrion by Scanner. Their first album Hypertrace is an overlooked gem! I highly recommend it. Their other albums are shit! 

If anybody knows what the first singer Michael Knoblich does today please let me know.

My first record was Metallica - Master of Puppets on vinyl. It was the coolest thing ever to drop the needle on your first record bought with your own money. 

Hmm I don't know if I remember my first show exactly. I started to attend live-shows rather late. Me and a friend use to take the bus to Gothenburg to see bands like Dio, Motörhead, Iron Maiden, Manowar and UDO. I really like the classics!

My Swedish is unfortunately very poor but with translating programs I’ve read a lot of interesting things on fuckingbastards.blogg.se. Temporary I could not check out your blog but would you be so kind to tell in brief its content? Will you plan to continue that amazing blog? 

J: The Facebook-page is mainly for pics. I don't want to just google pics of local records. I want to find them myself and take pictures of them. A treasure-hunt for my own amusement. 

The blog is a place were I publish my interviews. I have my ups and downs with activity on the blog. It contains mainly interviews and shorter stuff like musicians listing their favourite albums. Its not just local musicians. There are so many nice musicians that I have interviewed. Jeff Becerra of Possessed is a piece that I think turned out great. His tragic accident were he was shot and left paralyzed and his now rise to success again with Possessed. An overall nice person! 

I am also grateful that I have been able to talk to people from my favourite bands like Tankard and King Diamond. An interview with the King itself is my lifegoal!

My goal is to continue doing interviews and continue asking questions that musicians don't normally get.

Did you play back in the day or are you playing in any band(s)? If yes, tell us more about it.

J: No unfortunately not. It is one of my regrets in life not starting to play an instrument in my younger days. It’s one of the reasons I now write about music instead. My son now plays guitar and I do anything to support him. 

What are your most preferred hordes and albums/tracks of my dear Swedish metal brother Carl-Gustav Karlsson? 

J:The great Calle! 

Well, Mastema - Those Who Walk In Darkness is one of the greatest promos! Check it out! His work in Grief of Emerald, Author Of Pain, Sarcastic and of course Protector is awesome! I don't think he can be bad?!

In our private chats you mentioned Jonas Lindblood of Puteraeon. What is your opinion about Puteraeon and his past hordes? Do you have any favourites from his musician activity? 

J:He is a nice guy! I am not close friends with him but we use to meet once a year at an annual music-quiz. I really don't listen to Puteraeon. The reason we chatted a while ago was that i didn’t realize that he was the main brain behind an album me and a friend listened to very much in the late 90’s. The album is Taetre - The Art from 1997. It’s still a great album! Check it out!

Swedish underground scene is a very famous with a lot of brilliant hordes long time ago. How do you describe the entire Swedish movement in golden era and our days? Let’s talk about amazing movement in Bohuslän. What bands could you recommend us from early days and currently? What is the situation with live-shows in Bohuslän?

J: It would take a lifetime to talk about the entire Swedish metal-scene! But I think the Swedish scene alongside with Norway have made an impact on the entire metal-scene around the world. But of course we are much better than Norway, he he!

The movement in Bohuslän is another story. There are so many great bands from here. But I have to include the areas around Bohuslän too because they often have members from here. 

Local bands that I really like are:

Dissection for obvious reasons. One of the best bands ever. 

Swordmaster from Strömstad with Jon Nödtveidt's brother Emil is fucking awesome!!

Lord Belial from Hedekas is really underrated! Great band!

Decameron!!

Deathstars. Maybe a bit controversial here but a really like the first album.

Nifelheim with the evil twins. (Stop arguing and get the band together again!!!)

Sarcastic and Hathor from Strömstad is also worth checking out. 

Loud N’Nasty! Rob from LNN is a local sleaze hero and tattoo artist. He lives and breathes music. He have over the years put on many local shows and released many albums under the name Loud N’Nasty and more music with his solo-project N.A.S.T.Y.

Martin Hogebrandt is a friend of mine who has been apart of Suicide Winds. He has many current bands.

Legions of War. A war themed Black/Thrash band. 

Exhausted Cocks. A punk band who is getting better and better! 

GutGrippers. Maniac metal with people from Suicide Winds and Bestial Mockery. New video out. Check it out! 

Three active bands and he is still restless?! Settle down old bastard!! He he!

Suicidal Winds from Uddevalla is also great. Matte Johansson and Peter Haglund going at it since the early 90’s. Is Matte a mad genius?!

