The Crooked Beat.
This interview done by Janne Lepisto with guitarist Anders for Banana Fanzine.
The Crooked Beat is the best Swedish Ska and reggae band around. I got
their first Mini cd from A Message To You, and quickly I decided that I
must give this band some space in my zine. So I sent the questions in,
and Anders the guitarist answered.
1. Tell us a brief history of the band, line-up, ages, discography etc usual things? How do you got the deal with A Message To You?
Most of us comes from Sundbytierg (a suburb to Stockholm). Late 95' drummer -Leif gathers a bunch of guys, some which he had played with before & some he knew about by hearsay. Each and everyone with different musical backgrounds, but with the right attitude towards music in general. After a few slight changes of personnel and directions the group consisted of (1). Back then we started out as a ska-cover band who mostly played at parties & pubs, just for a laugh and to be admired among friends... Things tended to get more serious when AMTY stepped into the picture. At first with some ska-gigs at a smaller scale, then the Judge Dread4our and most recently the record deal. Somewhere In between sax player Jorgen leaves and gets replaced by Kias (2) sometime during 98'. Soon thereafter he brought Trumpet- Magnus into the group. And that's who we are ever since....
(1)THE CROOPED BEAT:
Leif Nyqvtst' (32) - Drums
Hans Lundstrom (37) - Guitar
Jorgen Schelarider (31) - Keyboards & backing vocals
Magnus Eklund (30) - Bass & toasting
Anders Jansson (30) - Guitar & backing vocals
Tommy Hedren (30) - Lead vocals
*Jorgen Kiderud (32) - Sax
(2) Kim Jervfors (23) - Trombone & Backing vocals
Magnus Bohman (29) - Trumpet
DISCOGRAPHY
The new year session (demo ) -97
Freeport session (demo) -97
'The Prince' A tribute to Madness (Tribute records) -98
The Crooked Beat (AMTY records) -99
2. All the songs on your debut CD are your own production, do you play any cover songs? Which ones am your favourites?
Since we used to be a ska cover band we know at least 35-40 songs or
more. But the ones that we still (occasionally) play are
Israelites - Desmond Dekker
Pound to the dollar - Maroon town
Sally Brown - Laurel Aitken
Hooligans - The Wailers
Do the ska- Byron Lee & Ska Kings
Blam Blam Fever - The Valentines
Beware - The Overtakers
Rankin' full stop - The Beat
3. You've played as a backing band of Judge Dread. How did you get that chance and what did you like about ft? Have you had a lot of gigs outside that and with which bands?
Well, we have to give the credit to AMTY who made the initial contact with J.D., (and later arranged the whole thing). Since we worked with them before and they knew who we were, they simply asked if we were interested! Needless to say, we said yes... it was truly great to work with such a professional and it was a great experience for us. Too bad it had to be such a short acquaintance though. He gladly passed his knowledge & wisdom on to us, which we really appreciated! And it seemed to work both ways, because we were scheduled to work with him In the future. But that was before he sadly passed away. Otherwise we haven't been around that much. We only get to do about 10-15 gigs a year. But we have shared stage with bands such as: Skalatones, Stiff breeze & US college boys to name a few.
4. Talking about ska and reggae... your music is some kind of a blend of 6Os and 70s stuff, which one do you prefer personally? I've heard that some of you grew up in the 70s, do you have any cool memories for example from the 2-Tone era?
We mostly prefer the original ska era of ska and reggae (some members' might disagree!), but our ears are open to all kinds of influences and directions. In fact, we try to do things the 'crooked" way. Just like Madness & Specials added pop & rock influences into ska music, we try to add our own thing. You could say that our main philosophy is to create something new but still try to remain that classical touch. And with our different backgrounds the sound often gets 'crookefied" by itself. (Does this make any sense at an?) Speaking about memories... There are so many so that would be hard to mention all of them so you would have to ask each band member to get a correct answer. But some of us saw the Desmond Dekker gig in the early eighties, and some of us tried to recapture the Ghost town video for real!
5. As this is supposed to be In some kinda "skinhead" -zine, well, what do you like about skinheads? Do you have any skins or ex skins in the band?
No one within Crooked Beat are or have been a skinhead (not that I know
of), though some of us have close relations to the movement. But I think
I speak for all when I say: It's just like with ordinary people, - Some
of them are good and some of them are bad & we prefer the good ones!
Lets not forget that it is the music that is the issue here, and anyone
with love for ska/reggae music obviously got great taste in music!
6. How's the Swedish ska and reggae -scene in general? Please name some of your favourite Swedish ska & reggae bands?
The Swedish ska-scene seems to be very vital at the moment. Especially in the southern parts of Sweden, where many new bands have started up only the past few yearn. In fact, there are so many that it is hard for me to keep track of them all. But a few personal favourites are: - Tic Tox(if they're still around, I don't know), Serious Version (reggae band from Stockholm) & UA college boys allstars (interesting group from Gothehburg, who opened up for us and Judge Dread when we played there.)
7. Have you ever been in Finland? Do you know any Finnish bands?
No we've never been to Finland (as a band). In fact, we've never played outside Sweden, though rumours has it that we might go to Denmark in the spring (if all goes well). I can name a bunch of good Finnish rockbands, but I only know of one skaband;-The Jing & Jangsters! Some of us went to see them when they were backing Laurel Aitken in Stockholm. I Think they did a great job, but they only got to play two of their own songs, so its hard for me to have an opinion. I'd like to hear more! When I come to think about it, our lead vocalist Tommy is half-Finnish so maybe he can give me some tips about the Finnish ska scene.
8. If you have anything else to say, now it's the time. Thanks for the opportunity' to interview!!!
That's all I think. Hope you're satisfied with the answers I've given
you (though I might forgotten something). Just keep in touch with Leif
if there's something that's unclear. Good luck with your fanzine in the
future.
Keep skankin'. The Crooked Beat
Crookedbeat@hotmail.com