CHUGGER INTERVIEW:

Chugger is:

David Dahl - Vocals
Robert Bjärmyr - Lead guitars
Robin Lagerborg - Rhythm guitars
Eric Skjuttorp - Drums              

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BOOTLEG METAL: So let’s get things started with the name. Who came up with the name and what’s behind it?

CHUGGER: Hey, Robert from Chugger here!
The name was my suggestion and after a quick discussion internally we settled for it. The name comes from the chugging sound of a distorted guitar; which coincidentally also describes the sound of an unstoppable freight train running down the tracks, and the very definition of the word itself; a muffled explosive sound. We wanted a name that suit the music and describes what you can expect from us; a whole lot of guitars chugging!

BOOTLEG METAL:  Where is the band from?

CHUGGER: We're based in Gothenburg, Sweden, but our members are hailing from all over the nation. As magnificent as our city is, it's also a quite small city in the eyes of the world, which usually means that any musician is part of several projects, bands and groups. But, of course, only the best of the best across the nation are Chugger material.

BOOTLEG METAL: Is this the original line up and how did you guys find yourselves in the same band ?

CHUGGER: The short version is that I, Robert, grew tired of people simply expecting great things to happen effortlessly by the hands of someone else and waiting for "the big break" to magically occur, so I quit all my bands and projects at the time to create my own beast. A creation of my own, heavy hitting and ready to hit the big stages across the world. Turns out that was a bit more difficult than I anticipated, since there's ten lazy people on every dedicated one. Therefore, we swapped a lot of members during the first years, mostly due to people just tagging along for the ride instead of pushing forward as a group. But there's always a silver lining, which in this case was that the music was strong and the will of those who endured the first setbacks lead Chugger on a path across Europe to perform our groove death metal for hungry and dedicated fans. The line-up we have today is rock solid, musically, artistically and dedication wise. Expect great things from Chugger in the future!

BOOTLEG METAL: How long has Chugger been around and how long after your first rehearsal was it before the first show?

CHUGGER: It went quite fast, so in the first seven months of the bands existence we recorded an five song EP called Scars and did a European tour, aptly named Scars Over Europe. We had a blast and people knew when they saw us that we were here to stay! BOOTLEG METAL:  Nice…. Tour and EP in 7 months? Unheard of.

BOOTLEG METAL: Does everyone contribute to the writing process or does someone generally write the lyrics and/or music?

CHUGGER: Previously it's all been my vision and the material he brought from the early days of the band, but today its a joint effort and everyone is bringer their A-game into the mix. What we have today is something much more enticing and exciting that truly feels like the next step in metal. Sounds cheezy with extra sauce, but as a fact – whenever we're part of a line-up most bands has a sound that is known or feels very familiar, while we're sounding fresh and hungry.

BOOTLEG METAL: What are your songs about? Fact?  Fiction? Personal experiences?

CHUGGER: We usually write about the darker side of human nature, but much like Rammstein we're not flauting it and waving it around (that much) but rather take a bit more sinister and twisted approach. For instance, if we were about to write a ballad, you could rest assured it wouldn't be about love between two happy people... But mostly our lyrical  theme is revenge, hatred and hurting people in various ways. It's an outlet for people to vent frustration and so far it's been working really well for us.  BOOTLEG METAL: (laughs) I love it man. Vent we will.

BOOTLEG METAL: What genre do you feel Chugger fit’s in the best and what influenced your writing to get you there?

CHUGGER: We are probably what would come out of if Rammstein and Slipknot had a baby with Leatherface... Remember the aforementioned freight train? Like that, except that the train has a vicious sadistic killer running around and murdering people. As a long time fan of slasher movies and, in lack of a better word, fan of the bizarre and sick, I tend to get a lot of inspiration from the darker sides of humanity which of course influence the music and lyrics, but without resorting to blastbeats and other "cheap tricks", we groove our way to the slaughter house.

8. BOOTLEG METAL: I see you have 2 well earned festival spots this summer. First Gefle Metal Festival this month in Sweden and of course Wacken in August. Is this the first time you guys find yourselves on a festival tour?

CHUGGER: Yes, it is actually. While we have played on festivals before, this time the stakes are higher and the stages bigger. Gefle Metal Festival and Wacken Open Air are two heavy hitters in the industry, so we are beyond stoked to be part of the insane lineups this year. We're equal parts fan and artists on these events! 