Rawhide. A filthy Rock n’ Roll band from Uddevalla. I got to know Rob from Rawhide in high school cos his cousin who also played in the band was in my class. I am a true supporter of Rawhide and have seen countless gigs with them. They have not been active for some time due to some line up problems. But now they seem to be back on track and nothing makes me happier! He is also in the band Warhawk. Just as filthy! 

Bestial Mockery. Bestial with Master Motorsåg in the frontline. Only one way to describe them. Pure. Fucking. Chaos!

Warfect. From a small band to one of the best Thrash bands in the world!! Watch them rise!

And speaking of the evil Nifelheim twins. They now each have their own bands. Tyrant with Crank. A more like Rock n’ Roll band. I’ve seen them live once at a local pizza-place and it was awesome!! What a great night. They didn’t have enough songs so the played their setlist two times! Ha ha! 

And Hellbutcher has Hellbutcher. Why change a great name? I think it sounds more in the same line of Nifelheim. I am looking forward to the full length album cos what I have heard so far sounds amazing. 

Perhaps you know that my humble blog is eternally dedicated to Jon Andreas Nödtveidt (R.I.C.) amongst others. Did you see and meet him? What are your favourite bands, albums and tracks from His heritage? 

J:Hmm well of course his music has been a big part of my life and still is. I have never met him. I was too young then to hang out with the big boys. I really like all of his music but my favourites are the two first Dissection albums. Although I think Reinkaos is a great album and probably was the right next move for the band musically. But the first two for me are more raw and aggressive. And The Somberlain was one of the first more extreme metal-albums I have heard. So for me I like the classic Dissection more. Jon, Peter, Ole, John-John and Johan is the shit!

My favourite tracks are:

Dissection - Heaven’s Damnation

Dissection - Shadows over a Lost Kingdom

Dissection - Soulreaper

Dissection - Thorns of Crimson Death

The Black - The Book of Leviathan

The Black - Towards the Golden Dawn

Dissection - Starless Aeon

Dissection - Black Dragon

And of course Thunder - Dreams/Guilty of Love!

(©MrForbiddenLight/facebook.com/JNodtveidt.Biography)

I think its really sad that all people can talk about nowadays when his name is mentioned is the fucking shit that happened. Not unlike Pelle Dead who is also now reduced to a suicide-victim who ended up on a album cover. People should focus more on their music. 

Jon was probably One of the most talented musicians ever. And according to my friends who was close to him a funny nice guy. THAT is what he should be remembered by!!

I have a good metal brotherhood with Tobias Fongelius of Voodus/ex-Jormundgand since Winter, 2009. 

What do you think about Voodus and his past horde, Jormundgand? 

J: I don't personally know Tobias. But I have had some contact with him when I have done some interview with him. A super nice guy! Jormundgand is a good band but I really like Voodus more. It kind of has an dangerous eerie feeling to it. I think they carry on the legacy of the older bands. The old heroes would be proud!

I know it is a very hard question but what are your favourite albums of all time? (from Bohuslän to Worldwide)

J: This is a question that has been discussed on many parties. And we can agree that its impossible to answer. But I can answer what albums I often return to again and again. Worldwide it would go something like this:

King Diamond - Abigail (For me the best King album)

Thin Lizzy - Johnny the Fox (Phil is a true hero of mine)

Tankard - Zombie Attack (My German heroes)

Exodus - Bonded by Blood (Crush the posers! Paul Baloff rest in beer!)

Manowar. The first 7 or 8 albums are great! People who don't like Manowar can fuck off!

W.A.S.P. - Winged Assassins (Blackie still creates great music!)

Slayer - Show No Mercy (The best Slayer album!)

Helloween - Walls of Jericho (Kai Hansen's voice is so raw!)

From Bohuslän:

Dissection - The Somberlain (No explanation needed)

Rawhide - Deathpunk Playboys is a killer (and the rest too)

Legions of War - Towards Death

Warfect - Exoneration Denied

Swordmaster - Postmortem Tales

Loud N’Nasty - Teaser Teaser

Suicidal Winds - Victims in Blood

Bestial Mockery - Gospel of the Insane

Decameron - My Shadow

Unfortunately I never have been in Sweden so far. Share some thoughts about your beautiful land Bohuslän. What places are your recommendations to visit me? 

What local foods and drinks could you recommend me to taste? 

