Howdy Folks
Ah the good old computer. Turn it on and hope that it can create magic before your eyes. I can’t formulate a spread sheet to save my life, but I sure can strike gold and meet the people who have influenced me the most.
That’s the case with the
NOMADS.
Just recently, I had the chance to meet Nik Vahlberg of the
NOMADS via the internet. For many of you, The Nomads may not be a band
that takes up Real Estate in the “N” section of your record collection,
unfortunately. However, next to my New York Dolls, New Christs, and
Ted Nugent records stand a rich musical body of work created and
composed by Sweden’s NOMADS.
I was introduced to this band courtesy of CKCU 93.1 in Ottawa in the mid 80’s. At that time, the 80’s were a decade that had a lot of musical risks involved. Many bands and artists were capitalizing on Image via Videos, where a new crop of bands came out in full force to oppose it. As sad as it was to see cool bands like ZZ TOP become industry darlings, there was another Rock N Roll Tour De Force that raked all the true substance of the “devil’s music” and made it their own.
Bands like The
Chesterfield Kings, The Fuzztones, Cramps, Lyres/DMZ, The Cynics, and
the NOMADS were rebelling loudly using their musical merits to save
Rock N Roll. College and University radio stations were soon
discovering these acts and respectfully tagged them as their own
musical spokespeople.
These acts gave radio stations character.
University radio stations would have bands like the Replacements, REM,
Durango 95, and the NOMADS in their TOP 30 charts.
While the
foundation was set, the growth unfortunately did not happen in many
areas of North America for these cool acts. Industry reps had other
intentions of mastering a theory that would eventually try to kill Rock
N Roll 20 years later. They skimmed the talent and played it safe.
Meanwhile, Europe established a method that would support these cool
bands, and kept them active.
Many of us experienced this externally thru Fanzines. Great zines from all over the world would circulate in cool record stores and bars, and that would be our means of knowledge.
The NOMADS still represent the hopes that Rock N Roll will never die. They continue making great music, and they continue proving that there is a better way. Easily, these guys are perfect figureheads for a chapter that many of us keep very close to our hearts and turntables.
Here is my chat with Nik Vahlberg of the NOMADS
The Nomads are often regarded as a Cult Status band based on your existence. Did you originally set out to be a band of this nature? Or were your intentions from the get go to be commercial darlings?
We didn't have any ambitions or plans whatsoever when we began. We just thought it was good fun to meet up on Saturday afternoons, drink beer and work out crude cover versions of our favourite songs by the Stooges, the New York Dolls and the Pretty Things. We didn't even expect to be asked to play live shows...
Garage Rock from the Sixties as well as selective areas of music from the 70’s was the foundation of the Nomads. You have documented your preferences quite well with your choice of covers over the years. Many would be surprised to hear that as much as you were a fan of the Sonics, you were also a fan of Blue Oyster Cult.
As you know, I too am a big BOC fan. How did you first learn about Blue Oyster Cult?
An older cousin, my then best friend played us “Tyranny and Mutation” sometime '73-'74 and I was instantly hooked. Then in '75 “On your feet or on your knees” was a big hit amongst the kids that I was hanging out with. When the first Ramones album came out in '76 I pretty much forgot about everything that I'd listened to up to then, except for the BÖC who I still think are completely brilliant. At least those five first albums...
Hans and yourself must have had a very interesting musical upbringing in comparison to your other peers at the time. How did you learn about all these great bands that would influence the direction of the Nomads? I presume you frequented some cool record shops. Also, were there any notable Swedish Garage bands from the 60’s that you looked up to?
I'd say it was very much thanks to the great fanzine culture of the mid to late '70's. We'd read Bomp and there was an amazing Swedish one called Larm that we found out about a lot of cool stuff from. Finding the records was no problem as Stockholm had many great record stores at the time. Regarding Swedish 60's garage bands, we didn't know of any then, it wasn't until our producer 4-Eyed Thomas put out his amazing compilation “Searching For Shakes”
in the '80's that I realized that there were a lot good Swedish stuff from the '60's. Most of the well known Swedish stuff from that time is incredibly lame.
How did you meet Hans?
We went to the same school and became friends in '79. There weren't that many who were into punk rock in our school so it was easy to find one another!
Can you tell us about some of your earlier bands that lead to the formation of the Nomads?
Hans was in a band called the Sewer Rats when we met. They were pretty popular in Solna, the Stockholm suburb where we grew up. Through Hans I met some guys who had a band called Element 19 and I started to play guitar with them.
When Punk Rock broke out in the mid 70’s, what was happening in Sweden at the time?
