[Interview] Exclusive interview with Swedish band Uncle Weevil

Dear readers, we are pleased to offer you in this article an interview with a new Swedish band that mixes Progressive Rock and Power Pop. We welcome Uncle Weevil.

Hello, it is a pleasure to have you among our pages, how are you?

We’re fine, thank you. Winter has taken hold of Sweden, so we dress appropriately or sit indoors and warm ourselves with good music.

The band formed recently, how did the project come about and what is the meaning of your name Uncle Weevil?

It all actually started during the Covid pandemic. I (Mats) have always played other people’s music or been a member of bands that already had a clear profile (such as the Swedish bands Talk of the Town and Alien, etc.). During the pandemic, I had time to write and develop my own music. Lasse Söhr, who plays bass, played on one of the songs I wrote at the time (which did not make it onto the album, but will possibly be released as a single later this spring) and suggested that I contact Nikko Harrison because he thought he would be a good fit for the music. I had known Nikko before when we both lived and worked on the Los Angeles music scene in the early 90s. Nikko was the one who came up with the idea of forming a band and that we should record more than just for our own pleasure. He contacted the eminent guitarist Peter Nilsson and we started rehearsing in a basement room, in the classic way. There we arranged and chiseled out the songs until we felt satisfied. The name Uncle Weevil comes from the fact that I wanted a name like Dr. Hook, Captain Beefheart. I like the idea that the name describes a fictional character, like an uncle. The weevil is a small beetle and is some kind of homage to my all-time favorite band that also took its name from a beetle.

You offer a blend of Progressive Rock and Power Pop, how did your passion for these sounds come about?

I grew up listening to the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel and later I discovered artists like Genesis, Allan Holdsworth and Yes. During the early 90s, the retro wave and power pop bands like Jellyfish, The Grays, XTC and the like came along, taking their inspiration from British pop music from the 60s. When the English do pop, they almost always manage to
include a touch of punk in what they do. I think it’s an attitude thing. I don’t claim to be able to pull it off myself, but I like it. What I know for sure is that I enjoy working with contrasts in my music. Anyway I think I’ve always had a curiosity to find new music. My influences could just as easily come from Maurice Ravel, Miles Davis or Black Sabbath. What appeals to me the most is when I’m surprised by the music. It could be an unexpected chord progression, a change of time signature or a melody that resolves in an unexpected way. I think that this desire to surprise the listener has been the biggest driving force in Uncle Weevil’s music.

The debut album is due out in January 2025, how would you describe this work?

It feels like we’ve managed to make a well-crafted album. We’ve put all our knowledge into it. But it’s also an album with quite different types of songs. The common denominator is odd time signatures and odd chord progressions. We haven’t necessarily strived to find a sound that’s ours, but each song has had to become its own little island. During my life as a touring and session musician, I’ve always found it a bit boring that everything has to be packaged in a uniform package instead of exploring how far you can take things. If you think about a band like Queen, they didn’t let themselves be confined by conventions but wrote music that they liked at the time. I like that idea.

Alternating instrumental and vocal parts, what themes do the lyrics deal with?

I really enjoy writing lyrics. What I like best is when they become little stories. We deal with several different themes on the album. A Noble Engineer, which is the first track on the album, is about the disastrous journey to the North Pole with a Zeppelin that the Italian Umberto Nobile undertook in 1928. Charlie the Cat is about Peter’s cat Charlie who, during rehearsals with the band, came home with a rabbit with its head bitten off. It had to become a song. Referee is about the everyday life of a football referee. Wind in the treetops is the most serious song on the album. It is about all the friends who are no longer with us. I have lost several close friends to terrible diseases like ALS and cancer. Dale is about a tin soldier who goes on an adventure in the nursery. Watching the Deers run is a declaration of love for nature and the vast forests we have in Sweden. The Nix also has a Swedish theme. The Nix is ​​a figure in Swedish folklore who lives in a stream and lures young girls into ruin. The chorus of that song is also inspired by Chagall’s paintings. Harry & Isabella is about a classic toxic relationship. He is far too confident and she has too low self-esteem. The album’s last song, Fast Food, should be seen as a playful sneer at our high consumption of so-called junk food.”


Elaborate and melodic passages characterise the sound, how does the creative process of your music take place?

I usually write everything at home and then put it away for a week or so. Then I listen to it intensively for a period of time and rewrite a lot of it before we take it to the rehearsal room. There the songs undergo further changes. Then we record and re-record our parts separately.

We recently released the official teaser for the album, do you plan to release any singles?

We recently released a video for A Noble Engineer and then the next release will be the full album at the end of January. We will possibly release a single later this spring with two songs that for various reasons did not make it onto the album.

An addictive sound, which lends itself to live performances, do you have plans for this in the near future?

We currently have no plans to go out and play live. It is possible that this will change in the future but our focus right now is on writing and recording new songs.

Scandinavia has been in great artistic turmoil in recent years, how do you see the scene in your country today?

Sweden is, and has always been, a somewhat small country to reach out with music, or art, film, literature for that matter, that goes outside the mainstream norm. That said, there are a lot of talented artists, both within and outside the mainstream, who are active on the Scandinavian scene. What is sad is that it is difficult for musicians who are young today to be able to make a living from their artistry or their craft.

The music market is constantly evolving, how difficult, if at all, is it to succeed with Progressive Rock sounds?

The difference today is that it is possible to create, release and distribute your music without being dependent on major labels. This is positive as many talented musicians and bands can take control of their own music without having to compromise. This in turn means that there are more bands competing for the attention of listeners. When it comes to the prog rock community, there is a large audience. It is such a special genre and listeners are loyal to that type of music style. However, it is also a fairly conservative audience so we can only hope that they appreciate what we have done.

What advice would you give to young artists approaching music by proposing sounds like yours?

Learn the history of the genre. Listen to as much as you can from the late 60s to today. But don’t be afraid to borrow from other genres like country, jazz, pop, etc. Learn the grammar of music, music theory. It’s nothing that limits you, but a tool that takes you where you want to go. And most importantly: write music that you yourself would like to listen to, not music you think others want.

Do you have any other activities or artistic passions outside of music?

I love spending time with my family, doing some carpentry at the summer house and going to watch my favorite team AIK play football. And of course, I never say no to a beer down at the local pub.

I thank the band for the interview, wishing them all the best for the release of the debut album and for the continuation of their artistic career.

Uncle Weevil |Facebook Page|YouTube Channel|

Author: Jacopo Vigezzi

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