Interview by Andy Valentine
For an American visiting Copenhagen during the summer it’s impossible not to get all fucked up by the no-night thing. Saturday “night,” almost 11:30 pm, and the sun’s still out. By midnight, it gets maybe a little darker, but there’s no real “night time” – not what Americans are used to, anyway. In the summer, Copenhagen teases you with a prolonged dusk, but you never get to see the true calm of blackened night. By 3:30 am, it’s all the way bright again.
During a Scandinavian summer, if you wanted, you could lie outside and work on your tan at 10:00 pm.
Tonight, at Lades Kælder in downtown Copenhagen, Raunchy is throwing a release party for their fourth studio Album “Wasteland Discotheque” – set to hit store shelves in the US on July 20. The album, and its harmonious blend of groovy pop-infused chaos and undeniable “stuck-in-your-head” infectiousness, is screaming through the speakers overhead as I sit with Morten Toft Hansen (Drums), Lars “Fat Cheeks” Christensen (Guitars), and Jeppe Christensen (Keyboards) to throw back some (more) beers and kick off the interview.
As Jeppe nervously rolls another Bali Shag cigarette, I motion for him to prep an extra one… for me. Looking at my watch, it’s just about a quarter to midnight, and the sun is still beaming through the bar windows. The cigarette is to keep me from going completely fucking nuts from all this daytime. I want to ask these guys, how do you keep it together? What kind of effect does this no-night thing have on your brains – or your music? How is it that you haven’t lost your fucking minds?
And then, as the lyrics “Fight me / Just fucking fight me / I’ll sacrifice it all so you can be set free” blast through the speakers over our heads, it dawns on me, these fuckers went batshit years ago…
Andy V.: So first things first fellas, where’s the rest of the guys?
Morten Toft Hansen: They quit this shitty band They went to go audition for Megadeth.
Lars Christensen: (laughs) Megadeth is like your mother, (nudges Jeppe, sitting to his left)… Everyone’s been in it.
Jeppe Christensen: No, no. We fired them. We want a real singer, a real bass player.
MTH: (laughs) Kuffert is probably at the catering table, eating another hot dog. I’m not sure we ordered enough food for him.
(*note* - “Kuffert,” the nickname assigned to Kasper Thomsen (vocals), translates from Danish as “suitcase.” The other band members affectionately use the name “Kuffert” to refer to Kasper’s suitcase sized potbelly, which they say has grown ever since he joined the band in 2004.)
AV: (laughs) Very funny. Seriously, what about Kvist (bass) and Tilsted (Guitars)? Are they here?
JC: Poor Tild, we had to call an ambulance for him (*note* - “Tild” is short for Tilsted).
AV: Seriously? What the hell happened?
JC: He drank to much Jaegermeister. He was so drunk he couldn’t stand. We had to send him to the hospital.
LC: He puked all over the street… all over his girlfriend. I’ve never seen somebody that drunk.
MTH: It looked like he ate spaghetti or something.
JC: Definitely some kind of tomato sauce. Jaeger is a fucking evil drink.
LC: He was drinking Jaeger straight from the bottle. Like it was water.
AV: Oh fuck, really? That’s totally metal (throws up the devil horns). Yeah, so what’s the deal with all the Jaeger tonight? There must be a hundred bottles of the stuff…
LC: Yeah, they sponsored the release party. They gave us all that booze for free… and of course Mr. Burns (Tild) could never refuse / resist* the free stuff…
(*note* - A little metal humor from Lars, referring to the 1993 Sepultura single “Refuse/Resist”)
JC: When the booze is free, Tild never knows when to stop.
AV: Nice!
MTH: Jaegermeister has always been good about supporting Raunchy, and supporting metal generally. For most people, when you think metal, you think Jaeger.
AV: I guess they know their audience. What about Kvist, where is he?
LC: Fisseministeren? He’s probably fucking somebody somewhere.
AV: Fis-se..what?
