BABYLON BOMBS is a young rock band from Sweden that released a demo at the end of 2003. They play some good Scandinavian Sleaze Rock. Dani and Swaint, respectively singer/guitarist and drummer of BABYLON BOMBS, did answer to our questions...

Interview: Jean-Pierre VACHER

Hi! First of all, could you present yourselves? Where are you from?
Swaint: Hi there, we’re just four guys from Sweden who wants to show you what good hard rock music is!
Dani: That’s right! Four rockers addicted to rock!

Your first demo is online on your website. Could you tell us about the songs on it?
Swaint: Every band wants to have a kick ass tune to open up a show with, we have ‘Let’s roll’ and that says it all. Fasten your seat belts! ‘Delirious’ is a groovy one with an arena shouting Hey You! chorus, a song the audience love to sing a long with and ladies dance to.
Dani: The lyrics on ‘Crucify’ are very personal for me and I just love that song! I often write “rock n’ roll” lyrics that just feels cool and fits the song but ‘Crucify’ and ‘Suicide street’ are two songs with pretty deep lyrics. ‘Suicide’, in my opinion, has a great chorus and a sweet groove.

When we listen to your demo, we can feel different influences, but mainly the LA rock scene from the 80's. I personally also think of Hanoi Rocks, Vain and Junkyard. Can you tell us more about your influences?
Swaint: That’s some cool bands you mentioned there, yeah of course many of the American rock bands from the 80´s and 70´s LA and NY scene are important for us. The cool thing about this band that we all listen to everything from Beatles, Zakk Wylde, Faster P. Crue etc. It’s all great music.
Dani: Like Swaint said the main influence is from the bands from the 70’s and 80’s rock scene. I just love Hanoi Rocks, Michael M. is a big influence for me along with bands like Motley, L.A Guns, Guns n’ Roses, Ozzy, D.A.D, Poison…. I could go on forever! Vain’s ‘Beat the bullet’ rules!

Dani, your voice and your singing are quite incredible. You sound like a genuine American. Did you live in the States? Or did you particularly work on your English?
Dani: Thank you!!! I haven’t even been to the States, although I hope we’ll tour the States in the future! I guess when you listen a lot to (hard) rock music you pick up things even though you don’t intend to, but I’m glad I turned out good!
Swaint: Well Jean-Pierre, Dani's an awesome singer, but don’t ask him ´bout the high school grades in English, he dreamt away the lessons man…

Apart the quality of the music itself, the production on your demo is very good. How long did it take you to get such a sound? Did you spend much time on engineering, or do you have a natural feeling for having THE sound?
Swaint: We must thank Fredrik Lundberg our engineer for that, he’s great. Together we spent just 2-3 days in the studio recording and mixing the tracks. I think he did a very good job and we had a blast, that’s good enough for getting a good production.

You guys play the kinda music that was the big thing in the US back in the 80's. Are you aware that you might never break through with such songs nowadays? Or are you confident about the future of rock music, with the unexpected success of The Darkness, or more locally of such bands as Backyard Babies?
Swaint: There are so many good bands out there, but also a lot of shitty bands/artists. We just do our thing and if you and others like it, then we have succeeded! I think that there’s always room for a hungry kick ass band who wants to show the world that they are “the band”.
Dani: Well, I think we’re influenced of the music that was big in the 80’s but I think we play a more fresh version of it! We love playing music, our music, and If people like what we’re doing that’s just great!

What do you think of rock bands that emerged from the Scandinavian scene these last years? I think that they might be the saviors of rock n roll. Maybe that's your fate after all!
Dani: Uhu, a lot of great bands! It seems like there’s a never ending stream of bands coming from our little country. I hope you’re right!
Swaint: Yeah, many great bands from around here. Saviors were a cool name for that, you might be right!

Do you listen to any current bands? If so, which ones?
Swaint: Darkness was a fresh wind in the music industry last year. I like many of the Scandinavian bands like Gluecifer and Captain Murphy, but to be honest my CD stack right now are filled with 70/80s rock.
Dani: I think The Hellacopters are a great band.

The four tracks on your demo are quite amazing. It's very astonishing that you got let down for the recording of an album. Could you tell us more about this story?
Swaint: It’s a long story….. a short version would be that the record company didn’t pay the studio, so we have an album lying there behind locked doors.
Dani: Thanks, you know this guy we were working with from the record company was a long story by himself. Nothing to say about this really, we just hope there’s another record company out there willing to support us!

How many songs do you guys have completed? When can we expect a full-length album?
Swaint: You know, Dani is the musical spark in the band so he has been pumpin' out songs now for quite a while. Let’s says we have about 20 songs right know that we would love to get down on tape. An album? The sooner….the better!
Dani: We really hope to release an album soon and tour the world! The world needs Babylon Bombs!

Martin is credited on the website but obviously does not play on the demo. Did he join the band later?
Swaint: We had to get our positive energy out after we left our record company so the demo was just a spur of the moment. Dani played great bass on the songs because we were searching for a bass man. Luckily we found Martin who brought the songs to yet another level.
Dani: Yeah, I think Martin hooked up with the band in December 2003… And if he had been around when we recorded the demo he would be the one playing bass on the demo, he’s just a great bass player!

Do you plan to tour outside Sweden?
Swaint: No plans right know, but we would love to!
Dani: We hope to tour Europe as soon as we get an album out. I think it’s pretty hard (if not impossible) to get gigs in another country without a full-length album. But we will…

Did you ever tour as the supporting act for big bands? If so, which ones?
Swaint: No, we haven’t.

Are you gonna play any big festival next summer?
Swaint: We will do festivals, but we don’t know when or where right know.
Dani: It’s a bit early to say right now.

Do you have one last word for the French metal heads who will discover you through this interview?
Swaint: We heard a lot about you French maniacs! Hope to rock with you soon!
Keep on supporting hardrock80.com and Hard Rock Music!
Dani: Kick ass!!! If you like what you hear… keep on supporting us and tell all your friends about Babylon Bombs!

And one last word for the French chicks?
Swaint: Is it true that the chicks are maniacs as well?
Dani: Beware… love and kisses from the bombs!

Thanx a lot, Tack så mycket!

Find out more about BABYLON BOMBS on their website: http://www.babylonbombs.net