Punk really caught on in Sweden, all the important bands from the US and England came here early...Ramones, Pistols, and Clash. It took some time for the band scene to get started, but by '78 there were lots of bands.
Were there any Swedish bands during this era that you followed closely?
Most of the bands were pretty bad,
but we always went to see the Stoodes from Stockholm, an extremely chaotic Stooges-inspired bunch of lunatics, and Problem from Malmö. Amazing band, very inspired by '60s punk.
Did you venture off in travelling to London at all to catch any of the London Punk Scene in the 70s?
Yeah, we went there all the time. Charter trips were cheap and the pound rate was incredible. Records were half price compared to Sweden. Of course it was a blast to be able to go out and see great bands every night too.
Aside from bands like DMZ/Lyres, The Fleshtones, The Cramps, The Chesterfield Kings, and a few others, the Garage Rock scene was quite minimal. However the Nomads are to be added to these names as well. Your first single was released in 1981. I am presuming that the Nomads really stood out, especially in Sweden during this time.
Yeah...apart from Problem there weren't that many who were into garage rock at that time here.
The original line up of the Nomads included Joakim Tärnström, Ed Johnson, Hans Ostlund, and yourself. How did all of you meet each other?
The very first line-up was me, Hans and Joakim, who I'd known since we were kids, with different drummers. Ed was a few years older and had played with a lot of bands since the mid 70's. He saw one of our shows and asked if he could join. We were amazed that someone we considered a “real” musician would want to have anything to do with us!
In 1982, The Nomads released a 2nd single, which included NIGHT TIME and BOSS HOSS. Did you do any touring at all in support of these releases?
Very little. We didn't know anything about how to go about booking shows outside Stockholm. When “Night Time”
came out the guys from Larm asked us to play Malmö in southern Sweden with Problem, which of course was a big thrill for us.
Following your 1st two singles, the Nomads would release their first full length record. I remember being in University in Ottawa and hearing the Nomads on University Radio. It was my first intro to the band. Luckily, there was a DJ who had great taste in music, and a record store in called SHAKE RECORDS. Did your first full length open doors for the Nomads internationally?
Yes, definitely. Before the “Outburst” album we released a “mini-LP”, a popular format at that time, a 12” with six songs out called “Where the wolf bane blooms”. That one was very well received, both in Sweden and in continental Europe. All of a sudden we were approached by cool international labels who wanted to sign us.
Did your touring increase due to your first full length?
Yes, we did our first show outside Scandinavia at the Pandora's Box Festival in Rotterdam in '84 where we appeared together with the Gun Club, the Scientists, the Lyres and Johnny Thunders – some of our favorite bands at the time. After that we started doing proper tours of Europe.
What were The Nomads doing work wise during the birth of the band? Did you guys have jobs? Were you students? Did you guys just lounge around at home and listen to music and daydream?
We had menial jobs that paid the rent and made it possible to concentrate on music. I was employed by the Swedish Post Office for a long time in the '80's...
From 1981 - 1990, The Nomads were a very prolific band. You released tons of great singles and some stellar records. I am going to mention some song titles that the Nomads covered. Please explain your reasons in choosing these songs.
THIS AIN’T THE SUMMER OF LOVE
SHE PAYS THE RENT
NEXT BIG THING
I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HERE BEFORE
CHINESE ROCKS
Well, we've always enjoyed covering cool songs. All of these are by bands and artists that we're big fans of, BÖC, Lyres, Dictators, Roky Erickson and the Heartbreakers. We only played CHINESE ROCKS once, at a tribute to Thunders just after he died. The idea to cover SHE PAYS THE RENT came up when we played together in Holland in '84 and became good friends. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HERE BEFORE was only available in an acoustic version by Roky and we thought it'd be cool to try an electric arrangement.
When did you first tour North America? Do you remember the acts that toured with the Nomads during your first North American trip? Are there any memorable NA trips?
We had some offers to come to North America in the '80's, but it never worked out. The first time we played the US was in '94 – We were in Seattle to record “Powerstrip” with Conrad Uno in his Egg Studio and our friends Scott McCaughey of the Young Fresh Fellows and Dave Crider of the Mono Men set up shows for us in Seattle and Bellingham. Then in '95 Dave invited us to his Garageshock festival in Bellingham and to a tour of the west coast together with the Mono Men. Thanks to Dave and Estrus Records we then toured the US several times throughout the '90's.
Did you ever visit Canada? If so,when?
Yes, we have. The great Canadian band Bum also played Garageshock in '95 and they brought us up to Victoria and Vancouver for two shows.
You had a very interesting side project called the SCREAMIN’ DIZBUSTERS. I know where the name came from, although the funny thing is that the single did not include any songs from the authors of the band name. What’s gives?
