They started back in 1993 in a small town in Sweden. Unlike other bands from their period, Millencolin are still full of energy and more successful than ever. We had a quick chat with drummer Fredrik Larzon at the sold out UNSW Roundhouse.

How have the Soundwave shows been so far?

They have been really amazing. We played pretty early on both shows, but we got big crowds and the people have been amazing. I got goose bumps when I walked on stage. It was really, really good. And we do something special on this tour:  We play the whole “Pennybridge Pioneers”-album.

How did people react to that?

The fans really wanted us to do this. We did a show like that in our hometown. That’s how it started. We got mails from all over the world and people asked us to do this on the upcoming shows. So we decided to just do it. It’s a lot of fun for us too. Some songs we never played live after recording so it’s really cool to play them.

Australia is one of the countries with the biggest Millencolin fan base. How do you like this country? How many times did you play here?

I think we played here nine times. I really like the weather and the people over here. The atmosphere is very laid back and people are very nice and friendly and they are taking it easy. I like it.

You have a poll on your website, where your fans can vote for old songs. Which are the most requested older songs that your fans want to hear?

“Mr. Clean”, “Random I am”, “Story of my life”. Those are songs many people want to hear and we are playing these songs.

You are touring a lot and you did a huge world tour in 2008/2009. Do you never get tired of touring?

I think it was much worse back in the days, when we played like 250 shows a year. These days we try to get time back home between all the tours. We try to be effective when we are on tour, which means we play shows every day and then we take some time off after a tour. We all got families so we also want to spend time at home. But touring is more fun than ever. Everybody has a great time when we are on tour. It’s very relaxed these days.

Does playing shows or writing new song ever feel like going to work?

Sometimes it does, I guess. I mean when you are really, really jetlagged and your body is sleeping it doesn’t feel good to play a show. But anyway, when you are on stage and see the crowd you wake up again. So, just sometime before the show, I would say.

Do you also write songs while you are touring?

Well, not much, we do most of the song writing back home. Actually Mathias (guitar) and Nikola (singer) write the songs these days. When we started the band everybody was more involved, but after a while it turned out that they are writing the songs.

Can we expect a new album soon?

Yes, we have some ideas. Mathias and I recorded some stuff like a month ago. And Mathias and Nikola are writing songs. I really want to record a new album. I hope we can start to record after the Swedish summer.

Where will it be released? Does Burningheart Records still exist?

As you know, Epitaph Records bought half of the company. There has also been a lot of illegal downloading. All employees at the Burningheart office had to leave. So it doesn’t really exist anymore. My girlfriend had to look for another job, too. That’s bad. It was a really good label. But Epitaph is great, too. I miss these days with Burningheart in our hometown Örbero, though.

Do you plan to release your next album on Epitaph records?

We didn’t talk about this yet. We will see.

Do you think there can ever be such a great scene in Sweden like back in the nineties, with a new generation of Swedish bands?

There actually is a strong scene with tons of bands. There are lots of bands from Umea, Stockholm, Gothenburg and especially Malmo is great these days. Many of them started to sing in Swedish and they tour all over the world. I run a small label myself. Check out  www.myspace.com/denihilrecords.

You guys also have your side projects.

Yeah, I guess we are all addicted to this. We are lucky that we don’t need to have a job back home so we have some spare time and what is better than making music? We all love it. That is what we do and it is the only thing we can do.

How famous are you back home? Can you still walk the streets of Örebro without being noticed or do you even have fans from other countries there?

It happens once in a while. Sometimes fans wait near the letterbox. But they are friendly people who just want to have a chat. It’s not a problem, it’s cool. Many people travelled to Örbero when Burningheart was there. They wanted to see the office and buy merchandise.

Skateboarding always played an important role in your bands history, so do you still skateboard?

I never skateboarded, but Erik skates once in a while. He has his own a ramp in his garden. And we are still organizing the annual skate contest. We still don’t know when it’s going to be this year. We are trying to find a new location.

Can you tell us more about the Millencolin iPhone app? Whose idea was it?

Appalize contacted us because they are fans and they wanted to do this. They also did applications for other bands. The application features tour dates, music, photos and tweets.

What are you planning in the next couple of weeks?

We don’t really want this tour to end. The weather is terrible back home, it was minus 25 degrees when we left. But when we get back home we have one and a half month off, before we start a European tour for two and a half weeks. We play some festivals during the European summer. We will also try to work on new songs. Nikola has a solo-album that comes out soon, Mathias is busy with Franky Lee (http://www.myspace.com/frankylee) and I have stuff coming out from my other band Kvoteringen (http://www.myspace.com/kvoteringen). I will also release some stuff on my label.

How does your other band sound like?

We sing in Swedish and it sounds more like punk sounded in the early eighties. Discharge, GBH and stuff like that. On my label I release everything I like, from melodic to hardcore.

Any last words?

It’s amazing to be here and see all these people coming to our shows. I am really touched, so thanks very much for coming out. And people in Switzerland: Come and see us at Kofmehl!

www.millencolin.com

www.realrocker.net/sydney

Interview: February 28th, 2011, UNSW Roundhouse, Sydney