Ave Tony! Congratulations for the album Avé that was released on the 11th of August! Please tell us something about the recording process and share with us some details about the awesome cover.
Tony: Ah thankyou. Well the ideas we had spoken about but did not intend to do an album…but Jonny Z asked us to just do demos so in there end we conceded. Mantas focused on putting the riffs and compositions together so |I could focus on artwork and scripting for a video and logistic to shoot…as well as management stuff and live touring that was to follow..once the song shapes were there…the files were sent to Newcastle and Abaddon who recorded the drums….and sent the analogue files to Portugal where Mantas has his studio, then I flew to Portugal where we completed the bass recoding’s and vocals and we completed the lyrics….together…..The cover….was an idea form a year before and the painting is by a Serbian artist….it is full of symbolism and it makes a statement but it is up to the observer to what you see…..Adam and Eve in their embrace with the fruit form the tree of knowledge….the Temple of David…the sheep…one is a wolf in sheep's clothing…barren landscape….foreboding sky..is it the beginning or the end? Lucifer with his flute and bag of serpents…..the Light bringer walking towards you signaling light of knowledge…
Right now you are on a massive American tour… please tell us some memorable moments from the last few shows…
Tony: Too many to say right now and we still have many left…we sold out on the east coast and the west coast and show in between…Chicago and Canada…all amazing….I’ll let you know ate the end how it All was..lol BUT take it from me…NORTH America has been incredible so far…
You’ve been narrating on the clip of the Swedish Turbocharged: “Dark Era” (2015). How did this offer from Ronnie Ripper Olson come? What do you think about the cover track of Turbocharged: Witching Hour?
Tony: Ronnie is a great brother and I was honoured to be asked to perform for him on there….the band is one of the best in my opinion…as for their cover? One of the best I have heard…
You have also contributed to some outstanding things in the film industry (Judge Dredd (1995) – Wild Wild Web (1999) – Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) – Battlefield Britain (2004) – Dirty War (2004) – Rock Milestones: Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (2005)). Please tell us a couple of thoughts about this.
Tony: Thankyou…I did so much…voice overs, commercials….etc etc,…I did around 30 DVD presentations of music…for Rock Classics series from Sabbath to the Beatles…Sex Pistols to Rush and all were great fun….I count myself as fortunate to have done all this and there are a couple of movies upcoming I am being offered so who knows what is next….but VENOM INC will continue whatever happens…But I never intend to do anything, I just focus and when I decide I’d like to do whatever. I do it…perhaps that is what everyone can do…follow your self and trust in you…not what others say or think you should do…
Atomkraft, M:pire of Evil… will you continue with these great bands besides Venom Inc.?
Tony: Yes, M:PIRE of EVIL will have the new album out next summer….called ‘UNLEASHED’ and as far as ATOMKRAFT…that is always ongoing for me…so expect something as soon as there is a gap….
Please tell us a couple of thoughts about the period you’ve spent on the older issues of Mantas and Venom? Which are your favorite tracks and why?
Tony: Favourites…too hard to say….doing Zero Tolerance with Mantas was so much fun….appearing in his deceiver video was such a laugh and as far as everything Venom we did….just all of it….he is my brother…we just work well together…..my favourite track? too many to say…sorry…right now…WAR from the new album…as we are playing it live…
You usually attend the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament… who’s your favorite player nowadays and who did you cheer for back in the days? Do you yourself play the “Queen of Sports”?
Tony: Ah hahahahaha…..I sometimes watch it on tv in summer just because it is relaxing to have on tv but I do not ‘follow’ the sport….however I was invited to centre court this year which was amazing…I never thought it could be so cool to BE there…Favourites? I love women and especially women of colour so…the Williams sisters rule…from back in the day? John McEnroe…because he was angry and outspoken and entertaining to watch as well as being a great player…
Which are your favorite books/movies nowadays? Please list your 10 all-time best records.
Tony: Movie? Still the Exorcist…but I loved Prometheous and also the Hateful Eight…books…Anything historical…Shelby Foote on the American civil War being and outstanding favourite of mine…also..Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee.
All time best records for me?
1-The Incredible Shrinking Dickies- The Dickies
2- Motorhead – Motorhead
3- Overkill – Motorhead
4-Unleashed in The East – Judas Priest
5-Sabbath Bloody Sabbath – Black Sabbath
6-Reign In Blood – Slayer
7- Kill Em All – Metallica
8- Bonded By Blood – Exodus
9-To Mega Therion – Celtic Frost
10 – Blood, Fire, Death – Bathory
About Wallsend-On-Tyne… which places would you recommend for tourists, be it a museum, picture gallery, pub or local delicacy?
Tony: Oh hahaha…..cockles and mussels down by whitley bay sea front…
A trip to the Roman wall or Hadrian's wall as it was called….by the Empire..between England and Scotland..
TTrillians Rock Club in the city centre of Newcastle on a Saturday night…
If you have a favorite historical era, where would you live and why?
Tony: OMG….well all of that was kind of dirty and riddled with disease but I think the 1700’s America..war of independence, the Indian wars…the west being pioneered…would be an incredible thing to be there…as I studied American History…to see the characters who shaped the continent would be so incredible…from Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull. Cochise, Custer, Lincoln and of course George Washington and all in between..how cool.
Thanks a lot for your answers in the name of Kronos Mortus e-zine. If you have something to say for the Hungarian readers, now is the time.
Tony: Thankyou for such a diverse and interesting interview….truly great fun…thankyou to all fans and AVE to them and Hungry…and incredible country in culture and beauty…with stunning women and superb food…and warmth…see you soon and do not forget…politics should not matter in music..only the music matters…this is YOU band…this is YOUR music…enjoy because you want to…
Hail Ronnie you are very hellcome to Hungarian Kronos Mortus! First, let me congratulate you for new killer old school material of Turbocharged called “Alpha Beast, Omega God”. (I’ve marked 10 in my Hungarian review; it will be one of my favourite releases of this year) How are the responses from underground media and fans so far?
