Bomberna Faller Fanzine

I don't really remember when I first heard of Svaveldioxid. If I were to guess I'd say it was back in 2018, around the release of their second album 'Dödsögonblick'. Regardless, I was hooked right away. I've since picked up everything with the band that I could get my hands on. They're up there with Disease, Meanwhile and Svintask as one of my favorite bands of all time. So when the ten year mark was closing in on them existing as a band I figured I'd do somewhat of a discography/retrospective interview with them – looking back at this past decade of käng and ask some questions I've never seen anyone else ask them. Some might think an interview with this level of detail is unnecessary, but I'm a big fan of the band and personally want to know these things. I hope it brings some enjoyment to my readers as well, but… yeah, this is mostly for me.

Svaveldioxid was formed, as the mathematically gifted might have already figured out, in 2015 - after concluding that there was a shortage of classic kängpunk. The first official line-up was Robin Wiberg (Disfear) on drums, Daniel "D.M." Mikkelsen (Operation, Protestera, Svart Aggression, Ks.V) on guitar, Pierre "Pjär" Carlman (3-Way Cum, Misär, Parasit, Raised By Drunks, Sauna) on bass and Joakim Andersson (Human Waste, Warvictims, Opposition) on vocals. The first album, 'Ändlös Mardröm', was released in early 2016 on Phobia Records, with the american release on Konton Crasher a few months later and a cassette version on malaysian Hardcore Hell the following year.

What was the initial reception of this "swedish käng revival" as you put it? Since there were represses made I suspect it sold better than you anticipated?

Jocke: As usual, we didnt get much feedback. It feels like people rarely say anything at all these days, at least if you dont ask. Maybe it's an generational thing? Anyway, I have no idea how it sold but Mirek wrote us, said he was out and asked if he could do a repress. I havent talked to Gaki/Konton Crasher for years now, but I'm guessing there's plenty of copies left of the US version. On a side note, I actually prefer the sound on the US version, it has a bit more distortion and sounds sharper overall.

How come you went with specifically Konton Crasher for the overseas distribution, is it because you already had contacts there (with them previously releasing Paranoid, Sex Dwarf, Honnör SS etc)?

Jocke: I got to know Gaki on Instagram. He's a great guy with a solid label, so we asked him and he was onboard.

You set out to fill a void, to provide classic kängpunk where there were basically none, according to yourselves. Did this statement upset anyone? Was there talk of pedantry and/or elitism or was there a consensus that kängpunk actually was severly underrepresented at the time?

Jocke: We didn't set out to fill a void exactly. Neither Robin or I had an active band so we just wanted to play some classic '90s käng together. The whole "Swedish käng revival" is just a tongue-in-cheek thing I came up with when doing the layout for 'Ändlös Mardröm'. But yeah, there is some truth to it, of course. There were hundreds of käng-bands in Sweden in the '90s, but sadly most of them quit. I would say there's maybe 10-15 bands I would call "käng" in Sweden today. A lot of people confuse käng with raw punk and crust, but the difference is in the details... I didn't hear anyone call us elitists so I guess (and hope) most people didn't take it that seriously.

What's the story behind the logo? Who came up with it and why is there a few stray hairs on it? Is the four crosses a reference that I fail to pick up on?

Jocke: I told Robin I thought he should draw the logo, instead of using some boring overused font on the computer or something like that. He drew the logo with a brush, so it's probably lines from the brush hair that makes it look like "hairs" on it... The four crosses is a reference to Skitslickers of course. I don't know why they had it, but I see it as a cross for each member of the band haha...

'Ändlös Mardröm' was recorded, mixed and mastered by Jocke Rydbjer in Wolfden Studios. Was he your first choice? How come? Compared to the rest of your material this one sounds... without knowledge in audio production or its termonology, the "thinnest". I always crank up the bass on my stereo while listening to this one.