J:I hope you can visit some time. Well i recommend you to go to the ocean and just sit and watch it. I find it both calming and mesmerizing. A good place for that is Tjurpannan. A windy nature reserve where the cliffs and ocean have taken many lives. In the northern Bohuslän there are rock-carvings all over the place. Stuff your face with local seafood and beer. Maybe look up where some of the local music were made? If you travel outside Bohuslän to Gothenburg there are many metal locations of importance you can visit. 

There are many small villages along the coast who are worth a visit. Except for Fjällbacka. Stay away from there! Fucking wankers!

Tack så mycket, my friend, it was a pleasure to talk to you. To complete our conversation, send your message of Bastards of Bohuslän to the readers of Archangel’s Lantern, please.

J:Thanks for the talk and the opportunity to spread the word about my page! Your support means the world to me. Hate religion and keep support your local bands and keep buying their records.

”And I laugh as I burn down the pearly gates of light.

And forever ill be within the arms of abomination!”

Important link, Bastards of Bohuslän: 

facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063706683904

Warhawk (Gothenburg) in  Körpehölafestivalen, (25.V.2024)

recorded by J: 

Runemagick, Nicklas Terror Rudolfsson

English version of the Runemagick interview, done back in  31.I.2014. Interview with Nicklas Terror Rudolfsson, committed by Alister of Atmosfear. Originally published in Terroraiser magazine in Russian language, 2014.

Hello Nicklas! Runemagick's last studio album was released in 2007, and since then there's no information about your band. The official website states that Runemagick is currently in dormant mode. What is happening with Runemagick, and when can we expect the band's return with a new album? 

- The band is dormant because of many reasons. One of them was that we were extremely active with composing and recording during 2000-2006 and probably lost some inspiration after this. Then came many other things that obviously also affected. But right now it does not happen so much. There are some riffs and some early demos of songs but no more than that. Nor are there any concrete plans for rehearsals, recordings or live performances either. But we have not said that the final nail is put in the coffin yet.
We'll see what happens in the future. Maybe we should put a “low goal” first as a 7 "vinyl to make something happen.

Since 2005, Runemagick is not available for the concerts, just releasing studio albums. Why? Despite this fact, how often you get offers from promoters play a show? For example, at one time Grave, Asphyx and Obituary returned to the stage due to the constant interest of fans, as well as the offers to play concerts…

- We've never been particularly active in terms of live shows and as I recall it became some kind of decision that we record albums like projects, and then we will see what happens in the future. It became more of a project against the "end". It happens once a year we get requests to play live again. It would have been cool to do but right now it's hard to get it all together.

And still, why did you decided to turn the fulltime band into purely studio project?

- As I said earlier, it was just such a decision. It felt right then at that time.

Generally, if we follow the history of Runemagick, we can see that such a long breaks are common thing for you. Releasing the 1992 demo "Fullmoon Sodomy" about Runemagick nothing was heard until 1998, when was released debut album "The Supreme Force of  Eternity". What was the main reason for such a long break? Especially has given the follow intense discography.

- Runemagick was paused around 1993/94-1997, if I remember correctly. And the reason for this was the change in the lineup, moving, I jumped into the other bands in the meantime and so on.

There are demo recordings from 1993 and 1997, I am quite sure, anyway.

Did you felt more comfortable to work in a band, when Emma became your wife?

- We had already known each other for many years so there was nothing special about it in terms of playing together.

Which Runemagick album is your favorite and why?

- "Darkness, Death, Doom". I like the material and we had a really good time back then. Rehearsed and recorded with a good flow in the studio. According to me it felt like we were on top at that particular recording, and it was a good mix of heavy and mid-tempo. On later albums perhaps it was a little too much "jam" and heavy doom soundscapes hahaha.

Do not you think that after the music was written and recorded, it begins to live its own life? From this moment the music no longer belongs only to its creator. In this case, there is a completely new non-material dimension – parts of it are emotions, feelings, memories and associations. A musician from this viewpoint becomes a conductor of some kind of magic.

- It probably is. Any listener can experience different things and feelings out of control from the artist.

On the first albums Runemagick played a more traditional version of Swedish death metal. Of course, there was own atmosphere, but... But from album to album your music more slowed down, became more atmospheric and gloomy. Finally you come to a viscous sound at the intersection of death metal and doom. Describe the creative evolution of Runemagick.

