Vanvett - Veganpankaka

The lads from Ligisterna have a little side project. Vanvett, Swedish D-beat, Hard Core blah blah blah genre names genre names....

Vanvett - Veganpankaka (Swe)

From the mini album Vanvett (2014)

Ligisterna . Sjukligt Paranoid Live

Ligisterna - Panik

Ligisterna - Panik (Swe)
From the compilation "Tutist i tillvaron vol 6" (2013)

Ligisterna and DERBY STHLM at Skål (Live Review)

The Place, The Club

Possible have Klubb Antisocial gone from being an obscure Oi! club, to become the best punk club in town. It is relaxed and just a cool place to be. The place Skål is located at the wrong side of Södermalm island far away from most of the punk clubs. “Knivsöder” (Knife Söder) the area is called in the local folklore due to its history of drug related stabbings. That is history now as the hipsters and the nouveau rich moving into the area. But that shouldn´t stop you from attend their gigs.
It is very social there. Last night it was a meltingpoint of three different part of the punk scene, The Antisocial regulars, Ligisterna and DERBY STHLMs entourage. It might sound weird but Ligisterna and DERBY STHLM have never seen each other play or even shared a stage, but now it happened. These two top bands on the same bill was a dream scenario and you just pay 60SEK to see them. Brilliant!

However the cellar club isn´t without its problems. The stage must be one of the Worlds smallest. The roof height I very low, especially on stage and the stage sound is pretty much the sound you as a crowd will hear as well. On the other side there will be an intimately atmosphere even if there are few in the audience. Last night it was packed, not entirely full but pretty close to it.

The Bands

Ligisterna

In the basement of Skål, Ligisterna was meeting a new audience that never heard them before, never heard of them before as well as people familiar with their stuff and I doubt they let anyone down. They were ready to rock even if the sound wasn´t optimal.  The mini stage didn´t alowe bass player Cabbe to jump along and move as much he is used to but otherwise nothing was different. the same energy as always. Despite some unbalance in the sound they did a convincing set but to my annoyence they did left out some of their better songs as “SAAB”, “Skitliv”, “Slav” etc. And many in the audience wanted to hear “Soptipp” as well. On the other side we got some new songs, just as good as the old. One a bit accurate today in the shadows of the Husby riots,” you just wanna dance I just  wanna destroy” was the chorus, but sung in Swedish of course. The singer Bojan aka Niklas wasn´t as funny in his comments between the songs as he used to be, but very focused to deliver a good set. And so were the whole gang onstage. But they have a way to communicate with the audience that is breaking down the borders between the rock band onstage and the crowd.

As an encore they did play a little trick on the audience. “En gång till” (One more time) did the crowd shout. And the band deliberately interpret that as the last song was the one to be played once again. So they did play the last played song as the encore. Haha, very funny.

DERBY STHLM

DERBY STHLM manage always to create chaos onstage during their sets. Often their instruments is broken in a way or two. Last night Uffe did go hard on the strings on multiple guitars and had to ask Ligisterna of support to lend him a guitar. Unfortionately Ligisterna just went upstairs to prepare their CD and Vinyl sales so he had to the last number with missing strings. Who cared? It was as good as it was anyway.

Before that the football crazy mad men delivered an entertaining set as always. They are a band that are growing in popularity and despite the chaos on stage, they always deliver a great set. Last night was no exception.  No sweat was spared. Before the gig on Facebook, DERBY STHLM, more or less told the crowd to become a big choir that would help them out. So when they opened up the stage during the Ebba Grön cover “Radion” not only Psykbryt did take the stage in possession as usual, some of the Ligisterna and others as well as I did grab the mics to shout along Lalalalala in the Ebba Gröns 1979 classic, “Radion”. Before that, the French singer Nico of Sans Sursis did his French version of Tredje könets* “Spindlar”, “Cyntia”. Unexpected and very punk good. During the set the microphones was handed out at the audience to use, like to break the borders between the band and the crowd, to blur the dividing line, just in the tradition of DERBY STHLM ideology. And they did create that old school punk feeling of belonging and be a part of something bigger.  Both Ligisterna and DERBY STHLM are always a sight to see, last night was no exception.

