Flotzilla was a Swedish fanzine in the second half of the 80’s and into the 90’s, written in Swedish. Here’s an interview with the Swedish Thrash Metal band translated to English. Some added photos and YouTube videos from me.
I'M ACTUALLY A LITTLE UNSURE WHETHER FALLEN ANGEL IS REALLY FALLEN ANGEL OR NOT. THEY HAD CHANGED THEIR NAME FOR A WHILE TO GEHENNA. BUT THEN IT TURNED OUT THAT THE NAME WAS ALREADY TAKEN. SO NOW I THINK IT'S FALLEN ANGEL THAT'S THE NAME AGAIN. BUT I'M NOT SURE. THE LAST THING I HEARD FROM THE Fleabag WAS THAT THEY WERE DESPERATELY LOOKING FOR A NEW NAME. ANYWAY, THERE'S NO NEED FOR AN INTRODUCTION. YOU ALREADY KNOW MOST ABOUT THEM. AND I'LL SAY AS I'VE ALWAYS SAID THAT THEY'RE JUST GETTING BETTER AND BETTER AND I EARLY HOPE THAT THEY'LL SUCCEED. DESPITE THE MUSIC THEY ARE PLAYING IS NOT IMMEDIATELY HAVING ITS BRIGHTEST DAYS AT THE MOMENT. BUT I THINK THRASHER WILL COME IN A SECOND WAVE.
TELL US ABOUT TODAY'S PLAYING AND THE JOURNEY HERE?
It started with a fairly sunny day in ÖREBRO. We had said we would meet at the venue at 11.30. Well, it was quite late, I got to our drummer at 11.40, I had picked up the bus. Then we went to pick up our guitarist at about 11.55 because we had been to McDonald's to get food. He wasn't home. Then he would probably come down to the venue, we thought, but that wasn't the case. At 1.30pm we called him. "What the hell are you doing somewhere?" he asked, "I've been sitting at home the whole time waiting for you!" After much ups and downs we finally got going, heading towards TIERP. In the big bus that we rented at Ungdomsgården where I work. About twenty kilometers outside Västerås it pulled up. 80 kilometers from home, there we are on the E18. "What do we do?" The police come, arrange a tow truck, and pulled us to Västerås. There we stood like crazy. After much ups and downs & a thousand difficulties we finally got a ride to TIERP, and here we are now. Today, 16/11 -91. Hopefully we'll get home tomorrow. My dear colleague here, Matti Hedenborg, will try to arrange for his mother and her Volvo station wagon (laughter). We hope we get to sleep on a mattress tonight. Here I have Jonny (Jonny Walker, a whole whiskey, that is -ed), he's a good guy. He always shows up. He's been with me since I came home from the Canary Islands.
DO YOU HAVE ANY LAST COMMENTS?
I would like to say hello to everyone who has been to our gigs and bought our records so far, it's sad that we have changed our name for those of you who have changed T-shirts (I'm really not sure about that name change -ed). Our new name is GEHENNA (?) and it will be on the record that will be released in February, hopefully. We want to say hello to Erik Lindros, Micke Swed (Authorize) and Kenth Philipsson. Kentha is too tall for us so he can't drink. (This is repeated about ten times on the recording -ed).
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RECORD CONTRACT THAT YOU HAVE GOT! I HAVE GOT IT FOR ME!
Yes, that's actually true. We have signed with a German record label called Massacre. It's for two 45 minute recordings or records then. It's really cool, it's really cool.
HAS THE RESPONSE BEEN GOOD ON TRAPPED IN SIBERIA?
Trapped in Siberia is more of a demo on vinyl so it has mostly been released as a promotion. We have also sold some. The reviews we have received are actually quite good. We got 8.5 out of 10 possible in Germany's second biggest magazine, Rock Hard. It is damn good, almost to the point of cheering.
WHAT DID YOU GET THE TRAPPED IN SIBERIA COVER FROM? EXPLAIN IT!