I know that the Imperial Dogs did the original of THIS AIN’T THE SUMMER OF LOVE, but don't you think most people would consider it a BÖC song?
By the time Grunge hit turntables and discplayers, there were interesting asides that were connecting Grunge to cool Garage Rock. Bands like Mudhoney would be using Garage Rock as their foundation for their musical brilliance. Did you follow a lot of the Grunge scene? If so, care to name drop some of your Grunge faves?
Yeah, I really liked the stuff that Sub Pop were putting out in the beginning, especially Mudhoney and the Fluid, we definitely felt we had something in common with those bands. Tad were amazing too...
Did you ever tour with any Grunge bands that visited Sweden during the hype?
No, but I almost got Nirvana a small club show in Stockholm. I convinced a local promoter to book them even though he'd never heard of them. I guess the show was supposed to have been in the autumn of '91 but before they got here “Smells like teen spirit” became a hit and when they finally played here some time later, and they were on a stadium level...
The Nomads have always been represented with very cool labels. In North America, labels like Estrus, and Sympathy For The Record Industry released quite a bit of your material. Were The Nomads quite selective in deciding who was going to release your music?
Well, I guess it's mainly a question of finding record labls run by people that you get along well with and feel you can trust. Both Dave at Estrus and Long Gone John at Sympathy have been amazingly supportive of the Nomads and they're also very good friends of ours. Great, great guys...
In 1996, Lance Rock Records released a Nomads record called The Cold Hard Facts Of Life. Interestingly enough, it was a record full of Canadian Covers. The Nomads covered songs from bands such as The Ugly Ducklings, The Jury, Luke & The Apostles, and Teenage Head. How did this concept for a record originally take shape? Also, were you aware of these bands prior to this release?
We met Jack who runs Lance Rock during the Canadian shows in '95. He asked us if we would consider doing something for his label, and we said sure, but we don't have any songs at the moment. Jack, being very patriotic, suggested the concept of a Canadian cover record. We thought that sounded like a fun, wacky idea and we didn't have anything else going on so we agreed. I was familiar with most of the bands we covered from before, but some of them were suggested by Jack. I'd never heard of the Northwest Company and we ended up doing two of their songs!
I have often heard that The Nomads are the Swedish Dictators. Being a HUGE Dictators fan, I think that this would be a compliment. However, both The Nomads and Dictators have been good friends for a long time. How did the both bands initially meet up?
I've been a huge fan of the Dictators since I first heard “Two Tub Man” back in '75 and tracked down their first album. In the '90s they were doing some reunion shows and when our friend Carl (from White Jazz Records), who's also a fanatic fan, heard that they were touring Spain in '96 he suggested that they'd do a Scandinvian tour at the same time, together with the Nomads and this new band that Carl had found, the Hellacopters. Carl named the package “Three generations of Master race rock” and it was of course a complete blast.
Throughout the 90’s, the Nomads continued to release some very impressive releases. Records like Sonically Speaking, and Powerstrip stand as some of my personal favourites from your rich discography. This also marked the 10 years in the Nomads existence. Did both Hans and yourself view things differently towards the approach and direction of the Nomads at this time?
No, not really. In our opinion we just kept on doing the same thing.
In the late 90’s I had the privilege of hanging out with the Hellacopters in Canada. Those guys spoke very highly of the Nomads. In fact they praised the Nomads as Swedish royalty.
How and when did you first meet the Hellacopters?
We met Nicke Anderson, the leader of the band, through Carl when Nicke was still playing drums for the death metal band Entombed. We became friends and me, Nicke, Joakim Ericson from the Nomads and Ulf Cederlund from Entombed even had a band, called Leadfoot, together for a while.
In 2003, the Nomads celebrated their 20th anniversary. In addition to this landmark, there was a tribute called 20 Year Too Soon. Bands like the Nitwitz, Dictators, and The Hellacopters took part in this event. Luckily, you documented this celebration and released it in 2003. Unfortunately, we have not yet seen this in Canada. Or at least, I have not yet found it. Tell us about the evening.
We celebrated the 20th anniversary with a big party in Stockholm on good friday 2001. Then we got an offer from the Hultsfred festival, one of the biggest around here, to do a reprise of it on one of their main stages a few months later. They gave us a large budget to bring in some famous friends to be special guests, so we invited Ross the Boss and Handsome Dick Manitoba from the Dictators, Chris Bailey from the Saints, Jello Biafra and Wayne Kramer. HDM was the MC of the show and the others joined us on stage for a song or two. The whole thing ended with just about everybody on stage doing “Kick out the jams”. An unforgettable evening! It was recorded by TV and Swedish national radio and some of it can be found on the compilation album “Showdown 2 – the 90's” that White Jazz and Sympathy put out in 2002. The tribute album came out a little bit later, in 2003.