Jocke: Wolfden is located in a house in Stockholm with several rehearsal spaces and I think that's how we first heard of the studio, through friends who rehearsed there. And as Jocke is guitarist in Wolfbrigade we figured he'd have a good sense on what we wanted the recording to sound like. The sound turned out brutal, but in retrospect I think I would've preferred a different mixing on the drums, make them more "compact". But as our first recording, I think it turned out pretty decent after all.

You were clear from the start that Svaveldioxid wasn't going to be a political band. Why is that? Depicting war is somewhat political, as Jocke also said in a later interview with Källarpodden (we'll get more into that interview later on), but I guess you wanted to avoid being an instruction manual on what to make of it all? Or were there other reasons? Perhaps you wouldn't get along as a band if you went into detail on political topics? Looking at for example DM:s history, not playing in a political band must have been quite the contrast.

Jocke: We started the band just to play and have some fun together. Keep it simple and uncomplicated. It was never about spreading some kind of message or something like that... Of course we have political themes etc, but our lyrics are mostly objectively written. I see it more like I'm stating facts, not my personal opinions. We never say anything about how you should do this or that, I just try to summarize a topic with as few word as possible. We're all black/red on the political scale and I don't think we would be playing together if we didn't a similar view on society and the world.

Looking on my favorite tracks from 'Ändlös Mardröm' ('Falsk Ritual', 'Fred På Jorden' and 'Edsvurna, Uppskurna, Bortburna') we see the first example of... well almost tongue twisters of sorts. Edsvurna uppskurna bortburna, främmande samtid skrämmande framtid, första dagen efter sista bomben (admittedly this last one doesn't sound like a tongue twister, but I've lost count on how many times I got the title wrong trying to talk about it after a night of drinking). Not only are the lyrics very emblematic of the genre, they're very well put together in general. It really shows that, although the format is rough and short by design, Jocke really has a way of expressing himself. Are all the lyrics (excluding the covers, obviously) written by Jocke? I feel there's a point to be made that a former fanzine editor ends up being the main lyrics writer. Well, I shouldn't jump to conclusions - perhaps more members have a past in fanzines?

Jocke: Thank you, means a lot. Yeah, I write all of the lyrics but sometimes someone else come up with a title or have a suggestion for a topic. I try to keep it minimalistic, but it can be a challenge sometimes. Especially if it's supposed to rhyme too, which most of our lyrics do in one way or another from 2019 and onward. I like to play with words, add double meanings in certain lines etc. Most of it probably goes unnoticed to the average listener, but it makes the lyrics more fun to write. Sometimes I realize some lyrics have turned out too poem-like, and I can't help changing them and dumb it down a bit. I'd hate to come off as pretentious.

The test pressing of 'Ändlös Mardröm' had an alternate cover, namely 'The Harpies' Wood', an illustration by Gustave Dore from 'Dante's Divine Comedy'. Why didn't that one end up being the main artwork? I can't imagine there'd be licensing issues with someone who died over (at the time) 130 years ago?

Robin: I picked that one because I thought it looked cool. I printed one copy of the test press for each of the band members. This means it's only our four copies that have that cover. I've always liked Dore's work.

How come some of the names in the thanks section were crossed out? And while we're talking about small details, what does 556 in your email mean? Were there 555 pre-existing Svaveldioxid-accounts? Is it a reference to the all-purpose spray 5-56? I know the chemical formula for sulfur dioxide is SO₂ so it can't be that.

Jocke: Haha, that was just for laughs. When I was working on the layout for the backside with Orb, and we had to move things around to make it look better, I asked him to cross some of them out instead of erasing them. Just so it would look like we had changed our minds regarding some people. :) No deeper meaning. My guess is that the word "svaveldioxid" was taken already and the added number was the suggestion D.M. got when he created our mail-account.

I'm jumping ahead a bit here, but since I've just asked about your thanks section I might as well bring this up: Why are Absolut and Sex Dwarf thanked on pretty much every release you've ever done? What's the connection?

