Flaming recommendations

The year has only begun yet great new music is already emerging.
I have had the enormous pleasure of reviewing the debut album of British metalcore rockers The Eyes Of A Traitor and have since "A Clear Perception" landed in my post box hardly been able to stop listening to it. On ther MySpace page, the band is counting down the days, minutes and seconds to their album release. If I were you I would do the same.



Swedish Marionette today begin their UK tour. I spoke to singer Axel who despite having been warned about “bad attitudes” and “low standards” in the good old monarchy is more than a bit thrilled about it all:

Axel: We are extremely stoked about coming to England to play. We have sold quite well over there and have also had some pretty good press so we are hoping for big crowds. It’s a pretty short tour, but we will also have time for a gig in the Netherlands and with a bit of luck hopefully one in France too. We are also very much looking forward to meeting other up and coming bands.

NF: When you go touring, do you have time to do some sightseeing as well? (I can of course recommend a trip to my old university town Sheffield…)

A: Thanks for the tip! During our German tour we took it pretty easy and tried to rest as much as possible. The UK tour is a lot shorter so it’s possible that we’ll do some more traditional sightseeing this time. The most important thing is of course to keep body and spirit hungry for the actual gigs.

Check out their Myspace for dates.

ALL IN

UNION SQUARE won't need to put on a poker face as they make bets for a Rocking Straight Flush.

The Swedish four piece experienced a hectic 2008 after winning MTV Nordic Unsigned as well as Bandit Unsigned and with the release of their single “Deceit” the hype around them wouldn’t stop growing. It has now become time for the tattooed west coast rockers to release their debut album “Making bets in a burning house”, almost exactly a year after they first went into the studio to record it. Nordic Flames spoke to guitarist Sebastian "Sebbe" Gustafsson about dreams and goals, fame and ladies, illegal downloading, and of course about the much anticipated release.

So, the album comes out on January the 21st, how does it feel? You have been fighting for this for quite some time?
-It feels insanely good. Especially since the record will have been finished in our heads for almost exactly a year when it’s released. We went into the studio on February the 1st 2008 and started tracking so it’s great to finally be able to get it out there.
Really liking the new single. What can one expect off “Making bets in a burning house”?
- The goal with ”Making bets…” was to write an album which had the width that Union Square stands for. We listen to an unbelievable variety of music and wanted to get all of the shades of what we represent in there. At the same time as we didn’t want for all songs to resemble each other, we wanted for people to be able to hear that it is one band playing, something which I think we’ve succeeded really well with.
Who writes what when it comes to lyrics and music?
- Everyone adds with their own impression when it comes to the musical bits and all songs are created in different ways but we always write the music as one band. When it comes to lyrics it varies but on “Making bets…” Joel [Nilsson]stands for about half of them as he is a great lyrics composer and he has a lot of sensible things to say.
What inspires you to write?
- The simple reason that this is all we know how to do. Music has always been an extremely big part of our lives and to play in Union Square and to create music is the most natural thing there is for us to do with our lives.


“Your average Joe would prefer to buy a secure house…but we are happy to bet on something without guarantees because we believe in it.” – Union Square on making bets in a burning house.

Where does the album title come from?
- The album title is a set phrase which is about daring to go for something that no one else believes in or would recommend you to do. No one exactly takes you seriously if you say that you in all seriousness want to make your band your goal in life because people only think you’re dreaming. Your normal average Joe would prefer to buy a secure house with a Volvo and dog instead of going for something that’s on fire and may collapse over you, but we are happy to bet on something without guarantees because we believe in it.
I met you at Hultsfredsfestivalen 2006 and got a demo stuck in my hand, already then you were pretty awesome. Did any of those songs make it onto the album?
- Can’t really remember which songs that might have been but I would guess at it only having been ”Deceit” which was on there. Another song which is a bit older is a ballad called ”Goodbye” but that one has been rearranged a lot and sounds pretty different now. Apart from them two it’s ten newly written tracks which are completely unheard.
A lot has happened to Union Square during this last year. How much have you changed as people and band?
- The biggest difference is probably that we have a bit less normal skin left on our bodies, that we have been sacked from various jobs and that several relationships have crashed, which affects you as a person, but the band remains the band and it always comes before everything else. As long as we still have the band we’ll be more than fine.


“…then I can die and feel I made it after all.” – Sebbe on headlining the Warped tour.

