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By
Sleazegrinder
You'd suppose, giving the nature of the two-legged beast, that when
foolish men converge, a tragic flower will surely bloom. Border wars,
race riots, rodeos- United Fools abound. But we are not here today
to discuss the mud kickers, flag burners and pain hounds that crawl
across this wounded planet, because in Gothenburg Sweden, baby, the
Goddamn gathered fools take to the stage and rip open the sky with
huge chunks of riffed out slabbage, and there is no confusion, no
lack of judgement, only pounding, arena ready rock and roll. The sound
United Fools have forged since their inception in 1998 is unique in
it's simplicity and purity of intent. They're not as sleazy as their
needles and sins raunch and roll countrymen like the Backyard Babies,
Hardcore Superstar, or similarly named United Enemies; and they're
not as low tuned, grooved out and doped up as the Stoner Nation either.
No, UF are a straight ahead, gimmick free hard rock band. This state
of affairs has garnered the band a loyal following with the 'melodic
metal' crowd, the short haired guys in ill-fitting t-shirts who wax
poetic about Goddamn GTR records and are so detached from rock and
roll's hyper reality that they actually label their passion 'AOR'-
you know, like they used to do with REO Speedwagon and Heart records.
Well, you can dismiss thoughts of rubbing shoulders with those hopeless
cellar dwellers, because although you'll find plenty of harmonious,
soaring guitarwork and a heavy leaning on epic chug, UF are firmly
in the grips of the glory stomping crunch of cats like the Cult, the
Almighty, Gunsn'Roses, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy and Van fuckin' Halen. Further
explorations in the realm of classic heroic indulgence, if you will.
One thing's for certain, you won't find a more pedal flooring hard
rock anthem to blast you along in the mean machine than their signature
single, "Hunter" a throbbing ode to lust, rock, and what happens when
you foolishly mix them both together. I remember the days when bands
like United Fools were fuckin' kingpins, Jack. When the next wave
of authentic rock and roll finally hits the streets, UF, with any
luck, will be leading the charge. I pressed missing surnamed front
Fool Alan for sane explanations and rampant hearsay in the dog eared
end of 2001, just prior to the eventual, and much delayed, release
of United Fools' self titled debut album.
United Fools is one of the classic rock band names, fairly screaming
drunken power and the eventual high disasters that come with it. However,
the rock press is filled with jokers, and the UF name is wide open
for snarky headlines-"United Fools? Well, at least they got the name
right." I ask Alan if the band's been sucker-punched in print yet.
"No, not yet", he tells me, "But I've seen some surprised faces and
some hysterical laughing." He tells the serendipitous tale of how
men became fools. "Me and Zlaja (the drummer) were at some pub trying
to figure out a name for the band and we saw a sign on the wall and
it said 'United-something' and he started to read, "Ehh.United", and
I said 'United Fools'. We started to laugh and we knew that was it.
It was very spontaneous and so funny that we decided to keep it. The
rest of the band looked very serious when we came up with it." The
Fools hail from Europe's own version of the Motor City, Gothenburg,
a town where black metal wastrels plot church torchings and sleaze
rockers pass out, vomit stained but fashionable, in the gutters. Alan
gives me his take on Swedish rock. "Well, it depends on your taste",
he tells me. " If stoner-rock is popular - everybody plays it, and
so on, you know what I mean? I don`t think that the Swedish rock scene
is so good, actually. Sure, there are a couple of very good bands
like Backyard Babies and Hardcore Superstar, and theyīre both very
popular. Then you have, like, thousands of Backyard Babies and Hellacopters
copy cats." I ask him if the Fools ever run into their local stupor
stars in Go-Rock Cityīs many watering holes. "Yeah, sure. Well, not
Hardcore Superstar, cause they are pretty big now, touring all the
time and stuff. But we do drink, man. A lot. Whenever we are invited."
Besides many nights on the tiles, UF share another distraction with
their fellow countrymen- chicks. I canīt find one song on the record
that isnīt about girls, in one way or another. "Yes, many of the songs
are about the girls", Alan readily admits, " but mostly they have
something underneath, like prostitution or drugs, but some of them
are just about the girls for the sake of it." Not always, though.
"Then there are those īimages lyricsī where you have to picture the
lyrics in your head, otherwise if you try to explain it with words,
it comes out stupid. Like "Kiss me and set me free"- that was inspired
by the "Interview with the Vampire" movie. It is a very erotic song."
Agreed. But the burning question remains- does being in a band in
Sweden help to score with these chicks so often immortalized in the
songs? "Yes, but only if you are in a hip-hop band", he jokes. " It
seems to me that girls just stopped giving a fuck about the rock bands.
At least the younger generations." Speaking of  which,
Alan has no great love for īmodernī rock, preferring the righteous
rumble of the classic heavitude that he grew up with. "We all listen
different types of music, but still in the context of rock music",
he says of the bandsī personal tastes. "Iīm mostly attached to American
hard rock, and some of the guys like some heavier stuff. I donīt think
my musical taste has changed a lot at all. Itīs basically the same
old song and dance. I just donīt see anything interesting that came
out in the last decade besides of a couple exceptions, which is really
not enough." United Fools on tape is one thing, but to really experience
their hard rock bluster, Alan suggests soaking the band in live. "You
should come and see it. It`s a very energetic and very sexy show,
and most importantly there is a very positive rock`n`roll vibe when
we play live", he says, with obvious pride. The band are stage seasoned,
thatīs for sure. At this point, theyīve seen everything. "There was
this one pretty funny gig", he remembers. " We accepted a invitation
to play at some place, and when we turned up it was some fucking library.
So there are we rocking and behind us there are literally hundreds
of books replacing the amp stocks." I ask him what sort of crowd the
band usually attracts- besides librarians. "Well, the great thing
is - you can never tell. It seems that different people understand
our music differently. We get compliments from all different kinds
of people, not only hard rock fans but even those who usually donīt
listen to harder music, and all the way up to some heavier dudes.
I think that`s cool - everybody can find something interesting in
our music." The bandīs first album is finally due for release on Mad
Dog records, but itīs been a long time coming. Alan explains why.
"A month before we were supposed to go in studio and record this album,
our original lead guitar player called and said he was quitting so
we started to look for another one. The time was getting away. And
then, our bass player called and said he was quitting, too. The same
day, me and Zlaja are arriving at our rehearsing room just to see
that one wall of it has been brought down by some workers, and that
our equipment is floating in some fucking water. By that time we had
just a couple weeks left to studio time and we had to find two new
members and a new rehearsing room. It was like the Twilight Zone,
but we did it somehow." Eventually, the band recruited Mattias on
guitar and Johnny on bass, and together they finished the album, 11
songs packed with power and passion. I ask Alan if heīs got a personal
favorite on the disc. "Thatīs a hard one. It depends on how I feel
that day. I really love all those songs. But maybe "Devilīs road",
even though itīs a slow song. Itīs got this huge, mysterious, almost
hypnotic atmosphere. I also love īKiss me and set me freeī." Solid
selections both. "We hope that the release of this album will be the
highlight", he says of the bandīs career so far, "followed with a
lot of gigs." If the pre-release Iīve been spinning is any indication,
thatīs a very likely scenario indeed. There is, however, one last
question to ask. Alan, my brother, who will save rock and roll? "Thatīs
our mission, man", he says. " It surely needs to be fucking saved."
For more information on the band and the album, check out http://www.go.to/unitedfools
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