With 20 years behind them Backyard Babies have not only developed into one of Sweden’s best rock bands but also reached the rest of the world during their tattooed crusade. With their sixth studio album hitting the stores on 18th August, preceded by the uncompromising first single ‘Fuck Off And Die’ the band sounds fresher and cockier than ever. 

As well as being the band’s lead guitarist, Dregen’s vocal talents are also very much more in evidence on this album. I discovered, while watching footage of him on Swedish National television that music is not the only thing that occupies his life, he’s also a highly talented sculptor and artist working with some unusual materials as you are about to find out…

Congratulations on the new album.  Before we get to the specifics, can you explain why you decided to have a self titled album after all these years?

Thank you so much; you don't know how happy I am over this new album.  At the very beginning before we had even written a word for it, we felt that we wanted to make the most Backyard Babies sounding Backyard Babies album, and pretty quickly we realised that we had done what we set out to do, so we thought why not just call it ‘Backyard Babies'.  It was a little bit like the rebirth of the band, next year in September it will be the 20^th Anniversary of the band with the same four members.  Well not have a new album out next year, because we're going to tour this one for two years.  So it's a little bit of a celebration to our old band with the name Backyard Babies, I guess. 

What was it like working with Jacob Hellner (Rammstein/ Clawfinger)? 

Oh, well, I'm happy now, but half way through the production I wanted to strangle that motherfucker.   I always thought that Backyard Babies had a really strong work ethic when it came to writing and recording albums, and I thought that we always gave 100%, but it seemed we hadn't (laughs).  He would say okay, rehearsals tomorrow, ten o'clock sharp.  We were like, "yeah, sure."  We'd usually say ten o'clock as well, but then we'd get there around ten, and drink coffee for a few hours, smoke cigarettes and do a lot of talking, then maybe we'd start rehearsing around one o'clock.  This guy was fuckin' "ten o'clock sharp", you know, with a whip, and this was only just the rehearsal stage!  But it meant that we were really very well prepared for when we finally came into the studio.  He worked us really hard, but it paid off.  It was really worth all the effort. 

As with all your releases, it's got quite a live feel to it.  Did you record it as a band in the studio, or did you all do your parts separately?

Basically, the bass and drums were done at the same time, but then we did guitar dubs and stuff afterwards.  We kept some of the guitars, but there are always some overdubs to be done. 

How long did the process take, from when you started writing to the mixed completed product?

Actually we started to write around Christmas but when we actually entered the studio, I would say it took about ninety days or something .... recording, mixing - the whole thing.  In the past we've  tried everything; 28 hours including mixing to seven months to get the final product.  It's great fun when an album comes out well in the studio, but I wouldn't really say that Backyard Babies is a studio band.  We start climbing the walls if we're in there for too long.  Studio recording is a little bit of a necessary evil to get on the road, in a way.

Basically, Nicke's the lead singer and he has always been, but then we tried to progress the band slightly, not only for the fans but for ourselves also, and over the last two years I have started to sing a little bit.  It's pretty simple what to do when we come to choruses and stuff because I will sing everything that needs a high pitch.  Nicke can't come up to the high notes, and I can't really be down at the Johnny Cash kind of level.  But it was actually Jacob who really liked the sound of Nicke's voice with my voice when he began to mix them, so he was the guy that wanted to experiment a bit more with our vocals, which was a little bit more than we had planned for in the beginning. 

You moved from Century Media to Spinefarm for this album.  What prompted the label change? 

The main problem we had was in Sweden where we were signed to the major label BMG, and then BMG merged together with Sony so now it's Sony BMG and that's where the first problem started.  The last two years have been a pretty difficult time for the band.  We haven't been really happy with either Century Media or Sony BMG, so we have just been trying to find a way to get out of there.  I don't want to kick on anyone, but it didn't feel that Century Media were the right forum for the Backyard Babies at all.   It tended to get a little bit too metal and lack a bit of the rock and roll feeling. 

The music scene is a lot different today.  I think it's pretty damned important for bands, new bands as well, to actually own your own rights to the music.  For me the greatest thing would be that if someone knows that Backyard Babies has a new album out, they know to log in to www.backyardbabies.com and order straight from the band, whether it's vinyl or a download version or whatever.  That way we can push the prices down, and the artist hopefully earns a little bit more money as well because there is no middle man.  Did you know that when you buy something from ITunes or whatever, and you pay with MasterCard or Visa, the credit card company actually gets more than the artist makes in royalties?  That's so fucked up.  But we've been around for such a long time and we've made so many contacts in Europe, the States and Japan that we can pinpoint exactly who we want to work with to help us with the promotion of our album.  Also, it's great to have your own company because then you can release a single called ‘Fuck Off and Die'.  Nobody in Sony BMG would have been so happy with that (laughs).

