Children Of Fall - Bonjour Tristesse (2 Viewers)

[Alan Remorse]

picked this up the other day
it fucking rules.. really passionate and intense but pretty different from the other stuff...
currently hounding the band to come back to ireland seeing as they were so amazing last time, looks doubtful though

 

[ci]

I've been checking this band out for the last while- only discovered them a couple of weeks ago... sure they're only deadly.... when did they play Ireland last?

 

[Alan Remorse]

played about 2/3 years ago
we put on the gig in ucc and were swiftly banned from putting on gigs there
still banned as far as i know

 

[ci]

Deadly/crap... any reason?

 

[Alan Remorse]

basically the staff didnt like having to listen to heavy music... bit of a departure from the usual singer/songwriter, Chalets etc bollocks... so they complained to UCC saying that the band had driven out all the customers, when in fact the place was packed. they also made up some shit about breaking the stage. cunts.

 

[Alan Remorse]

here's the interview i did with Olle (guitar) about 8/9 months ago... a bit out of date now but still interesting...

1. So who's in Children Of Fall these days? You've had a few line-up changes since you first started out?

Yes, many people have made entries and exits since we first started out. The reasons for this being many of course, but I understand it for the most part. We gave up on so many things in order to do this to the extent that we have done. During a certain time we really toured shit-loads (longest continuous stretch being 10 weeks) and I guess not everyone has desires to live that way, it demands sacrifices. Today Children of (the) Fall(en) consist of: Anders Näslund vocals, Thomas Feltheim guitar, Morten Clausen drums, Emil Björkander bass and myself (Olle) on guitar.

2. I know you've been asked this a thousand times, but what actually happened between you and Scene Police? I presume it wasnt as sensational as people made it out to be? (you dont have to answer this one if you dont want to)

Well, it started out right before the "Ignition" album was about to be put out. 2 people involved in Scene Police objected to the lyrics for "Keeping it real 2", since it had an "anti-American imperialism" rhetoric to it. Their take on the whole thing was that if you´re in opposition to the US and its policies you´re also against Israel (being sort of an affiliate) and if you´re against Israel then you´re also an anti-Semite, basically. We were stunned and hardly could believe it to be accusations that were for real.

Anyway, some months later our former drummer Linus toured Europe with another Swedish band and for this occasion he had bought this hooded sweater from Radical Distribution stating "Burn Israel Burn - Global Intifada against the imperialist forces of the world" or something like it, can´t really remember (this in some extent to piss off the SP people). Anyway, in Cologne, Germany he was spotted and identified as being a “children member” and then it all broke out to full insanity. Some 50 people wanted to beat him up (no form of discussion was ever proposed) at the venue where the band he was touring with played and eventually they forced him to take the shirt off (this also happened to the singer for The Black Hand some weeks later).

So the 2 SP people in opposition to us got more oil on their fire and it all escalated further. We met them some time later and talked with them for some hours but it didn´t really conclude to anything, it was pointless pretty much (I´m sure they felt the same though). It might be vital to the story to state that the 2 other members of Scene Police (being the founders and owners) stuck with us in this, one of them will most likely handle some of our booking in the future. So there´s no bad blood there.

So after all this the rumours started circling around Europe that we were a Nazi-band and plans were made to sabotage shows for us. This worked to some extent and we had some shows cancelled in Germany with the motivation that they had heard that we had an anti-Semitic ideology within our band. This of course felt hard for us and we couldn´t really defend ourselves either since the slandering took place on the internet without our knowledge most of the time. As soon as we heard about something and tried to take part in the discussions around it they refused to write in any other language than German, and most of us aren´t that good in writing and reading German. So it was quite obvious that no one really cared about the facts but rather about having some good time gossiping anonymously behind their computer screen in their safe suburban homes. That really discouraged me and that kind of behaviour is truly destructive in my opinion. Not searching for the facts in general but settling for some really juicy story no matter how crazy it might sound. I truly believed that people wanted to discuss serious political topics within this scene of ours and that people were fairly informed and well read on the subjects, but I was wrong to some extent, unfortunately.

