Krogh is a really nice guy that has helped me getting started with my label and this webzine. And he's been doing that stuff himself for a while now with running Blindead Productions and Attack!fanzine. I thought that it would be really interesting to interview him and see what he had to say... I didn't have any questions prepared so you have to overlook the fact that it's not the most well done interview. Anyway, it's done over the internet on ICQ...


Hey there Krogh� How�s it going a moment like this?
Hey Kristoffer. Everything�s fine at the moment, I�ve managed to get some free time to do this interview so at the moment there�s not a 1000 things that need to be done. Which is good for a change. Sitting here rocking to Sin Dios�

Ahh, hehehe� yeah, you seem to have a hell of a lot to do. You�re running a very good webzine, a distro, starting up your own company (we�ll get to the company later).
How did you go about it, did you start with the zine and then the record label, or what?
Yeah, how the hell did I go about it? I can�t really remember. But it was around 96-97 that I got in contact with the internet and started to look around. It was exciting for someone that lives in the middle of nowhere. I started to make contacts with bands that I thought were good. The idea of a compilation tape started to grow, and six months later it became reality. The tape was Attack! #1 and the company was A.L.P. Tapes. To get a little company started and release a tape were so bloody cool that I got a taste for more. So I started to make contacts with some more bands and that�s the way it is. Then somewhere around 99 Crossing Chaos and I started talking about releasing a 7" with them. Even cooler! But I couldn�t release vinyl on a tape label, and A.L.P. Tapes & Records didn�t feel good. So Resist The System Records got started. After a few delays the record came out and it were/is fucking great! New Crossing Chaos 7" is on the way. And somewhere around that time I also started a zine. About 2000 if I remember it correctly.
So to answer you question, label first - zine later.

Well I�ll be damned. Were sure you started the zine first :)
But now you�ve changed the name to Blindead Productions and release everything under that name, why the name change?
Nope, that came later. As a natural reaction to all the contacts I�d made through the years. During a period about 1-2 years ago (suck at remembering years) I had a buddy in on the whole thing. We started talking about him having his own section where he could release stuff. But it never happened. But I had already come up with the name Blindead Prod. and thought that was too good to let go. A lot better then A.L.P. and Resist The System anyway. And I myself thought it was a little messy with a lot of different names, so I decided to put it all together under one name - and that became Blindead Productions. Much better and less mess, what do you think?

Yeah, Blindead is a good name actually�
I was gonna get to that old partner. Micke right? If I remember it correctly he were gonna release a lot of grind. Why did nothing happen?
Yep, Micke was his name and there were a lot of grind on the way. Or to be correct, that was the plans. Don�t want to go in to that too much but Micke got sick of it pretty fast and never really had the energy to do anything. I hardly have any contact with him nowadays and the last time I spoke to him he didn�t even listen to grind anymore. He�s a little weird and I�m glad the cooperation ended before there were any big plans. Would have been too much for me to clean up and explain to people why tapes/records never were released.

Hmm, strange� You can�t stop listening to grind, without grind the mind dies :) But it�s a shame� You�ve got too little grind on your side ;)
By the way, I just thought of something that I have been wondering about for many years now. Just what the hell does A.L.P. really stand for?
I�ve got Grindmaster Stef in the crew now! He�ll have to deal with that bit so I don�t have to.
Nah, grind can be really fucking good, but I think there are too many crappy grind bands. But I stick to mainstream grind such as Nasum. Old Rotten Sound can also be great and a lot of other bands too that I don�t have the energy to name. A.L.P. = Arvika Lokal Produktion (Arvika Local Production /Phuling). A really really lousy name, but as just A.L.P. it worked/works. The name actually started out as a joke. We made a lot of mäsk (mash/Phuling) in our rehearsal room every summer, and that�s how the name came in the picture. It was produced in our room in Arvika. The name just got stuck and when it was time for the first tape A.L.P. were a sure thing.

hat band did you play in then, since it was "our rehearsal room"?
How�s the cooperation working with the grindmaster? He lives quite a bit from here :)
There were a lot of bands. None too seriously. Well one. But what the hell did we call ourselves, damn, I can�t remember right now, haha. We had one gig anyway, and then we quit. We tried to start again with a different setting some years later. Recorded a couple of songs without any vocals. Skitsystem wannabes like you can�t believe it! Pretty ok songs actually, would have been fun if anything would have happened. We had a band called Tumultum too. A more unserious band would be hard to find. We started out a week before a gig �case they were missing a band. The gig were at some christian place (not arranged by them though) and we just did a bunch of Vrävarna and The Kristet Utseende covers. A couple of our own masterpieces like "Life on a pinne" and "cp truck" were played too. Do I have to add that we were piss-drunk?
About the cooperation with Stefan, it�s working out great. Have done so far anyway. We keep in touch by e-mail so he could just as well be next door. We listen to kind of different music so we cover a big area. Would like to have someone involved from some other place in the world too, but stuff like that takes time. Don�t want to grab the first best person, want to get to know �em a bit first. How well you now can get to know someone over a couple of wires and cords.

Hahaha, yeah� but you can get to know someone pretty close over the internet. I�ve already noticed that you are the man in my life ;)
What do you wanna get out of this cooperation? I mean, is he gonna cough up the dough for his releases and you for yours?
Sorry, I�m already taken by another man from Skåne (Skåne is the southern part of Sweden /Phuling) but I know you�re waiting for me if that doesn�t work out, haha. We�re only working together with the zine. Blindead consists only of me and Attack!fanzine is me and Stefan. And since the zine only exists on the internet, and sometimes as a free newsletter, there will be no need for coughing.

