ROCKET Interviews Micke of OUTREMER

Rocket: What’s up, bro? Thanks for taking the time to chill with us here at The Metal Den. Catch us up to speed. Where were you born and raised?

Micke: In a small town in Sweden. The name of that miserable town is “the end of the world”.

Rocket: Haha. Fuckin A!

Micke: I was born in 1971 and spent far too many years there… hell! I still work there, but luckily live somewhere else.

Rocket: Right on. When did you first start playing bass guitar?

Micke: I started back in 1985… oh, 22 years ago… look how time flies when you’re enjoying yourself.

Rocket: Who are some of your biggest playing influences?

Micke: The ones that got me to play bass were: Cronos/venom, Geezer Butler/Black Sabbath, Nikki Sixx/Mötley Crue and Peter Baltes/Accept… these guys ruled my teens…well, some of them still do. And these gentlemen show that the bassist is cooler than the guitarist.

Rocket: Absolutely! What kind of basses are you playing live and in the studio?

Micke: My humble bass collection consists of two Epiphone thunderbirds..one black and one sunburst. And one B.C Rich ,a red eagle.

Rocket: What kind of amp rig?

Micke: I use an old Peavey amp… don’t know the name of it … sorry. I haven`t got it in front of me and an old mans memory isn`t the best so to say. It`s probably from the late seventies/early eightes… one hell of an amp that’s for sure!!!

Rocket: I have listened to a couple of the new tracks from your forthcoming LP off Pulverised Records. I absolutely love it. It sounds as heavy as Dez Fafara’s DevilDriver, man. And that’s not easy to do. Haha. So congrats. Tell me what the title of the album is and what sort of message this band is looking to deliver at this point in the game with what is really only your second album, right?

Micke: Thanks for the kind words…It`s called “turn into grey” Our message, Rocket… if we had one would be… rock on!! enjoy… have fun. This isn`t exactly a pretentious band so to say… we`ve been in bands for ages… we just wanna have fun playing and we want our listeners to share that with us.

Rocket: Yeah, fuck all the pretentious assholes in the rock biz. I hate that vibe and I seriously dig yours and this band’s, bro. Where was the new album recorded and who produced it? It’s really an amazing job that’s been done here. And trust me, I listen to more metal than anyone in the world today. True story!

Micke: Oh! Thanks… that will please our drummer Jocke, since he`s responsible for the recording. He has put down a whole amount of time and sweat in this recording. And yes! it sounds amazing… It`s recorded in a small local studio..

Rocket: It’s a rocker! When is the album going to be out and where can fans pick it up?

Micke: I don`t know, Rocket…haha… sorry!!

Rocket: Look, man. There are two ‘Golden Rules’ in heavy metal. One is you don’t need to ever say ‘sorry’ and two, don’t get into a band, start makin a name for yourself and then quit! That shit just pisses me the fuck off! Haha.

Micke: Hopefully it`ll be out really soon!

Rocket: How would you label what you guys do?

Micke: We`re a groovy rock `n` roll combo from hell

Rocket: How did you initially join this band? And what other metal bands were you in before Outremer?

Micke: I was asked by Jocke(drums) and our previous guitarist to form a new band with them.They had recently quit “In Aeternum”and was keen to do something different. And here we are..six years down the road. Well from 1985 up til now, my metal combos have been named: Megalomania, PRP, Ass, Sorcery, Fear My Solitude, Amanita Phalloides and Outremer…might have forgotten some shortlived one… or two.

Rocket: Tell me who are a few of the metal bands currrently out there today that impress you?

Micke: I think My Dying Bride still releases excellent records… Warning, love them…..Darkthrone, Satyricon, Krux, well… there`s a whole lot of them really.

Rocket: That’s kinda the beauty of there being ten thousand metla bands from here to Alaska for chrissakes. You actually do get a couple hundred that can play their instruments! Hahaha. I like to have fun with this next one. What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you while performing on stage?

Micke: Hmmm… memory like an old glue sniffer… but probably to have experienced the old cliche “five persons and a dog”
in the audience…well, we didn`t have a dog there and I don`t think there were five of them either. That’s rather tragicomic… a big stage and space for several hundreds in the audience..

Rocket: Alright then. Haha.What are some of the upcoming shows for this band?

Micke: Unfortunately there`s nothing planned for the moment..we`ll see what happens when the record will be out.

Rocket: Well, my suggestion to you would be to start playing some shows out ‘before’ the album drops, brother. It’s a little thing called ‘promotions’. It helps “Sell” the album. Listen, brother… thanks very much for taking the time out on this with me. I wish you and the rest of the band great success in ’07 and beyond. Please give a shoutout to your biggest supporters.

Micke: Thank you for the interest. Just wait til you hear “Turn Into Grey” you wont be dissappointed.

Visit Outremer on the web:

http://www.outremerhorde.com