What is the biggest thing that has happened to Union Square so far in the career?
- We belong to those who are never satisfied but always aim higher when our goals are reached. Had you asked me two years ago would I have said that the coolest thing that could happen would be to be on MTV. We’ve done that now, we’re signed onto a major record label, we’ve played in the states and done lots and lots of more things and that is sure as hell awesome. But we will never be satisfied so I’m gonna have to say that the biggest thing in our career hasn’t happened yet.
What would your dream gig be?
- Personally, and I think I speak for everyone here, it would probably be to headline the Vans Warped Tour, playing main stage for the entire tour. That is supposed to be the filthiest and most draining thing you can do when it comes to touring – no showers, burning summer heat and so on, but what is there not to like? If I get to experience that then I can die and feel that I made it after all…


“No one is interested in seeing the neighbour taking the post in so of course it’s important to stand out…” – Sebbe on style.

The American influence on clothing and appearance is no doubt evident. Have you got any particular “style icons”?
-Nah, I mean the band and everything that has to do with it is our life and that means it’s natural that that shows in all ways when it comes to clothes, tattoos, interest etc. We don’t think so much about it, we are just the way we are. But sure, in Sweden there are no bands to look up to so of course we like the Americans.
How important is style and appearance? Tattoos, piercings, brands?
- No one is interested in seeing the neighbour taking the post in so of course it’s important to stand out, but it’s nothing that we make an effort about. We don’t wear makeup or anything like that, we just are the way we are trough what we do.
In your latest promo video Putte says that the dream is a living on Manhattan, when will you be there and what does that dream mean?
- HAHA, that sketch is just a joke to advertise the album, we were trying to appeal to people to buy it even though it won’t really make a difference because people do what they want anyway. But sure, NYC is the phattest city in the world so I’d love to live on Manhattan, easily.

"Good genes"

Who gets the most chicks? Or are all guys taken?
- It’s only me who’s single, but Nicke [Niklas Lindqvist] is no doubt ”the ladies man”!! Good genes…
Have you got any juicy and unknown anecdotes from Union Square’s history to share?
- Hahaha, there is a lot! But it was pretty sweet when Joel slammed his guitar head into Putte’s [Patrick Stenborg] head during the last song of a gig so that he had to perform half of the song bleeding severely from the middle of his forehead, it looked like massive fucking caste sign afterwards.


“People have a messed up picture of what life as a musician is like” - Sebbe

Getting serious, what are your views on downloading? You claim not to want anyone to illegally download your album, but surely have you downloaded others sometimes?
-Yeah yeah, sure as fuck have and do we download and we are not some kind of moral police nagging about it. It’s what reality looks like today and sure do we theoretically think that it’s sick that something which takes so incredibly much work should be free. People have a messed up picture of life as a musician being the same thing as chilling, playing a bit and getting chicks real easy but it’s a full time job which demands that you work really hard constantly and the reward is those 30-45 minutes we get to play live.
But it is totally pointless to try and fight the situation; instead you have to use it. As long as people like what we do and come to our gigs and maybe buy a T-shirt instead then we’re happy. For us music is about the live thing.
Personally I always buy an album I’ve downloaded and I like to support the artist and also I love CDs and everything that has to do with them, to flick trough the booklet, read the track list and check out the cover etc.
You are extremely good at using Myspace. How important has Myspace and Internet been for Union Squares tale of success?
- Myspace today is pretty much everything. If you don’t put any time or effort into it then you may as well give it all up! What’s so great about Internet today is that it is more up to the bands to create their own possibilities instead of lying at home and waiting for someone to reply to their sent out demos, waiting for “luck”. Today you have to create your own “luck” and that’s what we’ve done.
Are you going to continue being as active online once you’re turned into megastars?
-One can never become too big to work with something that you love, so YES! A band is FUCK ALL without its fans and those who support the band and what it does. Internet is the way of keeping in touch with those people when you’re not on the road meeting them.
What do the plans for 2009 look like? Can we look forward to any tours?
- We will as said release our album on the 21st of January and then we’ll see. There are plans but nothing concrete to speak of at this moment in time.
What will Union Square be doing in 10 years?
- The plan is to be working as hard as we are now, but maybe we can be spared from travelling around in a small fucking narrow Opel Asocna like we are today with packing all over, haha.


Making bets in a burning house is released on January the 21st and Union Square are set to play shows around Sweden during the spring. Check out their myspace for more details