- Thanks, it seems like the reviews this time are quite good and the mere number of reviews is a fresh breeze in our camp! Seems like people have noticed us once and for all and the coverage is by far better than we ever had for any previous release. As a band you always release the best album so far, every time the same feeling, but this time I think we managed to put together something special and it seems like the world has noticed it too.
Where did you record the new LP? How went the recording process? Who was the producer?
- We recorded it in the studio next to our rehearsal place, it’s basically another rehearsal place with studio gear just like ours but we wanted to have another set of ears to engineer the sound and to let go of the producer seat for once and hired Johan Sundström for the job. His studio is called DECIBEL HELL and it’s perfect for our needs, no fancy shit or arguments about doing this or that, he just nails what we want and we take over from there. I mixed and mastered the album at home though so it’s kinda collaboration in the end.
I know, it is always a hard thing but would you be so kind to talk about each track of the “Alpha Beast, Omega God”?
Piss Stigmata: D-beat mayhem with the balls of a rhino, perfect opening track.
Irreligious: Kind of our trademark sound, it’s D-beat again with some thrashy riffs and spicy lyrics.
Slave Rhetoric: Heavier track with again D-beat as basis, this one smells a bit like Bolt Thrower I reckon but it breaks out in punk as usual.
Phantom Cataclysm: This one is a bit out there, it’s blasts with some more blackish riffs and a deeper tone of lyrics, it’s for the fancypants listeners.
Alpha Beast, Omega God: If The Ramones went on a grave robbing spree, this is it.
Chaos Chronicles: This is punk, it’s metal and it’s war against radioplay.
Sanguinary: A hint of blasts and pounding backbeat percs, this is perhaps more death metal than most of the album.
Hunger of the Wendigo: Thrashy stuff, this one is quite typically our sound and could be a good first step for any new listener to know what we sound like.
Land of Pest: Fast death metal, this one is our contribution to the pandemic reflection and I wrote the lyrics years before it happened.
Hyper Blasphemous Shitstorm: This is the Motörhead homage of the album; no album is complete without a nod towards Lemmy & Co!
Profane Vortex: For some reason this kinda pulls towards German thrash in my opinion, it’s fast and contains a lot of words.
Priests in Darkness: Another nod, this time towards Celtic Frost/Hellhammer in the beginning and then maybe towards Merciless or Massacra.
Your album was released via Danish label, Emanzipation Productions. How did happen your cooperation with them?
- It was actually Perra Karlsson (Nominon, Benediction, Destroyer 666, etc, etc, etc) who told the label about us and they offered us a deal and we took it. It’s just dumb luck and the help from a friend, no big story behind it at all really. It was good timing and we needed a direction for the next step and here we are now.
Turbocharged celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2020. You made an awesome documentary called “7300 Days in Sodom” with a lot of brilliant covers of your favourite bands. I enjoyed a lot your stories and of corpse all the covers as well, especially Nihilist/Entombed, Impaled Nazarene and The Exploited ones. Tell us some interesting info about that monster project.
- The whole cover thing was a live set that was killed off there and then by Covid, the festival was cancelled as we picked the last two songs. We decided to record the stuff in the rehearsal place and when we realized it was too good to just tuck away on a harddrive at home we also decided to make all those videos. The documentary was an old idea that just tagged along with the cover set and it was a few hectic months to finish it all. We shot everything on Wednesdays and Sundays and in between the shoots I tried to edit a finish each video before then next one was shot. I don’t know any other band that pulled shit like this off and now I know why, it takes a complete idiot to pull it off and lucky for us we had ME.
If I mentioned your fantastic cover of Nihilist/Entombed, “Supposed to Rot”: Did you play together with Entombed with Lars-Göran (R.I.P.) or other bands including him back in the day? If yes, share us your memories.
- We never played with any of his bands but I do remember him making donuts with a rental car outside a gig in Strömstad, he had been drinking and had no driving license. The gig was actually also Dissection’s first gig ever.
I’ve almost forgotten to ask: are there any plans to made official videos for your new LP?
- I’m actually editing the first one as I write these answers and the plan is to make a few more along the way for this album.
I’ve watched a great video about Turbocharged live show you played in September this year in Craiova/Romania. What are your experiences? When and where will be your next shows?
– Yes, we headed to Romania once again and truly had a blast on stage and off! That was until we tried to get home and were greeted with a cancelled flight, it took us 24 extra hours to get home but we make it. We also played a gig in Denmark some weeks ago and we will return to Denmark in May next year for another noisy encounter. We don’t really chase gigs, they come to us and we’ll see what happens in the backdraft of this album.
Let’s talk a little bit about Ronnie Rippers Private War. When you will be playing live with your Private War?
- We did play three gigs with Private War with only Danish musicians and me on vocals. We were going to do one gig only but for some reason it turned into three shows. There are no plans to ever play live again though, it was never meant for stage performances.
You are from Forshaga, Sweden. Which interesting places are your recommendations to visit it in your area? Are there any local foods and drinks you’d recommend to taste for us?
- There is nothing to recommend here actually, it’s a sleepy part of the country and the charm is that nothing ever happens here. We have no local cuisine or drinks; it’s just the local pizza place and a lot of weird people.
Tack så mycket Ronnie, it was a pleasure to talk to you. My/our best wishes to Turbocharged and I really hope to meet you live in the very near future in our area. Please send a message to your Hungarian fans and the readers of Kronos Mortus to complete this conversation.
- Thanks yourself, it’s always a pleasure to be seen and heard in public! We hope to return to Hungary one day but as of now we don’t know where our paths will take us, anything is yet to be done! If you didn’t check out our new album you should give it a few spins, it doesn’t suck that much! Keep it brutal, folks!
