THE HELLACOPTERS' RECENT STORM THROUGH FRISCO TALLIED SOME CASUALTIES. First, opening act Acid King rum-
bled the weak-kneed motherfuckers to the floor. Then there was Fu Manchu, who scorched across a dry lake bed to ground
zero, behind each his own streamlined baby. Finally, the Hellacopters came down with the heavy and quick ear assaults,
prompting pain and injury. The last of the holdouts howling at the end were deaf badasses who were hauled off into the depths
of weed mania. Kenny Hellacopter took some time aside before the shockwave to discuss sex, drugs, rock & roll, and the
Stockholm Rave Commission.
THE
irst off, where are the Hellacopters from?
Stockholm, Sweden.
As kids, did you ever have bomb scares or do
nuke drills because of living just across the
Baltic from the Red Curtain?
Not more serious than anywhere else. The
bomb is universal. Once the bomb is
dropped...that's it.
When the glam-rock egg hatched in
Hollywood during the '80s, were there any
Swede casualties? Did any civilians pick up
quadruple-necked guitars and wear makeup
big hair?
There a bunch them. Europe is the
obvious one; they did "Final Countdown" and all
of that sort of a melted down version of the
whole glam scene. We had heaps of them.
were
What about Yngwie Malmsteen?
There you are. The guru, buddha.
HellaCOPters
"They just ride in their cars,
By James Jackson
is a fucked discussion to begin with. I
mean, prostitution is around but we don't
have all the problems. We don't even have
serious strip joints; you have to be a card-
carrying member and everything, and it's
really expensive. As for the drug thing.
there is this specially trained squad called
the Rave Commission. It's sixteen plain-
clothed officers that sort of nestle their
way into rave parties and bust sixteen-
year-old girls who drop ecstasy for the
first time having a blast. They lock them
up for twelve hours, like interrogation,
and get their moms and all these social
people into it, and it destroys their life.
They're trained to look for acid move-
ments on the dance floor. If your dance is
too trippy are going to bust your ass!
And they let the junkies die in the public
toilets. Heroin is all around Stockholm at
the moment; kind of chic now apparently.
[A
"rolled
I cigarette" is passed.] Want a
hit? There is tobacco in it, the
European way...barbarian.
they
get drunk, shitfaced, Actually
and fight with knives!
Have you ever driven around in a black van
with King Diamond?
I saw him. He was walking across the street in
Denmark. He's from Denmark, not Sweden, but his
bass player is Swedish. I've hung out with him, and
he was the nicest of guys. When I was younger I
used to have a bookstore; I had everything from
Burroughs to Freak Brothers, but we had some
Crowley stuff in there too. He'd come in, so it was
t bass playing and smoking dope.
about
drugs
Are
sand prostitution legal in your country
as they are across the way in Amsterdam?
Not as they are in Amsterdam. It's nothing like
Amsterdam-nothing is. Right now, we are having
a discussion right now whether to make prostitu-
tion itself illegal or buying sex illegal. What are we
going to do here? That's where we are now, which
back to that same small crowd of skaters. If you
count all of them there are maybe twenty-the hard-
core good-hearted skaters who thrash.
You guys had a tune on the comp All Punk Rods
and have a flamed cover on your new
rece
record; what's the hot rod connection with
the Hellacopters?
We are all into the aesthetics of American cars, but
only the piano player has a license and he is too
paranoid to drive. The drummer has a license. In
Sweden we've got this subculture that's been around
for ages, sort of greaser but redneck style because
they don't even grease their hair anymore. They just
ride in their cars, get c
t drunk, shitfaced, and fight with
knives. They are called the Ragere. "Rageres Are A
Bunch Of Motherfuckers" used to be this classic
used to be
Off the
Swedish punk song 'cause the greasers used to beat
on the punks. When our first record came out the
drummer from Nomads sold us his old car cheap, so
we made the label pick it up for us. We put flames
and the Hellacopters logo on it, so it looks good but
runs like shit. It's a Chevy Nova SS '66.
Are high-powered American cars on the road
in Sweden?
Yeah, yeah. There e a bunch of them actually but
they are sort of expensive. Like I said, there is this
greaser Ragere tradition that has been around since
the '50s, so there are a bunch of American cars in
Sweden. They are beautiful machines.
we
Tonight you're on the bill with Fu Manchu; are
they on tour with you or is this a one night stand?
Oh no, the sad part is tonight we are sort of wrap-
tomorrow is the last gig.
ping the whole thing
have a barbarian
up; tomorrow
question...Long ago when a
It's been four nights. It cort
sort of sucks because
revered Viking battlelord would
tonight
we are maybe getting to know and relax
die, the clan would honor his spir-
around each other. And before this we were on tour
it's ascent to Valhalla with the sacri-
with the Quadrajets; they're the best. And it was
with the New Bomb Turks. It turned into a family
fice of the town's most beautiful vir-
tuation. At the end of the Quadrajets' sets there
gin on
I on a funeral raft set afire after
her death by way
were no Quadrajets left on stage; it was
of strangulation
all New
Bomb Turks and
and the swift cutlery of a witch
Hellacopters...ARRGHH! That was
armed with a large sword. What's
really good for us.
1 for us. We've got two more nights, so
changed? Is Scandanavia a safe we are going work it out.
region for skaters?
Ummm, well, sort of turning that way
now. We have a small tribe of skateboard-
ers who are still honorable and still do it.
the right way. There is a band, Skellet-an
American label, 007, is putting out a split
7" with them-and the bass player from
that band used to own or work for G Spot,
which is the main skateboard shop in lots
of towns in Sweden. But in Stockholm it's
What is in the cards for the Hellacopters?
cards for
We are going to take some time off; we just finished
recording our third album before we left. We are
going to try and get it out as soon as possible and get
this whole mess with American labels sorted out,
because it's like heaps of people talkin' all the time.
So we'll be back in May and try and do the South
with the Quadrajets.
Thanks, man. Appreciate it.
Well so do we. It's Thrasher, man. That's so cool!
SICK OF IT ALL
CALL TO ARMS
CALL TO ARMS
NEW RECORD OUT FEBRUARY 1999
FAT
CD/LP/CASS
96 THRASHER
WRECK CHORDS
FAT WRECK CHORDS PO. BOX 193690 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94119