So you guys will be touring for the new record?
Marcus: we’ll mostly do shorter weekend tours since we’re all kinda busy with work, kids and stuff. We have a couple of shows lined up for this year.
Any plans to tour South East Asia in the near future?
Marcus: It would be fun, but as I wrote earlier we won’t be able to do it. We can’t afford it either.
I haven’t got my hand on the new record but the sample I heard on the band’s Myspace is pretty great, the title track is pretty weird and fucked up. What’s the inspiration for that song? Are all the songs on the record goes along the line of that title track?
Marcus: The title track, To be me, is one of my favourite tracks on the new album. It’s a bit different from some of other stuff that we’ve done, that’s true. We we’re experimenting a lot more than we usually do when we wrote the songs for the new LP. Influences like Nirvana and Flipper shines through in some of the songs. But most of the tunes sound like regular Regulations-stuff.
Will the bands be pursuing the same sort of style as the title track in the future recordings? I read an old interview and you guys mentioned to not repeat the same mistakes as ETA did back then that were to be cornered musically. Musically speaking are there limitations for REGULATIONS?
Marcus: yes, sure, we’re gonna write more songs in the same style as To be me. We’ve always tried to be open to try different stuff musically – but the songs usually end up sounding like Regulations songs after they’re finished.
Is the song Different Needs re-recorded for this LP or is this the same version as the 7” version?
Marcus: It’s a rerecorded version – we really like that song and thought that it would be cool to include it on the LP.
REGULATIONS have been around much longer and released more records than your older band ETA. What’s the secret?
Marcus: With Regulations everything has been pretty organised and well thought trough. We’ve all been aiming for the same goal. Back in the E.T.A. days everything was a mess… we wrote like 15 songs in 15 minutes and never really talked about what we wanted to do.
Any plans to resurrect ETA for old time’s sake or will be the beast is forever laid to rest?
Marcus: no, we will never play with E.T.A. again – that’s a promise.
I recently got a zine Umea Punk City and it contains nothing but interview with punks from Umea. How huge is the scene in Umea anyway? The impression I get from the zine that it is huge. Is there any specific reasons that make punks started bands in that city? Boredom maybe?
Marcus: The scene is not huge at all – there’s a bunch of really dedicated people playing in bands, setting up shows and doing stuff like the fanzine you talked about. Many of the bands share members. The punk and hardcore scene in Umeå was really strong in the early 90’s and since then it’s had it’s ups and downs. The last couple of years there’s been a great number of great active touring bands releasing records and stuff, like Masshysteri, Auktion, The Rats, Insurgent Kid and The Vectors.
So DERANGED is handling the release of the new record in Canada/America right? Why not HAVOC Records like the first two records?
Marcus: yes Deranged is releasing it in Canada/USA. We choose to work with Deranged this time since we know that Gordon is a great guy and that he’s doing great stuff with his label. Our collaboration with Havoc has been great – Felix has been driving us around the US twice and Canada once and is great. But since he’s now doing mostly re-issues we felt that it was time for us to try something new.
Anything else you want to add?
Marcus: that’s for doing this interview with us and good luck with the fanzine! Stay hard! www.myspace.com/regulationshc
