You Can’t Kill My Rock ‘N Roll is the 11th album from Gothenburg’s Hardcore Superstar, consisting of 12 ear splitting anthems that drive home the fact that Rock isn’t dead, it is in fact alive and well and thriving in Sweden. Recorded throughout 2017 and early 2018 at the beautiful Österlyckan (Wooden Hybrid) Studios near Gothenburg, the album was produced by the band themselves and mixed in Stockholm by Dino Medanhodzic. If the news of a new album wasn’t enough then for Australian fans it gets even better – Hardcore Superstar return to our ‘Golden shores’ in June for a Tour of Australia’s East Coast… We caught up with Jocke to find out all the latest.
Mark: How are you? How’s your day so far?
Jocke: Oh its great, I’ve been doing interviews since nine o’clock, I missed the first one but will get it again.
Mark: Its great to hear you are coming over, you don’t get that very often, we will have to change all that for you by selling out these shows. The last time we spoke was back in 2014 when both you and Megadeath pulled out of Soundwave.
Jocke: Yeah, From what I heard it was a good thing to do because there are still bands who didn’t get paid
Mark: I think that might have been a wise decision! (laughs) I’ve been listening to the tracks you have been releasing so far, we’re about to get the fourth single Baboon, it’s going to be a hell of an album, so that’s still to be due out in September?
Jocke: Yes 21st September
Mark : So its already in the can and ready to go? What can you tell us about it?
Jocke: On this album we are going back to the traditional old superstar sound, we are more diverse and I remember the fans they were split into two, like 50 percent were like “what the fuck are they doing now?” and the other 50 percent were like “its good, but its not Hardcore Superstar” and that is kinda hard to hear as the band member that they don’t like the album,
Mark: I loved it, I thought it was great,
Jocke: I loved it as well, but I know what they mean, I can see what they feel when they listen to the album, the traditional superstar, not at all!
Mark: As an artist though, you must always be trying to push your boundaries
Jocke: Yes we have to try and get these songs out of the system otherwise couldn’t do another album
Mark: So ‘You can’t kill Rock ‘N’ Roll is taking us back to the roots?
Jocke: I think yeah, like I said its more traditional Hardcore Superstar more of the ‘Split Your Lip’ and a little mix from the self titled album, a lot a catchy tunes but that’s what Hardcore Superstar is all about.
Mark: Yes, pretty much everything has been catchy so far, ‘Have Mercy On Me’ I just can’t get that refrain out of my head, it just sticks in there and most of your catalogue stuff is in there with it, but I can’t wait for ‘Baboon’ what can you tell us about that song, I haven’t heard it yet?
Jocke: I’s a very catchy song, its about a guy who ruins parties and wants to be in the centre, everything just turns out wrong, when he talks, when he dances, everything! You will have to see the video, it’s hilarious. Everyone can relate to that, everyone has seen a baboon at a party.
Mark: So when you come over, what are you going to play for us, so are you going to catch us up on the last four albums? A mix? Or is it gonna be a greatest hits set plus the singles from the new album?
Jocke: Yes we are playing those and we have to play sounds like ‘We Don’t Celebrate Sundays’ ‘Above The Law’ ‘Moonshine’ ‘Last Call For Alcohol’ we have to play those songs otherwise they would kill us! We will play like sixteen songs and we will try to do it the best we can to satisfy everyone
Mark: That’s fantastic, the last time you were here in 2008 which is 10 years ago now, you were in Sydney and Melbourne, this time you have added Brisbane and Adelaide, but we’ve had some emails from Perth fans saying that you guys should get out to the west as well maybe next time?
Jocke: Yeah hopefully! It’s funny coz I saw a poster from Australia it said ‘Hardcore Superstar from Norway’ erm, we are from Sweden, I thought ‘what the fuck?’ (laughs)
Mark: So you probably think you are touring New Zealand then in that case?
Jocke: Yeah (laughs)
Mark: Take it all the way back for us, you have been making music for us for a long time, and pretty much, apart from one member of the band that was there on day one, has the way you have made music changed over the years?
Jocke: We are more relaxed nowadays when we write the songs, I mean for this album we wrote about fifty songs or something like that and back in the day when we first started in the career we were like ‘yes that would be good! Yes that would be good! Yes!’ and we were stressed out to make songs that were so catchy and so good, and nowadays we know how to do this, so nowadays it’s more relaxed when it comes to the song writing parts
Mark: You are all still recording in the same way, are you? You are all bringing in your ideas?
Jocke: Yeah Yeah we do
Mark: Sounds fantastic! Can you take it all the way back for Australia and the audience and tell us what started you off on this crazy ride in the first place, did you know you needed to be a full time musician?
