Having just released their debut on Powertrip Records, Swedish thrash / crossover hardcore pack LOWEST CREATURE are on a vicious wave and preparing to take off in your direction. “Ride Trough The Battlefield” pays homage to protoplasts of the genre and pioneers of thrash with its aggressive speed, and grooving power. Pump the air to this wild record and learn more about LOWEST CREATURE and independent culture in Sweden through the interview below.
Catch the band live with the acclaimed thrash band POWER TRIP in Gothenburg on June 11th and at Jailbreak fest on July 2nd in Handen, also in Sweden.
Photo by Harre Gold.
Hey there Julius! How are you? How’s Orebro this warm Winter? Have you been experiencing some symptoms of climate change up there?
Julius: Hey man! I’m all good, thanks. Well now it’s 8 degrees warm, not so much for a Swedish winter haha. Yea for sure, the winter season is shorter now, we had maybe three weeks with like 15-20 degrees minus and a lot of snow, but now all the snow has melted away and it’s warm.. So that’s really bad, because I really like winter season! But the other guys are happy about it, they hate snow haha!
Do you follow the news on politics, as well as social & environmental issues? What do you think about this theory that climate change is a hoax?
Toby: I think we follow stuff in politics that we found interesting and important, not every party or everything the lying fuckers say haha.
I don’t know really about climate change. I guess something is happening. Shit keeps piling up like it always has, and the more shit the more problems. I guess it’s a mix of natural causes and companies destroying everything.. Don’t really have a wise answer, but like I said, more shit gives u more shit.
What aspects of current politics do you find interesting then and what sparks your interest in these issues? Also, how did growing up in this particular area in Sweden influence your perspective on the social and political environment around you?
Toby: You always engage yourself in opinions about this and that ofc, but I’m really not a talker or good with words. I know I hate to work for a shit pay and I know I hate politicians who rather keep a good salary than to do anything that actually changes the state of our society.
Alright Toby, so let’s move onto the min subject of our chit-chat. Can you tell us a bit about your local scene? How thriving is it and what condition would you diagnose it with?
Toby: don’t really know. It depends if you ask about the Swedish scene over all, or the Örebro/pennybridge scene. I think Sweden is doing good! Stockholm is spitting out insane shows after insane shows and the same with Malmö and Gothenburg. Gävle is doing a comeback and Umeå still has good activity!
For our city, Örebro, it’s kinda in a uphill right now. Not a lot of shows and low activity. I think it’s mostly because a lot of people has moved away to try other cities/countries that used to be really a driving force in our scene. We try to book shows as often as we can, but since we’ve had so much going on with LC the last year it hasn’t been much. We’re hoping to do a really crazy fucking show this spring or summer and then we’ll see from there. And also almost ALL the active Swedish bands are fucking insane. Keep interneting and you will see..
LOWEST CREATURE is a fine example of a creature living in two different worlds of metal and hardcore. What reputation have metalheads got in your local hardcore scene and vice-versa? How symbiotic are these groups towards each other?
Hahah hard question. I don’t know really. I guess I’m more from the hardcore scene from the start, even though I’ve of course have listened to metal all my life. I don’t really know what the people think.. I guess some hardcore kids see metal heads as stubborn, drunk push pitters who loves festivals more than anything in their life haha, and I think some metalheads think of hardcore kids as elitist and picky kids who shows off with their more polished style of da mosh. This information is strictly taken from 100% retarded Facebook comments though.. Cause the people I know well who are metalheads are in some way connected to the hardcore scene so they have personal inputs I guess and vice versa. We enjoy both though. Just this Friday I was at a hard rock show with HORISONT from Gothenburg which was great and the day after we played a hardcore fest in Gävle in Sweden which was off the hook as well.. as long as it’s crazy and a party we’re down.
Ok Toby, so what inspired you to start LOWEST CREATURE? What was your first goal and ‘campaign’ with this band and how has its purpose evolved over the years?