Finally, I think it´s important to say that we do disagree with Israels occupation of Palestinian soil and that we do look at the state of Israel as being the aggressor in this case (although this wasn´t at all what the lyrics for that song dealt with). We´re anti-American foreign policy, not anti-American people, and I really think there´s a huge difference, where deep in favour of life. This goes for contemporary state rule in general, where not in any way in favour of the Swedish state.

Concerning Linus shirt, it was not in any way a reference to Jews being burned but rather a state with a military dictatorship (state of Israel in this case) in desperate need of abolishment. Considered tasteless or not, it was still not a reference to an ethnical group being burned to a crisp. Ok, this turned out to be a fairly long answer, but please bear with me on this.

3. How's the work for the new record going? When can we expect to hear it? Any idea what label is going to release it?

This process has been extremely hard on us, one member quit as a result of this pretty much. We´re trying different methods of working, some functional and some don´t, but I think we´re getting there slowly now. We´ve really made tons of new material but there isn´t that much that hold up to the critical eye in the end. The process is both very exciting and discouraging at the same time, but in the end I really think we´ve explored new dimensions to ourselves as musicians and as people. As to an concrete date to be finished I don´t know, we´re not making the recording deadline for July 5th. I think we´ll record sometime in the late summer or fall. Label wise we´re going for Day After in Europe, hopefully Liberation in South America, not sure about North America right now and we´re also working on some sort of exclusive Scandinavian release. We´ll see what comes out in full light in the end.

4. Are you following the record up with some touring?

Yes, we´re all eager to tour and as soon as the album is ready we´ll be on the road again. We hope to set foot on some new territories of the world this time around but we´ll see.

5. You mentioned to me that your old drummer is now playing in a "mainstream" rock n roll band. How do you feel about that?

Yes, Linus left us during the process of this new album. He had lost his joy in playing and he had other desires at the time, the main one being skateboarding which he is semi-professional in. Later he joined this Swedish rock ´n roll band called “Disco Volante” out of Malmö. So I see him on TV on an almost daily basis, ha, ha. I did some recordings with them previously and I think they´re really good in what they do. As to what I feel, I think it´s great if that´s what he wants to do. He´s one of my best friends and I feel that he´s entitled to his own freedom and decision-making in any case.

6. You also mentioned that there a lot less venues in Sweden these days than before. Why do you think this is? Has it done much damage to the "scene"?

We had the punk/hardcore boom in the 90´s and like most things that truly explode in the sense that everyone’s excited about it, it´s bound to fade at some point. Trends have that quality to them, they flicker and fade. The scene is way smaller these days and it´s way harder to get a show organized, so many clubs are dead and gone and so are the people that used to run them. On the other hand the people that are around now are enthusiastic about what they´re doing for the most part so it´s cool. We also had a generation shift going on I think. People like myself in their late 20´s or early 30´s rather go to the mainstream clubs to see bands, sadly enough. At this time I think the crust-scene is the strongest over here, they have a lot of things going on.

 

[Alan Remorse]

7. What would you say is Children Of Fall's main objective in being together? what is it that keeps the band going?

I think we were very determined in our ambitions when we first started out. Some moved across the country in order to make it work, leaving everything else behind and somehow I think that sat the standard for us, it was all or nothing on this project. We did our first full length after 6 weeks of practising and just started touring right after. The motivation has always been the outmost desire in getting to express yourself. To search deep inside oneself, exploring our own passions in life. For some of us I think music or (creative art) is the only thing that truly works, all other things is just a mess, ha, ha This might sound totally pretentious, but it´s true. Further I think it´s an ambition to inspire others to play music or explore whatever creative outlet that suits them. Creative pursuit just has this certain quality to it that no TV or videogame console can outplay.

8. What is COF's opinion on the war on Iraq? Do you think the Bush administration can possibly have any defence for what has happened, especially since pictures of Iraqi prisoners being mistreated have come out?

