Overstrung

Interview by Michael Cornelius

Stockholm Sweden is a world away from the SkateRock.com world headquarters but Overstrung can bridge any distance with their sincere and energetic music.   One listen to Growing Apart and the distance was meaningless.  I knew I had to learn more about the band so I conducted the following interview.

What is the skaterock scene like in Stockholm?
Mikko -It is pretty poor down here. There are many skaters but not many are into the punk-skate thing. There are a few local bands and us. Skate-punk is just not hot these days. It's hard to get a break through because there are not many people interested in this kind of music. If you look over whole Sweden things look slightly different. There is of course the allmighty Millencolin, Pridebowl, Satanic Surfers and bands like that. I guess the scene is just not that big here in Stockholm. Most punk-related people are into hardcore, so... that's the case.

What are the bands, skaters and skate spots that make it happen?
Mikko -There are not many bands that make it happen here in Stockholm, skaterock is dead. But there are tons of great skateboarders. I really enjoy skating in the summer and watch the best skateboarders in sweden pull off sick tricks. There are old-school skaters and new school skaters. Vert skaters and street skaters. Along with Mathias Ringstrom, there is of course Love Eneroth, Andreas Engelkes, Ricky Sandstrom and many other sick skateboarders. Some of these skaters have appeared in skatevideos such as 411VM.
  There are also many good spots here in Stockholm, and very much money is being put into skateboarding here in Sweden because the scene is relatively large. A few years ago the scene was extremely big. Everyone had a skateboard and wore baggy pants, but today many of the kids have got tired of it, the trend has gone down a little bit. There is a indoors skatepark here called "Fryshuset". It is very good during wintertime, in the summer there are a large number of spots, there is a large pool which is nowadays dedicated to skateboarders and inliners. So it's pretty good here!

How did Overstrung get started?
Robert -Okay, the year was 1996. My friend Mikko had just bought his first electric guitar. So I went over to his place, cause he was very good on the guitar, and I wanted to hear his stuff.   Mikko played some NOFX songs, and I was stoked. That was when I got the idea to start a punk band. But instead of telling him about it, I went home and wrote some crappy lyrics. The next day I showed them to him, and told about my plan. He agreed that it was a cool idea.   At that time I had never played bass. So I had to buy one, and start learning from there. The same thing went for our first drummer. He sucked just like I did. We managed to come up with some songs, under the name CornFake, before he quit the band.  Two years went by, and the two of us had been making songs without an ordinary drummer. That was when we came in contact with Marcin. He was up for the job, and we changed our name to Overstrung.  Back then Mikko used to be the lead singer, but we really needed someone better. That was when Adam came into the picture. You could say he was the missing link, cause that was also when Overstrung took a change for the better... And now we're just looking forward.

What are your names and ages?
Adam 20 (guitar/vocals).
Mikko 18 (lead guitar).
Robert 20 (bass).
Marcin 18 (drums).

What are some of your accomplishments so far?
Robert -Two of our old songs are featured on two different labels.
We also got to play in the most famous punk-cafe' in Stockholm, Cafe' 44. That's about it.... I think?

What bands do the members of Overstrung listen too?  Who are your influences?
Robert -We listen to alot of different music, but most of the time we listen to bands like: NOFX, Lagwagon, 10  Foot Pole, Pulley, Millencolin, Mu330, Propagandhi, Strung Out, Sublime, Pennywise, Falling Sickness, PrideBowl, Satanic Surfers, No Use, Earth Crisis, etc.  Our influences used to be NOFX, Lagwagon and Bad Religion. Now we just try to listen to our hearts.

What do you consider classic skaterock?
Mikko -I think Bad Religion is classic, I guess they played a big part when that style was "invented" in the 80's. Then there is NOFX. I think they are the no # 1 skaterock band.

It seems that skaterock is a much more defined genre over in europe and in England.  There seems to be quite a few bands that consider themselves skaterock rather than punk.  What do you think makes the European scene so well defined?
Mikko -I guess there is a slightly different style with european skaterock and American. The american skaterock feels like the elite to me, but kids in Europe have to try to not to do the same thing and try to develop their own style. Or else everyone will buy the American stuff because it feels more original. In the past few years many great bands like Millencolin and Satanic surfers have come around, and people like that. They have their own style. They ARE their own style. Still I guess there's a bit foreign style in that music.

Have you toured?
Robert -No, not yet. 

Is it hard to set up a tour in europe?
Mikko -Yeah, it is if you don't have a label. It's hard to get in touch with bands because there are so few of them. Everything would be easier with a record company.

Do any of you snowboard?
Robert -No we don't. Well I used to, but I started riding BMX instead, cause it never snows enough around here. It must be that damn Greenhouse effect.

I've heard that almost everyone in Sweden speaks English; what's the
deal with that?  Are all your songs in English?
Robert -Yes, everyone in sweden speaks english. There are some exeptions of course. I think the Swedish language is a little like English, so it's easier for us to learn. Plus it's obligatory to learn English in school.   We used to play a song that was in Finnish!  But nowadays we only play songs with English lyrics, they sound much better. It's also much easier to write a song in English.

Do you have any CD's out?  Are you with a record company?
Robert -No we're not with any record company, we have never really tryed to get on one. We have two CD demos, that we're gonna start sending to different labels as soon as possible. Our old CD is called "A Lout", and the new one is called "Geek On A Leash".

What are your plans for 2000?
Robert -Just work on our sound, and make good songs that we enjoy playing.There is also a chance we might be flying to Brasil to play some gigs there. But nothing is 100% yet.

Do you think you will make it to the states?
Robert -That seems kinda tough right now. But everything is possible,
so you never know... I mean why not.

Anything else you want to add?
Skaterock.com rocks! Thanks for the interview.

Overstrung web site