The Manics are a new group out of Norrköping, Sweden playing stripped down, energetic mod influenced tunes with a frantic punk rock edge. Answering the questions is Pete, the group's main singer and rhythm guitarist.
1. When and where did The MANICS come to be?
Well, me and Gus (lead guitar) started the band approximately a year and a half ago here in Norrköping..
In the very beginning we had me on drums, but it turned out (again…) I’ve got one too big a mouth to stay in the background so I switched over to lead vocals and rhythm guitar instead.
Someone told me there was a good drummer around, recently moved in to town and with no band, looking for engagement - a few texts and a couple of phone calls later, in came Nick to handle the pounding duties.
We got hold of reggae(!) axe man Majken and started to rehearse as a four piece. It wasn’t too long before it became evident that Majken didn’t enjoy the blistering rock ‘n’ roll as much as we other three did and soon he packed his bag and went out the door never to come back…
Now, left without a bass, we kept on writing songs and kicking around ideas until Gus one day brought along the bloke who is now delivering the thunder through his beloved Terror amp. – Fredster.
The line-up now, and for the last year or so, is:
Peter Aspegren – Lead vocals / rhythm guitar
Gustav Andersson – Lead guitar / backing vocals
Fredrik Malmbecker – Bass / backing vocals
Niklas Ohlson - Drums
2. What other bands have you lot previously played in?
There has been quite a few bands over the years, some good and some lousy, but I guess worth mentioning would be The Invaders and The Pariahs (both including Gus).
Me and my ever faithful “partner in crime”, Dennis (lately of The Clichés fame), also spent well over ten years together in Oi!/punk band The Clockwork Crew – R.I.P.
I’m not sure what else the other MANIC lads have been up to in the past when it comes to bands, probably a few, but there are no names that spring to mind at the moment.
3. What sort of groups do you tend to gig with? In what setting do you go over best?
I haven’t thought of it that way really, but I guess we go over best with bands that share the same idea we do about playing live being something that should be done with honesty, a great deal of energy and your heart worn on you sleeve. I mean, sure, bands really skilled technically are great – but if they just stand there like robots, playing every note exactly like it “should be” without any guts and heart put into it, what’s the point of even bother to play live?! The way I see it going to a gig is more than just listening, it’s about seeing it, feeling it just as much as listening to it.
I like to think that the The MANICS go over well in most any setting!
4. Do you have any groups playing in a similar mod style in Sweden? What bands would you say are the biggest influence on your song writing?
I wouldn’t say there are that many really, certainly not like The MANICS anyway...
There’s a band around calling themselves The Crashbars doing a more soul-pop oriented thing that I quite like, but apart from them I can’t really think of any…
I’d like to think that with The MANICS we’re doing our own thing, creating our own musical flavours based on the mix of the very different individuals in the band, but of course there are influences.
Mod bands like The Who and The Jam are obvious heroes for me and I really like the way they did it, but also punk bands like Stiff Little Fingers and Sham 69 rank high as far as I’m concerned.
Just take the magnificence of the first Jam album, “In the City”, for example – the blend of suits, aggression, Rickenbackers, brilliant pop songs and the “head on-no compromise-two fingers in the air-now listen to this” attitude of -77 punk and that’s all the influence I need to start a band any day!
I’m also a big fan of the entire early/mid 60’s sound and look (I started out as, and still am, a Beatle fan at the age of twelve so…) and I guess it would be just silly to deny the inspiration that whole era brings to me.
5. Where have you gigged so far, what are your plans as far as tours and releases go?
So far we’ve mainly been gigging here around our hometown of Norrköping but we’ve also had a few dates in neighbouring towns like Linköping.
Sadly it’s hard to find gigs in this country, in too many cases it seems you have to be a “corporate band”, be on mainstream radio or such, for the promoters to even show the slightest interest in you. That’s really bad ‘cause I’m pretty sure there are lots of bands like us around in dingy basements and rehearsal rooms, upright rock ‘n’ roll bands built for sweaty live action dying just to get out there and give it a go!
The MANICS is a band who considers playing live one of the main reasons for its very existence; we’d like to do as many gigs at as many places as possible. Gigs and tours, home or abroad – bring ‘em on!
When it comes to studio activities we’ve got a couple of dates booked for us this March/April, we will record a bunch of songs that hopefully will be out soon. I’m not exactly sure in what way the songs will be released when I write this, but there’s talk of an album as well as talk of a split album with The Sydney Ducks. I guess we’ll have to just focus on the recording at this stage and then the rest will follow. Stay tuned…
6. What do you sing about in your songs? Do you pick up where the mod revival groups of the late 70's and 80's left off?
I write about lots of different things I guess, it’s often at a quite personal level but I also like the idea of being able to write stuff that is personal to me but still can be relevant to other people as well, adapted to their own situation etc.
Songs like “Just Be There”, “Me and You” and “24/Seven” are about friendship and relations, optimistic songs with a “let’s do something good with this, mate” sort of idea, “Johnny”, “There’s Gotta Be a Way”, “How Long” and “Happy House” on the other hand is more me being pissed off with people, bands, attitudes and stuff like that. I also write songs in a more romantic kind of vein (“Oh, Jules…” for example) or on the subject of man/woman relationship, be it good or be it bad, and there you have songs like “I Don’t Need You” and “The Other Side”. All written in a personal tone but hopefully, as I said before, people can relate to them and make them “their own”. Yeah, I like to think of it that way…
I’m not sure what you mean by “pick up where the mod revival groups of the late 70's and 80's left off”, but we don’t sing about button down shirts or scooters as much as, say Squire, did.
7. What are your favourite and least favourite groups going today?
Ooooh, that’s a hard one!
I wouldn’t consider myself being the kind of guy who really listens to “contemporary” stuff that much at all, I don’t even own a radio for instance, because I like to decide for myself what to listen to and when to do it.
I’m pretty fed up with all those “let’s form a band and play like Coldplay” kind of acts that seem to be everywhere these days, or the “emo/let’s tell it to the world how bad I feel every day, and lets do it in a monotonous and minor key way”, I just can’t stand bands like that, bands like Kent and other rubbish of that kind should be destroyed!
Lately I’ve found myself plugging the albums of (Swedish reggae/ragamuffin act) Kapten Röd and he’s brilliant – and going today!
Still, so much great music has been done in the past that I haven’t heard yet, so for me I feel no need to be “updated”. If a band’s good I’ll listen and then it doesn’t matter in what year it was recorded, simple as that really.
8. Any closing comments, thing's you want to get out there?
Thank you, Mike, for doing this interview and thank you, whoever you might be, for reading it!
Please check us out at Youtube (links below) and be sure to join The MANICS on Facebook and Reverbnation for further details and updates – FANX!
//Peter Aspegren, The MANICS, Norrköping, SWEDEN
The Manics "Just Be There" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKxOTiyKxg4
Official website – www.themanics.se
Booking – AK Managements (akmanagements@gmail.com)