- Somehow it became heavier and heavier. Why is hard to say. Maybe because you do not want to repeat too much. Some parts of the later music have its origins in jam and improvisation which then formed until more structural sections.

Unlike most death metal bands (already in the first albums) you chose a concept based on the mythology and the occult. Moreover, this concept can be traced both in lyrics and in sound – they are inextricably linked with each other. As for me, this theme is perfect for this kind of music. Nevertheless in Death metal it is not quite frequent phenomenon. Tell me why you decided to reveal in your works exactly this mood?

- Difficult to give a good answer but in short it was mostly meant to music and the lyrics together would fit together purely atmospheric. Then it's up to the listener to "see" their own world of it all.

Once you said the following: “I believe in supernatural dimensions and magick in the music of Runemagick”. So for you such a concept is exceptionally creative fiction, or is it somehow connected with your outlook and personal experiences, feelings?

- It's been awhile since I was inside the world of rune magic. But one can say that it is the combination of reality and unreality in the compositions. How you want to interpret this is as I said earlier up to the listener. Now that I think about it, maybe Runemagick was pretty "deep" after all. Now, the music lives on like dark shapes with different characters and play different forms of magic depending on what the listener paint. Fishy? haha

What is Death personally for you?

- Only death is real.

Years ago you was a drummer in Sacramentum. A great band, I must admit! But underrated, unfortunately. What was the main reason for the collapse of Sacramentum in the late 90s? I think you would be able to say much more...

- First I was asked to temporarily help with drums in Sacramentum. But after a while, I was asked to become a member and also began contributing music writing. If I remember correctly, I played drums for the last time with the band in 1999. Main reason was that I moved far from Gothenburg and was busy with other bands. Then I did a gig with Sacramentum in 2000 but then I played bass. The rest of the band continued a year after that. Then I do not know why the band stopped.

None of the band members had a desire to resurrect Sacramentum?

- Not that I know.

Through your participation in Runemagick and Sacramentum, as well as other projects in the early 90s you could touch the roots of death / black metal underground. Describe this very special time. What mood reigned in the underground in the early 90’s? Personally, I think it was one of the most unusual and creative periods in the history of metal.

- In the beginning there was tape trading, letters and flyers here and there. Trading demos and so on. Pretty big difference from now. Feels like it was magical, exciting and better at the time. Hard to say why. Not the same feeling now. 

In a short period of time Peter Palmdahl of Dissection played in Runemagick. As far as I know, this fact angered Jon Nödtveidt. Can you tell more about this conflict?

- He was only on a few rehearsals as I remember it, therefore a short period in the band. Not aware that there would have been conflict about it.

In Runemagick you are the main composer, guitarist and vocalist, in Sacramentum you was a drummer. Where and how you acquired such extensive musical skills?

- When I was a kid I was hooked quickly for groups like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and the like. Started with trying to imitate drums, getting the riff on an old guitar. I'm simply self-taught. Then I discovered harder and harder bands and began trying to play that kind of music. The first band I was in "Blöod" in the 80's was extremely off beat, out of tune and we could barely play but we had hard titles like "Boiled to Death" and so on… Then it just continued. You get better by playing alot. Sure, maybe I have some kind of talent, but I am certainly not as any true professional musicians. A mediocrity who like to make riffs maybe hahaha

How your child relates to your music? Is he proud of his father? 

- I have three children. A teenager who probably thinks, my music is crap. A younger daughter, who likes Bolt Thrower and children's music. Then I have a little guy who does not know what music is, or he likes "music boxes".

Describe your musical preferences today. How much they changed over the years?

- I rarely discover any new music. Do not know why but somehow I'm still stuck in enjoying the music I listened to for 20-30 year-ago. Many albums from that era are still high class. And that it still sounds brutal. Obviously there’s new albums which I also listens to, but the old is as I said still good!

In the interview for Global Domination website from February 15, 2008 you said that your drummer Daniel Moilanen is working with porn and all his other bands. Is that true about porn? Or was it just a joke?

- It's true. Though not as an actor (what I know). It was some kind of porn distribution of movies, huge toys and such.

Well, I am very pleased with this interview, but it's time to finish. With what words you could express the inner essence of Runemagick, and let these words complete this interview.

- Do not really know what to say ... But I actually hope that there's something new with Runemagick but it may not or will not stressed up. Darkness Death Doom!

Mvh / Best regards 

Niclas Rudolfsson