Hail brother Vandal you are very welcome to my small own inferno Archangel’s Lantern! First of all my congratulations for your latest killer album called “Psychosis”, it’s an awesome Death/Thrash metal attack! Would you be so kind to tell the readers your new LP track by track in your own worlds? (song and lyric-writing process, guest musicians and more)
Vandal: Hails brother! Thank you so much for your patience and dedication!
And also, thanks for your kind words about the album.
Uh, it’s difficult to discuss tracks separately, as they all together create a whole.
They are all focused on a mental health problems worldwide, and people who actually act mental to make some sick ideas come true.
Each song shows a different perspective on mental illness, and I tried to make it personal, as much as I could. I see it all the time how people with severe mental health challenges receive inhumane treatment, which makes me sick. False morality, corrupted systems, human values are lost, ignorance… that’s the world we are living in.
Psychosis is about a fight among different personas within one person. Who’s going to win, makes the future questionable.
"Hail Fire, Hail Death" is about eternal discrepancy of live and death, of fire and water, good and evil. Sides of a human nature when it comes to the burning point can be changed in a second. Igor Miladinovic was a special guest in chorus, with his killer voice, and I really believe that he is one of the best singers on Balkans.
Another track, "The Last Cremation" is a song about depression and suicidal thoughts of a young man. Ross Dolan & Bob Vigna from IMMOLATION were our guests on this track. Their contribution was of immense value to us, as they brought more power and energy to the song that emphasizes the importance of the theme it was inspired by.
Nuclear Deathrash is a legacy to new generations and our old friends, brothers, fans and warriors all around the world. It’s a salute to all the people who are keeping the flames alive.
But as I said, all the songs create a path for the listener to walk through and contemplate the meaning and complexity of mental illness. This is in many ways a harsh and neglectful world, and we should keep eyes on each other as much as we can. And when we add religious interventions with their hypocrisy and blasphemy, you see a world full of shit.
That’s why we tried to make a parallel between religion, mental state, hypocrisy, atrocity and lack of humanity, all in one, to make a message clearer.
Unfortunately I had no chances to have a trip to Hódmezővásárhely/Hungary (Lowland Fest) to see and meet you live in August this year. How do you remember that show?
Vandal: It was a great pleasure to be there and be a part o such a great festival. The moment we arrived we realized that it was going to be the one to remember. People were so crazy, moshing all the time, and after we finished the show, there was a huge party in the tents, so it was a long night. Promoters were amazing and they gave their best to make it the best for us! I really hope we will meet soon in Hungary and have a beer!
Infest played with Nemesis and Legendary Bombarder on the 2nd of October in Belgrade last time. I just suppose how it was amazing that event… Share us please your experiences.
Vandal: Uh, playing in our hometown is always special. The occasion was also very special, because it was 20-year anniversary of GROM RECORDS, which we is family. Bombarder was such a blast! Neso and the boys are really killing it, and listening Bombarder playing live is always a special event!
Nemesis is all-girls Death metal band, and if you still haven’t had a chance to listen to their music, please do, you will not regret it! They have the attitude, skills and sound better than many all-man bands ☺
As I’m an old headbanger I have a big respect to Bombarder for a long time. Infest joined together with other great hordes to play some covers for the honour of Legendary Bombarder on
a “Tribute to Bombarder-Hail to Bombarder” (Grom Records) in 2013. I like a lot your “Horde” cover, it’s just excellent! Let’s talk a little bit about this unique release.
Vandal: Oh I agree. Bombarder is a special one to all of us! Thanks for your words about "Horde"! I like that song a lot, and I believe it really fits in properly, with all the bands on the compilation.
All of the bands on the compilation should be given credit for making it sound so brutal.
Through the years Infest shared a lot of times the stages with Swedish Turbocharged. What are your favourite tracks/albums from them? Are there any interesting/funny stories from your common tours?
Vandal: Turbochared are family. We have so many funny moments with them, that we could make a book out of them ☺ From the alco-devastation every night and fart competitions in the van, up to all of the shitty stuff bands usually do on the tour ☺ I am a huge fan of Turbocharged, and it would be hard to pick a favorite song or album, but I could only say that, wherever you go, keep in mind that THIS IS AREA 666!
If I’m not mistaken Infest has been formed in 2002. Tell us briefly the history of the band. Which musicians (guitarists and vocalists) inspired you in the beginnings and have you any favorite ones nowadays?
Vandal: When I hear it was 2002, I feel quite old ☺
Hmm, I am really open-minded to different genres of music, but modern age music isn’t really my thing. I was a huge fan of Hard Rock bands, and heavy metal from the 80’ and death & thrash metal from the 90’. Extreme metal was always fascinating to me, since I was a kid. I remember I was the only kid on the block listening to extreme music, and then you get to know more people that have the same interests. Later on, you either choose to quit and treat it as a phase or you commit to it as a lifelong passion. Back in the childhood days, I can say that Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Metallica, WASP, Sepultura… and many more, were my favorite. As I was growing up, my respect and love for those bands haven’t faded, but I have also discovered a lot of new bands, like Immolation, Grave, Dismember, Vader, Unleashed, Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Dissection, Asphyx, Desaster and many more, all of which really influenced me greatly.
I must be honest and say that I am still trapped in the 90’ music, and I am not a fan of modern metal, so I haven’t discovered some new bands, but I really like the progress that old school bands make with the sound, production and stage performance.
Serbian underground scene has a lot of great hordes. How do you describe your scene back in the day and our days? Let’s speak about your past activity in different hordes. Are you playing currently in other band beside Infest?
Vandal: Serbia has a lot of great quality bands! Really, people could not believe that these bands are from the Balkans. The biggest problem is the lack of support from the media – almost non-existent. Only a few dedicated maniacs are trying with webzines and magazines, which run mostly on love for the music since they too struggle to get financial support.
