Anchor..another shitty band with an awesome plan?

The complete interview will appear in the first print issue of the Utopianow Zine.

Another shitty band with an awesome plan is a slogan that was printed on some of their merchandising articles. To me Anchor from Sweden is one of my personal favourite hardcore bands, not only because they are vegan straight edge, but also because their music and lyrics touches my heart and opens my mind. I am very venerated to have this interview with them in our first print issue of the Utopianow zine. Go for it:

Hi, first of all, how are you and how are the things going at the moment with Anchor?

Matte: Pretty good, thanks. I myself am currently working on a book. An exciting but tough project. We, meaning Anchor are in the middle of writing our second fullength album and we'll wrap this year up touring the US for the second time so we've got quite a bunch of good things coming our way.


You are going to tour the States in November/December this year. That’s your second tour in North America. What are your impressions about the North American hardcore/punk scene and which difference is there compared to the European hardcore/punk scene?

Matte: We're obviously stoked to go back to the US. Last time was an amazing experience, to say the least. The differences are many but so are the similarities. Hardcore/punk is very much the same wherever you go. Judge-shirts, X's on hands, camoshorts, bandanas, vans-shoes, stagedives, vegan food, Straight Edge Revenge, stupid tattoos, kids riding bikes, roadtripping, record collecting and showposters on bedroom walls, it's all the same.



All people have different opinions about straight edge. For some it is a personal liberation, for others a movement that all people should follow, even if they don´t want to do that. What’s your opinion about this and about militant straight edge individuals/bands/record labels which promote violence against non-edgers?

Matte: To me one out of many things that make Straight Edge interesting is that it represents a variety of different things for different people. For me personally being sober is far more than just keeping my mind clear and my body in shape. I'm one of those guys looking at it as a socio-political/cultural thing, but you look at it in whatever way you prefer. If your Edge comes with a pair of Nikes or 50 and a Coke and you're happy I'm happy.

I heard that you are going to write material for a new album soon. Are you going to tie in with your last brilliant 7” Relations of Violence or are you going to break new lyrical/musical ground?


Matte: It's hard to say since we're in the middle of the process right now and most of the time I peronally don't get a clear picture of what we've done until it's taking form in the studio.
With the new songs I've tried to capture the vibe of anything from Metallica to Inside Out, Entombed to Cro-Mags or Damnation AD to Breach.
Like I said, I'm allover the place. It'll probably not sound like any of those bands though.
I'd like to think we're going for something that's a little bit different from our previous material. At the same time I want to make that difference working with some of the elements we've made our signature. In the end I'm pretty sure kids who like our previous releases will feel right at home when they hear the new songs. It'll just be more of what makes Anchor good.



Sexism and heterosexism are things which makes me very angry so many times. For me people with prejudices are a big problem…not even in the society, also in our scene. What do you think about that?

Matte: Very true. Most of us think of hardcore/punk as some sort of counterculture where we deal with what we find wrong in the outside world. Sexism and homophobia should of course not be accepted. Not at our jobs, not in our schools, not in our homes and certainly not in our subculture, nowhere. When it all comes down to it what we're talking about here is not being a dick to the people around you. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

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(Fotos: Mattesh)