Satanic Surfers were one of Sweden’s top export products back in the '90's. Part of the infamous Malmö skate punk scene and supported by epic record label Burning Heart Records, they earned their spot in skate punk history. But at their apex they decided they call it quits. Now almost nine years later the surfing and skateboarding devil has resurrected and Groezrock was one of their first stops on their small comeback tour. Time for RMP Magazine to sit down with guitar player Magnus and bass player Andy for a quick chat on Sweden, side projects and Satan.

 

1. Hello, welcome to Belgium.

May we consider this a reunion tour for Satanic Surfers?

Andy : Yeah

Magnus : Yeah, it is.

 

2. Yesterday you did the first show in your home town of Malmö, Sweden. How was it?

Magnus : Great, like 400 people. Everybody went nuts, it was really nice.

Andy : It was so nice. It was in a club and we kind of curated ourselves. Our tour manager did it. It was a really warm welcoming feeling. A lot of old faces and super nice.

 

3. And what can we expect today at Groezrock?

Andy : I'm hoping more than 400 people tonight (laughs).

 

4. Next up there are some 'big' shows ahead, from Spain's Resurrection fest to Canada's Amnesia Fest and Punk Rock Holiday in Slovenia to finish the tour. A small world tour?

Andy : It's fun that the names of these festivals describe a very old person. Ressurection, Amnesia, I'm not sure what the message is.

Magnus : We're doing just weekends now. Just playing and fly back home.

 

5. The band took a hiatus of seven years. Most members were involved in other bands in the meantime like Revenge, Atlas Losing Grip. Any other projects you are currently involved in?

Andy : Plenty….

Magnus : Andy has a lot of bands

Andy : After we broke up I've been in four or five bands. Rodrigo has also been in four bands, he always has some projects in his head. We have Revenge. Fredrik has Connect, together with Tomek the old bass player.

Magnus : And Stephan who plays drums in Satanic, they're playing together in Connect and plays in Revenge too.

Andy : I was actually in Belgium two weeks ago with my other band Terrible Feelings, that was really nice. Kortrijk or something. At De Kreun, very nice people. They cooked the food in front of us at the backstage. It was a very familiar feeling.

 

6. Since the first releases “Skate To Hell” and “Keep Out” the band has progressed musically and lyrically. You even mention that in the song “Aim To Please”. The line 'Hero Of Our Time was a funny song back then' How do you feel about your first songs and do you consider playing them again?

Magnus : I think we came to terms with them. It's been a long time. For the band, it was Rodrigo, he wrote all the lyrics. He wanted to progress and going from the skateboard stuff and fun stuff and doing something that probably meant more to him at the time. Now we just look back and it was progress for the band. We were young then, we're playing songs from all the albums now.

Andy : Eleven years ago we didn't play “Hero Of Our Time”, because it's such a typical Satanic Surfers thing. We are not going to play that song.It's so typical. And then one year later when we toured to support the “Taste The Poison” record, I think in the rehearsal space we said “Ah, we don't we play that song. It's a good song and everybody likes to hear it.” Then we thought about that quote from that song and we were like “Ah fuck it.” If that means I’m lame then I'm proud to be lame.

Magnus : “Hero Of Our Time” was like seven years between that song and “Aim To Please”. Now it's thirteen years later and we changed our minds again.

 

7. Satanic Surfers was one of the pole bearers of the Swedish scene surrounding Malmö. Burning Heart records put that on the map as the record label at the time. Seems like they are back from a hiatus too?

Andy : That's what I heard too, they're doing Bombshell Rocks. They released their new record. They have some other secret plans so far. I don't think it's going to be as explosive as it was back then but they definitely miss what they did back then.

Magnus : With all the reunions, it's a twenty year cycle…

 

8. Sweden has always had a vibrant scene, being it punk rock or metal. What do you think causes that attraction to 'extreme' music?

Andy : There's also a lot of music that is not extreme.

Magnus : All genres, all these house, dance music is coming from Sweden.

Andy : I guess the extremes set the tone. That's what you see. That's why punk and metal became more visible.

 

9. And who should we look out for today from Swedish bands?

Andy : Tons of them. Right now there's a huge wave of female soul singers and rappers. They have a very current tone. It's very political; it's almost like a new wave of feminism.

Magnus : That's part of what is the cultural debate in Sweden now. There's a lot of debate about female artists being booked at festivals. It's mostly guys playing. This genre of music is like that. But some festivals try to keep it 50/50.

 

10. Any plans on new tours or even recording new material with Satanic Surfers?

Andy : There's some tour plans but it isn't confirmed yet. Let's not make anyone disappointed yet. There's definitely some places we want to go, new and old.

 

11. Satanic Surfers always had the connection with surfing and skateboarding. But how satanic is the band?

Andy : Rodrigo is more into that. He always wears that upside down cross and he listens to a lot of black metal and stuff. The rest of us are just agnostic.

 

12. Any last words or plans you want to share?

Andy : Listen to The Kids, the Belgian band.

Magnus : Great to be back in Belgium.

Andy : The last show we did was in Belgium, September 26^th, 2006 was Toprock.

 

– David Marote