Jocke: Actually, I wouldn't call them thanks-lists. It's more like cheers/shout outs to friends, families and/or people who have helped or supported the band in some way. Or just cool people we've come across. Sex Dwarf are friends of us in Stockholm and Absolut are great guys which we've been in contact with since our split together. Sometimes you only need to be an awesome person to make the list...

Shortly after the first release you followed up with the EP 'Krigets Brutalitet' in 2017, again released on Phobia Records but the cassette version was this time handled by the Ukranian No Name Distro/Label. Pjär had left the band and Vidar Ter-Borch (Anger Burning, Anti-Metafor, Nukies) was now playing bass. Why did Pjär leave the band so quickly?

Jocke: Pjär told us he wanted to leave the band two weeks before we had a date to record in Wolfden (and a gig shortly after that). He wrote a message and said we didn't rehearse as often as he wanted, and that he didn't feel the same connection with us as persons as he did with people in his other bands. It was a hard blow, and of course we were disappointed. He put us in a tough spot, but there's never been any hard feelings between us because of his decision.

One of the tracks, 4 000 000 000 döda kroppar, is a DNA cover. Later you'll also go on to record covers on Bombanfall, Agoni, Krunch and Anti-Bofors. What other bands inspire you?

Robin: Cimex, Skitslickers, Discharge, No Security.
D.M.: Motörhead, Svart Parad, Disarm, Entombed.
Kevin: Fall Of Efrafa, Avskum, Exploatör, Asocial.
Jocke: Early Disfear, Totalitär, Puke, Disgust.

Also in 2017 there's two splits released, first an EP with Mania For Conquest on Brain Solvent Propaganda and then an LP with Absolut on Phobia/Konton Crasher. These three are released in reverse order compared to when they were recorded (all by Jocke Rydbjer in Wolfden Studio), why is that?

Jocke: I have no idea. Can't remember when they were released exactly... We recorded the songs for the Absolut split in March, and the songs for the Mania For Conquest split and 'Krigets Brutalitet EP' in December. It's been a few years now so it's hard to recall, but my guess is maybe Absolut didn't have their songs mixed and ready when we did, or something like that.

The split with Mania For Conquest is the first time Svaveldioxid appears on a release not by Phobia. Was this because everything was handled in the US? Did Mania For Conquest contact you or did you reach out to them?

Jocke: We talked to Mania For Conquest about doing a split. They had released a couple of awesome tapes previously and had already been in talks with the guys at Brainsolvent Propaganda about maybe doing something together. So they just asked them if they were interested in releasing a split 7" with us, which they were.

Why is D.M. also playing bass on the split with Absolut?

Jocke: That's the recording we did a couple of weeks after Pjär left the band, and it was just easier for us to have D.M. handle the bass, instead of trying to find a new bassist to learn the songs in such a limited time.

There's a bonus flexi that came with the limited version of Absolut – was this an effort to increase demand or was there no room to include them on the main vinyl? Perhaps they were simply an afterthought?

Jocke: We recorded a cover of 'Iskallt regn' by Bombanfall at the same time as the other 5 songs and coincidentally Absolut had recorded 'Victims of a bombraid' by Cimex when they recorded their songs. Neither was meant to be on the album. But we thought it could be a fun thing to include in the limited edition instead. So yeah, definitely more of an afterthought.

You went into a new studio in the early summer of 2018, namely Studio D-takt where Janne Jutila recorded, mixed and mastered the tracks for your next album, 'Dödsögonblick', which was released in 2019 by D-takt & Råpunk Records here in Sweden and again Konton Crasher in the US. Why did you choose to switch studio?

Jocke: We don't wanna be "stuck" in sounding exactly the same on every record, and it's cool to try different sounds, so we have tried out some different studios over the years. And as you know, Jutte is well-oriented in käng and raw punk, a legend in the Swedish scene you could say. So we were curious to see what he would make of our sound.

