From out of the ashes of SHOTGUN MESSIAH comes SKOLD, first he was a bassist for the all Swedish band, then transformed into a frontman due to the departure of their vocalist. When the band's third album came out it was really a breed apart from the 80's rock that they had been known for, it was very industrial, before industrial was cool! Now, as a solo artist, Skold is reaching his full industrial potential! RockNet caught up with the chaos commander who filled us on in on his RCA debut.

ROCKNET: When and where did you decide to start in this solo career?

SKOLD: I started the whole industrial thing, I started programming as soon as we came out here in '88. I got a W30 which is a sequence- and a sound-player that stands in one box. I've been doodling with it. I've been lugging this thing around on the road and locked myself in the back part of the bus and done my own fucking shit. Not necessarily because I have these grand plans on being a solo artist or anything. It's just something I wanted to do, I just had an urge and kept doing it. And after the punk cover record Shotgun Messiah did ('I Want More'), Bobby (Lycon) & Stix took off. I was telling Harry (Cody), "shit man this is kind of what I want to do" and Harry said "fuck ya, lets go for it." We did the 'Violent New Breed' album.

RN: But that was really a Shotgun Messiah album, wasn't it?

SKOLD: Yeah it was, and yeah it wasn't. Depending on how you see it, it's only me and Harry, the original founding members. But at the same time it was just us and it was kind of different sounding. Which part of the whole concept behind that band was to completely change every fucking record. You know in the old days when people used to put out fucking albums every year and if you listen to an Alice Cooper album and then the next one; it would be like a totally different kind but it would still be a Cooper record, you know. That kind of concept is what we wanted to do. It's just that it took us fucking three years between every album and what not.

RN: On this album is there an actual band or is it just you?

SKOLD: On the album it's just me. I have a band at this point. I didn't expect a deal. I didn't expect anything, you know. I was just doing my shit and the tape went around and then RCA was interested. I was like, "no, they're not, fuck off," and I hung up the phone. It turns out they were actually interested. I was like, "Oh, I'm here." It's hard man, it's really fucking hard. I don't go around expecting shit to get somewhere. I'm kind of a realist and I don't necessarily think I'm so fucking amazing that I should have a major deal. I don't walk around feeling like that. I met with them and I was like, "Here's the story, I'm a fuckin' foreigner, my visa's running out, I'm completely insanely broke. If you move on this really fast, I won't shop it anywhere else.

RN: But this is like a big departure from early Shotgun Messiah albums. How do you feel about those albums now?

SKOLD: I thought they were good representations of the band. At what the band was doing at that point. I had tons of fun working with all kinds of people, you know? That's the part of me and an important part of me to look back at where you were at in your life. I don't have any fucking problems with anything I've done. I think it is good to move ahead or whatever you want to fucking call it to change. If you look back on your high school pictures from years ago and you look exactly the same as you do today, you're doing exactly the same thing today and the same interests, there is something really fucking wrong with you.

RN: So when and where was this album done?

SKOLD: Late '94, I was in Seattle working with Mark Long. I tried to work with Mark. We went at it for three months, I love the guy, we had tons of fun and did some cool shit but after doing three tracks I'm looking at this and it's like this is cool and what-not but it's not exactly what I want to do. So I canceled out on Chicago, onto Howie Beno. And basically the same thing happened over again. Howard is a great fucking guy, we did some really cool shit. Had lots of fun and learned a lot from him but after about three months I'm like you know, this is still not exactly where I want to be. Like, fuck me. I'm not
gonna try to do something just to settle for something. I'm gonna try and go all the way. At this point I'm thinking this kind of stuff shouldn't be happening in the first place. So I might fuck with it. I
have nothing to lose. So I said fuck it and went back to L.A. and that's where I started working with Scott Humphrey and Bill Kennedy. And it started to come into place and started to get where I wanted it to be heading. I stuck that out for a while then Scotty and Billy had a big falling through and I finished the album with Scott Humphrey. So Scott Humphrey would be the big co-producer when it all came down and all was done.

RN: The art work on this is really killer.

SKOLD: Are you looking at the cover, it's blue, you're looking at the real deal. There were a few advance copies with art that my bass player did. You know what? That's another thing. It's like you learn to deal with record companies as far as controlling them. Because they have their agenda.

RN: You were on Relativity Records for a long time.

SKOLD: Actually to some extent they are the fucking epitome of the record industry. We first started with those guys because they were an independent, they were doing shit differently. As soon as we started working together they started acting like completely changed - a fucking major. Pulling shit out of their asses and hiding stuff and totally like controlling whatever went out, which was really scary. Because they felt they had a clue. They knew exactly what we needed to look like and what we needed to be perceived as. It was very scary. I'm getting better at that but there are still things that look to be chain control. You're just a fucking artist. You're just a disposable fucking music maker. If you're able to control and call all the shots on your project you're fucking lucky. I'm getting to that point, but there are still times when they completely bulldoze over me and throw deadlines, you know like 'hey we need this done tomorrow. "Hey, what the fuck. My bass player is a killer fucker artist, I can do some really cool shit. But I can't do it by tomorrow."

RN: The art looks very much a Hugh Syme to me. The guy did all the Pink Floyd stuff and all.

SKOLD: Totally an angle to it and I'm not necessarily disappointed on the final results.

RN: What do the numbers stand for on the cover? The 8-22-4-11-10.

SKOLD: It stands for walking barefooted over a crossroad. You know what? I don't know. I take no responsibility for it what-so-ever.

RN: Well that's bizarre. That's even weirder because there is no story behind it.

SKOLD: You know what, I'm open for suggestions actually. It's still pretty early on. I'm not gonna speculate.

RN: Tell me about the third track "P.A.M.F." and how much air play it's gonna get on the radio?

SKOLD: I did it just for the hell of it because there are a lot of computers being used here. But computers being used in a very strange and weird fashion. The scary part with machinery is that it all comes pre-programmed and with a giant sound bank and you can make it really fucking easy for yourself. We just refused to do that. One thing you can do with a computer is that you can edit the shit out of stuff like you can never do with real tape. You can't just slice it like with a razor blade forever it would take you days. Like Roy Thomas Baker trying to do the fucking "Bohemian Rhapsody" for Queen. There's like fifty edits on the fucking master tape. The man is a genius for pulling that off. With a computer you can do shit like that. I actually did a version of "Punk Ass Mother Fucker" - I don't remember now, but there's a sizable amount of cuss words in there and we cut them all out, it's completely different, and there is nothing left. It just sounds like it is very wrong . I think it's pretty tongue-in- cheek. On the demo I made I had a meeting with the management with the record company at like ten o'clock in the morning on a Monday or Tuesday or something. I bring him this tape and you know it's like early and people are barely awake and I put the tape in and crank it really loud and the song ends, and there is not a comment in the room. It's like, "What are you saying you know? I don't need you, you don't need me. Fuck off."

RN: So are you planning on playing live? Gonna do some tour dates?

SKOLD: Yes sir.

RN: Can you pull the stuff off live just as easy?

SKOLD: Just as easy? That's when it gets tricky because you start recording shit and I play a little bit of everything and I actually bash a fucking guitar. Actually broke one of Harry's gold tops making this album and I'm really sorry but I think I made it up to him. When you start doing shit like that you don't really think about what the fuck is gonna work like live, you know. Am I gonna be able to pull this off, you're just working. For the song you know, you're like it needs this and it doesn't need that and you just get the song best in mind and every fucking album is done and I'm looking at what the fuck am I going to do? But it's looking really good. I got a drummer, bass player and guitar player.