One for the birds

OFTB: Introduce the band and give us a bit on your history!

C: Well hello there, we’re The Cremators and we play kick ass, flamin’ hot rock’n’roll. There’s five of us, all handsome devils of course…Lucas Arson (Lead vocals), Rev. Hellbound (Double bass & backing vocals), Boogie Ollie (Guitar & backing vocals), Mac Gayver (Guitar) and Mad Max (Drums).
The band was formed in 2004 in the southern swedish city of Hellsingborg, when the Rev. started learning how to play the big bass and pulled some people together to play psychobilly. We released a couple of demos but had some trouble with first one guitarist and then the other quitting, but since we found Mac and Ollie it’s been no further problems like that. This is the ultimate Cremators-lineup and will hopefully stay that way!

OFTB: Do you find inspiration in your music from psychobilly only, or do you look to punk and rockabilly as well? What do you think of artists like Hasil Adkins?

C: Oh yes. To just restrict our influences to ”pure” psychobilly would make the music we write too fucking boring. We draw inspiration from all the kinds of music we listen to. Psychobilly sure, but also punkrock, hardcore, metal, surf, country, rockabilly etc etc…
One should always remember that psychobilly has always been a blend of different styles, and that’s what makes the music so cool.
Hasil Adkins…ahh he was a true hillbilly nutjob, his stuff is so crazy you gotta be normal not to like it. And we for sure are not! Only sad part is that none of us ever got to see him live before hi died. But I bet he’s waiting for us in hell, so I don’t worry too much!

OFTB: A few years ago, a lot of skinheads became psychobillies. Have all or some of you been skins and, if so, what made you change subculture?

C:  I (The Rev.) is the only one in the band who has ever called himself a skinhead. I was also punk before that, but I don’t bother too much about labels nowadays. It seemed more important when I was younger. None of us in the band calls themselves ”psychobilly” either, we’re all grown up individuals and don’t feel the need to be a part of a conformist subculture anymore.
The reason I ”hung up the boots” was just that I got sick of the whole scene and the narrowmindness within, and then the same thing when I quit calling myself ”psychobilly”. Now I’m just me and the music I listen to, the clothes I wear and the people I hang out with is a mix of all the different subcultures I’ve been through.

OFTB: Where do you see the band in a few years?

C:  Hmm. Since we have started to get some attention in Germany, which is the first step on the road to world fame, I guess it wouldn’t be an understatement to say that we’ll be the new Nekromantix or Mad Sin in a few years…hehehe
Seriously, we’ll see what happens. We’re gonna start recording our first album this fall, and hopefully some label will sign us, but if not we’ll just release it ourselves. No use in just sitting around waiting for something to happen.
And yeah, we want gigs…lots of them. It’s on stage we’re at our best!

OFTB: What is a ”good gig” for you? Where is the ideal place to play and what is the ideal crowd like?

C: The ”ideal” gig is somewhere with people who understand what we’re doing and who are juiced up enough to go nuts in the pit.
If it’s psychos, rockabillies, punks, skins, ”normal” people…we don’t give a shit. As long as you dig us, we dig you!
Oh, did I mention, we want more gigs!!

OFTB: What do you think of ”raggare” (Swedish for ”teds” for our international readers)? Do they listen to your music and come to your gigs?

C:  Well, here in the south you don’t see too many of them so I can’t say much about it. There might have been one or two on some of our gigs but since no bottles were thrown at us, I guess they liked it haha

OFTB:  Which football clubs (if any) do you support? What do you think of this year’s allsvenskan?

C: None of us are active football supporters, but of course it’s great that Helsingborg is doing so well this years.

OFTB: What do you think mr Hamrén must do in order for Sweden to qualify for the 2014 world cup of footie?

C:  I know too little about football tactics to have an oppinion on this, but it sure is gonna be interesting how the new generation of swedish players will be doing in the qualifications. And hopefully Hamrén will make the traditional swedish football a thing of the past. Somewhat effective, sure…but sooooo boring!!!

If you wanna contact The Cremators, don’t hesitate… We have a six song EP out now + great looking t-shirts, patches and pins. So if you’re interested in buying anything, offering us a gig or just writing us loveletters, please do so through myspace or thecremators@hotmail.com

Over & out!