And so

Last night was a night when the angry working class ethos got heard onstage. With frustration delivered with a message in punk songs not as thrown bricks. Even if both bands made joke about they rather be out throwing bricks.
60SEK was cheap for such an entertaining night as it was.



*Leffe of DERBY STHLM played in Tredje Könet.

Best and Worst of 2012 (The 1,2, Fuck You List)

2012 I will remember as one of the best Punk Years ever. I doubt that I even back in the early 80ies during the punk and Oi! years saw as many good concerts as this. Both new fresh bands and old timers still going strong. There was both biiiiig events as the West Coast Riot festival and Dropkick Murphys, Iggy and the Stooges and The Hives filling up Gröna Lund to the max. As the were a few people showing up in a club or at Gula Villan for some amazing well played, whitty and hard punk. Infact there was so much going on that I missed some, didn´t had the energy to attend some.

What can we look forward to make it even better the next year? Well, the crowd could get bigger at many clubs. The bands deserve bigger crowds and you deserve to see theese bands.
There are new records comming next year with bands like Rancid, Vänsternäven and Dropkick Murphys. And Possibly will Ligisterna get it going as well. Not to mention all the bands that Im not aware of their struggle for the perfect mix for their next masterpiece, is Nej among those? Cheers all you Punx, Skunx, Muses, Chix, Skins, Progs, Metals and Others.

Tim and Lars from Rancid at WCR
Buy West Coast Riot Prints here

Best Concert
Rancid at West Coast Riot (Gothenburg)
Street Dogs at Debaser Slussen (Stockholm)



Best Concert Promotor/festival/club
West Coast Riot,
Pike

Best full length record 
Hyper Actives – Rock n Roll lives again

Best Single (Vinyl, CD or Digital)
The Dräperz – Välkommen till Råby

Records of other interests
Rebel Riot – Puppet Society (Full length CD)
Rancid – Fuck you (single)

Niklas of Ligisterna

Best bands

Rancid,

Street Dogs, 

Ligisterna, 

Asta Kask, 

Positive new discoveries

Rebel Riot (Bur), 

Louise Linggs and the Bombs (Fra),

Nej (Swe), 

Chix n Dix (Can)

Beorn of Nej

Best Singalongs

Mata asen med bly (Ligisterna), 

Staden Göteborg (Troublemakers), 

Ronka (Troublemakers)

Tobey Got a Drinking Problem (Street Dogs)

Iggy and the Stooges at Gröna Lund

Best Revivals

Alonzo and Fas3 (ex KSMB, Stockholms Negrer) , 

Bitch Boys, 

Iggy and The Stooges

Fjodor (Ex Ebba Grön) singing Staten och Kapitalet at Cellstock

Heaviest

Link (Bel)

Hardest 

Knark (Swe)

Ultimate Punk Heros

Pussy Riot (Rus)

Worst Disapointment

That I missed Hudson Falcons playing in Stockholm

Worst Let down

Social Distortion at Circus

Cellstock (Festival)

The Hives Live at Gröna Lund

Worst Pseudo Happening

The Refused reunion

Merry Shitty XXX-mas

Ligisterna - Arbete ger frihet (O helga natt Cover)

In Translation
The Thugs - Work For Joy (O Holy Night Cover)

Ligisterna - Aldrig dö (Cover)

Ligisterna from Debaser Slussen, May 2Oi2

Ligisterna - Slav at Debaser May 17 -12

Link, Ligisterna, Murdering Murders and Handgranat at Broder Tuck review 6/5-12

There will be pictures later....

The Place

Broder Tuck I described at Ligisternas and the Dräperz review in earlier this year. It isn´t the best of places to see bands at. But at least I can see them, so I don´t whine to much about it.

The Crowd

It was a pretty fair crowd a Sunday night at the narrow basement of Broder Tuck. Sunday isn´t directly t the ball of a week. So I am surprised that, in the end, so many showed up. The concert room at Broder Tuck is in my mind pretty close to a disaster from my crowd point of view. The sound is usual quite bad. But tonight at least Link showed it is possible to get it to sounds good.
The place in itself doesn´t invite to mosh pitting but that isn´t high on the Stockholm crowds toplist.   

