”My Devil has always been booze. From an early age.”
Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks ·
Geronimo’s cellar has really gotten going again after a fairly quiet summer. We walked in right as the smoke started to seep out and Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks took the stage. They look incredibly cool. It occurred to me that I had actually never seen the band live, even though I’ve known about them for as long as I can remember in Stockholm’s music scene. I’d only heard the occasional song here and there. They serve up some kind of extremely appealing, stylish surf psychedelia. The sound is perfect in this cellar, which perhaps isn’t something you’d expect. Maybe all the gigs that have taken place in that cave over the decades have carved out an acoustics perfectly suited to noisy rock. The band kicks off, and they deliver about half an hour of pure magic. The new album is out, buy it!
Q: When and how did you make your pact with the devil and your guitar playing?
A: My Devil has always been booze. From an early age.
Q: Where did you get the square guitar from?
A: Bought it at 4-Sound ten years ago. Then I wanted to quit and sold it to Dregen. Got to buy it back a few years later.
Q: How long have Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks existed, and how did it all come about?
A: 3 Nov 1992.
Q: You mentioned at the gig that your son produced the record, among other things. Does it feel good to collaborate with family members on music?
A: He thinks I’m demented on guitar.
Q: What is the connection between you and the American blues legend Robert Johnson, if there is one?
A: Blues is always the most important thing.
Q: How much punch have you drunk together at most?
A: It has nothing to do with drinking. It’s a term for when you get punch-drunk in boxing.
Q: If you were forced at gunpoint to do a cover you didn’t want to play in any way, which song would it be?
A: I absolutely fucking hate “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
Q: Who are you in the band, and do you have connections to any other interesting bands or constellations we should know about?
A: Me on guitar, Jonathan Doe on guitar, Johan Wallnäs on bass and synth, Robert Johansson on drums.
The bands we’re related to are mainly Barbwires, Langhorns and Tremolo Beer Gut, Hypnomen, The BottleUps.
Q: What happens next?
A: We’re playing live in Gävle on September 25th. On the same day, our 15th album, Pussy Eas Wired For Sound, is released on vinyl.