The tempo is (at least here and there) ever so slightly lower on 'Dödsögonblick'. Were you pleased with the result? Did it lead to more "spela snabbare" during shows?

Jocke: I'm not sure I agree with you. We have always tried to do at least 1-2 songs with in different beat on every album. Just to mix it up a bit. I actually think 'Dödsögonblick' is one of our more fast/intense records, but maybe it's just my me then...

One of my favorite tracks on here is 'Mänskliga Sopor', is that a reference to the old band Human Waste? I know another track of yours, 'Atombombsförbannelsen', is a nod to Strebers' 'Atombombsförälskelsen' so I thought perhaps there's more connections to be discovered.

Jocke: No reference. I havent even reflected on the similarities with that title and Human Waste until now when you asked. Sometimes you come up with a title that fits the lyrics perfectly, but happens to be very similar to some classic. You only have so many words, especially in the Swedish language. Also, it's pretty hard to do something entirely original these days, if you would even want that. The most obvious ones to me are probably 'Blodtörstigt system' and 'I skuggan av kriget'. Maybe 'Märkta för livet' too? I always said a great title is more important than great lyrics... Another great source for cool titles are old swedish translations of action movies or books in the '80s/'90s. Check the record covers again, you might figure out which ones… haha.

The cover to 'Dödsögonblick' is almost completely black, the printing is so dark that it's very hard to make anything out sitting in a dimly lit room. What was the thought process behind this?

Jocke: It wasn't supposed to be exactly that dark, but I think it's kinda cool. It's always a different thing working/seeing the artwork on a computer screen, and how it turns out when printed. In retrospect maybe we should've gone with white instead of grey. Or do something else to make the lyrics/info pop out more, but I don't think it's that bad.

A year later Janne surprised you with a new mix of the recording, he'd gotten some new studio equipment he wanted to try out. The sound on the re-mix is in my opinion a lot better, particularly the warmer drum sound, so I understand you wanted to get it out. This version was released by Alexey on the russian label Headnoise. Why did you go with them?

Jocke: Alexey had previously released a tape version of 'Världsherravälde' with Warvictims and I thought that release looked and sounded good, so I asked him and he said yes.

Why was the tracklist rearranged?

Jocke: Because when we did the recording in Studio D-takt, Jutte ordered us to decide the track order for the album there and then, before we left the studio. D.M. and Vidar had already left, so it was up to me and Robin to decide a track order... It's harder to decide a track order than you might think. There's a lot of small things you need to take in consideration if you wanna be thorough. So we decided to modify it a little when we got another chance.

In april of 2019 you were interviewed by the podcast Källarpodden in conjunction with a show including yourselves, Disease (another one of my favorite bands!), Gefyr and Planet Trash. While listening to the interview a few follow-up questions arose, so I thought I'd ask them here! Källarpodden wanted you to explain what kind of music you are playing – a question to which you all exclaimed "Haven't you heard us?". When explaining they wanted you to describe yourselves in your own words Jocke added "fair enough, but it'd be nice if you were a bit interested as well". Later they asked about your lyrics and got the answer "they're on the covers". Now it wasn't as douchey as it sounds, but it does give off this vibe of not having the time or patience to answer easily researched questions – while at the same time you're happy to get acknowledged as a band. This is also something I picked up on when you talked about shows, you'd be thrilled to have more offers even though you probably wouldn't accept all of them. Is this ambivalence towards attention something you all have in common, or is it mostly Jocke (which has been the one to express this)?