9. BOOTLEG METAL: Where have you played live this year?

CHUGGER: We have only done a few shows this year, unfortunately but deliberatly. We are currently working on new music and took the decision to spend most of our time writing and finetuning the material for our next full-length album. But Chugger is a finely tuned groove death machine that is best experienced live, so we're always scouting for great opportunities to spread our songs about peace, love and understanding.

BOOTLEG METAL: Is there a favorite cover that always finds it’s way on your set list and is there a story behind it?

CHUGGER: We have no covers on stage or record at the moment, in fact we have no covers in the rehearsal space even. Since all of us have been in previous bands we haven't really had any interest in doing covers. But since it's been a few years since, who knows what'll happen in the future... 

BOOTLEG METAL: Is there a past show that stands out from the rest?

CHUGGER: A few years ago we were doing a club show on the Spanish westcoast, in a small town called Vigo. We didn't expect much, being a Wednesday and all, and the location was not exactly city-center. But when the doors opened that night, man... People went from the door with a huge smile on their face directly to merch booth, bought a t-shirt, changed clothes, got a beer and walked up to the stage. And they kept doing that - all night - right until it was time for us to enter the stage. By the time Chugger was about to play the place was packed. It was a great feeling and the gig was awesome, people screaming the lyrics and even the girls in the audience did windmills with their hair. Much appreciated and a great evening!

It didn't end there either...
It was further improved when we talked to the owner over a smoke after closing. Turns out the club wasn't even open on Wednesday. Meaning the club was opened just for us and everyone in the place was there specifically to see us. It was an amazing night and we hope to come back as soon as our tour schedule allows for a visit to Spain!  BOOTLEG METAL: Spain showing the love.

BOOTLEG METAL: Any Spinal Tap moments you can share?

CHUGGER: How about the time we blew a tire on the Polish freeway doing 110km/h, or the one with broken gaffer taped toilets next to the stage, or the one where I swallowed my hair and puked in my mouth on stage so I had to swallow the vomit, or the one about Davids sunstroke in England, or the time our old drummer was insanely drunk at a polish afterparty so we sent him to the relax room, only to notice that relaxation in Polish means even more Absinthe and digeridoos... BOOTLEG METAL: (LAUGHS) Yeah any of those. CHUGGER: Luckily, all our Spinal Tap moments are recorded after our shows – never before. Fans get 120% our best, every day, every night.

BOOTLEG METAL: So what’s in the works for (the band), is there a recent album/EP release you’d like to tell us about and where can we get it?

CHUGGER: We're actually in Studio Fredman here in Gothenburg, currently recording a single and spiritual follow-up to 'Grinder'. The new track is called 'Through Suffering Reborn' and is a real treat that is pushing the envelope of Chugger further. A great piece of metal with a lyrical theme about a sick individual who believes he saves people by killing and consuming them, so keep your eyes and ears peeled on our social medias and you'll notice new stuff soon!

BOOTLEG METAL: Do you have merchandise for sale?

CHUGGER: Absolutely!  Our music and merchandise is best ordered from the band itself via our webshop, which guarantee the authenticity of the items and allows for signed items and interaction with the band, which you don't get from other vendors and shops. And our wallets will thank you as well, since all profits go to the band instead of one or more middlemen. The shop is available on our website, www.chugger.se, and of course via our facebook, www.facebook.com/chuggerband.

BOOTLEG METAL: Where can you be found online?

CHUGGER: Anywhere there's music, I guarantee you that we're there! But Spotify and YouTube are turning into de facto platforms for listening to music, so be sure to check us out there!

Official site  
Spotify
YouTube
Facebook

BOOTLEG METAL: As far as videos, sites, merch, ect. Are you guys more of a DIY band or do you hire out?

CHUGGER:  Both, actually. In today's market you have to be able to do a shitload of things besides making music, which is why we're lucky to have both computer and graphics experience “in-house”. We usually make our own artwork for our social medias and sites, but for bigger releases like albums it's often better to outsource the artwork and merch prints as that take a lot of time to produce and would interfere with the production of music and tour planing otherwise. We're musicians first, entrepreneurs second.

BOOTLEG METAL: One question I like to ask. What song (if any) by another artist do you wish you wrote?

CHUGGER: As a business man, 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica... but as a fan, I'd probably say 'Balls To The Wall' or 'Breaker' by Accept. I started my love for metal with the shrieking of Udo, the fantastic guitars by Wolf Hoffmann, thundering bass lines of Peter Baltes etc. As a side note, Wolf is one of the greatest people I've ever met. Amazing guy, humble and friendly. It's always a gamble meeting people that you look up to, will they be an asshole IRL, etc. Happy to say Mr Hoffmann exceeded my expectations and and it was a great time sitting down with him.