Jocke: It was back in ’98, me and Martin had a band called ‘Link’ it was more like a grunge rock and roll orientated sound and I wanted to play more rock and roll, not so much the grunge thing, so we started Hardcore Superstar back then, and the rest is history, everyone knows the rest about that, we tried to get a record deal with ‘Link’ but we couldn’t so we changed the music that we listened to when we were kids like ‘Motley Crue’ and ‘Faster Pussycat’ and also bands like ‘Slayer’ and if you listen to the first three albums you can see that we are looking for the sound of ‘Hardcore Superstar’ we found the sound on the black album, the self titled album, we started to mix the thrash and the sleaze so that’s when we named our genre ‘swede metal’ the funks, the sleaze all come from the swedes, that’s why we call it swede metal.
Mark: I think its coming because genre tags I normally detest, but I think you absolutely nailed it there with that tag it is exactly what you do. So before you come out to see us you are playing Sweden Rock, it’s pretty special for you guys, the biggest festival near your home country
Jocke: Yes we are headlining one stage and it’s a hectic schedule because the day after we are playing a festival in Italy then the day after that we are playing a festival in Spain, then we go home Saturday and Sunday then we are flying to Australia on Monday
Mark: Then after that you are back in Sweden playing dates there
Jocke: Yes we are back in Sweden, me and my family, I have three kids and a wife, we are heading to Africa on vacation
Mark: Wow, have you been before?
Jocke: Yes I have been to Africa when I was three years old, that’s a long time ago,
Mark: So talking about the sound of Hardcore Superstar, there’s lots of bands that influenced you and sort of went into that mix, but if you could have seen one of those classic albums made and you could have been a fly on the wall in the studio, what would that album be to you? Whats the one album you still love today and would have loved to have been part of?
Jocke: That would have been ‘The Number of the Beast’ by Iron Maiden because every song on that album is awesome
Mark: Wow, It’s a fantastic album, and it was definitely Maiden’s break through and look where they are now, they are the biggest metal band out there in the world! When you come play with us, you mentioned before that you are going to be playing some of the new stuff off the new album, are you going to be concentrating on the singles or are we going to be getting an exclusive track?
Jocke: Actually we talked about this yesterday, we haven’t got a proper set list yet for the Australian shows but we’re talking about it and we have to play the singles, but we will try to mix it.
Mark: It should be great, ‘You Can’t Kill My Rock ‘N’ Roll’, tell us about the title, it sounds like the perfect title for a band like you guys
Jocke: It stands for itself, I mean our first album is called ‘It’s only Rock ‘N’ Roll’ and 20 years into the career you still can’t kill rock n roll and that is what it means, you can’t kill my rock n roll, we do what we do, whether you like it or not.
Mark: We’ve got lots of readers and lots of friends in the States as well, there are a couple of people who are massive fans of The Damned and London Energy from Dallas, Paul London and Angie who I think met you the last time you were in the States, are you looking at going back?
Jocke: Yeah hopefully, the last time we were there we played the ‘Whisky A Go Go’ and we sold out two nights in a row, and before the first show I was doing my vocal warm ups, and the owner who is now dead, may he rest in peace! He came to me and said ‘It’s funny, You have come all the way from Sweden to the rock and roll capital LA, the most famous club and you have sold out for 2 nights in a row, we have bands who are big and only selling half full, how do you manage to do that?’ I had to tell him that ‘somebody have it, somebody don’t!’ and he was like ‘Yeah I know what you mean!’ and you can only say that to an American they understand, you can’t say that to a Swedish guy or Swedish promoter, because here in Sweden you can’t be too much, in the States you can be too much.
Mark: That’s cool, that is the difference, I was lucky enough the last time when I was over in the States to go back stage at the whisky, up those little stairs into the dressing room where all that history was, you are sitting in that room there where Jim Morrison was and all those stars of the past like Guns N Roses were and they had painted over the walls where everyone had signed, was it like that when you were there?
Jocke: Yes, not the first time, the second time they had painted it all,
Mark: I couldn’t believe it when I saw that! You’ve played with some fantastic bands over the years, a lot of them are my hero’s, AC/DC, Motorhead, Mike Monroe, you must have some great stories from the road?
Jocke: Yes I have one, we played a festival with Saxon, I love Saxon and me and Biff, we email each other sometimes, and we were staying at the same hotel in Stockholm, because they were flying out and we were flying out after the festival, and it was like 12 o’clock midnight and I was going up to the hotel room to get some sleep before the plane the day after, and I heard a voice ‘Hey Jocke, where you going?’ and I replied ‘I’m just going to take a shower!’ and he said ‘Do that, then you come back down here!’ it was Biff, I was tired so OK I went back down, and we shared 3 bottles of wine and the clock strikes 4.30 in the morning I was supposed to get up at 5am, but he told me when I came back down from the shower ‘I’m 62, you’re 42, if I can stay up, you can stay up!’
Mark: Biff is a great guy, I spoke to him a couple weeks ago, when I was growing up he used to live in the same town we used to follow him around when he used to do his shopping and things like that, yes he’s a cool guy!
Mark: I have one final question for you, and it’s an easy one, what is the meaning of life?
Jocke: The meaning of life for me is my children and my wife who I love and my love for music
Mark: That’s brilliant! That’s all you need, you take care of yourself and have a safe trip over to Australia, take care
Jocke: Thanks Mark
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