Jocke: Haha, we were drinking during that interview and I wasn't that serious when I said those things... Sometimes I come off as a douchebag. Mostly it's on purpose, just me being an idiot to see how people act. I know it's stupid. I think that's why a lot of people have a problem with me as a person, because they think I have an attitude. Which I actually don't. I think people take me too serious too often... People who know me knows I'm a kind and humble guy. Regarding gigs, yes, we rarely get any requests to play live, especially in Sweden. For example, we have played live 7 times in Stockholm during these 10 years of existence. That's not even one gig per year. So there's not a lot of support for us in Sweden unfortunately, people in other countries seem to like Svaveldioxid more. I just think it would be nice to be asked to play here in Sweden once in a while, that's all.

You talked about gubbkäng ("old man käng"), how it's not a negative term and at least Jocke and Robin were positive towards the idea of taking the tempo down a notch. You had recently released 'Dödsögonblick' that indeed contained some lower tempo tracks, but your next few upcoming releases ended up being on the faster side still. How come the speed on the final result is so hard to control? What drives it up?

Jocke: It depends on a number of things. Everything from us realizing a song sounds better if it's faster in the rehearsal, to maybe Robin playing a bit faster when we're tracking drums in the studio. I don't wanna be the one complaining on songs being too fast, I just argue for a tiny bit of variation ever now and then. Especially if there's more than 6 songs.

At some point during the interview you talk about what to charge for a live show and that you're happy to attend as long as there's somewhere to sleep and that your travel expenses are covered. Which has, surprisingly, been the reason you've had to turn down a few inquiries. So, what, some places can't afford to pay for a train ticket?! I know times are rough but what the ass?

Jocke: I was referring to local shows mostly. For example, if an organizer got some touring band playing and need local bands to be support, they rather ask bands where all members live in the same city, instead of having to pay for my train tickets. I can understand that you want to make some kind of profit, I just think it would be more fun if it wasnt the same 3-4 bands always playing.

When talking about taste in music a lot of usual genres are brought up by everyone in the band, but then Jocke mentions that he also likes hip hop. That made me wonder, what happened with De Gudsförgätna? Wasn't Jocke part of that project? What other unexpected genres do you guys listen to and/or partake in? I know you gave a brief answer during the podcast but now there's plenty of time to reflect further on it - and it's been six years so things might have changed. Personally I really like chiptunes (I've even released a cassette under the moniker 8-Bit Unit).

Jocke: It was just a hiphop project I had with two friends for some years when Warvictims wasn't that active anymore. I think it was in like 2013 we recorded the last time. We will never record or release anything again though. I listen to all kinds of music. If it's good it's good no matter what genre...

Robin: Eeeh, when I don't listen to punk/käng/hardcore and crust I listen to a lot of 80s/90s thrash/death/black metal mixed with some current metal. I also enjoy a lot of goth/postpunk/darkwave as well as a couple of singer songwriter artists that sings about the bleak, grim and dark reality.

D.M.: I listen to thrash, death- and black metal. 80s hard rock/heavy metal. Action rock. Beside a bunch of different punk bands I've also played in a rock band called The Dräggsters.

Kevin: Beside Svaveldioxid I play bass in ¡Lura Alla!. It's hard to put a label on the genre but you could say punk rock with metal, jazz and classic HC influences. Besides käng and crust punk I really like some pop like Alenah's first album and singer song writers such as Lars Demian. As long as they play in minor.

Let's leave Källarpodden behind and look at the next release: your split EP with Skeleton from Canada, released in november 2019 by Phobia. This time you did all the recording, mixing and mastering in your rehearsal space together with Björn Rudberg and Banditen (Honnör SS), except for the vocals which were recorded in Paranoid's rehearsal space in Östersund by Jocke D-takt (Warvictims, Paranoid, Human Waste, Electric Funeral, Desperat, Totalt Jävla Mörker). The sound came out really good I'd say, what did you think? You must have felt it was at least good enough since your following release would also go the DIY route, but we'll get to that in a moment.

Jocke: The recording was done in the rehearsal space with Björn, but mixing and mastering was done by D.M. at home. I think the recording turned out really good, even better than 'Första dagen efter sista bomben' which was recorded the same way. I wasn't able to go down to Stockholm and record at the time, so the others recorded the music there and I did the vocals here in Frösön.

