July 2003
The (International) Noise Conspiracy
United By More than Just Haircuts
(Paul Harries) |
"When wasn't a rock band's image important?" asks Lars Strömberg, guitarist/vocals for
The (International) Noise Conspiracy. And he's definitely one who should know. Lars,
along with his fellow Swedish bandmates, are known not only for their bouncy
old soul-flavored pop rock and anti-establishment message, but also for their super hip
coordinated ensembles. And with outfits that range from of a mix of 60's and 70's punk to the more
politcally-driven combat fatigues, not only does T(I)NC prove they have natural style
and charisma, but that their appearance is as tight as their sound. And it's been that way
every since the band's inception in 1998. |
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"Rock 'n' roll itself is an image, a pose, and I believe it is the band's responsibility
to make the image meaningful and significant," Lars continues. "It's pretty much the same as with any
artistic expression...something is created as to represent something else. And the artist
has the means of putting ideas across".
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These days, there seems to be more than a handful of rock bands who believe the very same thing.
Artists like The Hives and The White Stripes also have a strong visual style but their reasons
for building their images are all different. For T(I)NC, Lars says, "It wasn't really something
we decided as much as it was something we just did. Starting out, the question was never,
'Are we going to wear matching outfits?' but rather 'What outfits are we going to wear onstage?'
It just came naturally."
One of the reasons it just "came naturally" for them was that the bandmembers all share
similar ideas of an anti-capitalist society. They want you to know that they stick together and are a close-knit group of
like-minded individuals. "It's not really a matter of what we wear as much as the fact that
we all wear the same thing, " explains Lars. "The idea of a collective is something we try to
reflect, both in the politics we talk about and the way we present outselves onstage. "
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Lars Strömberg (Schledewitz)
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(Torbjörn Persson) |
The more you learn about them, the more you realize that the importance of a "collective" mentality is one of the driving forces behind
T(I)NC. On the inside cover
of the band's 2000 release Survival Sickness, it reads "The (international) Noise
Conspiracy Collective" and lists names but not what their specific roll is within the
group. The same rules apply when talking about who works with them on their costumes.
"We have friends who are tailors, so they design our outfits together with us. It works
along the same lines as how we have friends who are writers that help us with liner notes, etc.
They are all a part of the collective." |
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Indeed, there are more than the immediate bandmembers
listed as part of the organization in the album's booklet only reinforcing the idea
that T(I)NC is much
more than just the five people kicking some serious butt onstage.
"No one in the band is more
important than the sum of the bandmembers," continues Lars. "Their individual talents are much more powerful
than the individual by itself." ~S.Appel
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