Turbonegro is an embodiment of sex, sailors, food fights and F-words rolled up into a bong-sized hash ball that's a never ending toke into the mindless,
madness, rush of adrenaline that brings out the dirty dog in us all.
And they make a statement like few others before or after them… not that
either of the two band members previously interviewed were too anxious
to reveal the inner workings of a cumulatively mad mind; and so what?
If it sounds good, who cares if it makes sense?

The statement? "Death Punk Forever…" "I Got Erection…" "Fuck The World…" take your pick or pick your window for that matter cuz it don't have to be clever, just carefree and maybe a little bit crazy. Ask not why they are not bigger than they are, rather, astonish at the fact that anyone this side of Northern Europe has a remote clue as to their existence. So after a well aimed pelvic thrust through most of the '90s that culminated in their finest (Apocalypse) hour and five year period of self-destruction, they rise again, bigger and better than
before and pointing straight at the ear of an ever-growing legion of
fans who wouldn't let them die. Turbonegro is a self-deprecating slice
of Seventies' showmanship and self-indulgence, swearing off the socially
bound seriousness that's plagued the suffering music-first rock star
hold outs who place playing at a premium.

They've released seven full lengths, two EPs and a live disc and already
had a remarkable 26-track tribute done for them entitled Alpha
Motherfuckers, which features some of the greatest Indie rock, punk,
and techno bands that ever existed. Now, after a lengthy recording
layoff they release the magnificent Scandinavian Leather, which
follows a successful U.S. club tour first opening for Q.O.T.S.A. and
then headlining their own… and this after having played for hundreds of
thousands of European festival fans on last year's comeback.

Prior to a recent show at The Bowery Ballroom in NYC's East Village, I had
the perverse pleasure of meeting this under the radar, made for the
stage character act born of hard rock, punk, and comic relief.
Due to technical difficulties taking place in the Ameritania Hotel bar
(read - too damn much talking and lite FM in the background) and
inferior recording equipment ($45 bucks really gets you shit nowadays
doesn't it?), much of the shared banter between (Guitarists) Rune
Rebellion, Euroboy and myself was lost in a blur of indecipherability.
However, luck must've been with me this evening as I've only recently
discovered that scattered at key points between spread particles the
tape does in fact yield enough information to make something out of
almost nothing…

Vinnie Apicella: Why does the live show only feature material from your last two studio albums Ass Cobra and Apocalypse Dudes?

Rune: It's partly because with this line up was basically when we
started touring for Ass Cobra and that's when it all kind of formed.
So these are our songs.

VA: There's a huge difference in the sound between the Ass Cobra and
Apocalypse Dudes albums yet it's still undeniably Turbonegro.

Rune: Part of the difference is in the change of line up. Obviously
Euroboy came in and plays on Apocalypse and then there's Chris Summers
who took over on drums…

VA: Do you set out to make a statement or get a reaction with your music?

Rune: Not really, it's just about us making the records we want to
make. But of course when we release a record we do want to get some
reaction…(laughs)

VA: Do you worry about cynics questioning your… judgment?

Rune: Well we give them something to talk about… but we don't like to
explain things to anyone.

VA: Do you have any deeply rooted social or political sentiments you want
people to know?

Rune: Death Punk Forever!

VA: Gimme something on Scandinavian Leather, your first new studio album
in five years.

Rune: First of all, I'm really sure it's our best record. It's got all
of those elements from our previous records but it's just more mature
and a more concentrated form of death punk.

Euroboy: It's also the most focused and vital album we've ever done. I
mean… what is the best album? That's a matter of taste. But I know
that this album as a whole, it's a great band effort. The other albums
have been a bit more… maybe separate, you know? Apocalypse was, I
just feel like halfway through the recording we kind of broke the code
and came up with our own musical identity. We started writing these
really cool songs like "'Motherfucker" and "Rendezvous With Anus" and
"'Dungaree High," and we came up with this really catchy and cool bubble
gum-like death punk style and on the new album that was our goal, to
really expose that side of the band. We may lose a few of our fans of
the old punk stuff because people only into punk are not always into
what sounds… good, but they're more about something else. But we're
probably going to get a lot of new fans as well.

VA: There are a lot of similarities between Leather and Apocalypse,
which makes sense considering how much better the band sounds overall…

Euroboy: It's important to remember that state-of-the-art punk rock
these days stays underground… It's genuine low-fi all recorded live. We
totally go against that. It's really well produced and a thoroughly
made album. It means we might lose the hipsters but the music is still
really good and it's an album that's going to last for years and years.

VA: What are Turbonegro like live?

Euroboy: I don't know, I've never seen myself like that and I don't like
to watch videos of our shows. I can feel that there's this certain
magic going on when we play. There's a lot of euphoria going on stage
and then it makes sense to perform the songs.

VA: So why should people go see you guys?

Euroboy: Cause we're good…

Rune: Cause we're beautiful… (Laughs)

Euroboy: We sound really good compared to a lot of new punk rock bands,
and we actually have a good heavy live sound now. Musically, it's good
and visually, from what I've heard, we're fantastic. A guy came up to
me last night - from The Moving Targets - and he's an older dude, and
they said it was like watching The Dead Boys.

VA: Why does Turbonegro "Hate The Kids?"

Euroboy: Cause they suck (Laughs).

VA: Seriously, that's one of my favorite songs.

Rune: I don't think we've ever played that live. We've got so many
songs now…

VA: What are you going to play from the new album?

Rune: I don't know… we'll probably play one or two. (They did - "Sell
Your Body To The Night")