It's a monk holding a key that is supposed to unlock a gate. Actually, the cover is completely pointless. The gate is in a completely wasteland with a lot of snow. The monk is in the process of unlocking it.
IT ALMOST SOUNDED LIKE YOU HAVE A COVER READY FOR THE RECORD TOO.
Unfortunately we don't. Our record label guy was with us last weekend. We did some research, he had some ideas and we had some ideas. We came up with the idea that they should make a cover in Germany and then they should send it to us and then we should approve it, that's pretty much how it's supposed to be.
ARE YOU A POLITICAL BAND?
Political? The only one who is political in our band is our drummer who has been in the drunken cell far too much. 3-4 times. (at Bocken's draft beer, input from guitarist Joakim Persson). No, we are not a political band. Jocke Persson likes Ny Demokrati and I am impartial because I know far too little about politics. I don't even vote.
IS THE LP RECORDED AND FINISHED?
The new LP will contain five songs that have not been pressed on vinyl before. Plus five songs that have been on vinyl before. That is, our mini-LP will be included on the full-length album. Although we have played VISIONS again. Then we also have new recordings of HANG-OVER, DENTAL and three more new songs. The guys at the label said, like: You're releasing the album for Christmas, and we said AAAHHH, that's not possible. Yes, it's possible, so we made three new songs in a panic. Good, then you're releasing it for Christmas, and then he came over last weekend and said that we're releasing it in February instead, and then we said, Yeah! (Jocke Persson is now speaking). The album will primarily be released and sold in Germany and Europe, and they haven't heard the old songs there, and that's why we're including them. (Flea Market) He came and said that those songs should be on the album, and it says so in the contract, that's how fucking cool it is. But there aren't that many people who have bought TRAPPED IN SIBERIA in Sweden yet so most people will probably be happy anyway.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT FLOTZILLA BREAKING UP?
If Flotzilla should break up I don't think so. I think Nicke is a terrible pussy-faced slob who can't handle anything because I think Flotzilla has held a damn high class in this Fanzine choir. That's my opinion. I've actually read most of FLOTZILLA that has come out except for issue 01. (Thanks for that Loppan -ed)
TELL US ABOUT YOUR SEX DEBUT!
I was 17 so I wasn't that damn young. Now I'm 21. It was Easter Eve, it was freezing cold outside, seriously freezing cold. Örebro isn't that big so we have McDonald's in the city. Behind McDonald's we have the Fire Station and by the fire station there are some poor abandoned houses where some misfits live. That's where I had my sexual debut. She looked very down and I asked her what was wrong? "Everyone hates me" she said, "I don't hate you" I said. "Yes", "No", "Yes", "No" okay then. "I have to pee" she said, okay then. So we went down behind there, where everyone pee. It's the town's urinal if you're under 18. So we went down there and we sat there for a while and she said, "Don't you want to". "Yes okay then" I said. I think I'll have to stand up I thought. And so it was. It wasn't a hit, in other words. I barely remember it, I was so shit straight.
I thank Loppan for this time for a pretty fun interview. Well, what the hell now. Now I don't know what to do with this piece. I can mention a little about the gig that FALLEN ANGEL did just before this interview. It was a massive and intense experience as usual when you see FALLEN. All the old hits were there and luckily they have also stopped playing MASTER OF PUPPETS now. Enough because they did it well but it can't be that much fun to be known for being the band that plays MASTER OF PUPPETS, considering that they have so much of their own good material. Speaking of their mini-lp, it's probably still possible to order it because it's still available. They'll charge 50 bucks for it and I think everyone who likes good, tight and quality thrash should buy it. I don't know the address though. I think Loppan recently moved but try his old address and maybe it'll come out right in the end: Johan Bylow, Rönnvägen 5, 702 20 ÖREBRO. I think you can also buy the record from Sigge. Address: Jörgen Sigfridsson, Kvarnskogatan 2, 754 20 UPPSALA.