JC: Fisseministeren. It means “The Minister of Pussy.” I think in English… or, what the Americans would say is “Pussy Magnet.” He’s a “Pussy Magnet.”
(Everyone at the table laughs.)
AV: Sounds like a terrible problem to have.
LC: Especially when you’re supposed to be doing interviews and shit.
MTH: Or playing a gig. It must be difficult being as beautiful and sexy as him (referring to Kvist). But I sometimes get to sleep with him in the hotel room after a gig. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr that little handsome man, grrrrrrrr gr gr gr gr gr.
LC: He’s almost too sexy, know what I mean? To be in a metal band?
JC: So what do you think? Do you want to wait for Kvist and Kuffert? Tild obviously can’t make it for the interview.
(Laughs.)
AV: Well… no, fuck it. Let’s get started. You guys ready?
JC: Sure, let’s do it.
AV: Okay. First question: What do you guys think of Wasteland Discotheque? Are you proud of how it turned out?
JC: It’s not easy, being someone that helped to create the album, to be… to look at the album fairly… to be… I dunno, what’s the word in English…?
AV: Objective?
JC: Yes. Objective. Each time I listen to it, I think there’s something we could have done better. I can’t just listen to it as an album. I can’t step outside of it. I can’t listen to anything we record without thinking how it could have been done better. I’m proud of it though. There are some really good numbers on the album that I’m very satisfied with. “Warriors,” for example, is fucking good. I really like how we arranged the vocal elements on that one.
AV: It’s one of those songs where Raunchy invokes the spirit of Faith No More. It gives me the fucking chills.
JC: Exactly. That’s what it’s supposed to do.
AV: What about you Morten?
MTH: I think it fuckin’ sucks….
LC: No way. It’s probably the best album in the world… It’s better than Screaming for Vengeance. Better than Master of Puppets. Better than fucking FutureSex/LoveSounds.
JC: You mean the Justin Timberlake album?
LC: Oh yeah. I guess you’re right. It’s probably not better than that. We can’t touch Justin Timberlake.
(Laughs.)
AV: Well, for what it’s worth. I love the fucking record. I think it’s the best shit you’ve ever done.
JC: Why thank you kind sir. (Jeppe says this in a cheesy British accent, while twirling his fingers and taking a pretend bow.)
MTH: The best thing about being in a shitty band that no one cares about is that we can do whatever we want with our records. There’s no pressure to make a radio hits or whatever. Some people think that we have catchy songs because we’re trying to sell records…
LC: But we don’t sell any records. (Lars interrupts Morten.)
(Laughs all around the table.)
MTH: Heh. What I was saying is we write the kind of songs we like listening to. Songs that you can remember – that get stuck in your head… We really don’t give a shit what people perceive a proper “metal” band to be. We’re a metal band that has catchy songs. That’s it.
AV: Yeah, when was the last time you found yourself whistling an Obituary tune?
(Laughs.)
JC: Pantera had catchy tunes. And Faith No More. So what’s the big deal?
LC: No matter what, we want to have fun with Raunchy music. We hope the fans have some fun with it too.
JC: Although LifeForce would be happy if we could sell a few more records.
AV: There’s nothing wrong with selling records.
(Laughs.)
LC: Seriously though, I’m very proud of Wasteland Discotheque. The record is much more dynamic than Death Pop Romance (2006). That one was good, but very straightforward, if you know what I mean. On this one, I think we took more risks with the songwriting… and the song structures generally. Plus, they’re all just really good fucking songs.
AV: Yeah this time it’s not the standard dirty verse / clean chorus thing on every song.
LC: Exactly. Not just that though. When we were done with Death Pop, it just felt like a collection on 12 songs… It wasn’t the complete package the way Wasteland is.
AV: What do you mean?
LC: Wasteland Discotheque is an album that you’ll want to listen to front-to-back.
AV: Like a concept album?
