SISTER (Eng.)

– Hello, thanks for your time. Though you have released some short length releases, I guess there may be some people who don’t know you yet so, could you please introduce the band to all of them?
Hello! I’m Cari, drummer of the band.
Sister is a attitude spitting rock n’ roll act from Sweden. We have been around since late 2005, early 2006 and are about to release our debut album HATED via Metal Blade Records. The sound of the album is raw hard rock with infuences from punk/glam rock and metal, all mixed together in to some blasting tunes. Sister is about getting your aggression out through the music, forget about your daily life and just playing rock n’ roll. That’s what it’s all about.

– And why «Sister»? SISTER was the Blackie Lawless’ band’s name before starting WASP, was this something intended or didn’t you know about it?
Of course we knew about Blackies band! I came up with the name Sister a couple of years ago and mixed it together with other names becuase I wanted a longer band name, a double name. I tried some but then after a while, simply just cut it down to being «Sister» again at last. I love it, it’s a great name! It’s short and makes you wonder «what the fuck is this»?

– Your first full-length album will come out next Juny 7th. How does it feel seeing your first full album released finally?
It feels great! Time to show the world who we are and what we’re about. I love every single track of the album. It’s sounding just as raw and dirty as we all wanted it to. To release the beast via Metal blade records is awesome.

– After the amazing reviews you got with your latest EP, what are your expectations for «Hated»?
Yes, we’ve got great reviews from all over the world and a lot of attention to the band. We didn’t know how people were going to react to the EP «Deadboys Making Noise» and I don’t think we have have higher expectations on HATED. We are really just doing what we feel is right, and we love the album! To be honest and just keep on doing our thing is the best to do. Of course it makes us happy when people like it and support us!

– For the album you have signed with nothing less than Metal Blade which, by the way, aren’t known that much for releasing Sleaze albums. How did everything start? I read PRIMORDIAL’s Alan Averill had something to do with that. Tell us a bit about it.
I don’t know how it all started, haha! Ok. As i said, the release of 2009’s «Deadboys Making Noise» really got us up to the next level. We got in contact with several labes but no one matched what we were looking for. We were almost about to record the album by ourselves. Then we’ve got contacted from Alan, said he was working some for Metal Blade Records. I remember answering something like «yeah. ok shoot…» And he told us that he had played our songs in the LA office and that they liked what they heard and saw as they were looking for a new fresh, not typical Metal Blade band. The timing was perfect! And the rest just turned out great;)

– Since «Dead Boys making Noise» you have been compared with MURDERDOLLS. How do you feel about it?
Good i guess, as i like the band. Saw them back in 2003 and it was great! I think with our mix of glam/punk stuff to heavy/death metal stuff, people don’t know where to put us. I would never call us a «horror punk» band as we don’t base our music on horror movies and stuff like that. We have our roots in classic rock n’ roll.

– Maybe this is because you changed a bit your look and lyrics with it and became «darker». Was that a planned change?
Not at all. We started work with some heavier stuff and everything just came natural. Along with the heavy sound it also turned in to a darker look. Nothing we ever sat down and planned.

– And, by the way, did PRETTY BOY FLOYD inspire you for the EP’s name?
Haha! No actually not. I guess you mean the Leather Boys With Electric Toys album? Well, I love that album, thats for sure! But i don’t think it came from that. It’s a line in the Too Bad For You song that i wrote. Don’t know where it came from actually. You don’t know what is going on in your head all the time.. Maybe it was a mix between punk legends The Deadboys and Rikki’s former band, Starlet Suicide, release: «Making All The Noise»
,hmm, shit.. I don’t know.

–  Now getting into your new «Hated», what do your lyrics tend to deal with? As, I guess, some people could think they are going to find standard «party» lyrics…
If you’re looking for standard party lyrics, you’ll get disappointed. This album is filled with pretty much anger. Aggresive lyrics about life and how to deal with people. To don’t take shit and to be able to say FUCK OFF when you’re not treated right. We are not some kind of sad and depressed band, no way! We love to party and have a great time. This is just our way to get some shit out of our heads and hopefully people can hear our stuff and use it as a relief.

– One of the songs that caught my attention was the title track, as is a heavy mid-tempo and it really stands out from the rest of the tracks in the album. What can you tell us about this song?
We all loved it since day one. It’s a great track with strong lyrics written by Lestat. It’s about anger and how you can use hate to get back on people that fuck things over for you. We worked hard on this one to get the heavy and strong feeling, making it the anthem of the album.

– And what aboud the ballad «Would you Love a Creature»? We can even find a piano…
Yes, also a masterpiece from Lestat! This is a song that was written even before Lestat joined the band and when he showed it to us, we knewed that we were going to use it on the album. It’s a great song. We are all fans of the great rock n roll ballads, this is a pretty dark one and i think it fits the album great.

