SIX FEET UNDER (SWE) (OKEJ MAGAZINE #22, 1983) TRANSLATED

OKEJ was more or less the only music magazine in Sweden during the 1980’s and almost 90% of Swedish youth read it and then talked about in school. Are you interested in the OKEJ magazine phenomena, read more here!

SIX FEET UNDER

- The New Swedish Rock Export!

■ The Swedish steel bites, now Europe has seriously started to discover the Nordic hard rock bands!

■  Trash, Europe, E F Band and Heavy Load have already struck — the new card in the deck is the young and success-hungry Six Feet Under!

I think Swedish hard rock is more viable abroad than here at home, says the group's singer Björn Lodin to OKEJ. Especially in England and Holland - there people are currently very curious about Swedish bands.

And Six Feet Under have taken the chance - their debut album is being released in several European countries including the ones above. Some copies have even been shipped over to the USA to be reviewed by industry professionals - this group could very well be the Swedish rock scene's new export item. 

VERY 70'S

Musically, they keep a good standard with straight, heavy and fairly strictly traditional rock - the influences are not too hard to guess, and anyone who doesn't think of

Deep Purple already during the first bars of the opening track "On The Road" probably wasn't around at that time.

Yes, says Björn, there is a lot of 70's in our songs. Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin - wonderful music.

- Although I like almost everything in the hard rock genre, even many of the newer bands - Boston, Van Halen, Saga and Marillion, for example. And the supreme masters are of course Whitesnake!

Björn thinks that many of the Swedish bands are of high class, but adds that unfortunately there are quite often some shortcomings in the singing and the way a text is treated.

- The English is not always the best. There are grammatical errors and a pronunciation that is somewhere between Swedish and English.

MUSIC IS THE MOST IMPORTANT

I ask him if he doesn't think that lyricists in general have become unbalanced - hasn't there been a lot of demons, violence and satire in hard rock in recent years?

Yes, it is. I myself have always been criticized for my lyrics being too much about sex, but that's a different matter, something positive.

I think that a text should be neutral, he continues. It shouldn't be political or propagandistic, it should be easy to understand and it should be entertaining. A text must be able to help create a connection with the audience. But still, it's the music that is most important, that's why people listen to hard rock!

Six Feet Under has been playing together for a year and the members are, in addition to 18-year-old singer Björn Lodin, Thomas Larsson, 19, on guitar, Peter Östling, 21, on keyboards, Kent Jansson, 23, on bass and Claes Annersjö, 19, on drums. The guys all come from Dalarna, the rehearsal space is in Borlänge and they got a contract with the record label in Stockholm after manager and lyricist Håkan Fahraeus sent in a demo tape.

- It was a hit almost immediately, says Björn, and the LP was recorded this summer in Europafilm's studio.

BETTING ABROAD

Most of the music is written by Björn and guitarist Thomas Larsson, but the arrangements are worked out together.

Usually one of us comes up with a pitch or a basic idea, which we help each other build on. I don't play an instrument myself, but I sing the melody I've thought of for the others and then they help me work out chords and harmonies. Most of the lyrics are written by Håkan.

There is no Swedish tour on the planning schedule yet, although a couple of concerts in Stockholm are tentatively booked - Six Feet Under will primarily focus on abroad and on December 15 they will go to London to push for the LP.

- In a way, it has been a pretty bad climate for Swedish hard rock and Swedish bands here at home, says Björn. Radio and TV don't want to focus on hard rock, even though it is now selling very well, the market is small and the opportunities to play are few. It's folk parks and places like that that matter. Then there is more to be gained abroad - in London, for example, a band can play for several months at a time in different clubs.

That's England Six Feet Under is hoping for and judging by their debut album, they have both the competence and weight to succeed. Swedish audiences should give them a chance while they are still at home!

Lars Brander