A Canadian band and a Swedish band on a Czech label, how did this come to be? Whose idea was it? Vem vare som kasta?

Jocke: I had contact with Dan Ryckman/Skeleton since we did a split 7" together with our other bands Warvictims and Skunk back in 2008. We just thought it would be fun to do another split, so I asked Mirek/Phobia if he was interested in releasing it.

It was then time for another LP, this time 'Första Dagen Efter Sista Bomben'. The vinyl version by Phobia and the cassette version by american Blown Out Media were (according to my research) released on the same day in 2021. As previously mentioned this was also recorded in an rehearsal space by Banditen – but mixed and mastered by DM. This time the drums cut through the guitar in a very distinct way, making the overall sound almost a bit "choppy". Apart from 'Ändlös Mardröm' this is the most significant change in the sound so far. How was the response on this one? When counting favorite tracks this album has, up until this point in time, the most for me.

Jocke: Once again, we didnt get much feedback, but I recall it was on a couple of 'Best of 2021'-lists so I guess it was kinda appreciated. Apparently it sold out from Phobia Records because Mirek asked us to do a repress of it.

There's an Anti-Bofors cover, 'Våldtäkt', on this one and as some readers might know Anti-Bofors later became Disfear. At first I thought perhaps this was a throwback for Robin, but he played drums solely on 'Everyday Slaughter', correct? Whose idea was it include this track?

Jocke: Anti-Bofors was one of several influences we talked about from the start, when we were planning to get a band together. It has nothing to do with Robins past, he was a fan of Anti-Bofors/Disfear before he joined them, just like everyone else. :)

The repress of 'Första Dagen Efter Sista Bomben' switched the red details to yellow, and the limited version of the vinyl has this toxic yellow color that looks really cool. Why did you decide to change it up? Is the color choice a reference to the color of sulfur?

Jocke: Sorry to disappoint you, but there's no cool story here. Mirek just asked us to do a re-press and change the color to yellow, just to switch things up a bit and make it differ more from the original.

In March 2023 you went into Sunlight Studio where Tomas Skogsberg recorded and mixed the material, subsequently mastered by Jocke Rydbjer in Wolfden, for three of your upcoming releases. Your promo flexi 'Mental Skyttegrav' in June, the split EP with Parasit in October and finally the LP 'Världselände' in November. 'Världselände' and its' promo flexi were released by Blown Out Media while Phobia took care of the Parasit split. This is the second flexi you've put out, albeit this wasn't a bonus. Do you like the format? Or is it more like "at least it's something physical that doesn't break the bank"?

Jocke: The flexi was Jesse's (Blown out media) idea. He had released several flexis and asked if we wanted to do one as some kind of pre-taste for the album. Flexis are cool, and pretty cheap to make, so we released that some months before the album dropped.

Did you think it was money well spent recording at Sunlight Studio? I'd say you really struck a nice balance in the sound this time around. It's still this warmer, heavier drum sound but without cutting through too much and I have no problem differentiating the strings. The vocals are a bit less pronounced in the mix, aren't they?

Jocke: Yeah, Skogsberg gives unsigned bands a really good price so I definitely think it's worth the money. I think the vocals sounds a bit "further back" in the mix. Might not have been my choice, but I'm open to try out minor new things and sounds, just a long as it doesnt differ too much from the classic käng formula.

When picking favorite tracks in 'Världselände' there were five that I considered absolutely essential, which means literally half the album. That's the highest ratio I think I've had on any album in recent years. Considering it was a US only release, how was it recieved over there? And how come there's no re-releases of this one? Surely it sold out in a heartbeat?

