Hardcore Superstar
Interview with Magnus “Adde” Andreasson by Nicola “Nix” Crichton

Left to right - Magnus "ADDE" Andreasson - Drums, Jocke Berg - Vocals, Thomas Silver - Guitar, Martin Sandvik - Bass.

They’ve released “It’s Only Rock N’ Roll” (1998), “Bad Sneakers and a Pina Colada” (2000), “Thank You (For Letting Us Be Ourselves)” (2001), “No Regrets” (2003) and now they’re on number five, a self titled album (2006, 2005 - Sweden) . The ride of those five albums has been incredible and bumpy to say the least. Starting up in 1997, Sweden’s Hardcore Superstar started to gain a strong following on home soil which seemed to prick up the ears of an English label and the ball for world domination was set in motion.

Along the way they’ve been relentlessly touring (with support slots for AC/DC and Motorhead to name a few) and releasing new material but it all came to a head in 2004. After six years, they’d decided to take a break and we’re close to being written off as an excellent band who 'could' have saved the day for hard and sleaze rock. They regrouped nine months later on their own label and started on the newest work. Infact, its safe to say that their newest work that would flick the middle finger to any previous doubters. Hardcore Superstar had a new energy about them and a much harder edge.

Embarking on a long tour, their European leg took in virtually the whole of September and October of this year. After hearing what their shows on the UK dates had been like, Pure Rawk was keen to see what this ‘renewed’ energy would do to the London crowd. Nix sat down in the dressing room with Adde just before Hardcore Superstar’s show at the Camden Underworld in London to talk about the new album, their come back, sleaze, thrash, touring and nearly going up in flames by setting fire to Thomas Silver’s underpants ...

Nix: So give me a little bit about you?
A: I play drums in Hardcore Superstar and I write songs and I produce for Hardcore Superstar! Ooh, and my name is Adde!

N: How did all of you guys initially get together?
A: We’re long time friends, childhood friends. We started to hang out when we were about ten or twelve years old and we used to skateboard. We all had the same passion and that was music. I’m the youngest in the band and I kind of looked up to those other guys in the band because they were a couple of years older than me and they started to play before me. One day Jocke (vocalist) told me ‘Adde! You kind of look like a drummer - you should try to play drums’ and I was like ‘Nah, I want to be a skateboard guy - you know, kind of be a professional skateboard guy’ then I thought well, that’s not really going to happen in Sweden (laughs). I just started to play the drums a little bit and Jocke was always encouraging me to continue and he said ‘you kind of look like Tommy Lee! You should play in our band and we should sack our drummer!’ Because he did look a little like Kip Winger! (laughs) I started to play with those guys when I was like fifteen years old and we just stuck.

N: How did you come up with the name?
A: It was actually Thomas. We were just sitting and speaking about what we should name the band. We had a couple of band names before but Hardcore Superstar was like the one that stuck. I can’t really remember what we got the name from. It might’ve been from the paper or something like that.

N: How would you describe your live shows?
A: Live shows? Energy! It’s really important to - like when we played in Tokyo - we played in front of 12,000 people because we attended the Unholy Alliance tour in Japan. When you play big venues you have to take the energy and focus on bringing out the power of the music but when you play clubs, it’s so important to have an energy which is going to sometimes sound goofy when you play a big venue, but when you play a small venue where you look people in the eyes its so important to have that energy and to speed up the songs and to really really try to bring out the best of the songs. Playing it a little bit faster is the secret ingredients for like a small place gig I think.

N: I know you mentioned earlier about Jocke telling you to be a drummer, but what made you go through with it and chose drums?
A: From listening to music. Like I said, we had a huge passion and that was music. We would always to skateboard to bands like Slayer, Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Love/Hate, Faster Pussycat - anything and we would skate to it in a half pipe and we would listen to it.

N: What’s different about you guys than any other band on the circuit at the moment?
A: We combine sleaze music with thrash metal influences. You can’t really hear the thrash metal influences on the album but if you listen for it tonight on the live show (Camden Underworld) you’ll hear that we’ve been listening to bands like Anthrax and Testament and even Slayer sometimes. When I did an interview with Burn Magazine, this girl Naomi told me that ‘you sound like a combination live of Motley Crue trying to play Slayer!’ (laughs). I didn’t quite know how to grasp that but she meant it in a good way!

