(from Communion out now on Yep Roc)

The premiere psych-rockers of Scandinavia, Ebbot Lundberg (vocals), Mattias Bärjed (guitar), Kalle Gustafsson (bass), Martin Hederos (keys), Ian Person (guitar) and Fredrik Sandsten (drums) have redefined what it means to be influenced by ’70s psychedelia, prog pop and classic rock. Though Sweden’s economy is in as much trouble as ours, TSOOL wasn’t bashful about releasing their latest effort Communion—a discussion of the corporate mass psychosis that has slowly taken over the world—as an epic 90-minute double-CD. The band stopped by L.A. for the first time since opening for Robert Plant four years ago, having just enough time to do Leno, play a one-off at the Troubadour, and perform an acoustic set at a private party thrown by the Swedish Embassy in their honor. Just before sound check, Ebbot, Ian and Mattias strolled over to a nearby park to soak in some California sunshine, get trampled by frolicking dogs, and chat with Linda Rapka about their album.

Explain the cover art of your album Communion—a wealthy, middle-aged Caucasian couple drinking an ungodly concoction of fluorescent green alien juice.
Ian Person (guitar): We hired this guy to come up with some ideas about mass communication. So he came up with a few suggestions and this came up, and we kind of collaborated from there.
So what exactly is in that drink?
Ebbot Lundberg (vocals): Tomorrow we will find out, because they’re gonna have this party, and they’re gonna do these drinks. So I’m curious!
Ian: We’re going to a party at the Swedish Embassy.
Ebbot: There will be lots of them there…
The new album was based on a theme of modern mass psychosis—which I see happening here in the U.S. Was America a major source of inspiration?
Ebbot: It was a global thing. I don’t know if you’ve seen the whole [CD] package, but it’s not only Caucasians, but all people.
Ian: It’s like Noah’s Ark.
Ebbot: Yeah, it’s like an ark. It’s just pictures you see every day without even thinking about it. It can be plastic surgery, it can be like a life coach, or whatever. I’m curious about the people on the cover—they don’t really know they’re on the cover. So we’ll see what’s going to happen. We might get sued!
Releasing a double CD in today’s economy is pretty ballsy.
Ian: We didn’t go out and say, ‘Let’s do a double CD.’ It sort of evolved itself, really.
Mattias Bärjed (guitar): I guess we always wanted to do a double album as well and now it just felt natural to do that.
You recently got out of your contractual obligations from Warner. The last album you worked on—Origins: Vol. 1—they were pestering you about what was going to be the radio hit. That can be difficult when trying to create a work of art.
Ian: Especially when you’re in the studio and trying just to get everything going.
Ebbot: Well, I dunno. There’s a lot of singles on the new one, so we’re just gonna put out singles from the album and see what happens. Milk it as long as we can.
Ian: Basically Warner didn’t really have the money, ’cause we wanted a certain amount of money to do this album and they said no.
This album sounds a lot more energized than Origins.
Ian: We kind of had a lot more fun!
Mattias: We had some time off, actually like two years, before we started working on this album, so I guess that’s—you can hear that.
Ian: We had a lot of energy going in.
It sounds like it—which is probably why you ended up with so many songs.
Ian: For once it was quite easy to do the album. For once it was quite fun!
It always sounds like you guys are having fun.
Ian: But this time we actually had fun! We always had fun afterwards when the album is done. But now it was a nice process all the way.
I read that each of 24 tracks is supposed to symbolize each hour of the day.
Ebbot: It could be. It could be anything.
Were you trying to bring back the lost art of the concept album?
Ebbot: Yeah, why not? We grew up with it and we love it, so why not?
In today’s mp3 culture, is a concept album is a way to bring back listening to an entire album?
Ian: Absolutely. Take some time off and listen. That’s one thing to do. The vinyl is coming back. All the record stores back home now they carry as much CDs as vinyl these days. The kids are learning.
Ebbot: It’s more like you do something that you wish existed and then you do it. You kind of miss it, you miss idea of what this became.
Ian: Carry on with the old legacy.
You cover a Nick Drake song, which is an interesting choice—not many people are brave enough to take on Drake.
Ebbot: That was the reason. Nobody ever did it. Maybe it was the wrong idea, I don’t know! We kind of did it around the demo version, which is on ‘The Time of No Reply.’ The other one John Cale produced, and it doesn’t really sound that good.
Another track, ‘The Fan Who Wasn’t There,’ was based on a conversation that Ebbot had with Arthur Lee.
Ebbot: Yeah, some of it. He played in Gothenburg—his manager was there, who passed away like six months later, and then he passed away, sadly. It’s inspired by that conversation, having drinks for three hours. That was pretty fun. But it was sad…
It sounds like there were a lot of ’60s and ’70s influences going on.
Ebbot: Yes. And we DJed. It’s like all time is one time.
Ian: Squeeze them all in together. The best picks of raisins in the cookies.
I don’t like raisins.
Ian: Chocolate chips then.
Do you enjoy listening to your own records?
Ebbot: Yes. We’re warming up to it sometimes. Our own records. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s The Soundtrack of our Lives. We try to be what the name is. Sometimes it sucks. And sometimes it’s OK.
I stumbled upon a food blog where your bandmate Martin had posted his recipe for lamb tagine. Do any of you have any hidden surprises?
Ian: Martin and I are the chefs in the band. I’m into the Italian kitchen at the moment. A friend of mine had his wedding recently and I cooked for like 200 people.
Ebbot: Did you get paid?
Ian: No, I didn’t get paid. But the food was great. And I got to eat the food.
Mattias: When we come over here we try to eat as much Mexican food as possible because it’s really hard to find good Mexican food in Scandinavia—Sweden, Norway or Finland—it’s impossible.
Ebbot: There are no Mexicans. Just Finnish people.
You haven’t been to the U.S. since 2005.
Ebbot: We were actually here in 2007 in New York for a while.
Ian: And Austin last year, SXSW. We did a couple of hit and runs. Guerilla warfare.
But what about L.A.? We missed you.
Ian: We love L.A., so we’ve been sad.
Ebbot: We went to China last year.
Ian: But that’s not America.
Was that your first time in China? What was it like?
Ebbot: It was exactly like here. But it’s even more futuristic. It’s like beyond ‘Bladerunner.’
Ian: The director’s cut.
Ebbot: It’s happened. It’s really growing fast and scary.
Billions of people.
Ebbot: And they’re working all night. It’s like, ‘You’d better stop.’ They’re just like ants.
Mattias: We might go to Taiwan in a month.
Ian: And then South America in the fall.
Do you get time to actually enjoy the countries you visit?
Ian: We try and plan a couple of days. When we did those long tours we didn’t have much time, but now in China we had a few days off, Australia we had like five, six days to hang out.
Ebbot: We spent a lot of time in L.A. and had a lot of time off here.
If Obama’s stimulus package fails and I move to Sweden, whose couch can I stay on?
Ian: Kalle’s got a grand studio. It’s gigantic.
Mattias: My guitar tech is single.

THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES’ COMMUNION IS OUT NOW ON YEP ROC. VISIT THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES AT TSOOL.NET OR MYSPACE.COM/OFFICIALTSOOL.

Stream: The Sadies “Stop The World And Let Me Off” (with John Doe)

(from Country Club out now on Yep Roc)

The Sadies are Canada’s magnificent responding echo to California country and just finished a set of shows with Black Mountain. Their new album (featuring John Doe, one in a long line of Sadies collaborators also including Andre Williams, Robyn Hitchcock and Jon Langford) is out now on Yep Roc and drummer Mike Belitsky speaks now before the van goes tearing away southward. This interview by Chris Ziegler.

Why do people call you ‘Snake’?
Mike Belitsky (drums): It’s kind of really not as tough as it sounds. I don’t know if you ever saw that movie Escape From New York—Snake Plissken is in that movie and I moved to Toronto from New York and the Sadies’ road manager was like, “What’s his last name—Plissken?” Because my name is Belitsky—he’s like, “Plissken from New York? Snake Plissken!” So they started calling me ‘Snake.’
I’m glad it didn’t have anything to do with human anatomy.
No. Well, I mean—that’s a story for another magazine.
Do you still have the same ‘64 Ludwig kit that you used to sleep inside the kick drum?
I do still have it. I practice on it and I keep it in my basement now.
What kind of dreams did you have when you were inside? Was it like a return to the womb?
Pretty much. I think I did it mostly because I was so psyched. It was a bit of a Christmas morning kind of thing—I didn’t get ‘em for Christmas but it was like that to wake up and be so excited that I had something new and I wouldn’t even have to go downstairs. They were just right there—my head was inside of them.
From ‘Snake’ to ‘sweet’ in like two seconds. How many times have you thrown up on your own drum set?
Once. Have you heard about this? Is that why you’re asking? It was some food poisoning, I was feeling really sick and it was opening up for Whiskey Town when we played as Neko Case’s band. They were psyched. It was my kit, not his, and I was just thinking, ‘If I can just get through this set, I can go back to the hotel and crash out.’ But I couldn’t make it to the end of the set. I counted in the first song and right on the one I threw up.
But you came in on the one?
I still came in on the one—I just came in with some extra vomit.
Have you ever broken two laws at one time?
I have and I got arrested for it.
Did they charge you for both of them or did they give you a break?
No, just one of them. That’s the problem—if you do two you’re going to get caught for doing one of them. Stick to one and you’re doing alright.
What is the most number of laws you broke at one time?
You know, probably no more than three at once—but none of them were anything crazy. Like breaking and entering or drinking underage, that’s the worst I ever did—and the breaking and entering was in an empty warehouse. I mean, you have to drink somewhere when you’re 16.
You’re really growing into the ‘Snake’ nickname as the interview progresses.
Hey, man, you’re bringing out the badass in me—asking me about my criminal record.
Have you ever visited the Sudbury Nickel in person?
I have. It’s big. It’s like five stories high. It was funny because I drove through there a bunch of times before I ever saw it so I was kind of excited. Humbling? No, not so much but definitely a bit of a closure of a chapter. I’ve always wanted to see it and I saw it so now I can move on. I can move on to giant dinosaurs in the Midwest.
What’s the next landmark you’ve got to cross off on the list?
I kind of want to see the Chrysler building in New York. I also want to go to Madison Square Garden. I saw the Stray Cats there but I don’t remember it. It was just really dark. I want to go to a sporting event there.
Hockey, by chance?
Yeah, I’d love to go see hockey there.
I found a quote by [guitarist] Travis [Good] where he says during all the lifetime of the band you guys have just kept speeding up. Is that true? How does that weigh on you since you have to be the guy to put the speed in it?
