Interview with Dennis Lyxzén of the

International Noise Conspiracy, The Lost Patrol, and Refused.

Contributed to Mylxine by my friend Jamie.

The Interview was conducted at Kafe 44 (Stockholm ,Sweden) where The Lost Patrol had just played. The interview touches on the Lost Patrol, as well as The International Noise Conspiracy’s next album. Among other things discussed were the current war in Iraq and the use of politics in entertainment.

J=Jamie.
So we have an interview here with Dennis Lyxzén, of The International Noise Conspiracy and The Lost Patrol and he joins us in Stockholm at Kafé 44. What is Kafé 44?

D=Dennis.
It’s a kind of an anarchist co-op. I don’t know if it’s really squatted but it’s kind of like this place where all the punks play their shows and hang out I guess… I’ve probably played about fifteen shows at this place with various bands.

J- How did it all start and why the name The Lost Patrol?

D-I have no idea about the name. It all started with me just wanting to play guitar and sing like, singer-songwriter stuff. That was 1998 already. So then I put out an album in 1999 and then I did an album a year ago which was kind of 70s rock and we were like 25 people involved and then after that all these people were involved in that record but then we trimmed it down and started playing punk rock instead of 70s rock cause it seemed like more fun.

J.-The album ‘Songs in the Key of Resistance’ it not only sounds different but lyrically deviates from the predominant political rhetoric which is usually geared to your lyrical writings. How do you explain the new album?

D-Ahhh, it just needed to be done. This girl broke my heart and I had to write something about it. It wasn’t really like I woke up one morning thinking I’m going to write a love letter. What I did is I wrote twenty-five songs and recorded them as a demo and showed them to a friend and he’s like you should actually record this stuff. Then I asked all my friends if they wanted to be there for a couple of weeks. Every night we met in the studio and recorded the songs. We recorded thirty songs in a month and a half. It just had to be done.

J.From Political rhetoric to Love rhetoric.

D-Yeah.

J-Does the Lost Patrol have plans to tour in the states?

D-No, not really. It would be fun but this is something really unpretentious and something that that we can do just to have a good time and whenever we feel like, you know, not being too serious. I mean its kind of serious but at the same time if its not fun we wouldn’t be doing this and there’s always something to do. Everyone in this band has different bands that they play in and the different bands are their serious bands so, ah, no, I don’t think we’re going to tour. Especially now cause its so weird.

J-Ok…well then, the International Noise Conspiracy, I have some questions considering them too. There’s been near to nil news concerning The International Noise Conspiracy. Can you enlighten us on what’s going on?

D-Yes. Ah, we had a break for almost a year cause we toured for nearly four years straight and we pretty much killed ourselves. We just finished recording a record with Rick Rubin. We signed to American Recordings and we’re bringing our record out in May called ‘Armed Love’

J-This new record label American Recordings, how did this come about and what does it mean for The International Noise Conspiracy commercially, financially, and politically?

D.-(Laughter) Rick Rubin, that’s his label. He saw us live a couple of times and he just thought we were a good band and he wanted to work with us and we really wanted to work with him because he has been responsible for some of the greatest rock records of all times. He said if I’m willing to work with you, you have to be on my label and we’re like yeah of course whatever it takes to just work with you.
As far success and finances, that’s not really part of the equation. I guess I mean we just wanted to record that record and turn it into a great record and then whatever happens happens.

J-How much money does one actually make on a deal like this?

D-Nothing really, I mean you know sometimes bands are really lucky and get a lot advance money but we didn’t take a lot of advance money cause we figured it was a bad idea. For every record we record for American Recordings we’re going to get more and more money, so if we do another three records then we’re going to get a lot of money.

J-Do you have a contract for three records?

D.-Yeah, I think we have a contract for like a bunch of records. I’m not really sure. And you know, like you don’t really think that far in advance, you don’t really picture yourself doing another five albums so we’re just like…whatever, you know? So, I don’t know, about money and stuff like that, I don’t really know, like I can’t even imagine the recording budget of this record, how much its been compared to all our old records and stuff like that. You know it’s just an opportunity to work with someone that we all admire and really wanted to work with.
Politically, I would say there’s gonna be some cries about selling out but as far as you know what we’re talking about and what we’re doing its not really changing at all. I mean Rick was like…anytime I mentioned guns in the lyrics he got really excited. He’s just all for it. (Laughter). He’s just all for being political.

J-What can we expect from the new album, its release date and so on?