N: Your recent self titled release (Hardcore Superstar) - how did that come about and where did you get the inspiration for that from?
A: We took a break. Actually, after we were here (London) last time. We played just a couple of shows more and we decided to take a break because we couldn’t really stand each other for a while. We’d been on and off playing so many gigs during a five year period. We’d go immediately into the studio then immediately out on the road. So we just said lets just have six months off and see what happens. It turned out to be nine months and during that time our old record company started seriously thinking like ‘uh, what are you guys doing?’. As soon as we decided that we would go on and make another album we said that we’d keep all the contacts that we’d made around the world but we should open up our own record company - our own little baby. So that the four of us in the band and our manager can be the only ones that interfere with the music because on our old label, there were fifteen people that wanted to hear demo tapes. They’d be like ‘this is not the right 80's, you should sound like The Hives!’ we were like ‘we don’t even like that type of music!’. We grew up with Motley Crue and Guns N’ Roses and a lot of thrash music. They’d still be like, ‘this isn’t the right 80's!’. I don’t care. We can’t be like The Hives - they’re good guys but we just don’t like that music.

N: What’s been the reaction to it so far from the fans?
A: I think that everybody agrees, even the critics for once - everybody agrees that this is the best work that we’ve done so far. Its been selling well, very well in Sweden, very well in Japan and its starting to pick up here as well. Everybody is happy with it. There’s always going to be a couple of guys that think we’re a lame rock band.

N: With the UK tour that you’ve been on, its now drawing to a close - but hows that been for you?
A: It’s always hard in England. It’s been hard. We play small clubs but we play well. We should come back with a really big band - like a large famous band because you get your chance to show your face to more people. We’re always headlining when we play over here and we have a rather small audience in comparison. We should go out with a bigger band here in England but we’ll see. We’re actually talking about it right now so I’m not sure about the details. If it happens, its going to be in January or February so then we’ll be back with a bigger band!

N: Has there been a gig that you’ve played here that’s really stood out for you?
A: Here in England? Its always been great at the Underworld, we’ve always done good shows here. So, we haven’t done this show yet but I’m pretty sure this night is going to be the best in England. Ever. This is going to be the best one in England. We’ve got some cool guys coming to see us tonight and we’re really looking forward to playing in front of this audience.

N: Have you got any strange road stories that to tell that you’ve had on the way?
A: Yeah, but its like our type of humour doesn’t fit to write because its just too much! We’re the only ones think its funny. Its just too bizarre to mention! We don’t want to offend our families or anything like that (laughs).

N: What goes on the road stays on the road I guess! What would you say has been the highlight of Hardcore Superstar’s career so far?
A: Playing and opening up for AC/DC! Playing in front of 50,000 people. Especially when we were playing in my home town. I was sitting in my apartment eating muesli. Sitting there in my kitchen and hearing them sound check the bass drum (makes a bass drum thumping noise) and its going into my kitchen - I’m thinking, in a couple of hours - I’m going to be banging that bass drum because they were sound checking my drums! You could hear it all over Gothenburg because its an open arena. That was fucking amazing really! I remember because we didn’t get a ‘proper’ sound check. It was us, Megadeth and AC/DC so we had to use Megadeth’s monitor systems. They just took his monitor systems and just put it next to my drums. They were like, you’ll just have to live with his monitors. I was like ‘ok’ (laughs) because I like it ‘hospital loud’, you know! I wanted it to be really really loud. I didn’t have any earplugs that night so when I started to play the drums and stuff, it was phwoar (makes a booming sound). It was so fucking loud! That was a fantastic feeling, I’d say that would be the highlight.

N: What do you think of rock in Sweden at the moment?
A: To be honest, I think Scandinavia is coming up with some really, really interesting bands just at the moment. I think America have always been the leaders in thinking and inventing good music but I think that its pretty much sucked at it these days. I can’t say one American band that I find interesting now but I can say tons of English bands, bands from Finland, Norway and Sweden. All the big things are happening in Europe now.