Handgranat

Handgranat was a new experience for me. And they set the pace for the night. It´s fast, it´s hard and it´s funny. The sound is good and the energy level is high. After a few bars the feeling of Sunday is long gone, now it´s all about survival. The singer have a deep throat voice that fit perfect with the rest of the band. The drummer gives a certain dynamic to the fast tunes that with a less skilled drummer should be suffering a bit.

Murdering Murders

Murdering Murders singer doesn’t have the same deep growling roar as handgranat´s voice handler. But he have a desperation from the inside that he pour on us as a bitter salt. It´s both funny and bitter in the same sentence. Between the songs there are monologs to set us in the right mood. And they show us how shitty the everyday life can be, how narrow minded and petty the Bougoise society can be. Early in the set they have gear trouble, that Ligisterna later will develop into an art form. So in the beginning of the set they sound not as heavy as Handgranat. But though the set they manage to get it right.

Ligisterna

Ligisterna starts off with a few disasters. First guitar trouble, then microphone troubles, microphone trouble. After the first song there was more guitar trouble. So they was a bit stressed by it and that affected the whole set. To make it worse for them, the crowd teased them that they play to slow, which the band answer with humor. -We will play ever slower soon, they reply. One of the strenght of Ligisterna is their bitter  humor. After two fast as hell bands it wasn´t an easy task to slow it down, to be more traditional punk. But here, Ligisterna should take the credit. Their songs are so good that they have no trouble to make an impact on both me and the crowd, especially on one skinhead that spontaneously moves to the music. The set doesn´t have the same amount of energy that I´ve been used to get from them, and I guess they them self think of it as a skitspelning (crappy gig). Ligisternas humor saves them together with their incredibly strong tunes. I mean, a band havn´t been tested until a disaster gig like this or in front of a hostile crowd is done, and I think they crawl out of it with a honor. In the end of SAAB I can´t help myself and I got a tear in the corner of my eye. That song is the pure essence of what is happening in the western world today.

Link

The Belgian band Link ends the venue and my nine gig weekend. And what a lession in professionalism that was. Listen and Learn! The sound was as close to perfect as you can get. The Growling roars that was the singing was the roar of hell. They were as heavy as the other bands together. And Yet, so musically and sonically sophisticated. This was the best gig of this week ends all nine gigs I´ve seen. The guys seems humble on the verge to annihilation. Don´t worry we are here to see you, I found myself thinking. Some of the audience have waited a long time to see them. I think I was blessed that I was there and the number of people that I think should be sad about missing this is quite a few. They really missed something.
I can´t help thinking that this band should be on a much larger stage. On an stadium I think it should be more fitting, in front of thousands of fans. The sound and songs gives me images of them at a big stage. If their intention was to drag me to hell to show what it is like? They really got me to like it.

OK, you read me whine about the “stand like statues” crowd culture of Stockholm. So this time I wind up some skins and punks for some mosh pitting in front. And I was great. I think Link deserved it.


Was it worth the 60Skr in attendance fee. Link in itself was worth the double so you can make up your own conclusion from it. Deaf and happy!

May U skate? Punk, Skateboarding and Pic Nic. this saturday

Have a picknick, a BBQ, listen to Punk (Ligisterna and the Krooks) and Skate like mad!

http://www.subsurfers.se/2012/04/11/event-may-u-skate/

On Your Mixed Tape 5 Ligisterna

Ligisterna - Mata asen med bly

(2011)

The Swedish band Ligisternas exellent debute album was pearl in last years releases.

Ligisterna at Broder Tuck, March 2012

Ligisterna - Sjukligt paranoid at Broder Tuck, Stockholm

march 2012

Ongoing Video Project - "Punk´s not dead" theme.