It’s kind of true. I’m conscious of it—I remember shortly after I’d moved to Toronto to join the band, I realized how fast and good of guitar players those two guys were and at the same time I had injured my wrist—so in order to get through rehabbing, it made me focus on rudiments and by focusing on rudiments I was able to increase the speed at which I was able to play. I was very conscious of not wanting to be the reason why we were playing the songs slower.
What are you guys playing in the set right now? Everything?
We do a pretty wide variety of our recorded repertoire. I don’t think there’s any record that we don’t do at least one or two songs from. Naturally it’s a little bit more leaning towards our newer releases but there are some staples that haven’t ever gone away. There’s stuff for everyone. There’s been a pretty big style change from record one to now and if you like one kind you wont be left in the woods not hearing that type of music.
If anybody shouts out for Pink Floyd are you going to play it?
Maybe. We do a couple of numbers by them. We do ‘Astronomy Domine’ and ‘Lucifer Sam,’ but yeah—we love that Piper At the Gates of Dawn record.
Of all the folks—like John Doe, Jon Langford, and Robyn Hitchcock—who have crossed paths with you, what sort of wisdom have they passed along?
I don’t think anything like word-wise, but the one thing that I find to be the most recurring quality in all those people is that they are really on the level. And if it’s not going how they want, they will speak their mind and not try to pull a fast one on anybody.
So what’s the lesson there? ‘Don’t fuck around’?
Yeah, that’s pretty good. You know—just be really upfront with people whether it’s about business or music. Unfortunately it’s a music business and that can be alienating to people in partnerships and it’s really important to be upfront and on the level about not only making the music but also the other side of it, too.
Is it true you guys all have your own separate iPods in the van?
We don’t really do a communal listen—we tend to keep it kind of individual. Every now and then somebody will hook their iPod up to the main stereo and share. The bands that we probably agree on are the Ramones, AC/DC, the Byrds, Love, Johnny Cash. Then there’s stuff I like that nobody wants to hear. I really like that AM ‘70s pop. Yacht rock seems more like Kenny Loggins and Messina and shit like that. I never really liked that too much. I’m more kind of like Poco-y stuff.
What is your most beloved California record?
I really like Forever Changes by Love—I think that was probably recorded in California. Dallas turned me on to that record and I really like it a lot. I don’t know if it’s my all time favorite, but that’s the one I’m listening to the most from California.
If you only have five minutes to make a good impression on Andre Williams, what’s a good way to get him going?
He really likes talking about women, for sure.
Any specific aspect of femininity?
I think he doesn’t discern. He likes all parts and anything that is woman. But he’s a great guy—I really love the guy. From the time that I spent with him there is not a day that goes by where somehow I don’t reference him or something he said.
What is the latest that you’ve ever stayed up with him?
All night. We were on a tour bus together, so that sometimes just happens. You get on a schedule where you’re working at night and you wind down after the show and everybody is just there. We had some great all-night bull sessions and he’s a great guy.
What’s it like to watch the sunrise with Andre Williams?
It’s incredible. I loved it. He’s really, really special. I think it might even be on videotape somewhere too. And it was in Sweden to top it all off, so that’s pretty neat.
How much of your wardrobe has rhinestones on it?
I don’t think anything, me personally. I’ve got some fancy snaps though—they kind of look like jelly beans.

THE SADIES ON TUE., MAY 26, AT SPACELAND, 1717 SILVERLAKE BLVD., SILVERLAKE. 8:30PM / $10-$12 / 21+. CLUBSPACELAND.COM. THE SADIES’ COUNTRY CLUB (WITH JOHN DOE) IS OUT NOW ON YEP ROC. VISIT THE SADIES AT THESADIES.NET OR MYSPACE.COM/THESADIES.