BOOTLEG METAL: Is there another artist or band that is totally not your genre that you listen to?

CHUGGER: I consider good music to be music made with soul and heart. In short, good music is good music. For me, the musical oddity would be Eminem. I don't listen to rap music in general, but there's a lyrical theme and underdog feeling about his music that I dig. It's not “look at my gold rings, bitch”, but rather songs about constantly grasping for air and proving yourself against a world that doesn't approve of you. In a way, there's a lot of metal lyrically in his music. 

BOOTLEG METAL: If you could pick, past or present, would there be a dream collaborator (artist/producer) you would like to work with?

CHUGGER: For us, a dream tour would be Lamb of God, Avatar and Chugger. Three extremely solid live acts that fit really well together, but are diverse enough to gather crowds from three different directions while still bringing music that everyone appreciates. Contradictory to our lyrics and the general theme of our look, we want people to have a good time when watching or listening to Chugger. We want the listener to get all their angst, violence and hatred for the world and its inhabitants out of their system and act as an outlet for people to blow off some steam. Today's society isn't really allowing people to be the glorified animals they are, but after a concert with us, rest assured you'll go home with nothing but ecstasy and bliss in your system.

We're ready and waiting for the call, guys!

BOOTLEG METAL: I checked out a few tunes. Grinder, of course. That seems to be doing well for you guys. However, an older song, Virus stands out as well. Another great, great song in the arsenal.  I love the anticipation the intro produces. So let’s talk Grinder. I gotta tell you, it’s hard typing up questions with this beast playing in the background. Is there any backstory to how this song came about?

CHUGGER:  Thanks! We're rather fond of it as well, especially as it is the first song we released with the new and improved (and hopefully final) line-up. It's a great song, everyone really brought their absolute best to the table on this one! The song is lyrically and originally was about 'what would happen if you actually get hold of the person that caused you all this angst and grief and nobody knew about it'. Is the psycho-killer really the bad guy, or just someone branded by consequences and grief? We might see more about this story in the future...

Bootleg Metal: Now the Grinder video… just a great job. I’ll be honest, at about 20 seconds in I had to jump to the end to see who makes it out alive (laughs). I did go back and play it thru. This must’ve been a great time making this. Anything you can tell us about the making of the video?

CHUGGER:  That's more or less the exact reaction we wanted to achieve with the video, haha. We (and all other metal bands) had already done videos where the band plays and perhaps some short footage from “the movie in the song”. But this time, we cut out the bands (body)parts completely, for what in my opinion feels like a quite fresh video. The video itself was produced by René Valdes and his Greenworks Television, along with a very talented crew of makeup and gore artists. We also produced a few props on our our, Peter Jackson style. It's an homage of sorts to what we call Hillbilly Hell, depicted in fun family movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. Writing this, we are actually collecting pics and anecdotes from the recording and will post a Behind-The-Scenes from the recording of the video soon. Stay tuned! BOOTLEG METAL:  Shoot us a link when you get the behind the scenes up. Love to see it.

22. Screw it. Let’s talk Virus too. It’s a deserving song. That kick ass intro, to the punch in the gut growl. Awesome guitar work and great drumming, you guys squeezed it all in there. Any backstory to this one?

CHUGGER: Yeah, absolutely! The intro of the song is a perfect starter, for sure. This is actually a sci-fi song, as opposed to our normal genres, about human nature and its similarity to a virus in how we reproduce, consume and destroy our environment. In 'Virus', mankind is embarking on a journey to leave Earth for another planet since this one has been depleted. So in essence, mankind is the virus that spreads, unable to learn from the past and doomed to fail again and again. BOOTLEG METAL: Great concept. As always, history repeats CHUGGER: Fun fact – I had a terrible flu during the recording of the video. I did a decent job of hiding it as cameras where rolling, but I slept on the floor between takes. It was the longest recording day of my career!

BOOTLEG METAL: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us and answering the questions. Is there anything you’d like to add?
CHUGGER: It was my pleasure, thanks for your time as well – good questions!
For the readers out there; Hope you've had a good time reading this, feel free to swing by our social medias and hit the like/follow-button to get all the good stuff that's coming from us in the near future. We love you all!

Finally -
Chugger is a visceral experience best enjoyed live, be sure to swing by when the groove machine hits your town! BOOTLEG METAL: Do it people!