Well, that brings me nicely onto my next question.  ‘Fuck Off and Die' is a really powerful opening statement for the album.  What is the story behind the song?

Well, actually it's not as negative as people might thing.  I wrote the song and I'm doing lead vocals for the first time.  The actual lyrics are about me, and I believe that every human being has a nice bright side of themselves, but also I think that everybody has a little bit of a dark side too.   Sometimes when my dark side tends to take over a little bit too much, I'm kind of telling that side of me to go fuck off and die, so it's a little bit of my own therapy there.

I love ‘Voodoo Love Bow', especially as it's got that bar room boogie piano thing going on.  What exactly is a Voodoo Love Bow?

It's actually a true story.  Nicke's girlfriend and her brother went to a little village in Africa - I can't remember the village name, but it's really weird, because the tribe had a voodoo love bow.  There is an arrow in the bow, and if you fell in love with a girl you actually (laughs) shot her in the ass with the arrow, and if it stuck, that was the right girl.  If the arrow was actually sticking, and there was bleeding and stuff, then you knew you'd found the right girl, the one you should get married to.  So we felt we needed to have a song title with Voodoo Love Bow, because it actually exists.  Her brother actually brought one home with him to try it out for himself! By the way, the piano you hear in that song is Dizzy Reed from Guns ‘n Roses.  He's the only guest on the album. 

Who exactly is Zoe and in what way is she a weirdo?

(Laughs).  There is a girl that always comes to a Backyard Babies show and I don't know her name or anything, but it's actually two girls and they travel around everywhere.  They are young punk chicks and they just go mental at the shows.  I was thinking about writing a song about them.  I don't really know them or anything; I just see them every night.  As for the name, we got a little contribution from our drummer's three year old daughter - her name is Zoe.  So it's just a made up name about two crazy girls that look much cooler than everybody else in the audience. 

‘Where Were You' puts me in mind of Hanoi Rocks' ‘Oriental Beat'.  I know you're friends with Michael, and I wondered if you were homaging Hanoi a little on that track?

Oh, cool!  Yes, I guess it has a little bit of the Hanoi touch.  Actually when we did the song we were thinking a little bit more like the old Clash, but I guess both Hanoi and Backyard Babies like the Clash as well, and we're a younger generation than Hanoi, so maybe for us it's a little bit of a mix between Hanoi and the Clash. 

Do you have any favourite tracks yourself?  My favourite is ‘Degenerated'.

Oh, wow, I was just about to say that.  It's probably my favourite right now.  I'm hoping it could be the next single.  Thank you very much; I'm glad you said you like ‘Degenerated' because while it's not necessarily a new sound for the Backyard Babies, it's a really crazy song that I think will go down well in any rock or metal club.   

Have you been trying out some of the songs in front of a live audience?

No, the first time they will hear them is the 8^th August, so one week from now.  We start the tour off in Sweden for ten or eleven shows, then after the last Swedish show we go by bus straight to Birmingham. 

Are you looking forward to coming back to the UK?

Wow, yes, I've been away for over two years now.  It's always special to play in the UK, because the fans are some of the best in Europe.  They're very dedicated, and also the venues are good and we just have a good time.  If you were to ask me where I would go for the best food, maybe I would rather go to Italy, but the audiences are way better in England. 

What's the best thing about being on tour?

Well, I love being on tour, and I love touring America as well, but when you're out there for such a long time it's the same food, the same language, the same culture every day.  In Europe it's totally different because you can play in England one day, and in a few hours by bus, you're in Italy, for example, and it's a totally different culture - everything from the food to the streets to the language.  I would say that it's easier to be on tour in Europe for three months than America for three months because America just wears you out.  Definitely with regard to Europe, though, England and Spain are the best audiences.  At the end of the day, it's all about the audience.  Not that I want to talk shit about any country, but I can't really say that Belgium or Holland is my favourite place to play.  The people come to the show, but they would be coming to the show anyway, regardless of what band is playing.  Also, it's always fun to go to Japan once a year as well.  You get serious rock and Disneyland at the same time with everything beeping and stuff.  It's just mental!  .

What's your best tour story?

Well, it's not a party story or anything.  Musically I think our highlight has still got to be the AC/DC tour.  We did 35 shows with them around Europe and it was like a big Rock School for us, learning how to handle the big stages every night.  They were such nice guys, too; very cool. 

And the worst?  For example, I believe you don't get on with Rob Zombie?