Ligisterna on stage 2011

I was invited or challenged (depends on how one look at it) by this young american media student, a punk rocker at the site Punkrockers.com to do a short video on the subject Punks Not Dead vs. Punk´s Dead.
An ever ongoing discussion. Punk hadn´t really started for real when I first heard it back in the days. So I decided to take a look on the subject. After scanning the swedish punkscene for a band to follow, my choise fell on Ligisterna, a realtive new band, but still with the right classic punk vibe to it. Also legends in the swedish punk scenes will appear along with new faces. But punk to me is a very global thing so I will try to get the international happenings right now as well.

Happy, Drummer in legendary Incest Brothers and Köttgrottorna as well as in KSMB for a while.

So this spring and summer I will be documenting venues, concerts and do intervjus. You might be the next one I film?

This blog is pretty much a result of that documentation.

Review - Ligisterna, the Dräpers and Sucks 2BU at Broder Tuck 24/3 -12

A review by Punk Eriksson and one of his brothers, the Metal Head Lars.

at Broder Tuck at Sodermalm, Stockholm Sweden.
Punk Erikssons mood = Good.

Ligisterna On Stage

Broder Tuck is a English style of Pub and restaurant in the still not so fansy and Hipsterfied Soder in the Stockholm inner city. Most notably for its Outlaw bikers killings, execution style that once in a while take part there. Last night there wasnt any sign of a shoot out. Infact it was pretty sparse with guests on the street level. In the basement where they squeezed in a stage there are Punk, Metal and Garage Rock clubs taking turn doing gigs. Last nights club host was Club Dislocated.

The Crowd?   **
Not to many but not to few as well. The Moshpit factor wasnt to high. No wreckless pogoing and moshing as can been seen at some punk venues. My youngest Brother point out that if a band get the audience to move as much as an eyelash they should be proud. Stockholm have during my 25 years here always been a stiff place. So no shadow over the bands efforts.

The sound? *
It sucks, the brick or stone in the basements walls and cieling makes the sound just loud and gained with no really punch in it.



First band up was the relative new band It Sucks 2BU.  

http://www.myspace.com/suckstobu
A peculiar mix of skate, street, oi and whatever and thats possible that is the problem. The many directions the band seems to move in dont apeal to me. what I like with them is the rock feeling in theirpunk, they just dont go for the speed record, they have actually some good songs. They sounds like competent band with some fine tunes. And over all they seem to be a new and comming band.



The Dräpers  

http://www.draeperz.se/

The Dräpers is from the city of Västerås. A hard labour city an one hour train ride from Stockholm. Västerås is a smaller city with big city problems. And that will be heard in the Dräpers music. Its faster and harder then the first band. And very tight. Both on record and live they dont slow down in their Aska Kask kind of punk. My brother point out that he could wish for a bit more attitude from both those first band. -Dont be such nice lads on stage, is his point. And if not so, at least be a bit funny. All that would the last band come up with.

         Pure joy makes people take part in the show

Ligisterna (means The Thugs)  

http://www.myspace.com/ligisterna

When I first came across Ligistern I was struck. It was like I was 17 again listen to Ebba Grön. Swedish lyrics with a lot of political rage. With songs like "Mata asen med bly" (Feed the scumbags with led), Vilket jävla skitliv (What a fucking shit life) and comments about the current situation for worked out unemployed workers in the tune SAAB, puts them in the same genre as Ebba Grön and Incest Brothers back in the days, but with a modern touch. This band is by no way nostalgic, they are where there are right now, singing about getting to drunk and messed up. And its not posed that I can say for sure, because they are far from sober onstage which show in their speak between the songs.
With drunken ramble about "Piss Minor Chords" and the bass guitar neck up their asses makes me, them and the rest of the audience laugh. They are funny, they are whitty and they are angry. My brother point out that it sucks that they play in a place like this. They deseve at least a 1500 people crowd he told me. Im pleased that I dont have to be packed in with so much people to see something good like this. In my opinon Ligisterna played their best gig so far, of what I seen. A punk festival in Falköping and as support act to Hudson Falcons in Gothenburg will follow for Ligisterna.


As ususal after punk gig people mix and get along in a brotherly and sisterly manner. Bands and Audience get along in an easy manner. People from all over Sweden and Germany. A fun night worth its 100 SKr (10 Euros) in entrance fee.