March 2003
Traveling Band
Per Stålberg |
Singer Per Stålberg routinely dedicates "The Truth is Fucked" to "all American rock bands".
So seriously, are there any American bands that you do dig? Jonas: "The Strokes are okay but
they were so hyped and now it's not cool to like them. They're still good, but now there's
100 bands like the Strokes that aren't so good. I still think the best bands in the US are
Nirvana, Fugazi...there's a lot of bands I don't know about, probably a lot of good bands." I point out
how one of the things wrong with American music is a recent issue of Rolling Stone
which (surprisingly) had one of the more informative Swedish bands articles buried
deep within the pages while a naked Christina Aguilera graced the cover.
"Well," says Jonas, "she's dirty".
Not all of the current bandmembers are on the album.
David joined after the original guitarist left at the end of 2001 while Black City was
recorded earlier
that year. He'll be on the next album, right? "I hope so," he jokes. |
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But seeing that
the album was made nearly two years ago, any fatigue with the material? Jonas initially
declares, "No" but then admits, "Well, yes. I mean, not when I'm doing it on stage, but
it gets boring to rehearse the same songs over again. But I like the songs, I'm proud of
the songs." | |
They're very (okay, relatively) clean young men.
One look at the stage during a DVSN set and you may notice a couple dozen bottles of water
but not a single alcoholic beverage. What's that all about in an age where rock bands are
supposed to be performing drunk while chain-smoking? "We're not
a big party band," remarks David. And Jonas, who is vegetarian, is also formerly
straight-edge, although these days he'll "drink once in a while".
They're former skate rats.
Ever see those "Sweet Skateboards" t-shirts the guys are so fond of wearing? There is a reason
for that. "Division is long time skate-friends of mine, so we are helping each other out,"
tells Thomas Löfgren, founder of the Swedish-based Sweet. "Plus, I love them and their music."
According to Thomas, the 4 year-old company (which went online last year at
Junkyard.se) started just as a hobby but has
turned it into much more due to interest outside of Sweden. Clearly, the company's ties to
DVSN have not hurt; in Philadelphia, one girl was overheard asking the band's photographer,
"What are those t-shirts they're wearing?"
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Jonas and David modeling some Sweet Skateboard tees
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