Jocke: You keep overestimating us, haha. We're not a hyped band and rarely sell out any of our records, even though it happens sometimes. Once again I have to repeat myself when I say that people barely gives you any feedback these days, everyone is quiet until you ask. So I have no idea how it has been recieved except for some supportive words from a few friends. I haven't heard anything about it so I guess Jesse still have a bunch of copies left.

This is where, at least to a layman's ears, the first touches of death metal are showing, isn't it? I'm specifically thinking of 'Dödens Väntrum' and 'Blodtörstigt System'.

Jocke: Sure, haha, at least more noticeable. I wouldn't call them "metal songs" though. Just a small addition on the guitar side of things. And I still feel the swedish 80's rawpunk influence is bigger on that one overall. At least in my head.

Also during 2023, I wasn't able to find a specific month, Blown Out Media put out a Svaveldioxid compilation on CD and cassette called 'Fred På Jorden 2015-2022' covering all your EP's, splits, compilation- and bonus tracks (as well as some rehearsal material) between those years. I'm particularly interested in the rehearsal stuff, there's a track on there called 'Tryckvåg' that didn't make it onto 'Dödsögonblick'. Why was it left out?

Jocke: Blown Out Media released the compilation before 'Världselände', you could say we started with that release while we were working on the 12" album together. Haha, it wasn't left out, I just swapped out the lyrics and changed the title to 'Terrorvåg', the last song on 'Dödsögonblick'. :)

We can also hear from the rehearsal version of 'Fred På Jorden' that you initially played around with quite a lot of reverb on the vocals. How early on in the process did you decide to skip it? Was 'Ändlös Mardröm' at some point supposed to sound completely different?

Jocke: No thought behind that decision at all. In the rehearsal room you just try out different stuff and that was the first song we did, so I guess we hadn't decided yet how we wanted to sound like. But I think we've had reverb/delay on my vocals on almost all recordings except for maybe 'Dödsögonblick'.

We've arrived at the latest official release at this point, which is 'Främmande Samtid Skrämmande Framtid' a 10" put out by Phobia once again. You decided to go back to Tomas and Studio Sunlight to record and mix while sticking with Jocke Rydbjer in Wolfden for the mastering. This time furthering your death metal flirts, but still not falling over to a "punk death metal" sound. It's still kängpunk, only spiced up with some varying elements. But from what I've seen on your band page the reviews, excluding the one I wrote, are from metal outlets. Do you think the death metal twists garnered that kind of attention?

Jocke: I don't think so, nothing we've noticed. I think that's just a coincidence actually. It's more likely it depends on where Mirek sent copies to be reviewed. And as you know, there's not that many who writes reviews these days, so you send review copies to the few that does.

Kevin Welin (Ilandsproblem, Søndra) replaced Vidar on bass on this one. Why did Vidar decide to leave, how did you find Kevin and how's the dynamics in the band at the moment?

Jocke: Vidar has always been a pretty busy guy, with his own carpenter company, and having to work in different parts of Sweden from time to time. In the end I guess it was just a matter of not having enough time for everything and that he enjoyed playing with his new band Nukies more than with Svaveldioxid. We made a post on social media about needing a new bassist and Kevin was like 1 out of 5 that wrote us. I think we got an energy boost with Kevin because it feels like we're bit more active now with new songs and recordings. So I think everyone's happy.

A while back Jocke talked about how you guys wanted to incorporate "just the right amount of death metal" in your music, and as I just stated I really think you managed to do that. Why did you though? Is it because of authenticity or are you looking to evolve and change things up a bit after 10 years? Can you give a few examples of where you think a band went overboard and strayed too far away from käng?

Jocke: Coincidence. We've never decided beforehand exactly how we wanted to sound, so I'm not sure I would call it some kind of change/evolution. D.M. listens to a lot of metal and have tried to get some influences in there, but I'm extremely picky when it comes to metal. When it sounds good, and incorporated in the right way, I don't see any problem with it. But I wanna keep it "punk with minor metal influences" and not "metal with minor punk influences". We will never take it that far.

