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Painted Wolves

Pim had a chat with Mattias of Painted Wolves about dividing his time between his other bands, the band’s standards, the European tour, future plans and more…

Hey Mattias, what’s happening over there?

Yo Pim! Just put three days of ANCHOR practice behind me. Me and Staffan have been hammering out a few new CORRECTION songs and tomorrow is PAINTED WOLVES’ day. Curious and excited to see what we’ll come up with!

Sounds like you’re a full time coreman haha. How does it work time wise etc when band members are also in Death is Not Glamorous & Anchor?

Haha, a full time coreman, maybe so, yeah! Somehow it hasn’t been a problem this far. DEATH IS NOT GLAMOROUS’ haven’t toured in quite a while. ANCHOR has been as active as ever, touring and writing the upcoming record but luckily it has been working out just fine. I think the main reason for that is we’re very picky and will only do whatever feels 100% right.

And when does it feel 100% right to you? What are your standards?

We will only do things all of us are super excited about. Touring with COMADRE and DANGERS was a no-brainer for example. But if someone’s in doubt about something it’s not gonna happen. We’re only gonna tour with friends or bands we admire. We’re only gonna work with people we trust and feel connected to.

painted-wolves

We’re very picky and will only do whatever feels 100% right.

So tell us a bit about Painted Wolves, how did it start, who’s in the band, aside from the already mentioned band members.

PAINTED WOLVES is a punk band based in the beautiful city of Göteborg, Sweden. We’re four long time friends and restless souls. We hang out, shoot the shit and write music we believe in. We do what we want because we can.

Me and our guitarist Linus have been in bands together for a long time. THE SMACKDOWN and DEAD VOWS being two of them. It seems we just can’t not play music together. We met our singer G through our local punk scene I guess and somehow ended up doing DEAD VOWS together a few years ago. Mathias and I kept running into each other at shows everywhere for years and years without me finding out who the hell he was.

In July you did an European tour, how did it go? Had a blast?

Absolutely loved it! Thirty days of sheer brilliance I’d say. Amazing people, beautiful weather, awesome shows, delicious food, lots of swimming and goofing around. We’ve all done this a lot over the years but this tour was very special and wrapping it up at Fluff was pretty sweet of course. Mad love to DANGERS, Jack, Marc and everyone who made it possible.

Sounds great indeed. You’ve been around for 2 years now, what were the highlights so far?

So many things to be honest. Our first show was very special. Our friends TREMBLING HANDS did one of their very first shows too that night and so many of our loved ones came out. The recording of the “Unholy” 7″ was a great time too and the end result still blows my mind. First time we played Gävle was unreal. There’s almost too much love up there. Our 12″ was recorded at a few different locations and the whole process was beautiful. Our summer tour this year with DANGERS has got to be THE highlight this far though.

Painted Wolves

 I’m pretty sure we’ll make at least one dream come true next year.

Why did you record the 12″ at different locations?

Our buddy Simon Mellergårdh at Studio Skogen recorded and mixed the “Unholy” EP. All of us were very happy with his work so recording the 12″ with him was our number one choice. Me and Mathias had been friends with Jack Shirley at The Atomic Garden for a while. We both admire him a lot and really wanted him to be a part of this record. Especially since we were going to tour with COMADRE. Jack has got a different approach to his work compared to most people out there doing hardcore/punk and it came out awesome.

How about future plans?

We’ll keep doing our thing. Writing, recording and releasing music we believe in, and of course: touring! We get offers every once in a while and we’ll do whatever feels right and time allows us to. I’m pretty sure we’ll make at least one dream come true next year. I would love to tell you about it, but I can’t. Stay tuned!

Aah come on, how about a hint?

It might have something to do with flying somewhere far away.

What’s the main thing you want to bring across with Painted Wolves?

Our mission statement is simple, we wanna do our thing and not be too much of a copy. We all love and respect the tradition of hardcore/punk but we wanna do something just a little different from most of what’s out there. We’re not pretentious assholes, rather the opposite, but we wanna be progressive in one way or another.

So what about you guys should be considered progressive?

Even though we’re punk and use this band as a way of paying tribute to a form of music we love we made a decision to constantly be a moving train. We’re still a new band, still searching for an expression of our own, but we’re getting there and every song written is a triumph. More than anything it’s a state of mind kind of thing. In the end what we’re doing is stealing and recycling awesome ideas, but I feel confident saying we’re adding our own touch to it.

Painted Wolves

We all love and respect the tradition of hardcore/punk but we wanna do something just a little different from most of what’s out there. We’re not pretentious assholes, rather the opposite, but we wanna be progressive in one way or another.

Let’s talk lyrics. What are you favorite Painted Wolves lyrics? And why?

I think G’s got a pretty distinct style. A lot of times it’s very personal and I’m sure a lot of people out there can relate to what he’s talking about. Right now I’d probably say “Sea Of Demons” is my favorite lyrically. It’s simple but powerful!

Had to look that one up, but those are good lyrics indeed. Hmm, I guess that’s it for me. Any final words?

Thanks Pim for supporting our band. Keep up the brilliant work! Check out our FacebookbandCamp and BigCartel for all of the latest action!

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