LC: Sort of, there are certainly themes that run the course of the album. But it’s not a concept album, per se. We laid the tracks on the record in a way where they really build on each other as you listen to it. If you don’t listen to this one from beginning to end, you don’t get the same experience out of it.
AV: You said something about themes on the record. Can you tell me a little more about that?
LC: Sure, Raunchy has always built the music around some degree of thematic dichotomy… I mean, it’s obvious in a lot of places we try to converge clean traditional melody with heavy-as-shit metal.
JC: Wasteland Discotheque is by far the most violent album we’ve ever put out – lyrically and musically speaking.
LC: But also the most beautiful.
AV: I know what you guys mean. I think of Wasteland Discotheque as the kind of album you either kick someone’s ass to, or sing-along with in your car on a summer road trip through Europe.
MTH: (laughs) Ha ha! I like that. I think I’ll start using that for other interviews.
(At this point, Kasper Thomsen (vocals) sits at the table, carrying five beer bottles between his fingers… one for each person at the table.)
Kasper Thomsen: Sorry Andy… Dude, I forgot about the interview. I brought beer though.
AV: No sweat man, have a seat. We were talking about the new record. What’s your opinion about how it turned out?
KT: You first. Tell me your opinion.
AV: I think it’s fucking killer man. I think you guys really outdid yourselves this time.
KT: Thanks, I hope all the rest of the Americans agree with you whenever it comes out over there.
AV: Well, most of the reviews I’ve seen so far say pretty much the same thing – that the album is just straight-up fantastic.
KT: Well, I don’t want to say too much. It’s bad luck… Yeah, I’m very proud of the record, but I’ll leave it at that.
(*Interviewers note* - The Danish, culturally speaking, are humble to a fault. It’s just about near impossible to get anyone from this band to hype up how good the new record is. They could have released Beethoven’s Fifth, and still they would hesitate to say it was any good.)
AV: Sure, I understand. By the way, that was a good point Lars, what you said before, about Raunchy being fun. Let’s go back to that a second. I’ve always appreciated how fun of a band Raunchy is… you guys don’t get caught up in metal’s ridiculous genre boundaries. With Raunchy, there’s none of that asinine metal-pretense. Is that something you guys do consciously?
MTH: I have no idea what the fuck you just asked us.
LC: I know what you’re saying. I don’t think it’s something we do purposefully. We just don’t time for all that bullshit. Costumes and whatever. We all have day jobs.
AV: What all do you do?
KT: Molle (Morten Toft Hansen) is an engineer. Fat Cheeks is a graphic designer. Let’s see… Fisseministeren does something with computers. Jeppe is a fucking mailman…
(laughs all around the table)
MTH: Yeah, Jeppe delivers the post!
KT: …and I’m a school teacher.
AV: No shit, really? What do you teach?
KT: Secondary school. It’s the same for Americans as 11th grade.
AV: That’s fucking awesome. Do you have any fans in your class?
KT: Yes. I get fucking stoked whenever I see Raunchy shirts at school… There’s probably 10 or 11 students in my class that are hardcore metalheads, and they love Raunchy music.
MTH: We have a strong fan base. Very fucking dedicated fans. It’s them who’ve allowed us to keep going this long.
LC: I hope that with Wasteland Discotheque we find more fans internationally. World domination and so on…
AV: That’s fucking awesome, I hope so too. Change of subject. What are the chances we’ll finally see a U.S. tour behind Wasteland Discotheque? I know tons of fans anxiously waiting to see Raunchy stateside.
MTH: It’s tough for us. I mean, someone has to deliver the mail (nudging Jeppe)…
(laughs)
MTH: …and it’s very expensive to do a US tour. LifeForce won’t financially support a tour if we don’t sell enough records to justify it.
JC: It’s more practical for us to tour through Europe and Asia, which is what we have been doing.
LC: But we fucking want to do it. We’re ready to make the sacrifice, with our jobs or whatever. We want to do a fucking US tour.