It all started with me and Julius (drummer) started to jam together alone during a time when we had a pause with our old band. We didn’t really have a plan at that time, we just wanted to keep playing together and Julius really wanted to start with the drums again since he sang in the other band. During that time we went to Deadfest in Linköping and saw POWER TRIP on their first time in Sweden and it was just so fucking sick. We also had a lot of friends in our home town that at that time played a lot of metal / hardcore / stoner and we just really wanted to riff as well.. Then we did a show kinda as a joke (it was still just me and Julius who was ‘the band’) and had some friends play our instrument. We played 2 own songs + an intro if I can remember correctly and covered leeway haha. But it was just so much fun that we decided to keep in playing it. Everybody who played for the band on that show felt the same and on the story goes! So we really did have no goal at all. Now our goal is just to play as much as we fucking can and tour as much as well, keep on writing songs that we feel are connected to what the band wanna be and just have a great time doing this as often and much as we can
Video: POWER TRIP defininf the new ‘fucking sick’ in Russia, 2013.
Were there times when you asked yourself, “Why am I doing this unprofitable DIY stuff?” What drives you to be a part of this band and independent punk movement in general?
With this band everything is still kinda new, we’re on our third year now and still trying to do more and more stuff. But I’ve been doing this with bands for a while and yeah ofc there’ve been dark and hard moments when I’ve questioned my stupidity, money waste and everything haha, but this is really what I love to do and wouldn’t have it any other way. What drives me is the feeling of fuckin freedom when we do this. When where on tour or just away for a day to play a show we can do whatever the fuck we want and be the real people we are. Also all the unity, with people from all over the world that you meet. I have all my best friends in this scene and I keep meeting the best of people. All the kids and everyone who still enjoys being and going crazy, staying dirty and fucking HÄRJA!! Don’t let anyone tread on you with that shit..
Alright, so you’re finally back with some new tunes. There are quite a lot of thrash hardcore fans that have been begging for a follow-up for your mid-2014 demo. Tell us a bit more about the new 7’’.
Yes, finally it’s time again, and yeah I think the response about us releasing another 7″ has been good. We’re releasing this one through Powertrip Records from Leipzig, Germany and working together with them feels really great. They’ve been super supportive and already gotten us on a tour and with a lot more plans in the works.. We’re ready as fuck. We just wanna get out there!
Soundwise I think this 7″ represents what we wanna do really good. It got a little bit more metal vibe I think than the last record, but the hardcorey stuff is more raw. We’ve stepped both back and forward in the writing haha. We’re really satisfied with how it turned out. We hope to kick some ass!!
Is there a particular group of subjects you’re referring to in your lyrics?
Hard question actually.. haha. Think I’ve tried 3 different answers now. I write most of the lyrics so yeah, most of the lyrics are thoughts or ideas from my head. It could be really anything. Social struggles, personal struggles, social injustice, being hungover or just hating people that you have to deal with in your life that u really want nothing to do with.
Photo by Heart & Soul PhotoZine.
How did you team up with Powertrip Records?
It was kinda lucky actually. We met Hannes (from the label) on our first European tour, which we did together with MEDEA from Stockholm, on Steel City Fest in Siegen. He liked our set and we just hung out a bit after the show and talked about the possibilities of releasing a 7″ together.. Then we came home and we told Hannes we had a 7″ in the works and that we really wanted to do it and he was just ON. Like I’ve said before, Pwrtrp has treated us so good. Can’t for this release to just come out now already.
Ok guys, so what are touring plans for this year?
We have a few plans! At least try to do three tours this year, hopefully more. We wanna hit the UK & Ireland and of course some mainland tours! Nothing is confirmed yet though, so don’t wanna promise anything! But the plans are in movement.
Any plans to hit the States or other distant countries?
I don’t know, we don’t really have it in our clear plans for now, but of course we wanna hit the States. I think every hardcore band wants that right? I mean, it’s where it all started. If someone wanna hook us up, we’re fucking down. But until then we’ll see! As far as I know we wanna go everywhere we can go. I really hope we can travel to all the corners of the world. We got offered a tour in south Africa from our friends from the band CONQUEROR, but couldn’t do it at the time. So I really hope that will happen soon.
Ok. Thanks a lot for your time! Feel free to close it up with your final thoughts and take care!
Thank you for a fun interview! Shout out again to Pwrtrp records for all the work and help u put in to us. If u wanna see us on a great show, keep your eyes open for our release show and travel to sweden for some great times. NBB back in the biz..
