Millencolin: Home Boys

Millencolin play the Arena on February 28. Home From Home is in stores now.

    “No, well maybe I never really thought about it. We just wrote the songs and recorded it,” Millencolin's guitarist Mathias regarding my question about if there was any pressure on them to follow up their last album Pennybridge Pioneers that did so well going gold here in Australia.

    “It was a really good process of making the songs and recording them. We had a lot of time to prepare for the recording. For the first time almost ever we recorded seventeen songs and we could pick the thirteen we wanted to put on the album. It was really good to have a selection.”

    What makes it different from the other Millencolin albums? What makes it stand out?

    “It's more... since the third album For Monkeys and between the last one Pennybridge Pioneers I think Millencolin have been a little schizophrenic. It's more the way we want it to be, it's more focused. It's better songs, it's a little more rock but it's still punk rock. It's a better Millencolin definitely.”

    Why the name Home From Home?

    “Our band is our second home. We tour a lot we've been doing this for ten years now, I haven't been doing anything else since I quit school.”

    Don't you skateboard still?

    “I do but not as much as I use to, the music takes too much time. I've been skating since 1986. Skateboarding has been a really big part of my life, without skateboarding I would have never been playing punk rock. So it's really important to us. We have this skate park here in our home city that we're really involved with. We help out with money and stuff. It's important for us definitely.”

    The new album was released on February the 14th, Valentines Day here. Any reason you choose that day?

    “I don't know? Maybe because the cover is red,” Mathias jokes. “It's just a good day, the album is actually out one month ahead in Australia to the rest of the world.”

    On the topic of Valentines Day, what the nicest thing you've ever done for a girl on that day?

    “Probably to buy here flowers, I guess. I'm going to go out a buy roses for my girlfriend now actually - cause it's Valentines Day in Sweden today, it's morning.”

    Millencolin has so many fans the world over, what's the weirdest gift you've received from a fan?

    “I actually got two books from a girl in Japan. It's two books on how to make out in Japanese. The Lover's Language. So yeah that's a pretty weird gift.”

    What's one of Millencolin's greatest achievements to date?

    “To go gold in Australia is a great thing for us and the new album is something that I'm really really proud of.”

    What's something you still want to achieve?

    “I don't know? I just want to keep doing what I do. I'm really happy with that. You know I've never really worked in my whole life. I do the music and that's really hard work though. It's been great.”

    What's your definition of success?

    “My definition of success is when you can do something you like and live from it. When you do what you want to do and can manage to pay your bills. That's my definition of success.”

    Seeing you’re on Burning Heart Records, who's your favourite BH band and why?

    “There's a lot of good bands on that label but one I really like would have to be a hardcore band called Nine. There's another good band called The Peepshows.”

    I heard that Millencolin where rumoured to play a New Years Eve show in Australia at the start of this year, what happened to that?

    “Yeah we cancelled we couldn't go. There were a lot of personal reasons why we couldn't make it. I feel really sorry that we couldn't do it.”

    Who's idea was it for the Millencolin game on the new album?

    “It was ours but there's this company called grandfather. They made the game. It's pretty cool, it's not complex it's just a fun thing.”

    Which band member do you like to be when you play it?

    “The drummer, cause that's pretty hard you know.”

    Whose idea was it to put free shoelaces with the CD?

“Hmm, we're skaters so what can you do. It's always good to have a spare pair of shoelaces. Vans, the shoe company, are doing Millencolin shoes now. There like the old school type. It's cool cause I've been wearing the old school type shoes for 15 years now. They're going to be out in March. It's just a fun thing to do. When I skateboard I use those shoes and I have to replace them like every second week.”