Division of Laura Lee is a Swedish band and guess what they don’t know The Hives and this so-called Swedish scene that has been discussed does not exist. These boys are not in any shape way or form part of this recent “rock revival.” They are a bunch of hard working musicians who have their roots firmly planted in the hardcore scene and consider bands like Fugazi and Minor Threat as their influences.
Now that we’ve got that clear you should also know that Division of Laura Lee’s album “Black City” is an amazing record that should be picked up by any music fan. They have the ability to blend their hardcore influences with some kick ass vocals to produce an album that exudes energy and a positive message that is common to any great hardcore album.
I had the chance to sit with Jonas Gustavsson – Bass/Vocals and find out some important facts like; he invented a hardcore dance move that involves the whole crowd holding hands in a circle and once the band starts playing everyone runs to the middle crashing into one another, think Extreme Red Rover.
1 – What’s your plan to take over the world?
Jonas: Produce good music and play amazing live shows
The Concordian: No hypnosis
Jonas: Nah I think that’s just a last resort, good music and shows should do the trick
2 – What band would you cite as your biggest influence?
Jonas: The Beatles
3 – What’s a mind-blowing album that you own?
Jonas: The Beatles “The White Album”, it has everything in it. Every song is different; I don’t think anyone will ever be able to produce such an amazing album.
4 – What’s the scariest encounter you’ve ever had on the road?
Jonas: We’ve been really lucky nothing bad has really happened but once we were at a party and we were all staying over in this one room and the people’s whose house we were at owned big dogs and they attacked us. Another time we were at another party and I was drunk and my shoelaces were untied and a tripped and I had a bottle of beer in my pocket and the glass shattered and slit my wrist. I had to go to a German hospital and it wouldn’t stop bleeding. I thought I had ruined the tour but everything was okay.
The Concordian: Lesson Learned tie you show laces
Jonas: yeah
5 – What’s your favourite place to go visit in each city?
Jonas: I generally like to visit the famous landmarks but I also really like wondering off by myself and taking taxis or subways in different cities. I was recently in Denver and I wondered off by myself and got lost and almost missed sound check.
6 – What song do you wish you wrote?
Jonas: “You keep me Hangin’ on” by Diana Ross but in particular the version sung by Tim Buckley. On his live double CD there’s a track called “Pleasant Street ” and towards the end he goes into that song, it’s amazing.
7 – What’s you favourite Karaoke song?
Jonas: Oh I’ve never done that but I love singing along to “Golden Lady” by Stevie Wonder. I can’t write the words down but every time the song plays I sing along to it.
8 – If you were stuck on a desert island what three albums and one book would you take?
Jonas:
a) Minor Threat Compilation
b) Grand Parcels EP
c) Any early stuff by Joni Mitchell
My book choice would be the Myles Davis biography. I’ve never read it and it’s really big so it would take awhile to read.
9 – If this tour was a video game what game would it be and what would the goal be?
Jonas: Well it couldn’t be short. It would have to be hard. It would involve maps and trying to find parking spots for the van and once you finished all the levels it wouldn’t be over. You would get a bus and then a bigger bus and would get to play again until the last vehicle would be the Star Trek enterprise that you would have to park on top of the venues.
10 – If you could invite anyone over for a slumber party that would you invite and what would you serve?
Jonas: Well there’s this girl, Sara Marie that I fancy, I would invite her over and serve her red wine and feed her candy until she was a little drunk and then she would fall asleep and I would just watch T.V.
11 – If you could be caught in any natural disaster and live what natural disaster would you choose?
Jonas: Well I can’t really swim and I don’t like the heat so I guess I’d like to try out my wings and be in a hurricane and learn how to fly.
