Introducing….The Dead and Living
To people new to The Dead And Living, how did the band come together?
Coroner: Hi, thanks for having me. The band has been around since 2008. On Sundays, people who worked in bars and nightclubs in our hometown, Karlstad, used to go out for drinks while everyone else was hungover. One of these Sundays sparked the idea and concept of the band, and we’ve been doing it for 16 years now. We all came from different punk bands and wanted to do something completely different. I don’t remember much of that or any other of those Sundays. But we obviously remembered enough at the time to start a band from our conversations that night.
How would you describe your sound, and how has it evolved since “decaDANCE”?
Coroner: When we started the band back in 2008, we were still pretty grounded in the punk scene. The idea was as simple as it was delusional. We were going to mix Irish punk rock with death metal, or black metal if you wish, though we’ve never had an ambition to blend our thing into black metal, which would have been very repulsive in a bad way. The other way around, we have for many years put the black, the darkness into what we do.
The initial idea, in addition to the corpse paint and jet-black clothing, was that we were going to perform with zero emotional expression or movement on stage. Something we learned pretty quickly just didn’t work with an excited audience. It would have been too stubborn to keep doing it as a kind of gimmick.
I think the sound and songwriting changed a bit in 2014. For the production-oriented, we tuned down to drop D for the singles collection in 2014, and then to C standard for the last full-length album, THE AUTHOR’S CURSE (2019), and the new EP DAMAGE that’s coming out in February 2025.
We have a perhaps heavier sound these days, and even if the essence is still there, I think we’re always trying new things. Where the DAMAGE EP is a giant leap into the future and beyond.
Who or what have been some of your biggest influences, musically and beyond?
Coroner: Musically, what we took from was probably The Clash, Misfits along with any Irish-sounding punk rock band, and in the beginning, I think what I was trying to do as a vocalist was something in the range between Iggy Pop and Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, but with a doomy vibe. The other identity of the band’s split personality was probably influenced by Dimmu Borgir, Septic Flesh, Satyricon, and those kinds of symphonically oriented bands.
Tell us about “DAMAGE”; what’s been the journey of the band since “THE AUTHOR’S CURSE”?
Coroner: A lot happened between THE AUTHOR’S CURSE and DAMAGE. Almost simultaneously with our album release, the pandemic hit, inflation got pretty bad in Sweden, and the pressing plant where we were going to press the DAMAGE EP went bankrupt. We sadly lost family members and friends way too early, and some of us became fathers during the same period. Our longtime and co-founding member Janitor left the band. Can you imagine that? The Janitor left. No wonder things were heavily out of order for a while.
Everything probably took a little longer than it could have, but at the same time, I think it was necessary for us to reorganize everything so we could have a fresh start with this release. We have a new guitarist, Lord, who has been a real energy injection for the band, and we’re ready to rock again.
You’ve described the EP as “Space themed”. What made you want to take that approach, and what, specifically, does that mean?
Coroner: That’s a good question. Personally, I think I’ve always seen space-themed music or space rock as a bit off-putting. It’s a bit too fictional for my taste. What I think dawned on me, though, is that space isn’t fictional. When you think about it, writing about space is the same thing as not writing about space. It’s always there whether you chose to think about it or not. I got even more interested in space probably while having too much time on my hands during the pandemic. I’ve always been interested in complex concepts, and I ran into a video called A Journey to the End of Time by Melodysheep on YouTube. It describes, as much as it can, how the universe probably will end. Though it may sound very depressing, and to a degree panic-inducing, the film’s ending quote was like a full stop for me.
“At the end of the universe, nothing happens, and it keeps not happening, forever.”
Altough it’s of course very existentially disturbing, it somehow also makes me feel some kind or releif. You can’t think or overthink any longer than that. It’s where all thoughts and concerns end. As a constant seeker and very knowledge hungry human being. it was like I found the holy grail.
What’s been one of the most memorable moments in The Dead And Living’s journey so far?
Coroner: Wow. Yeah, there’s been a few, and it’s a big reason why we’re still doing this. All these incredible memories. Too many to mention, but I’ll briefly tell a few.
I got sick in England during our Euro tour supporting Deathstars in 2014. I was throwing up all the way up to being called to go on stage. When the stage manager called me, I thought I flushed the toilet, but instead, I set off an alarm in the whole corridor, where there turned out to be a massive queue for the only bathroom, which I was apparently occupying. I finally got on stage, grabbed the mic, and some heckler instantly flipped me off and shouted something in the manner of “F YOU, YOU F-ING C.”. That was a rough day at work.
Later our tour bus caught fire in a tunnel in Austria on the same tour. We all escaped death by a hair's breadth, so that was pretty memorable as well. It was on the front page of the newspapers in Sweden and in our hometown.
On a better note, we’ve had the honor to support Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg with Michale Graves from the Misfits watching us play a cover of DIG UP HER BONES. I don’t remember if it was the same show or another one in Norway where Shagrath and Silenoz from Dimmu Borgir were in the audience.
So whenever this ends, and even though eventually the universe stops happening forever, we feel blessed for those kinds of full circle moments, given our musical and spiritual roots.
What does the future hold for you – any plans or goals you’re excited about
Coroner: It might sound ironic but it’s really not. We really want to play on Iceland. It’s our number one priority. So if anyone there is reading, hook us up!
Personally, I feel Japan is also one of those bucket list things. But first, we will probably do some shows in Sweden and Norway. Hopefully, the UK as well. Then we’ll see when we dare to go back to Austria or do a full Euro tour again. I think we’re all a bit too grounded and earthbound to fully get into being the first band in space. But otherwise, I think that would have been a natural turn of events. Over and Out. Beep.
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