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How did the songwriting process go. When did you guys start writing again?
"We started early 2001, just after we had finished touring with The Offspring. We'd already started writing a little during that tour but did the most afterwards."
Is it hard to make a new album? 'For Monkeys' your third album began with "inspiration has been hard this time"...
"Well, this time it was pretty easy. We had a lot of time to rehearse and finally came up with seventeen songs. We decided to put 13 on the album. Two others are used as b-sides for our first single 'Kemp' and the other two will probably be b-sides as well on a later single."
Is it hard to be creative in a genre like punkrock?
"We have a lot of variation and come up with a nice mix of different styles. We also don't listen to punkrock all of the time, but to other kinds of music as well, like Swedish popbands like Kent. For me it's fifty-fifty. But we're not influenced by other bands. We're just influenced by things that happen around us. That makes us write that typical Millencolin kind of songs."
Did you ever think about adding new instruments or working more with computers?
"We had sax and other ska-instruments on our previous album 'Pennybridge Pioneers', but this time we wanted it straightforward. We only had a little piano on 'Battery Check'."
Do you make a kind of a planning before the recording? About how fast the songs have to be or what instruments you want to use?
"Not at all. We just try things out and that's how we make songs."
Do you talk about the lyrics when Nicola, your singer, presents them?
"We just like his lyrics, he's a good writer. He writes about things he experiences, from some funny things to everything about relationships. So we don't talk about those lyrics."
The song 'Afghan' is quite anti-Bush. Did you all agree on that?
"We came up with the title a long time before the lyrics were written. It's a reference to the Afghan Whigs, not to the things that happened after September 11th. I realise that this reference will be made very quickly, but it could be about anything. It's about the big leader and the abuse of powers. So it can also be in the playground at school where bigger guys dominate the smaller ones or it could be at work, etcetera."
In general Millencolin isn't as political as a lot of punkrock bands. Why is that?
"We don't write about that. Before Millencolin we were in bands that had political lyrics, but when we started with Millencolin we decided not to write about that anymore. We like to deal with personal things, like relationships."
How about the social control by the scene. You already referred to it on 'For Monkeys': "Every day you try to waste my time I waste a rhyme."
"We're in total control of what we do. No one can tell us what we have to write and what we should do. The record company lets us do what we want. Some people want us to do more and more and sometimes we just have to say no. Everyone in Millencolin wants to have a good time and that's the most important part."
What's the difference between working with Lou Giordano, who produced 'Home From Home', and Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz, who produced 'Pennybridge Pioneers'?
"Well, Brett is in a band, so he approached us as a musician. He's more like we are. Lou focuses more on the technical stuff. He's also been on tour, but not as a musician."
What's to you is the main difference between the new album and the previous ones?
"The songs are happier. The sound is more vivid, it's like you can hear us play live. The production is quite raw compared to former albums."
You chose to do 'Kemp' and 'Black Eye' over again. I guess a lot of bands want to do that with their older songs. But why did you choose those two?
"Those two we wrote in a day because we needed some songs as b-sides. But we really liked them and wanted to do them again. They were so good we had to give it another try."
How come you have so much success in Australia? You sold over 150.000 copies of 'Pennybridge Pioneers' over there.
"We've been there a couple of times. I'm not sure why they pick us up so well. Maybe it's because there are a lot of skaters and surfers over there. But the success over there doesn't make us go there more often, we don't do extra tours because they like us. We just want to go to as many places as possible, so many people have the chance to see us. But we do like Australia, the climate, the people, everything!"
And how famous is Millencolin in Sweden?
"It's hard to give an answer to that. We haven't played here in a while. But we do get a lot of fanmail from Sweden."
What do you think about the Hives and the hype that surrounds them?
"Great! They are a really good live band and also good friends of ours. They deserve the attention. We didn't plan to do any touring with them. I guess they'll be writing new songs next summer and that's exactly when we are on tour."
Nicola has his own studio, guitarist Erik does some design. Do you do anything next to Millencolin?
"I don't really do anything besides Millencolin, I hang out with friends and family. But me and Erik are in a small office every day, doing things for the band. Arranging a lot of things, answering e-mails, updating the website and more. Myself, I like to play golf sometimes. The course is in the neighbourhood and hey, it's only a 10 minute drive!"
http://www.kindamuzik.net/interview/millencolin/millencolin/1362/
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