Well, I don't know if it was him personally or the road crew, but I think it's important to know how people are treating you.  Let's just say he wouldn't be my soul mate.  In terms of sad stories, though, the only thing I can think about was the time we played in Hamburg and a guy died in the audience.  He had a heart attack and he was only 26 or something.  That was really sad, and sort of felt a bit responsible in a way because it happened at our show. 

Moving onto happier things; Slash recently said that he reckons Guitar Hero is the way forward for getting kids involved in rock music.  You've got ‘Minus Celsius' from ‘Stockholm Syndrome' on Guitar Hero 3.  What do you think of the whole Guitar Hero phenomenon? 

Well, if someone had said to me five years ago that we were going to be on a game with a plastic guitar, I would have asked "are you fuckin' drunk"?   I think it's a great thing, though, and from a generation point of view, when I grew up we were all miming to Kiss records with a little tennis racquet or something.  It's an education thing as well.  If you're 4 years old and you think that Guitar Hero is really fun and you actually show that you're a little good at it as well, it can lead to people starting to play music for real.  For us getting our track on there was good exposure, especially in America. 

Is Johan (bass) still the Backyard Babies Guitar Hero champion?

Yes, definitely.  I suck big time, and Nicke is the king of suckiness.  I play sometimes to keep myself occupied on long bus journeys, but that's about it.

What was it that got you started in music?

Actually it was a picture of Kiss.  They did a photo session in 1976 up on the Empire State Building in New York, and actually I think that Kiss photograph isn't so far away from the colours and theme of the Backyard Babies album cover.  That was my first introduction to rock ‘n' roll music, and then I got 'Kiss Alive 1' and 'Never Mind the Bollocks' by the Pistols pretty early on. 

You've obviously got more than music in your life.  Tell us about the Gingerbread design you did at the PUB Department store in Stockholm? 

PUB is the biggest department store in Stockholm - it could be compared to Harrods in London.  Every year around Christmas they close down the windows for a month or something before Christmas, then two days before Christmas they open them up and there are all these crazy designs and hundreds of thousands of people actually go to look at it.  I don't know why they do it.  Last year they had a theme about all the human senses, so different artists got a different theme.  They just called me up and asked me if I wanted to do something related to hearing.  It had to be something that I had experienced in my life to do with the ears.  I found out that the first record I ever got was at Christmas and that was ‘Kiss Alive 1'.  I thought that as it was Christmas-time I would recreate the whole album cover in gingerbread.  A friend of mine's Dad owns a pizzeria and I had to borrow his oven.  Those figures were all two metres tall, and I had to have a really big oven to cook them in. 

Did you go to art school, or were you just blessed with natural talent?

Actually, I wanted to, but my grades sucked, so I wasn't able to.  I became a welder instead.  I've always been interested, though, and do a lot of painting and stuff.  I think that this is something that I will concentrate on a little more when I get older. 

Ah, I was going to ask you a question about what you would see yourself doing in another 20 years' time?

I guess that I will probably have a guitar in some way, but I will also get a little more into the creative side, with painting.  There will always be music around me, though. 

Staying with the creative side of things, how did you end up designing a fishing lure?  I saw a picture of it and it is spectacular.  Are you into fishing?

Yes, I have been fishing for a long time.  We actually went on a tour in 2006 called ‘Where the Action Is' and it was a package of the Hellacopters, Backyard Babies, the Hives, Millencolin and Soundtrack of our Lives.  We have been friends for such a long time, but during that tour when everybody was having a party backstage and stuff, we discovered that there were at least one or two members from each band that like fishing.  We met up with the Swedish Sports Fishing Association and they asked us if we wanted to do a compilation album that would only be sold in fishing stores, with all the money raised from the proceeds going to water charities, helping clean up the pollution and saving the fish.  We actually managed to collect over £35,000 or something from the sales of the album, so when they offered us the opportunity to design our own fishing lure, I was like "Fuck!  Yeah!"  So it's me and Erik from Millencolin who have designed it, and it's called Buster Jerk!  You can order it from: www.sportfiskarna.se or click on the banner on my MySpace page (www.myspace.com/dr3g3n).  All the money will go to charity. 

The four of you obviously get on really well together.  How would you sum up each of your bandmates using one word for each person?

Well, Peder our drummer is the Organiser; Johan our bass player is the Unorganiser; Nicke is the Supervisor and in that case I will be the Criticiser (laughs). 

 Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, Dregen. 

Thanks for a great interview Dawn.  See you in London in September. 

The new album ‘Backyard Babies' was released on 13^th August through Billion Dollar Babies/Spinefarm. Further information about the band including merchandise is available at www.backyardbabies.com

 - Dawn Irwin

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