I also sing in a band named “Gavranovi”. Back in the days, I was a session bass player of the band The Stone, and before that, I was a guitarist in Decrepancy. Also, I was a part of Bane, Serbian Black metal band, and a few more projects, but Infest is the most precious and long-lasting one to me.
It is a bit hard question, I know but what are your eternal top 10 favourite releases?
Vandal: Uh, I hate this question ☺ but, let’s try:
Black Sabbath – Master of Reality
Iron Maiden – Somewhere in Time
Dismember – Like an Ever Flowing Stream
Immolation – Shadows in the light
Vader – Litany
Sodom – Agent Orange
Malevolent Creation – The Ten Commandments
Suffocation – Pierced from Within
Desaster – Hellfire’s Dominion
Morbid Angel – Altars of Madness
Do you have any favourite authors/books and actors/movies?
Vandal: Well, when we talk about the books, I must say that I am a fan of Dostoevsky and Salinger. And for the actors, let’s say Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson and many more ☺ The last thing I was blown away by was the Peaky Blinders series.
However, I’ve studied for 4 years in Szeged/Hungary but unfortunately I’ve never been in Serbia. What interesting places could you recommend to visit from your country and area?
I visited many times in Szeged a local Serbian restaurant and tried your tasty cuisine. What kind of Serbian foods and drinks are your recommendations?
Vandal: Serbia is a great county with many beautiful sights to be seen. Castles, rivers, monuments, many historical treasures. The main problem is that the system is rotten, and the nature is severely abused by foreign and domestic companies. And about cuisine, the best thing ever is Karadjordjeva snicla ( YOU MUST TRY THAT), and rakija, of course ☺
Also, Sarma, podvrarak, cvarci, and many more ☺ talking about it makes me hungry now ☺
Hvala/Thanks a lot brother! My best wishes to you, hope to see live Infest and meet you personally very soon! To complete our conversation send please some thoughts to the readers.
Vandal: Thanks a lot brother! I really enjoyed answering your questions. I also hope that your readers enjoyed it too ☺
Guys, try to keep eye on each other, keep the flames burning, never divide, keep the spirit of rock n roll alive. United, we can do it! WE ARE LEGION!
Interview with Ronnie Ripper and Freddie Fister (Turbocharged)
Questions compiled by Cornelius of Encomium 'zine
and Georgius of Archangel's Lantern
Hail Ronnie and Freddie! As I’ve written in my Hungarian review in Kronos Mortus e-zine, the new Turbocharged material “Above Lords, Below Earth” is an excellent intense unholy deathpunk LP. I know it would be a bit complicated for you, but try to say a few thoughts about each track of the new album, please.
Ronnie: Thanks man, it’s always nice to hear someone likes our stuff! Let’s see what there is to say about the song…
The crawling path of worms:
A crusty D-beat number with pretty much all the elements you need to make some serious noise, not too much finesse but a whole lot of anger.
Total doom arise:
Even more intense than the first one, this is blastbeat royale with a hint of Motörhead in the middle.
Above lords, below earth:
D-beat again with quite odd riffs and rhythms for being us, it however lacks none of the energy of the previous ones.
Doomsday hammer:
This one is shortest on the album and it has a pure death metal vibe to it, nothing fancy but just a machine rolling over you as you listen.
Low-tech blasphemy:
Fast one again, almost a bit melodic for being us but also full of blasts and ferocity.
Thirteen burials:
This one is death metal, most likely the most elaborate song on the album but it’s still quite primitive and straight to the point.
Obscurant:
Mid tempo double bassdrum mayhem, plain and simple.
Harbingers at dawn:
D-beat punk with double bassdrums, if that even makes sense? Quite the typical style from us.
The burning of a redeemer:
This is blastbeat carnage with quite thrashy riffs, it stands out of our common style but I think it still follows the thin red line of ours.
Black tornado:
Celtic Frost gone Turbocharged! This one is intentionally a homage to the old masters, it was so close to their typical riffing so we took in one step further and it turned out pretty damn nice.
Dried blood (The heretic confession):
Starts with the slowest part of the album but kicks off into D-beat and blasts as it moves along. Also has the grooviest bridge on the whole album.
Unholy deathpunk:
This is our translation of old Motörhead on good drugs, it’s fast and it’s punky as hell. Kind of a trademark for what we are and where we come from musically.
Freddie:
1.”The Crawling path…” is the perfect opening track for this album! This is what we´re all about! And what the listener should expect from the album. Punk, Metal and blasphemy.
2. ”Total doom arise” Fast, to the point blastbeat armageddon.
3. Title track of the album. A nice, groovey, mid-tempo fucker!
4. Nice quite slow intro. Perfect for the headbangers out there. Short and to the point song. Some nice profanities in the lyrics as well. Cool song to play.
5. ”Low-tech…”. A personal fave for me. Fast, blast-beaty motherfucker! Nice chorus with alternating singing (Singing, yeah, right…) from both Ronnie and me. Great solo from Nick as well.
6. ”Thirteen burials”. It has almost some heavy metal vibe to it I think. This is how close to theatrical Turbocharged ever get. And this song is a good example on how we work:
When I first came and presented the song to the others it had a totally other time signature. But after we been hashing it out and arranged and re-arranged it, it ended up as it is now. And that is how we do things! Doesn´t matter who´s coming with a song, or idea, we ALLWAYS arrange it together in our rehearsal-studio. Also there is a little nod to my old/other band, Necrokült, in the lyrics. Thanks, Ronnie!
7. ”Obscurant” was the last song written for the album. Turned out great! Double bass-drums and a fucked up attitude!
8. And ”Harbingers…” was the first I think. D-beat crusher!
9. ”…Redeemer” is a fast fucker! I think of our brothers in the Serbian band INFEST whenever I play or hear this song: Turbocharged and Infest has been touring together 3 times by now and of course that will rub of on you and your music! We are legija!