The Nomads have always had the coolest Rock N Roll artists as friends: Fleshtones, Wayne Kramer, The Dictators, Chris Bailey, Hellacopters, Ramones, and even Jello Biafra. If the records have not made the Nomads wealthy, the friendships certainly have.
Yeah, definitely...
27 years and still strong - Obviously the Nomads show their strength in longevity. Quite often when bands stretch their careers, their music tends to weaken. However for the Nomads, this is not the case. Is it because the Nomads call their own shots? Is it because there is minimal interference from the music industry? Or is it because you have created such a niche market that you can always rely on your fans for support?
Hard to say ... I like to think that we have the good judgment to be able to realize when we start to suck and immediately give up
Have you been noticing changes in the demographic of your fan base in the last few years? Are younger rock n roll fans coming out to see the Nomads?
When the Hellacopters broke and had their commercial breakthrough here in europe in the late '90's we gained a lot of younger fans, as they namechecked the Nomads as a major influence. The albums we did around that time (“Big Sound 2000” in '99 and “Up-Tight” in '01) did quite well because of that.
As you know, Albert Bouchard from BOC came to Hamilton Ontario to visit us for a week. During that time, we had the pleasure of recording and performing live with him. I still kept the note from you that sent me stating that you were envious….hahaha….How can we convince you to come out here and be part of this outfit? Not to rub it in, but we had a BLAST working with him!
Yeah, that must have been amazing...
In Hamilton, there is a Rock N Roll band called the Orphans. If there was ever a band that really influenced these guys, it would be the Nomads. Everything from guitar tones, to songwriting and creativity can be linked to the Nomads. Have you heard of the Orphans? If not, an Orphans disc in the mail can be easily arranged.
No, I hadn't heard them before but those mp3's you sent me sound great! I hear a lot of the New Christs in there as well, another fave band of mine.
Who are you listening to nowadays? Are there any bands that really excite you?
I'm not listening to many new rock bands these days, if I want to hear loud rock 'n' roll I'll put on something from the '70's. At work today I listened to the Zeros “Don't push me around” album and some vintage Wipers...it seems unlikely that any band as good as those could emerge in 2009! One of the few “new” bands that I can think of that really excites me is the Reigning Sound.
Just recently, the Nomads took part in a tribute to the Fleshtones: Another great band that defines positive longevity. Care to share a few thoughts about the Fleshtones?
What a fantastic band. We go way back with the Fleshtones, played together at the Museum of Modern Art here in Stockholm in 1984 and have hung out together many times after that. They were one of the best live bands on the planet back then and they still are!
Richard Lloyd spent some time in Sweden in the 80’s. Just curious, did you have the opportunity to meet him and hang out?
Yes, we met a few times. He went out to shows quite a lot, but he always seemed to be in a pretty gloomy mood. I got the impression that it was because he'd just quit the booze and drugs...
North America has not been a common stomping ground for the Nomads. Obviously, finances have a lot to do with it. What is Europe doing differently in supporting REAL Rock N Roll in comparison to North America?
Yes, it's true that the reason we haven't toured North America more is that it's really hard to make it work financially. We're not too keen on paying out of our own pockets to tour. It's much easier logistically to tour Europe. Spain, for example, is a great country for rock 'n' roll, we draw bigger crowds there than back home...
When can we expect to see a new Nomads record? What can we do to possibly have some Nomads shows in Canada? You do have fans here, you know!!!
We have about 15 really good songs ready, so all we need to do is to figure out how to record them and get them out in some form. Most of the labels we used to work within the past have given up and left the business. Hopefully we can find some way to get over to Canada when there's a new record out!
With all of the musical experience that both Hans and you have acquired over the years, have either one of you thought of being more prolific in producing Rock N Roll music for other acts?
We've done a couple of small projects over the years, but it was a long time now since there were any offers.
You had an opportunity to share the stage with Roky. How did that come about? What songs did the Nomads perform with him?
That was like a dream come true. We've all been huge fans of Roky for ages. The promoter of this Swedish festival is a friend of Roky's tour manager and asked him if Roky would be interested in playing with Nomads as his backing band. Roky wasn't aware of us, but luckily the tour manager was a fan! We played a full set with him (there's a photo of the set list on our Myspace) and it went really good, despite the fact that we only rehearsed for about 45 minutes together. Roky was really cool and easy going and the members of his family that was along on the trip seemed to be genuinely pleased with the way it turned out. Hans got an awesome compliment from Roky's wife: “You're the best guitar player he's had since Duane (Aslaksen)”!
