Sweden has produced many influential artists over the years such as Bathory and Morbid (of whom vocalist ‘Dead’ went on to front Norway’s infamous Mayhem). Despite it’s obvious ties with black or extreme metal, Sweden has more recently unleashed a wave of darkened melodic hardcore bands into the world such as the Stockholm based Grieved and No Omega. We caught up with No Omega to discuss their history and their recent album, ‘Culture’.

Having formed back in 2010, No Omega describe themselves as playing a mixture of “aggressive music that comes from dark melodic hardcore, but these days there’s not a lot of hardcore left I’d say. We bum people out I guess. We’ve been recording and touring since 2010, and currently the band is Daniel (guitar), Joakim (bass), Oscar (vocals) and Gabriel (drums).”

Punktastic caught up with Oscar and Daniel to discuss how the band have changed over the past seven years, their new album ‘Culture’ and how they’re no longer “just a bunch of kids who wanted to play hardcore, tour and have fun – we had no idea about anything.”

No Omega have undergone a series of changes since their naive and humble beginnings, most notably their line-up changes that would eventually go on to sway their musical direction. “The years went on and we grew and changed as people. Andreas (vocals) and Victor (drums) left the band in 2013.”

After their departure both Oscar (previously on guitar) and Daniel (previously bass) decided that they wanted to keep the band going, “I had already put so much work into the band (booking all the tours, handling all the releases from our side, managing PR and merch etc.), I just wasn’t ready to let go. At the time, I guess I didn’t think that much about if, or how, the music would change. But bringing new people into a band will change the music, unless it’s a band where there’s just one person writing everything.”

That said, Oscar goes on to describe how the band have always shared the writing duties for their music but it hasn’t always been an even spread between them. “I used to write around 70% of all the songs (guitar and lyrics), and Andreas would pretty much write the rest. Of course the drums and bass were mainly written by Victor and Daniel.”

Prior to the release of ‘Culture’ No Omega released a five track EP entitled ‘Occupants’ the two releases consisted of two different drummers adding “their personal touch to each of these records” as Gabriel wrote all the drums for the new record. With Joakim writing most the bass guitar for both of these releases, Oscar writing approximately 60% of the guitars for ‘Occupants’ but only a quarter of the guitars for ‘Culture’ and Daniel writing the rest of the guitars as well as contributing with lyrics to the songs ‘Passing’ and ‘Comfort’ (‘Occupants’) and to the song ‘Misgiving’ on ‘Culture’ it’s clear that the band all work as a unit instead of sticking to their individual fields.

Changing over from guitars and backing vocals to filling the role of frontman, Oscar explains the process and how it ended up re-shuffling the entire band around in order to make things work. “I had been doing vocals in another band so it wasn’t completely new to me, but of course it was a big change for me and the band as well. I think replacing a vocalist is probably the most difficult thing to do because people get really attached to the voice that comes with the music you know. So if you really need to replace your vocalist, you would probably try to find someone who sounds similar.”

With the departure of Andreas, No Omega set out in search of a new vocalist to fill the gap, searching for someone “we really liked both as a person and as a vocalist. We had a few people in mind that could work well in the band that were really good and also sounded a bit like Andreas.” As the band already had an upcoming tour booked they were working against the clock. “When those people were unavailable we decided to bring in our best friend Joakim on bass, Daniel would switch over to guitar and I would kick the vocals.”

“Although I don’t sound like Andreas we decided to try this because first of all as I had been writing most of the lyrics and also doing back-up vocals from the start. Secondly, not having to have a discussion with some new potential vocalist about the lyrical themes (lyrics being pretty important, as we’ve always been a relatively political band) and also not having to worry about chemistry was pretty appealing.” Oscar illustrates. “A few years later and I miss playing guitar but I really enjoy doing vocals! Hopefully we’ve gained more listeners than we’ve lost and although I’m not sure whether people prefer Andreas to me, I really hope people still enjoy listening to No Omega.”

As mentioned, lyrics and lyrical content play a large part in No Omega’s music and what they stand for as a band. Despite writing a lot of the lyrics to their previous records, Oscar now had the task of writing and performing all the lyrics for their third full length album ‘Culture’. Many of the lyrics on ‘Culture’ appear to be either reflective or inward thinking but they’re not limited to being personal to one person alone.

“There are a few songs on the album that aren’t personal at all but the lyrics do seem to be more reflective than on previous records. I try to write about subjects that others can relate to, but at the same time keep a critical social perspective, mixed in with the more personal and reflective aspects. For example, the track ‘Misgiving’ tackles global warming and ‘Agora’ is about social exclusion, neither contains any autobiographical content. But tracks like ‘Culture’, ‘Phobia’ and ‘Resignation’ are all connected to my own feelings of hopelessness and mild social phobia as well as issues with communication and friendship. At the same time, I want to address these subjects, communication is the hardest thing! I hope people can relate to these things, I would also love people to have discussions in relation to these lyrics.”

Explaining in greater detail exactly what it is that No Omega stand for as a band and where their lyrical inspiration comes from, Oscar describes where their lyrical influences take root and how they have changed over time.

“No Omega has always been an outspoken vegetarian or vegan band, so we’ve had a few animal rights songs. We’ve also always had a very strong anti-capitalist and anti-neo-liberalist standpoint connected to environmental issues (such as global warming). A lot of the lyrics also come from personal experiences (clichés like heartache and such), as well as philosophical contemplations.”

Opening up, Oscar states that “for me it’s been very different and new to write about my own personal insecurities and relationships. It used to be Andreas who wrote the more personal and emotional lyrics whereas I would mostly focus on the political ones. In general, having more personal and emotional lyrics in our songs wasn’t something we ever really decided on. It’s natural and this is just what Andreas wrote about, so when he left, I guess we wanted to keep those aspects of No Omega that Andreas had developed.”

