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silentbob
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The third Epitaph release from Örebro, Sweden's Millencolin is called Pennybridge Pioneers, a title that represents the melodic, aggressive quartet's rapidly growing sense of pride and discovery. Loosely translated into English, Örebro -- a small city (population 130,000) located 18 miles west of Sweden's capital, Stockholm -- means Pennybridge, and Millencolin are indeed pioneers in their hometown.
An inpsiration to other bands in Sweden, guitarist Erik Ohlsson explains, "We were the first band from our town to go around the world, now there's a new generation coming -- it's weird to be just five years older than them -- and it makes us feel good to be looked up to by those bands."
Not that the four band members are looking back, or resting on their laurels, which include near rock star status in Europe and an ever increasing grass roots fanbase in America. If anything, Millencolin are forging ahead once again on their new album, recorded at Los Angeles' fabled Westbeach Recorders with the classic team of Bad Religion's Brett Gurewitz producing and Donnell Cameron engineering.
"We all got excited when we found out Brett wanted to produce us," says Ohlsson. As BadReligion fans since the late '80s, he notes, "It was like a dream come true."
After five US tours, including a successful stint on 1997's Vans Warped Tour (also a dream come true for four guys who've been skateboarding since childhood), the chance to record in L.A. was too good to pass up. Millencolin rehearsed and wrote songs between May and July 1999, then flew to the States to begin recording what would become their heaviest and most emotionall charged album to date.
While Pennybridge Pioneers doesn't abandon the band's trademark punch and fire, it does mark an evolution away from the upstroke guitar riffs and ska rhythms of the past. The evolving direction, Ohlsson says, wasn't forced. "We still love ska stuff, but if a song sounds better without it, we leave it that way. This album just turned out to be fatter and bigger."
Somehow all the ferocity brought out a sensitive side, too, and Pennybridge Pioneers includes Millencolin's first ballad, appropriately titled "The Ballad." As the band's main songwriter, vocalist Nikola Sarcevic demoed most of the material, often on acoustic guitar, before bringing it to the group for collaboration. While Ohlsson admits the band tried tinkering with "The Ballad," they liked the simpler version of the track better. "We like the melody," says Ohlsson, "and it sounded a lot better acoustic."
As always, the new CD draws upon Sarcevic's and the bands personal experiences and many of the songs relate to growing up and moving forward. Others, like "Hellman," refer to Swedish pop icons. All the tracks feature the kind of hummable, furious crunch that is uniquely Millencolin?s.
Fun Millencolin Facts:
* Erik Ohlsson has designed the artwork for all of Millencolin's CDs.
* Erik's day job is at Burning Heart Records. He lives just five minutes away.
* Örebro is building a new indoor skate park in the same building as Burning
Heart.
* It's "easy" to form bands in Sweden, says Erik, because schools provide rehearsal space to students.
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