10. This has some Celtic Frost/Hellhammer wibe! One of my favorite tracks to play. Great solo from Nick.
11. ”Dried Blood…”: D-beat, blastbeat, some groovy middle tempo parts, dirty lyrics, bad-ass guitar solo. What´s not to like?
12. THIS IS WHAT WE DO!!! ”Unholy deathpunk” sums it up. Really.
To be honest, musically I found the new stuff as a natural continuation of its predecessor, which is, of course, not a bad thing at all, if we take into account that there’s only 2 years between those releases. But will you agree with me if I say that “Above Lords, Below Earth” is “Apocalyptic” Part II?
Ronnie: You’re probably right about that but we never think like that, we just try and make the best album so far. We however never try to reinvent ourselves too much so I guess your theory is spot on. Every album is mainly built on new ideas but also some left over ideas we couldn’t fit on the previous album, that probably goes for most bands out there.
Freddie: I have personally not thought about it like that. But it might be true. We tend not to think too much about what we are doing when we write our stuff. If it sounds bad-ass, then it is a keeper. If not: down the shitter with it!
Ronnie, you are tearing the bass strings for 30 years now. Please share some memories about the beginnings. What I’ve noticed on “Above Lords, Below Earth” that your bass playing turned more significant. What kind of brand you’ve used 30 years ago and what do you use nowadays?
- Yeah, time flies when you’re having fun! Memories huh? I don’t know really, there’s not much to say from that time that is not still going on today, I’m still a quite average bassist and I basically only know what I need to know for the band. You should hear us play spontaneous covers, they really suck, ha-ha! On this album we had a guy outside the band who produced the drums for the first time and the bass followed the trail of what became of them, I had to back off a bit with the distortion and it made my sound a bit clearer. Other than that it’s the same sound as always and I play what needs to be played in the songs, nothing fancy or groundbreaking. My brands so far has been quite cheap ones: Ibanez, Harley Benton, B&CH, Traben and now I play an ESP LTD, I played what I could afford at the time and when I could I would upgrade a bit. I’m not a gear head, I just want something that I like and if it’s a 3000 Euro bass or a piece of wood with wires on it, it doesn’t matter. As long as the air around me vibrates when I hit the strings it’s all good.
Freddie when did you start playing the drums? Which drummers influenced you back in time and do you have some favourite ones from our days?
- I started when I was around 13. First drummers that influenced me was Cozy Powell, Bonham, Nicko McBrain and such. Then later Lombardo, Ulrich (Can´t deny it!). Then when it came to the more ”extreme” drummers I would say Ventor, Igor Cavalera and of course Mick Harris. Nowadays I can be impressed by drummers who have their own style and you at once can hear who is behind the kit. Nicko is a perfect example to this! When it come to the more extreme drummers I´m not at all impressed by lightning speed. It has to have some ”groove” to it. The first drummer that comes to mind when I think of this is Perra Karlsson who plays in Dreadful Fate and has played with Suffer, Benediction, Die Hard, Destroyer 666 just to mention a few. There you got both power, speed and a hellish groove!
Ronnie, in our private conversations you’ve mentioned that you used only one time the corpse paint. Tell us more about it.
-Argh, that old thing, ha-ha! Yeah, back in 1993 or something we were playing a local gig with Gehennah and we still hadn’t found our style so it was kind of typical for the time that it was slightly Norwegian BM which meant that there were plans to use paint and so we did. Once. Never did it again and never quite understood the meaning of me wearing it. I don’t blame others for using it but it’s too much work and has nothing to do with the music I play. I’d rather bathe in blood or just smear myself with dirt to boost the experience. Mind you, the sweat during a gig or far more deadly than any paint!
Freddie, you played drums in the Swedish black metal horde, Hellwar. How do you remember that period? Did you play in any other bands before Turbocharged?
- HELLWAR!! Wow, that was a long time ago! Well, I vaguely remember that. There was a lot of cheep beer and homemade booze involved. Haha. I got into that band around 97 I guess. They had made a first demo called ”Hellfuck” with a drum-machine and of course wanted a real drummer. Then we made a demo simply called ”Hellwar” and played a couple of gigs. And that was it. I also played in a band called Decapitate which was some kind of death metal. At this time I more and more started to sing in bands instead of playing drums.
Ronnie this year will be 10 years that you’ve released the Ronnie Ripper’s Private War “Socially Challenged” album. Where can the fans buy this album nowadays? Do you have some plans to continue your Private War in the future and/or prepare some bonuses for the 10th anniversary?
- Actually, it was released 1/1 2010 so it’s next year but yeah, you’re right! Damn, time really waits for no one! RRPW was never intended to be heard in public so the release was just a happy accident that somewhat gained some attention. This means that despite three live shows and all, this project has no solid plans ever. If there will be anything more is your guess as good as mine. I don’t think I will ever make new material for it but there is more done than the public has heard so maybe one day there will be another rattle from this old corpse, who knows…
Last year you’ve released a promo stuff on CD-Rs to give away for free to the fans at the Metal Magic Festival in Denmark. It included 4 tracks from the “Above Lords, Below Earth” material plus extra bonuses. Tell us more about this special release. How many copies you’ve spread at the festival and will it be ever released on vinyl or CD?
Ronnie: Yes, it has been tradition for us to bring something to our friends there so it was like the third or fourth CD-R we brought there. The bonuses were just failed outtakes of the songs featured there so it’s more humour than a collector’s item really. We gave out 100 copies and that’s it, no other releases of them as far as we know.
Freddie: . Well, that is something of a tradition we have. We make some special promos for MMF. Think we have done 3 or 4 by now. 100 copies each of every promo and they are strictly handed out as freebies at Metal Magic. So, Sorry but there will be no vinyl or CD-versions coming of those.
