I had the honour and opportunity to ask Inge from Gatuplan some questions. A swedish musiclegend. His band Gatuplan is soon to realese their second album Välkommen till Underjorden

1: In 2021, the debut album Kampen går vidare hit music Sweden like a bomb and took us by storm. How did it feel when the accolades started pouring in and were you nervous about how it would be received?

Thank you for the warm words. It was undeniably a new experience to release an album where I wrote and produced all the songs, and also forced myself to sing! Starting from scratch, in a way, was of course a bit nervous, but not in a negative way. I was mostly just happy to have the chance to make my own album with a record label behind me. The thing is that all the music I've done with my previous bands - be it Totalt Jävla Mörker, Against Me! or The (international) Noise Conspiracy, has always seemed polarizing in the "scene" and with Gatuplan I can safely say that I continued on the same path! But of course the positive response has been nice to receive!

2: You chose to do a wonderful cover of Uncle P`s Styggen på ryggen with your Apan på Ryggen. Any particular reason why it was that particular song?

The fact that the song did not hit as hard in Sweden as in Norway is a sign that we are a cultural developing country compared to our neighbors in the West. I was living in Oslo when that song was released and it was unavoidable, it was heard everywhere! In Norway they listen and value rock music in a different way than we do in Sweden, for sure. Then the song and the lyrics struck something in me so I thought that maybe I could translate it and give it a new life in Swedish? For me it is great that OnklP and Slekta liked my version so much that they approved my interpretation and let me do the cover of the album. I am very happy and proud of that, as I am a big fan of their music.

3: You can probably be called a veteran in the music industry but a lot of bands you played with. Totalt jävla mörker, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, Alonzo and fas 3, Against me! to name a few. Do you miss any of your old bands or is it full focus on Gatuplan?

Right now it's full focus on Gatuplan. I miss being able to live on playing music, but I feel "done" with the old bands. I like to be in forward motion, and I will always be involved with music in one way or another. But of course I'm happy when someone remembers me from one of the old bands, they are a big part of who I am today - and if the music we created still means something to people today, that's very flattering.

4:With The (International) Noise Conspiracy you got the opportunity to record with Rick Rubin as producer. How cool did that feel?

We did two albums with Rick Rubin on his label American Recordings. We recorded the first album Armed Love in Sound City and the second album The Cross Of My Calling in Sunset Sound. It was of course incredibly cool for a bunch of punks from Västerbotten and Gothenburg to get that opportunity. We had toured like crazy for four years and slowly worked our way up with the albums we released on Epitaph before Rick Rubin and American came into the picture.

I learned so much about songwriting and what's important to the person listening to the music you create. Much of what I learned from Rick Rubin I try to apply to the music I've made since then. His focus on what's important in a song, and how he brings it out of the musicians - whether it was Johnny Cash, Slayer, Jay-Z or The (international) Noise Conspiracy is so brilliant and yet so simple.

What's a bit of a shame is that we did this before the days of digital cameras and smart phones, so there are very few pictures from those sessions.

Then of course it was luxurious to record in Sound City and everything is recorded on reel-to-reel tape and the only financial and temporal budget they talk about is "It's ready when it's ready".

5: 2 singles released from the upcoming album and I must say that the special Gatuplan sound can be heard immediately. How does the creative process look like for Gatuplan?

It's always about the same process. I often know what kind of song I want to write, I visualize the goal and then try to get there. I write the songs at home on my ukulele or acoustic guitar and work out the lyrics, phrasing and melody in stages. Then I record the finished song on my phone or tablet. When I have enough material for an album, I send my demos to Jouni, Simon, Anna and Lars and say "Let's make an album" and we meet and rehearse for a couple of days and then go into the studio. It's often quite fast for us to record, but it's a lot thanks to the fact that the above mentioned are professionals' professionals. Plus I like to make music on the fly.

6: Which musical role models and sources of inspiration do you have with Gatuplan?

About 10 years ago, I discovered the new wave of punk and ska from the UK (what's known as fourth wave ska) - bands like The Skints, The King Blues, Dub Pistols and Soft Play who were also mixing elements of grime into their music. Around the same time I discovered a lot of British rappers like The Streets, Sleaford Mods and Kae Tempest. I got a huge boost from that and started thinking about how it would sound if you borrowed elements of all that and made it in Swedish in a punk context? That's how the idea of Gatuplan was born. Then we try to borrow Rancid's sound, they are still the best. And if someone hears some old, classic Swedish punk in what we do or some 2Tone, it is of course flattering too. That's Gatuplan's DNA, pretty much.

7: On the upcoming album you can see a familiar name as a guest. How does it feel to work with Dennis Lyxzén (Refused, The (international) noise conspiracy) again?

Dennis is the best! He is still a good friend of mine so it never felt weird to ask him if he wanted to join. He actually sang some backing vocals on the last album too - as a vocalist he is very broad and can do almost anything in rock music. We had a very intense life together during The (international) Noise Conspiracy and Ny Våg era, but it's still fun to do things together.

8: What can we expect from the new album (Välkommen till Underjorden) ?

It sounds very similar to Kampen Går Vidare! but I think we play a bit better, I sing a bit better, the songs are better and it swings a bit more.

9: The question everyone is wondering about is will there be a Sweden tour this year?

It would be great fun! Nothing planned so far, but I hope we can go out and play as much as possible.

10: What does the future look like for Gatuplan?

Hopefully we can go out and play around Scandinavia and if everything goes right we will record a new album next year. I hope so anyway

Gatuplan - Sympati för djävulen

With that we say a big Thanck you for your time and looking forward to see you on stage again.