Interview with The Movements, 2 December 2005

NB - How and when did The Movements start?
M - The Movements was started in 2001 by the singer David and the drummer Thomas, who both felt that they wanted to play some psychedelic garage rock. Soon Jokk (bass) joined the band, and later on so did Gustaf (organ). The first year David played the guitar himself, but we soon realised that we needed yet another guitarist and so there was Kalle. After a while David wanted to focus more on the singing and therefore left the guitar to Kalle alone.

Kalle was in the band during the recording of the 10" Ep "Drag Me Up", but left the band shortly after to focus on his solo project "Eagle Storm". After his departure we started to search for someone to fill the gap, without realising that we had a great guitarist right before our eyes. His name was Krita, and he had played saxophone with us on a couple of gigs in Gothenburg. This is the line-up nowadays and hopefully for the future.

NB - The name of the band on your first (mini)album is Lost Movements, but your web site says that the name is just The Movements. Did you change the name - made it shorter? Why?
M - The band was originally named The Movements, but just before we released our 10" we changed the name to "The Lost Movements" to avoid mix-ups with the Danish skate punk band "The Movement". After a while we noticed that everyone was still calling us The Movements, so we decided to switch back.

NB - Did you release more records beside the 10" Lp, and can we expect more?
M - The 10" "Drag Me Up" is our first release, but we have just finished a full length album "Grains Of Oats" that will be released in November. It was recorded under a couple of months in a cabin on an island called Orust outside Gothenburg. As usual we had Björn Olsson (Union Carbide Production , The Soundtrack Of Our Lives) as our producer. Garage rock freaks might realise that we used Hans Ingemarssons (The Creeps) Hammond organ on a couple of songs.

NB - Can you tell me something about the band members (names, what are they like...)?
M - The singer David lives on an island in the same house as the organ player. He usually can't keep a job for more than three weeks. David likes to listen to garage rock.

Krita, the guitar player, lives in an abandoned brewery. He makes a living as a guitar instructor. Krita gets his kicks out of art rock/prog rock/symph rock.

Thomas, the drummer, studies atmospheric chemistry at the university and lives five minutes from every good pub in town. Thomas shakes his ass to psychedelic rock.

Jokk is a full time bass player and lives on a secret location to avoid an elderly woman with a bad cough, who he thinks is stalking him. Jokk bangs his head to space rock.

Gustaf, the organ player, lives on Hisingen Island in the same house as David. He studies music at the university but works extra as a "goose feast party arranger" in southern Sweden. Gustaf likes to dance to ABBA.

NB - Did you play in other bands before?
M - We have played in different constellations before, but nothing worth mentioning.

NB - You are in Gothenburg. Are there more bands from there you can recommend?
M - Yes, check out Silverbullit, Transwagon (www.transwagon.se), Skull Defekts (www.idealrecordings.com) and Kritas'art rock project Lava (www.lavagbg.com)

NB - Do you play lots of gigs in Sweden and outside of Sweden and do you plan to play in Holland again?
M - Since the "Drag Me Up" Ep we have done two European tours (Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland and Italy) and now in November we are going to tour Germany again. Next spring, we are going to do a longer European tour and hopefully we are gonna play in Holland again.

NB - How was Dutch audience comparing to Swedish audience?
M - Unfortunately we have only played two gigs in Holland so it's kind of difficult to compare. But we found the Dutch audience to be quite similar to the Swedish one.

NB - Do you have any hobbies?
M - Our hobby is to play those fuss ball tables that is often found in pubs.

NB - 3 things you like most about Sweden and 3 things you hate most.
M
We hate:
- The Swedish 100dB law that means that you can't any louder than that at gig venues.
- Lars Leijonborg
- That you are not allowed to smoke in Swedish pubs anymore.

We like:
- The nature.
- November.
- The Swedish "snus" (which is grained tobacco that you put under your upper lip)

NB - Your songs are so great!! Who writes them?
M - All songs are written and arranged together by the whole band, but usually it's David or Gustaf that comes up with the basics.

NB - Your favourite old bands and favourite new bands?
M - The Movements likes: Hawkwind, Can, Kraftwerk, Pentagram, Lyres, Chesterfield Kings, Hank Williams, November, Darkthrone, Neu!, Sam Gopal, Träd Gräs och Stenar, Acid Mothers Temple, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Discharge, Ultimate Spinach, Icecross, Captain Beefhart, Creeps and many more...

NB - Anything you want to say to No Brains readers?
M - Buy our new album "Grains of oats" (www.alleycat.se) and check out our web page www.themovements.com