Certainly not. I just think it´s really important to look beyond the American and British individuals portrayed as beasts and whatever in the media. Sure thing, everyone carries his/her responsibility but in this case it´s really a matter of orders and instructions. I saw this news report about the woman who´s figuring on a lot of these pictures and it showed the trailer park that she grew up with together with her mother and they commented “this is where the beast grew up” or something in the vein of that. It was sickening. Such a cheap sacrifice, to blame a few people for what´s happened. These are atrocities of war and they are one of the key ingredients always, people die, people suffer… That is what war is about, it´s the point and the purpose. Sickening. I truly feel bad for everyone involved, the soldiers included.

9. Do you think Bush will be re-elected this term? If he is, what do you think the consequences will be for the rest of the world?

It seems like things are really moving in the US in terms of people’s outlook on American conflict handling and its foreign policies. Even though I have no faith in media in general I think that there´s been much more slipping through this time around especially when it comes to what gets publicly displayed over there. I mean, in the Gulf war they had such hard restrictions from the military as to what was to be shown to the public, it makes me think of that movie “Wag the Dog”, what a scenario, it´s insane. But back to the subject, no I don´t think he´ll make it for another term, I really don´t, the dismay is too great for whatever reasons (even if some people don´t care about thousands of people in a far away land being slain by their soldiers, they do care about oil prices and economical growth).

10. How about in your own country: are you satisfied with the approach of your government? Are there any aspects to society that you feel need to be changed urgently?

Well, Sweden is very Americanized in many ways. Our Prime minister is happy as small dog when he gets to spend 5 minutes together Mr Bush in the oval room. We have Swedish citizens in jail in the American prison in Cuba and we can´t put enough pressure on them to have him released (no one even knows what he´s been accused of). We have no influence or dare not try to have any influence. When it comes to general politics where getting more and more liberal, cut backs of various kinds in various fields. Stately owned hospitals get privatized and the same goes for other stately owned companies that are doing just fine in reality. So things do get more expensive and the gap between the rich and the poor grows every day. The same goes for Denmark (the home for 40% of us), very liberal and right wing parties on the absolute rise. The have a very restrictive approach to immigrants and their possibilities and rights. For example one law puts a strong restriction on immigrants and their right to marry a citizen of Denmark (this within a certain time) but they had to change the law just now so the Danish prince could marry this Australian woman. It just goes to show how ridiculous the whole thing is. How can things work that way? In the end it´s good for the people who seek refuge in Denmark though, so I´m glad.

11. Do you think that Anarchist idealism is credible? Or is it just a romantic notion?

I think Anarchism can be looked at in many different ways and in relation to how you choose to perceive it you get a sense of how to apply it. It´s all about the individual being in the centre. Life and our ambitions. Romantic, sure…

12. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Well, first I want to thank all the nice people we met last time over in the UK and all the wonderful people that helped out. Furthermore big thanks to you Alan for taking the time to do this interview and making an effort doing a ´zine despite university studies and a band going full time. That´s cool I think and deserve recognition. We hope to come over to the UK again and we hope to see many of you there. Check out our new record when it finally hits the streets for a new experience. Love

 

[damien]

split up

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?f...&MyToken=64ce9a3b-7d09-4334-b383-01fde8547725

 

[Rimbaud]

Ah shite - thats a pity.They were amazing in limerick years back.
Whats going on in Sweden these days!They're all splitting up!

 

[Rimbaud]

Great Interview alan - where's it printed for?

At last we find out what all the Scene Police/COF scandal was about!

 

[Alan Remorse]

yeah, that sucks alright... they were particularly close to my heart
that interview was for my zine which never really came out..
also featured interviews with Lack, Haymarket Riot, On The Might Of Princes The National Blue and Planes Mistaken For Stars... if anybody wants to have a read of those then give me a shout

 

[Rimbaud]

You should bloody do up that zine Alan!
I've got some interviews on the way myself - slowly but surely.
That one with Matt Anderson about Heroin and Gravity records....a year or more in the making i shit you not.Had to forward him the interview again as he lost it last time.Should'nt be too long more.