– «Body Blow» and «Too Bad for You» were also included in «Dead Boys making Noise» but, have this time been re-mastered or re-recorded? As they sound more heavy, specially «Body Blow»…
The both tracks are re-recorded in the same process as the other tracks on the album. It’s was hard to work with these two songs as they already sounded great on the early recordings! To record them from scratch and make them even better was not easy, but we did what we could and I think it turned out great.

– For «Too Bad for you» you did a video, will you do another one this time?
A brand new music video is coming up soon!

– In your sound we can find so many and diverse influences such as Sleaze, Punk, Glam, Metal… but what styles/bands have influenced you?
Well, that’s how this band has developed. We loved rock music from all kind off genres and styles. What we are trying to do is to take the best from each genre and make it come alive together. We want the heavy sound, we want punk attitude, we want the looks and so on. Our thing is to work with those different styles and put it together to something big.

– The album has been mixed by Tobias Lindell, how did everything arise? Has he achieved the sound you wanted to get?
Tobias has been working with big bands here in Sweden like Hardcore Superstar, Crashdiet, Europe and Mus
tasch. As the guys from Crashdiet are good friends of ours, they told us about Tobias and we got in contact with him. You can tell, when listening to the stuff he has done, that he know what he’s doing. Together with him, we got the heavy and big but still dirty and raw sound of our record and we are all totally satisfied with it.

– Production is not really clean, just as raw and rough as your music is, with certain «live feeling». This, beside the honest, energetic and straight-forward sound I guess your music shall work really good for gigs. What can someone expect if they’re going to see SISTER on stage?
Thats the thing! We wanted the album to feel like a live gig. We are a live band and on this album we have captured the raw, loud and dirty sound that we wanted. Sister live is a rock n’ roll show in the name of chaos. We give 100% and we expect our audience to do the same. Thats what I love about this album! It’s heavy and big sounding, but still there are the filthy punk vibes as well.

– When I reviewed your album I said, though in Sweden there’s a great Rock scene, you guys stand out in many ways but, in your opinion, what could you say makes you different?
We are not trying to be different at all, we’re just doing what feels right at the moment and what we like. You can not put us in a genre becuase i don’t even know what this shit is called. Maybe thats what makes us different. Glam bands play glam, black metal bands play black metal and so on. We don’t belong to any of that and we are going to keep on look and sound the way we want.

– I also said you have in your sound a strong attitude and personality, which you don’t seem to loose nor with ballads. How important is this for you guys?
I don’t know if it’s important. It’s just they way it is:) I guess we have a «fuck off» attitude to things becuase there’s so much shit going on. And that’s some of the stuff that we want to get out through our music. We are all big fans of great ballads as well and that is also a great way to get your message out.

– I think this is quite positive being from a country such Sweden, with so many great bands so, with all that «competence», playing this style is an advantage for you or the contraty? I mean, it seems to be there a real interest for Sleaze, or whatever you may call it but, in the other hand, that could be seen as competence too…
Yeah, of course it’s getting harder for bands over here because there is so many of them! But at the same time, it’s great. Every person you know plays in a band! And with so many of them, time will tell what bands are in it for real and will make it big but also who aren’t ready for it.

– And what are your thoughts on the current Swedish Rock scene? Though bands as LOUD N NASTY or HARDCORE SUPERSTAR were already there, CRASHDÏET seemed to open, somehow, a new path…
It’s hard to say. There has been coming up a lot of great band these last couple of years. HCSS has been around for a while and now they are getting huge. Crashdiet pretty much opened a brand new scene here in Sweden. Sweden rock festival is just getting bigger and bigger. Who knows what will come next? Hopefully it will continue with more great bands! It’s just a good thing. Not only in this «genre». We hang around with people from punk bands, glam bands, death/black metal bands and all kind of stuff. There is much growing here!

– Now that your first full-length album will be out soon, how do you see the band’s evolution has been since your beginnings?
Straight forward! We always set up goals and somehow we always manage to get what we want, sooner or later. We have been through some hard times those first years but I think that it just has made us stronger as a band. Both on a personal level and musically. We are well prepared for this release.

– And what are your aims to get?
Just to make this shit as big as possible and spread the Sister disease worldwide through our music and live performances.

– Since you started back in 2005 (if I’m not wrong), you have toured a lot around different European countries so now, with a complete album in your hands and having a deal with a major label, do you see any chance of coming to Spain?
I hope so! Spain would be awesome. After the release of HATED, new doors will open and hopefully we’ll get there soon!

– And talking of gigs, do you already have some plans to support «Hated» live?
We plan a european tour after this summer. As, i said. After the release, we will set up a plan to show Sister to the world and play live as much as possible.

– That was all, thanks for your time. If you want to add some final words to the interview, last lines are yours.
Thank you! I hope we make it to Spain soon to fuck some shit up:) Don’t miss the worldwide release of HATED, in stores June 7th. Visit us at www.sisteronline.net and facebook and all that shit to keep yourself updated about what’s going on in the sister camp.
See ya
/Cari