For the second half of this year I already see a gig booked in Burgas (Bulgaria). Will there be more turbo-live-shows in 2019? If so, please enlighten us more details as well as what kind of setlist will you perform at the upcoming Sea of Black Festival.
Ronnie: The Sea of Black gig is the last this year that we know of at the moment but there have been some talk about more coming up, we’ll have too about that though. We did a tour in Austria and Germany with Serbian Infest in May and we also played our release show at Heavy Agger in Denmark on top of that so we basically chewed off the gigs of the years already but we are always eager to get on the road so we’ll see what happens next.
Tell us more about your new excellent DIY Turbocharged video, called “Total Doom Aries”. How went your show in Bulgaria, Sea of Black Festival?
Ronnie: I've been trying to get the ball rolling for a couple of new videos for ages now but we have gotten nowhere and somewhere along the way we talked about trying to document this trip and make a roadmovie of it. However, as always, the drinking and chilling got the best of us so there was not much material for that and we used it all for an official video to a song instead. We shot the vocal part at the bar and the rest is what we brought home with us. It could be fun to have such a weird mix of a sunny beach, colorful drinks and stuff with the fastest song from the album so there you go, the video was a fact. The show went great, we did have some technical problems and the place was so big that the sound kept bouncing back at us but we pulled it off and people seemed to like it a lot. The festival was a great one and that always helps us delivering something worth remembering. All in all it was one of the best trips we did with the band so far.
Freddie: The Sea of black festival in Burgas was beyond great! We played the longest set-list we have ever played. We actually also had the headline slot at the festival as well and that was strange and a first for us. We also had a few days after the gig as vacation. More info about that is in the official video for “Total Doom Arise”…
Thanks a lot, Ronnie and Freddie! Best wishes to you with Turbocharged! At the end, please unleash an unholy deathpunk message to the readers.
Ronnie: -Thank you, brother, for showing interest in our little band! To everyone else I can only say that we are never slowing down and we hope to see you out there on the road one day! We need to put more pins in the world map so if you know someone who can book us, just pass it on! Stay metal!
Freddie: Thank YOU! A message… hmmm… let´s see… something smart…
Okay, here goes: Jazz, jazz, jazzguitar for few, Batman jazz!
Hail brother Ronnie! You are very welcome to Archangel’s Lantern again! In the first instance I’d like to congratulate for the new Turbocharged album, called “Apocalyptic” and I must say, this release is one of my favourite in 2017. Would you be so kind to tell the readers the circumstances of the recording process and about your lyrics? (I know it would be hard for you, but try to say a few words about each track of the new album, please.)
- Hello again! Seem to become a habit to shoot the breeze here, don’t it? Thanks for the kind words about the album, we are pretty happy about the outcome but one never knows if anyone else will like it so it’s good to hear that you consider it worth the time!
The recording of the latest album was pretty much just a shoot-from-the-hip recording and we just didn’t think too much this time. We wanted to make a fucking brutal album in our own way and our only preferences was to keep up the speed and try to get the sound we had in our heads for the moment. Every recording is a process of its own and we always tend to do it slightly differently from time to time and this one was spontaneous and efficient and not too much planning went into the recipe. I have no idea how to address each song but let’s give it a try:
Angelcripple:
This one was an obvious opening track with its full speed ahead approach, one might call it a homage to an old Swedish band that released their debut album back in 1990 but which one is for anyone to guess, I won’t make it THAT easy on you! The lyrics are simply a mockery of the idea of an afterlife in heaven, like what if you arrive there totally handicapped and spend eternity drooling on yourself?
Siamese Sons of God:
This one has no deeper meaning than just the two faced morals of religion, the one face that promises eternal bliss if you dedicate your life to its teachings and the other face that craves you to die for it in order to get accepted in heaven. I always have a sarcastic and critical angle in my lyrics and this is a prime example. The music is also pretty much a textbook example of how we do things, there’s punk and there’s metal coming at you all the way through.
Apocalyptic:
The world ends and we have our own theory of how it unfolds. Of course with an anti-religious twist with the priest trying to grasp the last pages of his torn up bible while he draws his last breath and they blow out of his hands. The music is a bit more “melodic” than our usual tracks even though I hate that expression, we pushed our boundaries a bit on this one.
Religious and Infected:
This one speaks for itself I guess and it’s d-beat in its purest form. You can smell Motörhead in this one and it’s because this time we didn’t try to get away from that. Where most bands have to strive to sound like them we have to try to NOT sound like them too much and in this little number we just went for the gold without trying anything at all. The lyrics are quite graphic in how you have to crawl for your masters and take a dicking and still won’t find the bliss. It’s quite funny actually.
Alpha Blasphemer:
The odd track of the album. This one has a touch of “We are the road crew” but with lyrics declaring that we are not cut out to live in the shadow of a false god. It has passages with harmonies and shit like that and it’s a good step outside the box at gigs as well as on the album I think. It’s also the first official video from this album that we released on December 24:th last year, fittingly enough.
Halo of Thorns:
The German thrash song of the album! We both speeded up this one and slowed it down before we found the golden middle pace for the album. There is one demo version in our vault that is fucking frenetic but we realized that it fell apart along the way, my arm almost fell off when we recorded it, ha ha! Now when we play it live it probably hold that speed anyway but for the album we wanted it to have more punch in the riffing than just to play it as fast as possible so we adjusted it accordingly. The lyrics are again about the mischief of practicing religion and the loss of character in the process. All our lyrics are about this so I am starting to sound boring already before reaching halfway through the songs, ha ha!
Relieve Thyself onto Me:
This is porn, plain and simple. Perversion is nothing new in the house of god and here we go through some scenarios of what is likely to go on behind their locked doors. The song itself goes from heavy to fast in 0,1 millisecond and it keeps you on edge I hope.
