Interview: The LEGENDARY Mockingbirds

The Mockingbirds were formed in the wet summer of 2000. Since it was the new millenium ya´ll know society already was fucked, and this lot sure didn´t make things better. Maybe not that great but then again - most others sucked even more! I threw my "Janson" out to bassist Francke to see if he was ready for some Karaoke. Guess what? He was caught with the meat in his mouth!

Hallo boy!

Tell me how the band got together - you and Turbo had been making the rawk before right? 

Hello there old timer! 

Yep, me and Turbo used to rock out with our cocks out in a band called Käftsmäll (a very strong Sbg-band with one of the ”kuk-ner-till-knäna”-brothers, not to be confused with the two other pussycore bands that has adopted the name since/ed.) A Sölvesborg based punkband influenced by Social distortion and The Misfits. We did one 7" and then disappeared. 

I think, if I remember correctly that The Mockingbirds got together right after we split up. Me and Papa Franz had been talking about forming a band forever and that's what we did. Turbo was either a part of the plan or he naturally joined being the best guitarist in punkrock. We had problems getting a drummer so we asked old time friend Björn Kleinhenz (the other brother! Never thought about - talk about great balls of fire!!/ed.)to to step in. We started out doing Sham 69 covers and from there we started writing our own songs. Nobody took us seriously until we did a gig supporting some bigger band on Burning heart records, can't remember which one. Björn left right after that gig and we where without a drummer for a while until we found Kim. He was only (compared to us) 15 years old, and brought a lot of energy to the band (and also a biggus dickus, what’s up with all the rama lama ding dong behind the drumkit in all Sölvesborg bands?!/ed.). 

What where your original influences? It really flipped out later on didnt it? 

As I mentioned Sham 69 and we decided something like that we shouldn't bring any influences from bands later than the 80s. I guess we listened a lot to what came to be called street punk. But the thing was that we all brought different influences since we all listend to different genres of Punk and Hardcore (and Håkan Hellström/ed.). 

Well all bands flippes out sooner or later. When Tommy joined he proposed that we should go a little bit further from what he called the "Social distortion-riffs" (actually I was thinking more of the crazy horns, sudden ushc-song, female(!?!) backning vox, du-du-du stuff etc on the fullength/ed.). 

In one interview Kim (drummer boy) was compared to a dog, in another the readers where told he was longing for a pony - where you big fans of animals? What about the furry ones?

Haha! Here's the thing, Papa Franz hates animals but was a vegetarian. Kim loves animals and was also and still is a vegetarian. I don't know about Turbo but back then he wasn't over his phobia of dogs so I guess he hated most animals. Only thing I know for sure is that we all liked my family's old dog, The no one is innocent E.P. is dedicated to him. 

Furry ones? You mean like ferrets with lipstick? We all love those (Is that what they call a Mink in english? whatever - lets gas them all, it´s a Sbg-tradition!/ed.)! 

I got back listening to the 2002 EP the other day - its fucking awesome!! Why didnt the band get the respect (and the female admirerers) it deserved back then ya think? The Bilderberg group? Is it true that Turbo kissed a girl back stage in Stockholm (cunt-town) once and thats it?

Yeah I think that's it except for when we all had out dicks out and "ollade" Yellow fevers (I think there called) stage clothes.

I don't know why we didn't earn more respect. We might have been too different for the time and maybe took ourselfs to serious. Or the opposite. And if there is a Punk Bilderberg group they definitely had something to do about it! 

For a while there was a lot of dicks and nudeness and shit - how did that come about? Or is it a common Sbg thing? 

For starters, yes it's a common SBG thing. It was almost considered rude to keep your clothes on when there was alcohol involved (and still is of you ask me!). But overall it's a really fun thing to do to shock people and we really didn't care what anyone thought. For example it's larger than life to sing Born in the USA on the ol' cock- karaoke.

Lets stay with the Sbg thang for a bit - was it really that great back then? It was famous on Möllan, bitches even leavin parties because of all the good storys and sexy vibes...

Yeah it really was that great.. We where spoiled starting out with a place like Kartago (ultra LEGENDARY youth centre simple called "The House" where all fat and true rehearsed, played or just hung out/ed.). Almost every gig we had, had an granted audience of at least 50 people. 

The story's are all true and there's nothing better than listen to old stories with the Mockingbirds while drinking beer. Everyone knows that!

Bitches leaving parties? Must have been to drunk to remember if that ever  happened. But if you heard something about it it has to be true. Few people could handle our raw masculinity. 

Are you still in touch with Tobbe Ander?  

No not really. He kinda disappeared from the scene but so did I. 

I actually know what's up with him these days but I'll just keep that a secret (for cunts: Tobbe Ander was from like Ryd or Tingsryd and the last great rock’n’roll thing to ever happen in this shit society/ed.). 

And then Tommy Tift joined in from Bög-Ruda/Blomstermåla.. How did that come about? And tell me about sideshow Fred and his infamous pizza soup and cowboy-tugg!

I left the band and Tommy was supposed to replace me on the Bass but I came back again after a little break. Don't know why but he still wanted to be in the band so he took up his guitar instead. I might as well tell why I left too; it was simply because of mental illness. If you ever heard anything about how fucked up we where it's all true. Sideshow Fred joined when Martin Bagan left the band (an SBG legend). I actually found him with an add on some site for real musicians. He's an amazing drummer and now plays with Tommy in True moon. As good as he is on the drums he's as bad in the kitchen. He is without a doubt the worst chef i ever heard about. He has invented some own dishes as you said and those two are the worst/most famous. 

The recipe for Pizza soup is: 

Boiled water 

Oregano 

Goddamn I can't remember the recipe for his "Cowboy tugg" now but it was just as amazing (I think it just was baked beans in tomato sauce, not even heated, just straight out of the can../ed.). And belive me, this wasn't an joke he actually ate that. 

You briefly reformed some years ago - lots of ”rockhäxor” and naked beer bellies up front?

I can't remember any Rockhäxor but I think there there was exclusively beer bells up front.

We reformed to play at the release party for Mikael Sörlings best of record from his days reviewing demo tapes in Close up magazine. 

I had almost just started playing the bass again after a 2 year layoff and don't think I got a single song right but it was a really fun gig. 

We also did a gig in eh, I can't remember where.. Like Norrköping or something like that. We really enjoyed it and decided that we will play again if asked. We're not looking for gigs but if someone wants us to play again we probably will (ah, in it for the money, I see/ed.).

Do you regret never signing a major label?

I don't think any amount of money will replace street cred so no. We would have considered a offer from Marianne records but that's it.