Ahh� damn :)
You�ve been doing this for quite a while now, and have grown fairly big too I believe. What do you think has happened to the Swedish "crust scene" over the years? There pops up small labels and bands but they die just as quick�
Yeah, it�s been about six years now of being active in the scene, and a few years before that. I�ve been listening to punk for 10 years now but I still feel like a newbie. Maybe that�s �cause I suck at keeping track of the years and can�t remember if it was last year or three years ago that a certain band or label got started/quit. But sure, there comes and goes a couple of bands and labels each year. I knew all of the Swedish demo bands a couple of years ago, but now it�s worse. Does bands release demos nowadays? Hmm, I�m on a sidetrack now. Yeah, it�s easier to keep track of the bands if you stick to the once that have been playing for a while and have released at lest 2 records. If you want to keep track of the demo bands today it seems like you don�t even have time to send the money before they�ve called it quits. But what do I know? Then there are some bands that have released a new record before the money even gets there. And that�s really fun! Go Human Waste!!!
Make sure you keep Evigt Lidande and the zine going for a while now. And I will make sure not to give up in a while either, you�ll never get rid of me!

Yeah� A couple of years ago I think I kept track of the bands too. The demo bands were Rudimentär, 666-Pack, Kontrovers and so on� I think very few bands release demos nowadays. It�s become too cheap to press vinyls ;) The latest Human Waste is good, but there first four 7"s should have been demos, don�t think they�re good enough for vinyl :)
Haha, you better not call it quits. A piece of the Swedish DIY scene would die if you did! You were the first distro that I sent away money to some years ago. I�ve bought half my collection of tapes from you :) But, let�s get to something else� When the hell is the Crossing Chaos 7" gonna come out?
That�s exactly the bands I had in mind! I�m fucking glad Kontrovers didn�t stay on a demo level, though. The new record will probably kick some behind. I like everything Human Waste have done, but I can agree with you on some parts. But hasn�t the demands both been raised and lowered for vinyl releases? Any crap can be released on vinyl and bands that deserve it often get to hear that they should wait a while? I�m glad you think that way, about what I do. I don�t consider myself to be that big of a deal within in the scene, but then again I get the impression I am. A little fuzzy, don�t get much response from people about the site. But since no one have said it sucks I guess it�s ok, it�s usually those people that get in contact first. If it wouldn�t have been for you I would have had to put my distro to rest, haha. You�re one of my biggest customers. Kiss kiss!
Yeah, when the hell is the Crossing Chaos 7" gonna come out?! To be honest I don�t know. I had the money for it for a while, but nothing happened that time. Now I have the money for it once again, but now I�m releasing the compilation before that. Prefer to get the compilation out now, the Crossing Chaos songs are old anyway, so they can wait a little while more. 80ies rawpunk will never get old anyway! But the covers for the record will be pressed sometime next week so it�s getting closer. And they�re on the compilation too so you can get a taste for �em.

Hahaha� feels good to know that my hard earned money goes to keeping your distro alive :)
Yeah, the 7" has been "on it�s way" for as long as I can remember :) But get it out there soon, it will probably almost as much arse as Skånsk rawpunk does ;) (Again with Skåne. The place where bands like Moderat Likvidation and Snobbslakt came from /Phuling)
Let�s ask a question about the company you�re gonna start. As far as I know it will involve the label and the zine, at least the "scene". Thinking about the rumours about a cooperation with Toxic Merch. But you can tell us about that :)
How it will look is not a 100% certain, but I can tell you what I know.
I�ve decided to start my own company since I would rather be my own employer than some other bastard that collects all of the money for my hard work. I�ve been fiddling a little with graphic stuff and have noticed that I�m quite good at it. And sometime last year I decided to go for it. And at the moment I�m just getting started, some papers and stuff that has to come back to me, but other than that it�s pretty much already started. So, as stated before: a lot to do nowadays.
I will not include the label and the zine in this. I will continue to do as I�ve always done, completely unofficial that is, haha. But as you said music will be a big part of it through Toxic Merch. Exactly how the cooperation will look I can�t say right now since it�s not a 100% certain yet, and I don�t want to say too much. What I can say is that if this works out I will have a lot of fun years ahead of me. For all of you that�s wondering Toxic Merch is a Belgian company that does merchandise. Fucking good prices, even for punk standards, on t-shirts, buttons, stickers, record production and so on.

Hehehe� yeah� They�ve got some fucking good prices� But for a lonely crustie in the wild marks of Skåne (you know about Skåne by now /Phuling) it�s still a lot of money to chough up :)
Well, well� you were gonna leave and I can�t really think of any other questions� so maybe we might as well should call this quits, what do you say?
Yeah, if you can�t think of any other questions there�s not much to do. It was nice getting interviewed, don�t get interviewed that often myself. You already know that I hope everything works out well for you. Have a fucking great day and keep a look out for the Crossing Chaos and the compilation 7"s that will be here in a not too distant future. Thanks and bye!

Krogh
Edgrensgatan 27
671 50 Arvika


http://attackfanzine.net

Yeah, and thanks for taking the time to answer my questions� though it�s not the best interview out there since I didn�t have any questions prepared, had to improvise everything :)
Thanks for your support and of course I hope things continue to work out great for you, and that your company will grow big so you can afford to release a hell of a lot of records :)