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Next Big Thing?!: Division Of Laura Lee

We at KindaMuzik think the Division Of Laura Lee's punk rock blends catchiness and rawness in exactly the right amounts to be The Next Big Thing, so we decided to ask them to tell a bit more about themselves before they hit the streets touring early next year. It turned out guitarist/vocalist Per Stalberg does not only agree with our assessment, he even thinks Division Of Laura Lee will be the most important band in rock history. Read on to find

Tekst: Martÿn ter Haar

Publicatiedatum: 25 november 2001

How did Division of Laura Lee start and what did you do before?
"Division of Laura Lee was formed back in September 1997, because there was nothing else to do then being in a band. Håkan, Henrik and Jonas had started a side project beside the bands they were already in. They needed a guitarist, so they called me and asked me if I was interested. They claimed to play San Diego style, which I'd never heard of before. I went to their practising place, wrote some songs and showed them what scene I came from: Drive Like Jehu, Fugazi and similar acts. They were coming more from the newer style of bands like Swing Kids and Locust. Together we did a perfect mix of all the inspirations and started playing together. Formerly I had played the drums in The Outstand and guitar in Ultimate Concern. Jonas and Håkan played in the band Uncle. Håkan was also a member of Start Today. Henrik was a member of Unison. The idea of the band was to have four friends doing music by heart and nothing else. In the very beginning we didn't have any goals, but right after the very first week we got an offer for doing our first 7". Then everything started to roll. We still didn't have any high demands or goals ourselves, but everything just started to go really well, to the level we are at today."

What has the band been up to so far?
"We began by releasing three 7 inches in 1998. Then in '99 we released the album 'At The Royal Club' on the French label Arabesque, which actually was the three 7"s with five new songs added. We did three Scandinavian tours and two European tours. During that time we developed a lot as a band. By the spring of 2000 we decided to raise our ambitions and we started doing the band full time. Everything started to feel really good and people finally comprehended our grandeur. Maybe they always did, but suddenly we were even better, if that's possible. We were signed by Burning Heart in the summer of 2001, just six months after we had decided to raise our ambitions. We wanted to be on a larger label, but one that still really cares for their bands. Now we have a good booking agency, good management & promotion, which also was a part of our plan. We have released a three track EP 'Pretty Electric' and the album 'Black City' will be released by the end of January next year. For now we are going to tour the world for as long as possible. We will redeem people with our music and ideas."

From what scene/area does the band come?
"Originally we come from Vanersborg, which has had a durable and powerful hardcore scene since the 80s. All the members of Division of Laura Lee have been involved in that scene from the early beginning. I don't think though that we belong to any specific scene; we have always been a quite different band. We have always listened to old garage, old soul, old funk and a lot of early punk rock, mixed with new bands such as Drive Like Jehu. It's all about playing naked and *abraded* music with a lot of tension and feeling into it. We are a great live band as well and we know it. The upcoming album is more of a document of what we feel and what we experienced throughout being raised in this world, up until now. It's all about the documentation of reality. The songs nowadays are well-reasoned. We have really worked on this in the studio for a long time and it feels really great! We never wanted to be one of the many bands out there; we are and wanted to be the outsiders. We never wanted to be somewhat accepted, but we became accepted anyway. It feels good doing exactly what you feel like doing and still being accept for it. There are a lot of good bands that never became accepted and that's sad."

Where does the band's name come from?
"I saw the line 'Division Of' written on a cardboard box and we thought of adding something to that and then we thought of the old soul-star Laura Lee. With combination we thought we expressed some kind of brute force. There is no specific meaning to the name of the band, besides that it sounds really striking."

What are your sources of inspiration?
"The inspiration is established from the fact that we are raised in a world we don't feel comfortable living in. We have always strived to do our own thing, even a long time before we started the band. We have always been outsiders and different from all norms and routines. Of course there are a lot of bands that inspired us, such as Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu and a lot of old soul and punkrock bands. Right now we are inspired by Velvet Underground, Television, Stooges, Joy Division, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Suicide, Spaceman 3 and others. It's not just the music that's inspiring us; we are inspired by reading, living and by what we see now and also by what we've seen growing up. All the lyrics I write are some sort of acknowledgement and documentation of what I have experienced. I don't think anyone in Division Of Laura Lee has had an easy time growing up. I think we have all been outside the norms and daily routines for as long as we lived. For me personally it's about growing up with drug addiction, abuse, destitution and sudden deaths. The other members grew up with abuse and divorce. We are a positive band; we are not exactly playing depressive rock. It's not at all about trying to come out and tell people that we've lived difficult lives, but that we also have had great times. The band is about getting a discharge for our feelings. We'd never felt like other people, we have always been different as human beings. We have never done standard things based on routine and norms. We have never followed set rules and we'll never do. We do the things we feel are exciting and feel good. The reason Division Of Laura Lee still exists is because we are aiming for the same goals and we have the same ambitions with the band. We know this is the only thing we want to do. We have never put on the brakes, or censored ourselves, we do what we feel like doing and that is important."

Why do you have two lead singers?
"Why not? From the beginning we've had two vocalists. Jonas and me write all the music and it feels natural that if Jonas writes a song that I don't feel like doing the vocals to, it's better to have Jonas do them. It also happens that Jonas writes a song that we think my vocals fit better to. We are not a standard rockband with one vocalist, one drummer, one bassist and one guitarist. We are doing the vocals as we feel are best. We have two vocalists and who cares? We don't. We are not a stereotype band."

What are your lyrics generally about (especially since you are on tour with the very political band The (International) Noise Conspiracy)?
"We are a political band, but we are not talking of politics in theoretical ways, through dogmas and ideologies. We are writing more personal lyrics about how we experience living in this world and everything I talked about before in this interview. The lyrics are about how we feel about the world. Sometimes it's a smack in the face for people, sometimes it's not. All our lyrics are about the strife of showing the world how things work. It's a way of expressing everything we've held within us for to long. You can interpret our lyrics in the ways you feel comfortable doing. We are as anti as T(I)NC, but we are not as consummate as them in expressing our theories. We are working against structures, norms and the daily routine that gives us no chance to express ourselves and maintain creative as human beings. We don't want to work 9-5, within scheduled routines. We are sick of it. We feel more of anxious about living in this world and we're trying the best we can to escape it in our everyday lives. We are sick and tired of this world and that's probably the main reason why we play punkrock. That's probably the main reason for all punkrock bands to play punkrock. Well, maybe not for bands such as Blink 182, but for underground punkrock bands. We have never wanted to do anything but play music and live from it."

What can we expect of DOLL in the near future?
"I think that DOLL will be one of the most important bands in the history of all rock. People will hopefully understand that really soon. We will tour Scandinavia in January/February and Europe throughout march/april 2002 and then we'll do the USA and Asia and then it's back to Europe and Scandinavia again to meet new people and new audiences. I think we can do two more albums and then we'll probably quit. We have planned accurately how to take over the musical world by gale. We see ourselves as a genuine and revolutionizing rockband. We'll never give up. We are looking forward to come back to the European countries again and we hope that people appreciate what we are trying to do."

http://www.kindamuzik.net/toekomstmuziek/division-of-laura-lee/next-big-thing-division-of-laura-lee/976/
Meer Division Of Laura Lee op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/division-of-laura-lee