D-It’s going to be out in May, I’m not really sure when because their still like mixing it right now in the states. Apart from that, I don’t really know. Its just like a really… It sounds like its gonna be like a good rock album. It’s really R O C K. Its just like you know like how we were a punk band but started playing a bit more garage rock and now we’re just like a rock band that plays rock. But it’s really good. It’s much heavier then before, much more powerful and, I mean, just everything sounds better like the singing sounds better, the organ sounds better, the production of the songs, it just, its… I’m pretty excited.

J-So, let’s see. Upcoming tour? You’re on the Warp Tour for this summer?

D-Yay, hurray (sarcasm).

J-Epitaph sponsors that. A big deal has been made about it in the states, at least within the political scene, that it’s sponsored by Target which is this big…

D-Yes, I know Target.

J-What do you think about the multinational corporations which finance these tours and so on?

D-I think multinational corporations are just kinda the epitomy of a capitalist thinking society. I think its always kind of a mistake to just to attack the multinational corporations cause their just an extension of the political system we live in. And they’re not really the problem, they’re just the product of this system. So if you want to attack the multinational corporations, you should also attack the kind of basic power structures that they’re on and that’s kind of the ideas that capitalism breeds. So I mean, yeah, they’re pretty horrible, but its like its also really…like if you want to boycott one corporation and not the other, I mean they’re doing the same thing, all of them pretty much. The level of bullshit that’s being exposed to people, if you look at what their doing, its pretty much the same thing. I don’t want a sponsor (like) Target. I’m not excited about that or McDonalds or anything but its kinda like, its just kind of the way it is. And if we can get on the Warp Tour and talk to a couple kids about the fact that Target is a fucked-up corporation and then - good plan.

J-Being that the Warp Tour is a huge tour and there’s going to be a lot of kids, do you feel as if you have it in mind that there’s a US election coming up

D-Yeah, yeah.

J-And your rhetoric is going to have to do something with that?

D-Yes, we’re gonna kind of have to talk about it, you know. I mean, we’re not from America but the American election affects the rest of the world. So, in that sense, yeah we’re gonna have to talk about it. We’ve even got asked to… we got asked to do some MTV Rock the Vote kind of things and talk about that, which is going to be funny cause if we’re going to do that, I’m just gonna go out there and tell people not to vote, basically. But I mean, yeah, definitely we’re going to talk about that and we’re going talk about the coming election and what it means and voting versus revolution, and…look at the people you vote for in America. They’re like, you know, they’re so far to the right, everyone, from a Swedish perspective its just insane. But people in America are like, oh no no, there really different and I’m just like - what the hell are you talking about? Everyone’s like - Ralph Nader is so radical – and I’m like (laughter) not really. He’s all right but I wouldn’t go further than that. I mean I guess we’re going out there and talk about the fact that you know voting doesn’t really change anything, and America’s been a prime example of years and years and years and years of the same thing because [they] put so much emphasis and trust on like the election.

J-Are you going to have any form of political artists…you guys once had a bookmobile with you, I believe? Is that going to be on the Warp Tour?

D-I don’t know about the Warp Tour. I don’t know like, that’s in August and I think that we’re going to try to have something figured out by then, but hopefully we can bring as much stuff as possible with us. I know we’re doing a tour in April in the states with Cursive.
I’m not sure if we’re going to try to have the AK Press Bookmobile with us. I always think it’s a good idea to be able to talk about stuff and then have people check out that stuff before they leave our show and be like inspired to read or whatever. So I hope we can do that.

J-Shifting to some current affairs and the War on Iraq, or as in the United States on Fox news and CNN its known ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’…

D-(laughter)

J-What are your views on the impending cycle of violence and what do you think will come in the near future of this?

D-I think the problem is that it’s the war that cant be won, really. No matter what America says and no matter how much we dislike Saddam Hussein, it was… as war, that was a violation against (International Law) and the UN’s decisions and so on. And I think that the people in Iraq, even though a lot of people feel that they’ve been liberated from a dictator still fell like they been liberated from a dictator but they’ve been invaded by another dictator. No one really knows. I don’t think its fair to the Iraqi people cause as you said the cycle… I think the cycle of violence will continue as long as there are Americans there and also it’s a western way of thinking. You fucked it up we’re going to sort it out for you cause we’re the good guys. And a lot of people down there want to sort things out but not being told how to sort things out and, I mean, it’s a tricky situation cause there’s so many different ethnicities…

J- (It’s turned into) a form of civil war

D-Yeah, yeah, it is almost like a civil war cause it’s like that group fights against that group to destabilize their political party and so on so its kinda like a civil war situation almost.