AV: I’d like to see that. I think you fuckers would destroy the US. American audiences have never seen anything like Raunchy. It would fucking crush.
KT: If we sell enough records, it will happen. I promise.
AV: Kuffert, tell me about the lyrics on the album.
KT: I’m someone that’s really into poetry and western literature… Frost, Tennyson, Thoreau. But I’m also a fuckin’ redneck – a Danish redneck. I’m from the far south of Denmark, a southern boy. I’ve always loved how the famous poets were able to convey true emotion within the confines of just few words. With my lyrics, I try to do the same thing, but I take it in a much different direction. On Wasteland, I tried to use my lyrics to really succinctly contrast the emotions and consequences of violence – and beauty. The same way Frost would use poetry to paint a landscape, I want to do the same thing to paint a different picture. Like, a picture of my roots. From the viewpoint of a Danish redneck. From the scene in general. I hope that my lyrics can reflect all the beauty, chaos, violence, and brotherhood of a circle pit. I use my lyrics to confront life and oblivion at the same time.
AV: Wow, that was a deeper answer than I was expecting… So Moe, your drumming on this record is probably the most complex of any of the albums you’ve ever released. Tell me about your thought process in putting together drum parts.
MTH: It’s simple, really. In metal, good drummers are a dime a fucking dozen. Every band out there right now pretty much has a good fucking drummer. But they all sound exactly the same. Like, can you tell me what’s different about the drummer from Disturbed or the drummer from Five Finger Death Punch? They sound exactly the same. I try to put together drum arrangements that metalheads have never heard before. I think there are millions of drummers that are better than me, but none of them take chances anymore. Being a drummer it’s hard to find ways to be creative within metal. But on every track I try to play in a way that is dynamic and creative and that no one’s heard before.
AV: Like the first drum fill on “The Bash…” the one that transition the first chorus to the next verse. It’s totally unexpected, and completely fucking awesome.
MTH: Exactly
LC: Molle is right. With Raunchy music, we basically want to take people’s expectations about what metal should be, and turn it inside out. I think a lot of people are bored of the metal scene, and more and bands are all sounding the same. People don’t think you can write unconventional metal, and still have it by catchy, groovy, and fun. Raunchy music is all those things. Or, at least that’s how we try to make it.
AV: I see what you’re saying. Even for people that aren’t into Raunchy, you have to admit, there really isn’t any other band out there that sounds like you guys. I like to think that Raunchy is kind of like what Faith No More would have sounded like if they were really fucking heavy. But even then, that comparison only touches a small part of what Raunchy is.
KT: I know a lot of other bands say this same thing, but we really don’t give a shit if people don’t get what Raunchy music is all about. For the fans who do get it… the ones that understand, there’s a real synergy. A real connection at the shows. On-stage, there’s nothing like having a club full of rabid fans singing your sings right along with you. In order for that to happen, it helps if the music is something you can sing along to. Something that catchy and that you can remember. When I see fans screaming my lyrics into the mic when I jump in the crowd, I know we’re doing something right.
AV: Awesome man, I totally agree. Okay, So last question, for Jeppe, what’s this about you shitting your pants on-stage?
(Laughs all around the table.)
JC: Oh my god. How did you find out about that?
MTH: This guy shits his pants every time we play.
AV: Ehh, it was just a rumor I heard. Is it true?
JC: Yes, I get very nervous during the live shows. Fucking stage fright. I hate to look out over the crowd. If you look at me when I sing, my eyes are always looking up into the ceiling. I can’t look out into the audience or I just lose it. I shit my pants. Sometimes it’s just that I sing so hard I shit my pants:
LC: Every time we tour, we have to stop to buy new underwear for Jeppe. It’s fucking funny.
JC: You’re not gonna include that in the interview are you?
AV: No, of course not.
JC: Good. Thanks.
AV: No man, thank you. Thank all of you. Great interview. Let’s get another round.