Haha, I'll go with the most obvious one then; Discharge! I don't listen to anything with them after 'Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing'.

So, we're at the present time in this interview, we're on the doorstep of two splits (one with Destruct and one with WAR//PLAGUE, both from the US) and a TBA 12". How come you went with specifically these bands this time? In Destruct's case it was something about a cover, right? With WAR//PLAGUE you say you were approached by Andy, is he a Svaveldioxid fan or are you friends since before?

Jocke: Yeah, I heard from CLT (Absolut) that Destruct were doing a cover of our song 'Krigets Hundar' live and saw a clip of the cover when they played in England a couple of years ago. Honored I wrote Patrick, and then we started talking about doing a split together. Since they'd already done a cover of us, we decided to cover a song by them for the split 7". Mutual respect. Andy played a song with us ('Krossad Av Tanks') on some webradio thing some years back, thats how I got in contact with him. He also interviewed us for the first issue of Organize & Arise. So we've been talking for a while. Their songs will be recorded this summer, so I hope that split will be released before the end of 2025.

I was sent the tracks from the coming Destruct split and I must say I liked them a lot, my favorite of the three was 'Stillbilder' which stood out the most and were the most fun to listen to. Are the tracks on the WAR//PLAGUE split going to sound the same, are they from the same recording session like you've done in the past?

Jocke: Yes, it's 5 tracks from the same recording, divided into two split 7":s. The original idea was to do a split 12" with Destruct, but for different reasons they were a couple of songs short, so it was easier if we just did a split 7" instead. And Andy (WAR//PLAGUE) asked me a while back if we would wanna do a split with them, so it was the perfect opportunity you could say.

During the course of this interview you went to Sunlight Studio again and recorded the material for your upcoming 12". I got to listen to a small unmixed excerpt recorded with a phone and it sounded really good so I'm very excited to say the least. How did things go this time and what can you tell me about the album?

Jocke: It's 8 songs this time around. Over the years I've come to the conclusion that 8 or 10 songs is the ultimate length on a käng/rawpunk/mangel album. About 20 minutes of music. The album will be called 'Misär O.D.' and will be released by Mirek/Phobia Records. We have also talked to an american label about a US version, but nothing is decided yet so I won't mention any names. The recording went well, I think everything went faster than usual actually.

Looking back at these past ten years – do you think you achieved what you set out to do? Are you pleased with the result? Are you proud, are there regrets - or both?

Jocke: We set out to have fun. And we've had it. It's not fun all the time, but nothing is, and sometimes life gets in the way. I think we will continue to play as long as it still gives some kind of positive energy back. Or maybe when it gets too hard and exhausting doing this. We're all getting older and it gets tougher physically every year so... In retrospect I think we became a more active band than we originally intended to be. I would probably have been happy to get just one record out and do a couple of gigs when we started, so in that sense I think we succeeded our expectations... Not every band make it to 10 years unfortunately. I think it's better to always have something going on, or at least in the works, so you don't lose interest or get too comfortable not rehearsing/playing and focusing on the band.

And what about the general landscape of d-beat hardcore punk in Sweden today compared to 2015, what do you feel has changed?

Jocke: Not much, I would say. Feels like there are fewer bands playing, and fewer places to play live shows at. I'm thankful for everyone still keeping the live scene alive, but I predict the punk scene in Sweden will be pretty much dead within 20 years when all the older punks are "retired", since there's so few new punk bands coming out. Things and times are changing.

You've told me the future of Svaveldioxid has been slightly uncertain at times, especially through the difficulties in holding down a rehearsal space. But you've got more material on the way and the rehearsal space situation is okay for now. What's the vision for Svaveldioxid going forward? What would the future look like if you got to decide one right now?

Jocke: I think we touched on the subject some questions back, but we're pretty happy just doing what we do and have been doing. We like hanging out, make songs/records and play a few shows every now and then.

Ten years of