Jamie asks Dennis about Free Speech TV and political activism in their shows

D- Last tour we did, we tried to bring people in from political groups and go on before we went on and have them talk for five minutes about their political groups and then you know tell people like we got fliers or you know stuff and you know outside if your interested in this come out and check it out and I think it’s a good idea. I mean a lot of people kinda wanna come to see the rock happen and (laugh) they might get annoyed but I mean some people it…it might be exciting for people to see that there activism happening in their hometown with people you know, in their you know surrounding…

J-Scary to say but it seems I think it’s the only form of activism that you’ll probably find (sometimes) is when you go to a rock show. You wont see it on the news. You wont see it on TV

D.-No no no of course of course, you know that’s what we try to do to like just do political activism but as a, as entertainment (laughter).

J-Have you observed any change politically like involvement in political activism in the states or around the world? Is there such a thing as a revitalization in politics lately?

D-It was weird cause it felt like we where gaining a lot of momentum but like the whole anti-globalization movement and protest movement, and seriously like, like after Nine-Eleven a lot of that momentum got taken away cause a lot of people got really scared about speaking out and all these new anti-terrorism laws in America make it really tricky for people to criticize America with out being you know terrorist, then its…When your president says stuff like, your either with us or your against us, its kinda hard you know cause I’m not with him, I’m definitely against him but I’m not with the terrorists, I mean…you know what I mean so its its been tricky. I mean defiantly from our perspective coming from Europe, I think defiantly people in America got more aware of…especially like kids and people that come to shows that…getting more and more aware about…

J-International politics

D-Yeah international politics and and what…the stuff that goes on, goes on around them and I think that’s…that’s a good thing I mean people actually want to talk about it and figure out what the hells going on…it’s a good thing. But I mean it’s a slow process, especially in America. For the last 10, 50 years (Americans are) told not to think about politics at all. I mean the only band out of a million people that did that, was like Rage Against The Machine, for years and years, if you don’t wanna be a really underground political movement. but there’s a function of the underground, too.

J-How do you ultimately feel that The International Noise Conspiracy, Lost Patrol, and other artistic mediums of entertainment, basically incorporate something…some form of change, like how does it actually produce any form of change? Do you feel as if it’s benefiting any?

D-Hmm, its almost hard to tell. I mean I can only speak for the people around me and for kind of my close environment because we go through town and we play and we talk about politics, its really abstract and what happens after that? You know, we cant really tell if people pick up on it... or if they buy books or they get organized, its just kinda like, we do what we do and, as I said, though the political awareness have been growing for the last couple of years and what we want to do, especially like with the Noise Conspiracy is just kinda to be the soundtrack to that revolution. Not necessarily, we’re not in the front of it we’re not you know, masterminds we’re just a bunch of kids that that love to talk about politics and what goes on in the world…and we use it to play music, in making people excited. So its hard to tell. Like with my old band Refused, when we came out in Sweden, from 94 to 96, you could actually see stuff happening cause it was so new, it was really something that hadn’t happened before, but I mean now its more…we play on a such a big scale that its hard to see the effects of what we’re doing…I mean almost every show we play people come up to us and talk about…books they picked up.

J-Concerning the contribution of politics in music and such, do feel as if there are better ways to change the power structures that exist?

D-Yeah yeah, I’m sure. I think that anyway that you, you yourself, is comfortable doing is the best way to do it. Whether its opening a cafe like this or going to demonstrations or being like a real activist or do direct actions or do films or do zines or whatever. I think anything that you feel suits you is the best way of action. I mean of course yeah, like a world revolution is something that needs to happen with all of us but for me its always been music, like I’m, I love to play music and I love to do what I do and then why not use it to get up on stage and inspire people to..to do something creative. Not to tell people what to do but at least to make a creative positive contribution to their lives.

J-(What are some) current books your reading? Do you have any suggestions?

D-I always think that people should read ‘The Revolution of Everyday Life’ that’s kinda my tip for everyone, by Raoul Vaneigem. Right now I’m just reading books about the Swedish farmers up north, but that doesn’t really interest anyone. I just love to read about the environment and the culture that made us what we are… you know, bitter, lost souls filled with shame and anxiety, and I just love to read about that. But ‘Revolution of Everyday Life’ is one of those books that just kinda excites me every time I read it and I think it’s a pretty amazing book. Really one you should check that out.

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