N: Who would you say (obviously apart from Hardcore Superstar) who is your favourite band?
A: I’m listening to the Haunted, In Flames. We listen to Babylon Bombs. That’s the reason why they joined us for touring. They’re a great, great band.
N: I heard that you guys think very highly of Babylon Bombs.
A: They’re great. But I like all that stuff. I even like Children of Bodom. They’ve got something special. Here in England I listen to Towers of London. I listen to the Brit Pop scene as well. Actually, one American band for me that I find interesting is Mars Volta. Oh and Mastodon. Those bands in my opinion are really interesting.

N: What’s your favourite song that you play?
A: I just love to play the new songs. That’s why we’re doing like ten out of twelve songs from the new album tonight. I like “Bag On Your Head”. I love to play that because that’s the most fun to play drums on and do back up for. You can clearly hear that it’s been influenced by Testament and Death Angel and all those bands - but still, it’s performed in a sleazy way.

N: I know you’ve mentioned the AC/DC gig as being the bands highlight. Does that go the same for your personal favourite gig?
A: (Laughs) We did a gig in Bilbao (Spain) and something just happened. It was kind of like a ‘library’ audience in the beginning. They didn’t have the fencing, the barriers in front like they do at a lot of gigs - they just had stairs! So anybody could have just walked up on stage. We were thinking, what’s going to happen?! When we went out and played the first song, people were sitting down (folds arms and looks bored) like this, but by the end of the show - I was playing naked and everybody was standing up. They were like one step away from the stage because they respected gig! When we invited them, it was like ‘everybody on stage!’ and they just went warrrgh! (lunges like a zombie) and they just stormed the place. That was so spontaneous and that was a fantastic gig because they (fans) started out like ‘ah, who are these guys?’. You could imagine them with a cup of coffee in their hand!
N: Do you have a worst gig in memory?
A: Probably the first gigs. They were all over the place. We were so wild and we didn’t have the routine. It was like, we all went up on stage and we all blacked out (laughs). “Hmm, which instrument do I play ... oh yeah, I’m the drummer!”.

N: What’s the most rock n’ roll thing that you’ve done?
A: (pauses for a while and puts hand over his mouth) The most rock n’ roll thing? (Pause) It involves sex of course (pauses). When you have group sex, I believe that’s kind of (pause). Having sex with a lot of women, within a short space of time. I think that’s one thing I wouldn’t be able to do if I wasn’t playing in this type of band. Also, almost setting fire to the tour bus with the guitarists (Thomas Silver) underwear. It was very close and we nearly all died because we’d set the guitarists underwear on fire. (Laughs) There are so, so many stories but its just too childish to talk about (laughs).

N: What advice would you give to a band that’s starting out?
A: Don’t wait for major labels to come and find you. Make it yourself. It’s so easy to record an album and put it out to sell. I mean, we have our own record company and it’s going well for us. You make more money out of it because you don’t have to share it with everyone. Don’t sit at home and wait for them to knock on your door because they won’t. If you try to release your own album and people will stop and notice. Lets say that you sell 5,000 copies - believe me, people are going to stop and ask ‘would you be interested in signing on Sony or whatever?’. Do it yourself. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money these days because everyone has computers and shit. Especially if you’re into that. You can always record in Pro Tools or even the classic way. We always love recording the classic way.

N: Finally finishing off. Is there anything I’ve not covered? Anything else that you’re doing for the rest of this year and into next year?
A: Next summers festivals are getting addressed and they’re starting to book bands so we’re going to be one of the head liners of Sweden Rock next year. We’re going to do a couple of German metal festivals because they’re really, really happening. We have like 35 new songs that, between gigs, we have to rehearse. We might go out on a European tour that will happen between January 17th and February 17th with a big hard rock act. So it looks like we’re going to be busy recording, playing and doing summer festivals next year! Next Autumn, we’re going to release a new album. In April, there will be a taster by then for what is coming because, like I said, we’ve got 35 rough ideas. It doesn’t take much to think about what song we’d put up for the forthcoming album. So we just want to play as much as possible, release a new album and go out and have a good time.

Hardcore Superstar’s newest self titled release is out now from all major online retailers and keep your eyes peeled for tour information which should be available soon. Check out their official website www.hardcoresuperstar.com and add up to their MySpace to listen to a few tracks www.myspace.com/hcssgbg.

Interview by Nix, live images by Nix - promotional stills by Emma Svensson @ Rockfoto

© Pure Rawk 2006