Deathmarch:
This one is probably the most death metallic song of the album, its bulldozing mid-paced tempo and its dragging riffing makes it pretty damn heavy and its an intentional revisit to the old days of Swedeath. I can only speak for myself but we have reached the point where everything I ever did along the way reflects in what I am doing today, this bears traces of the old Vomitory days and takes you back 25 years in time (hopefully). Again, we never force anything, this is just how it turned out in the recording and now we play it like this. The lyrics are about a hostile takeover to make Scandinavia free from organised religion again. Not the common Viking crap but just to clean it out of here. It’s a nice vision of something that will never come but one must keep the dreams alive, ey?
Cold Day in Paradise:
This one was a touch nut to crack! We were supposed to play it in mid-tempo with double bassdrums almost throughout the whole song but after messing around with it we just peeled off the fancy ideas and went blastbeats and punk on its ass! It’s quite different than our usual stuff since it has d-beat, fast 2-beat, blasts and almost some classic Dissection harmonies in the mix. The lyrics do what they always do and it’s simply a dark day for religious nuts in the context.
Sacred Cadaver:
The “Hang the pope” of this album! This song was actually just under a minute at first but in the last moments we decided to rebuild it and make more of it and it came out almost 2 minutes! It’s fast and it’s not meant for radio, let’s put it like that. The lyrics state that everyone is an idiot for believing that the savior will emerge from his tomb and that if he did we would just nail that fucker up again like the myth says.
Resurrection Incomplete:
Come to think of it, I don’t know which song is the most classic Death metal on this album, if it’s this one or “Deathmarch”. This one could have been on any given demo of Nihilist back in the days (big words, I know, but you get the point). It’s d-beat in its prime and there’s a lot of vocals on this one, everything is twice the normal amount and the lyrics are about the fucked up story of their messiah being buried and the masses waiting for his return. It sounds boring as hell when I drag all the info like this but it’s a whole different thing when you are actually following the lyrics while listening to the album.
Scandinavian Darkness:
Coming in the wrong order, this could be called “Deathmarch part 1” and again it’s about cleaning out the filth from our northern corner of the world (meaning ALL religion) and taking back logic common sense to the streets. “There’s no fucking God here, there’s only darkness”, plain and simple! The riffing is a bit special in this one but since I wasn’t the one behind them I can’t say much about the ideas behind them, just that it’s a cool song to play and it has its moments for sure.
I like so much your rehearsal-track “Crosshating Punks” and Turbocharged made an excellent video for this one in 2016. Share some thoughts about that video and about the pre-production of “Religious and Infected” demo-clip as well, which you recorded in December last year. Do you have any plans to make a new video in the near future?
- Aaah, here we come to a dead giveaway that I was too damn slow to respond to this interview, we did actually release a video after you wrote this question… Well, our videos is more than just clips, it’s part of the progress in my urge to learn both production and edit, both camera and software, and I always bug the others to make another one and another one! The “Crosshating punks” clip was just done out of restlessness and old clips, it was bits and pieces that we didn’t use for the “Area 666” video actually so the clips were years old when I cut it together. I put on as much CGI as I could to hide the fact that nothing synced and the lyrics plastered over the images was to hide that my vocals didn’t add up to anything good visually! The “Religious and Infected” clip we did for me to try out my new camera and to make some sign of life and to show that we are not being lazy. It turned out way better than I hoped for and was a good practice run with the camera. There are at least three more videos planned from this album but only time can decide when we pull it off. How passed off the Turbocharged tour with Serbian Infest this September? (Unfortunately I missed it, but hope to see you live very soon). When and where will be your next live performances?
- Touring with Infest is always a blast and this tour, our second one together, was not different. Being stuck in a fart-drenched van with some crazy Serbian bastards for two weeks is something everyone should experience before claiming to be alive, that’s for sure! Some things didn’t turn out as planned but that was out of our reach to fix so it was all good, we did our best/worst and delivered sonic terror upon whoever decided to come and it was fucking great. Meeting new friends and getting a stronger backbone on stage is what it’s all about and our mission was executed with maximum results.
I like a lot the awesome sound of your bass. Which bass-players influenced you back in the time? Do you have any favourite bass-players?
Ha ha, it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it: Lemmy, Tom Angelripper and Cronos all the way! Their three bands are what made me who I am today, there’s no way around that. I didn’t even know the difference between guitar and bass when I decided I would play bass, I was looking through a catalogue and didn’t know if I should choose “the 4-string or the 6-string bass”, ha ha! So stupid! I did however find my way and never looked back. I do have a guitar at home but I never once thought of playing it in a band, I am a bass-player to the core. And my influences has always been the same, I just happened to make something personal out of the mix of their styles and now I don’t think very much of what to play, I just blast off and hope for the best. Tell us about Hangöver! (How did you got in touch with its members? Which tracks did you write for them?) (Sorin, Romania)
- Hey Sorin! Oooooh, I’m not sure I even remember how I got in touch with them… I met Hellbastard at a Gehennah gig in 2003 for the first time and he told me he had a band which was “heavily influenced” by us and from there on we stayed in touch. I actually never wrote a song for them, they just got the “Pornwatcher” lyrics from me since I reckoned I would never use them myself. They made a brilliant tune for them and it was probably the first time I was part of something outside my own bands when it comes to writing anything. I think they drank more than they actually were a band so I can’t tell much about them! I'm a faithful follower of the underground scene (Scandinavian, specially), since the early 90's. Currently, several bands are inside the scene, but... how do you see now the underground scene in general? Any band that you like especially? (Paco, Spain)
- Well Paco, the underground is far different now than it was back in those days but I don’t see it as a good or bad thing, times change and so do we. My problem with the scene is that there was a huge thing with people dropping out because “it got too commercial” back in the early 90-es and now all of a sudden a lot of those bands are back. I can’t see how you can “live for this” and still have no problem leaving for 20 years and then return like nothing happened. I might sound bitter and all but let’s face it: Some of us has been doing this every day since then and consider this scene to be a part of our DNA and we never backed down. Now these old bands come back and even if they deserve all our respect for what they once were and did, they didn’t move a muscle for 20 odd years and now they are touring the world again while others have spent every waken moment trying to get a break. Fame is of course not everything and the money aspect is just pure comedy but a struggling band deserves at least to break even in the end and that is really rare these days. We don’t have a problem paying out of our own pockets to get out there but since we are not rich it keeps us back and for every tour we have to cut down on something else (and there are families with kids involved here). There never was gold at the end of the underground rainbow of course but this retro wave is stealing the spotlight from the bands that struggle here and now. As for the quality of the music, it’s as good as ever if you only know where to look for good bands. Most of them don’t even know how good they are and they are playing local gigs in lack of global acknowledgment, still striving on pure passion. A band is supposed to be able to focus on that and it’s up to us supporters to find them and to spread the word. With today’s technology it’s easy to record and put some tracks up on Bandcamp or YouTube and most bands do, but the downside is that the constant stream of bands drown itself in white noise, kinda. I think I am losing my point here now, I don’t know where I am going anymore, ha ha! The bottom-line is that the scene is alive and kicking and you just have to look for the good stuff, it IS out there! Young bands and old bands deserve the same attention, or else we are pulling the plug on ourselves and risk sinking with the ship whether we like it or not. The bands I like are the same as anyone else from the old scene and newer bands always make an impact as they come along. To mention a few you should check out if you didn’t already: Violentor (Italy), Infest (Serbia), Axecutor (Bulgaria), Pyre (Russia), Chainsaw (Greece), Dreadful Fate (Sweden), etc, etc, etc… Too many to mention but if you start digging in these names you will find more good shit for sure! So yes, the scene is alive and glorious as long as we are, folks!