Regarding their influences Oscar explains that they come from varied sources. “The first few records were foremost influenced by ‘CrimethINC’ (an anarchist collective that first appeared in the hardcore zine ‘Inside Front’ in the mid-90’s) literature and the author Daniel Quinn (mainly the Ishmael books).”

From anarchist literature to “quotes from Leonardo Dicaprio movies, misheard Bon Iver lyrics and psychology” the influences for No Omega’s lyrics seem endless. ‘Culture’ also features “a reference and a nod to The National, Grieved and Careless, as well as to an old song of ours from ‘Metropolis’ called “Blunt Knives. The lyrics should be more consistent but like I said, we’ve changed as individuals as well. Other things inspire us; different music, new events and experiences.”

On May 5 No Omega released their most recent album, ‘Culture’, via the UK based label Dog Knights Productions. For the eagle eyed fans out there, you may have seen a particular tweet from Holy Roar stating that they had offered to release the album but the band had chosen to stick with their current label. Quashing any unsavoury rumours Daniel explains that “We like Holy Roar and what they do, but we also like Dog Knights. I don’t think there is a label in Europe that do what Dog Knights does as a label, and I’m happy we’re still with Darren and the bands he releases.”

Having completed the album and placing it into the hands of fans, Daniel describes the journey and the feelings of the band now that the project is complete. “It’s very nice to finish a project you’ve spent two years on and be able to have something to show for it. There have been some struggles, but in the end when I listen to the finished product I know it’s been worth it. I’m happy you can hear that it’s just the four of us on this record, we all take up our own space musically and it’s obvious it’s not the exact same people that played on our first LP.”

Clearly eager for people to hear ‘Culture’ and happy to have incorporated and explored some new musical territory Daniel describes why he and the band are so excited. “We have friends we admire singing on it and it’s been mixed by Jack Shirley who’s made some of my favourite hardcore records. The songs all come from a place of wanting to advance and try something new. I’ve seen some reactions about this going back to a sound people used to like which surprises me, as I thought this would be another record that the “old fans” didn’t get and we’d have to find new people to listen to it. There’s a song in standard tuning, there’s heavy use of my tremolo bar on the Jazzmaster, and there’s chorus on a guitar part, I’m just happy if people can get into it!
There’s two songs we call “pop songs” and even though there’s screaming and blast beats in there, we tried stepping off in a new type of style to get some more creative output and a broader spectrum of music. To me, it’s still the same thing as the old d-beat songs, but if you’re not a softy like me it might not click.”

Releasing three full length albums and almost as many EPs, No Omega have had a creative output during their time together. Lyrically they have certain themes that they always come back to but what about musically, do they still draw their musical inspiration from the same places after all this time? “I don’t think our tastes have changed that much, or not in a way that would affect the music we write.” Explains Daniel. “I’ve got into more Americana / country recently, but that obviously doesn’t show in No Omega. I think the reason that we write different things now as opposed to five or six years ago, is that we are able to connect our expressions with another and that as a band, you can’t keep doing the same thing over and over.”

It becomes obvious that the members of No Omega have no difficulty or problems with writing and creating new material. “I know there are people who struggle to get lyrics for a song or come up with new riffs for their bands and that must be so hard, but if the music and the creative will didn’t come to me, I wouldn’t keep playing music. If I pick up a guitar and don’t come up with something new, there’s no point for me to play.
Sometimes it’s been hard for us to get together to shape new music because of touring schedules and trying to keep our set list interesting, but enough ideas come to us to keep the band feeling relevant.”

“Feeling relevant” can be one of the hardest things for a musician, especially with the rate that popular culture now moves at, Daniel continues on why he feels it’s important to keep creating no matter what. “When bands do reunion tours I understand the feeling of wanting to play some really fun shows, to play to old friends and new fans who didn’t get a chance to see you the first time round, but why the fuck do you play and tour on songs you put out ten, twenty, thirty years ago? What is the point?! It’s so abundant and pointless to me, I mean, don’t you want to create? Do you essentially just want to be a karaoke band for a few years before people get tired of hearing the same songs over and over again?”

Going hand in hand with relevance is of course touring, a chance to go out and play live in front people as well as promote yourselves along the way. That and it’s often the most thrilling part of being in a band. No Omega have completed some fairly extensive touring schedules over the years and still have more to come, Daniel sums up what’s left for the band to do now that their new album has been completed and released into the wild.

“I think touring is a big reason why some people aren’t in the band anymore. I’m turning 27 this year and I started my first real full-time job in January. We would all probably live very different lives if it wasn’t for this band but I personally think it’s worth it. It’s also nice to have some money for the first time but I think there are other reasons than your health and wealth to do these things. We are toured Europe in April, playing some of our favourite cities and in August we will be back to play some festivals.
I don’t know what more we will do but I think we want to come back to some areas we haven’t visited in a couple of years then we’ll see if anything else happens. We have been a band for a long time now.”

Seven years is a long time for a hardcore band to stick together, especially one as young as those in No Omega. Despite their young age or previous naivety, you can’t deny that the path No Omega have walked thus far has filled them with strength, courage and wisdom, characteristics or traits that sometimes even the most well-travelled musicians never manage to gain.

“It’s difficult, but do you allow the band and the music to change with you or do you desperately try to keep everything the same? I think the latter is what makes most bands just give up after a few years, you change as people and suddenly you’re not agreeing on things as much as you used to. Society and everything around you is constantly changing and developing, it’s impossible to remain still and static. Although the foundations for No Omega are still there, the heavy music and the hopelessness so I guess that’s what makes us still able to be a band seven years later.”

‘Culture’ is available now via Dog Knights Productions