Socially and psychologically engaged – interview with Guilt Trip

Updated: 22 July, 2023 Created: 16 September, 2015 By:Adalbert Category: Interviews

Guilt Trip is a Swedish industrial duo, which has already long experience in creating of diversified and intelligent, yet still energetic and somehow catchy music. Karl Lindberg (synthesisers) and Magnus Nilsson (vocals) agreed to answer a few question for Halotan Records website. The interview have taken place right before their show at Castle Party 2015, where the duo performed in the old evangelical church. Guilt Trip’s sound is inspired by such bands as Numb or Skinny Puppy, however it was also able to create something original. If you like when your brain moves along with your body, and do not affraid of more deep lyrics which actually mean something – give them a chance.

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Adalbert: My first question is about the name “Guit Trip”. This term is used when someone is trying to make you feel guilty for something. Can you tell me more about the meaning of the band’s name?

Magnus: Our name is “Guit Trip” because we try to put people on guit trip, we are trying to make them think differently about certain things. Hopefully… So then you will think ‘Oh! I didn’t know, I didn’t realised that I was thinking like that, bad me!’

Adalbert: All right… You will make them guilty and…

hopefully one of our gigs will end with a riot

Magnus: And that trip will make them eventually aware…

Karl: Of themselves actually. And we think the lyrics actually reflect that notion, so to speak.

Adalbert: What can you tell me about the beginnings of the band? I read something about that, and I found out, that you’ve been active since many, many years, since nineties, I think, and it begun with a band Chirurgie Esthetique, what can you tell me about that?

Karl: We had a lot of different names, and we’ve actually started in 1989 I think. We had a different singer, Magnus was on keyboards, I was on keyboards, we’ve been fooling around in our boy room, just being a fans of electronic music. We had Steinberg Pro24, we heard that actually Front 242 had used it, so we also got it, the Atari stuff, and we were on the way.

Magnus: And the reason we changed the name from Chirurgie Esthetique to Guil Trip was, first of all, people couldn’t pronounce it, and the music had changed. So we thought that it is a new beginning. We’ve made and album “Reborn”, because that’s what it was – rebirth – new music, new name.

Karl: And new musical style. We introduced guitars, we’ve experimented a lot. And then we made three albums.

Magnus: And lyrics are changed. With Chirurgie Esthetique it was almost “hippie”, with Guilt Trip its harsher lyrics, more “into your face”…

Adalbert: More socially engaged?

Magnus: More socially engaged, yes… And hopefully also more psychologically engaged. And hopefully one of our gigs will end with a riot.

[halobox111]

Adalbert: At Castle Party is your third gig in Poland?

Magnus: No…Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw, Poznan, Castle Party… it’s second time at Castle Party now.

Adalbert: What do you think about Polish audience?

Karl: We love them, we hope that more and more Polish people, and also people around the world will engage and get the message of Guit Trip.

Adalbert: What are your musical inspirations? Your last album “Brap:tism” is very diversisifed…

Karl: I don’t know where to start…

Magnus: At the beginning it was Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, and… don’t mention the “S” word. Yes, Skinny Puppy was the name that was following us since the beginning. But now we listen to everythong. We listen to grindcore, heavy metal, pop music and even disco. Obviously that affects the music.

Karl: When we make a new album it’s like a mosaic. You can see it if you will take a step back and watch it from the distance. Just like Jackson Pollock actually. We keep the inspiration with the “S” word and so on, but we try to keep our own style, and make the next step.

When you make music you’re just 'brapping' – you’re making what you want

Adalbert: Do you reallytake care about what is going now on the dark electro scene, because I’ve got an impression, that your path isn’t very common, that everything now is more techno oriented and simple.

Karl: Yes, we noticed that, that in a substream we found mainstream. It’s the evolution, even in a substream something is becoming more popular and fatter and fatter branch. We see it as pop actually, and we try to avoid that thing. We try not to fall into those traps. Sometimes, when we creating music we use some elements of this “pop vein” but we’re making it our own. You can hear it on the new album in some of the songs.

dalbert: Yes, it’s not like you listen this record twice, and you will catch all of the elements, it’s more complex, I think. And another question I want to ask… What is “BRAP”? When I saw it for the first time I thought about rap, hip hop, and so on.

Magnus: Skinny Puppy used this word to describe how they create music. We interpret it as “do whatever you want”. When you make music you’re just “brapping” – you’re making what you want, if you like it it’s ok, if you don’t – do something else. It’s just jamming, just as the jazz musicians do…

Adalbert: I didn’t know about it. It means that the title of album “BRAP:tism” referes directly to Skinny Puppy.

Magnus: Yes, because we knew that the people will going to mention it. So we decided to put it on the front cover, to let everybody know – “we know that, we’re inspired by Skinny Puppy” to shut the discussion. Unfortunately it had different effect…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb8lDMEkg7o

Adalbert: What can you tell me about the electronic scene from Sweden. I know many bands from this country, and in my opinion Sweden was always into oldschool EBM stuff plus some big names like Covenant. How do you fell as aa part of this scene?

Magnus: We don’t really think we are a part of the scene, it’s much of oldschool EBM…

Karl: Well, our label is EK Product, and they do a lot of oldschool.

Magnus: Yes, they do, but we don’t. It’s like you said – it’s Covenant and EBM.

[halobox113]

Adalbert: I mean, do you interfere with other bands, it’s harder to create music, while you’re all alone.

Karl: Let’s put it simply, as I said in the beginning. We listen pretty much to everything, and sometimes take an inspiration from it.

Magnus: We do some collaborations, I did guest vocals for a band called Emu Bomb, we had also some collaboration with a band Pain Machinery.

Karl: Our former album (“Feed the fire-remixed”) is only with re-mixes done by other artists, you can find it on Spotify. We like to collaborate with other artists.

Recently one think that really pisses me off is nationalism

Adalbert: Your music is experimental, but it makes you move – it’s very energetic.

Magnus: We want people to react and understand what I’m saying – sometimes I say very provocative things.

Adalbert: Do you think people really care about the lyrics?

Magnus: I hope so, the lyrics are printed in the booklet.

Adalbert: You should write something about sex and drugs.

Magnus: It’s so common…

Karl: It’s banal… Sorry, anal…

Magnus: Like Motley Crue. You can always sing “yesterday I f*cked pope in the ass, how you feel about that”.

Adalbert: So many bands are just putting the words without any meaning, because you can always say it’s about fun.

Magnus: Provocation just for provocation is meaningless, you’ve got to have a point. Why I am saing this, what I want to achieve, is there a point.

Adalbert: What makes you angry, so you want to write about it?

Magnus: Non-solidarity, and the people who don’t think what makes them think in a specific way. Why do I think in a specific way? Because I took this from my parents or society, or because I really believe it. Recently one think that really pisses me off is nationalism, so maybe I will write about it in the future. Who knows?