This past September was out the latest album of your band Turbocharged, but you also have another project Ronnie Ripper's Private War. Do you have some new material written for RRPW? Could you tell us something? (Paco, Spain)
- This is a tough one since there were a shitload of stuff written almost ten years ago that still haven’t seen the light of day but there are no real plans for making it official either. I played a few gigs with some cool Danish people under this name and they have been talking about making an album out of it just for fun with both real recordings of old songs as well as never released stuff but we are all busy with other things so I don’t know if this will ever become a reality. One should also remember that the recordings were done in my living room just for my own amusement and were intended for the band back then and it kinda took on a life of its own. The CD was released purely because the guy wrote to me one evening when I was mixing some stuff and I sent him a sample. He decided that it was worth releasing and the rest is a very obscure history. This is one of those mysteries that will answer itself as time goes by, there are no plans for anymore gigs either so your guess is as good as mine what will happen to RRPW. Turbocharged is my only priority and I could never keep up two bands/projects at the same time, I simply don’t have two 100%’s to give. Sorry that I don’t have a proper answer for you, Paco! I am listening quite a lot to your cover songs from Venom: “Witching Hour”, Sodom: “Ausgebombt” and Motörhead: “Killed by Death”, etc. because in my humble opinion they sound amazing. Are there any plans for a new cover or covers in the future?
- We don’t really put time and effort into covers these days since we have more than enough own songs to fill an hour on stage but we did play “Witching Hour” the last couple of gigs. It was a step outside the current frame but we had fun doing it. We do have some tribute stuff ahead of us, a line of EP’s in the style of bands but there will be no covers, just our own take on the special styles of the bands in question. Covers are a good way to “taste the poison”, to feel how the old classics were written and executed and they usually leave small traces in your muscle memory for your own stuff but being a cover band is not the way to go.
(Turbocharged live in Graz, 21.IX.2017, photo by Niki Bacher)
I’m so thankful for the retrospective interview with you about old Swedish days. I’ve forgotten to ask you, what is/are your favourite release(s) out of the Swedish productions of the 90's by the golden hand of Master Tomas Skogsberg?
- Thanks yourself for sending great questions, it was fun to take that trip down memory lane for sure! It’s hard to just pick a few classics from his portfolio but I must make it easy and go with the four first albums I heard from there: Entombed: “Left Hand Path”, Dismember: “Like An Ever Flowing Stream”, Grave: “Into the Grave” and Tiamat: “Sumerian Cry”. Those were the albums that set the sound of a whole scene and which are still the how-to-do-it manuals for Death metal. I’ve seen a Swedish comedy film “The Adventures of Picasso” (“Picassos äventyr”) a couple days ago and as for me it’s just a brilliant sarcastic one. What is your opinion about that old movie? Do you have any favourite Swedish actors and movies?
- Ha ha, this was unexpected! I don’t know if I ever saw that movie though, I can’t recall any scenes from it… Swedish movie history has some golden gems for sure, all the way from comedy to criminal mysteries, but I doubt that most of it ever reached the world. The BECK-series are an awesome line of criminal drama/tension that might have become international. “Sällskapsresan” is another franchise that started out great and turned into shitty sludge along the way but I think the jokes in those are a bit too Swedish for anyone to like them outside our strip of land. One old fave movie of mine which is pretty obscure and not too well made is “The ninja mission”, I think I was the only one who liked it back in the days actually, ha ha! “Bron”(The bridge) is another quite new series that I liked a lot and it’s half Danish which is not negative in my book! I suck at giving tips about Swedish movies, I usually stick to slasher movies and the likes there of and we didn’t have many of those made here. Tack så mycket/Thank you very much, Bror Ronnie! It was an honour to talk with you again. At the end of this interview, please send some thoughts from the Scandinavian Darkness.
- Thanks yourself, once again! Also thanks to Paco and Sorin for giving me the time of day, I hope you guys found something interesting in my attempts to answer! What else can I say than: See you in our next mutual part of Archangel’s Lantern, we know there will be more, don’t we brother? Keep your eyes open for more shit to come out of the Turbocharged camp, there are things brewing under the surface, itching to go public! Forever metal!
