Raised Fist Part 2 - Alexander Hagman
Posted on January 31, 2008 at 8:00 am by admin
Way Too Loud: How do you like playing in Canada so far? Do you notice any differences between Canada and Sweden outside the shows?
Alexander Hagman: It’s colder! Even though where I live in Sweden is on the same level of Alaska. It’s a big difference coming from Quebec to Ontario as well. It’s like night and day. We go to one place and they can’t speak english, then we go to another place and they can’t speak french. It’s like “What the fuck? Aren’t these places only a couple of hours away?” Everything is big over here compared to Europe. Sweden is a country with 8 million people, and the biggest city is Stockholm with 1.2 million, and I think Montreal is 5 million with the suburbs. That’s like fucking coming to Sweden!
WTL: There are a few things I hear about Canada, usually from Americans. Have you had poutine yet?
Alexander: Yeah! Oh yeah! Since 2000!
WTL: We also have milk in a bag.
Alexander: A bag? How does that work?
WTL: Well, we have a plastic bag that holds 3 other plastic bas, and you put one of the smaller bags into a picture, and clip the corners to pour the milk out.
Alexander: I’ve never heard about that! We have the cartons and the tetra packs. When we went on the last tour here, we weren’t supposed to smoke in the bars [in Canada]. That was before Sweden! That would’ve been such a Swedish thing!
WTL: Your touring in a van this time, aren’t you?
Alexander: Yeah, everything is close on this tour, just 2 or 3 hour drives, and we’ve had 2 6 hour drives in 2 weeks, so there wasn’t any real use for a big nightliner [bus]. When we tour Europe, we have to go at least 8 hours between stops, so we have to sleep while we’re traveling, otherwise we can’t get to the shows on time.
WTL: Did you get someone Canadian to drive for you? All of the European bands I’ve dealt with all go in buses.
Alexander: No! We’ve been driving a lot! It’s just so easy for us to have our bags, open the van, put our stuff in, and do the MapQuest, go to the hotel, then drive only and hour or 2 the next day. It’s actually more entertaining to drive and actually see things, and actually get there. With a nightliner [bus], most of the other European bands go to all the major cities, which is what we didn’t want to do this time. The next time we come back, it’s going to be Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa, and maybe Edmonton, Vancouver, something like that, and we’re not even going to drive for that 1. We’ll fly from city to city. We did it in Australia when we only had 5 shows because it was so far between shows. So the promoter will come and pick us up and drive us to the airport.
WTL: Typical touring and album cycles would suggest that there might be an album out in 2008.
Alexander: Yeah, but then we are talking about Raised Fist, and we don’t follow any tour or album cycles. It’s been 4 years between our last 2 albums, and I think we need 2 years just to get the vibe to write new things. You know when you go to the toilet to take a dump? It just comes naturally! You just wait for it, and then it’s done. And if you have 13 or 14 dumps, you have to push yourself into it, because it would be no good! And if I was doing it, nothing would b good about it! When we’re done out thing and we’re ready, then it’s good to take a fucking shit! (Laughs)
WTL: Is there anyone you’d like to tour with that’s both feasible but not obvious? Don’t name your friends though, because you’ve already toured with them!
Alexander: In Flames, because we’ve actually been talking about touring with them. Bu they’re sort of friends now, but they’re metal, and they’re melodic, and they have a totally different crowd, so it would be cool coming out with them. I don’t know though… There are so many bands today. It’s like the world has become so small, and there are a million bands that have exploded, so I can’t really say a band just right now. We’ve played with many bands already.
WTL: A lot at European festivals?
Alexander: Yeah, exactly. I’d like to tour with… Youth Of Today. There’s a couple of old bands I’d like to tour with. Festivals get bands like Bad Religion, NOFX, Sick Of It All, Madball, Motorhead, Helloween, Arch Enemy, and Raised Fist.
WTL: Since so many bands hate getting asked about what their band name means, have you ever made any jokes about your band name?
Alexander: Yeah! We actually cancelled 2 tours because when we went there, things weren’t what we agreed upon, and people have to be careful because if people fuck around, we can cancel a show faster than you can say “Go!” So guys tried to play some tricks, so I said “Don’t ever try to fuck the fist, because you’ll always get fistfucked!” Then we jumped in the van and left! That’s not quite a joke about the band name, but you can imagine that the name “fist” has had some cranky people saying this and that about it!
Raised Fist at MySpace
Raised Fist at Burning Heart
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