Traestockfestivalen - bob hund
[Trästockfestivalen
'96 main page]
Bob Hund (main stage)
During the afternoon, I spot Mats and Johnny from Bob
Hund wandering around. They becoming my first interview victims
of the weekend. Were they looking forward to playing Trästock
again?
- I've been longing to play here for a whole year, says Mats. I was
on bad form last year. So I wanted to come back and get my revenge...
I wonder how they feel about playing the big Lollipop festival in
Stockholm the week after, their biggest gig since the Hultsfred
festival in August '95. It seems to me like an untypical thing to do
for Bob Hund, but Mats doesn't think so.
- We do what we feel like, for the audience, not for the organisers.
Later on, they're on stage, and Mats seems to get his revenge
alright.
Bob Hund are arguably Sweden's best band these days, and when it comes
to the warm summer night live-at-Trästock experience, there's no
argument about it. Their new songs (new album in August) show they're
still exploring musical territory way off the beaten track, finding
melodic twists in noisy soundscapes that no one else would even think
of. I wonder if there's a more complicated punk song than
`Istället för musik: förvirring', and sure enough even
BH barely keep pace. It goes down a storm anyway, and more people
mosh and dance than to any other band this weekend. Thomas Öberg
uses his body, the stage, and the space between us and the stage to
full effect, jumping and clambering as far as the microphone lead lets
him. The set finishes with 'Kvicksilver' and Thomas warning us all
not to 'drink any habit-forming substances in the woods'. After Bob
Hund, we hardly need to, but this is a younger and drunker
Trästock than '95, so his irony is razor-sharp...
[bob hund homepage] [lyrics in English] [Benno's bob hund page]
(interview in Swedish, translation: Robert) Robert Cumming, robertcu@bredband.net