Maybe I’d Seen Too Much of The Walking Dead – Premier Guitar

Division of Laura Lee (left to right): Viktor Lager, Jonas Gustafsson, Hkan Johansson, and Per Stlberg. Photo by Erik Toresson Hellqvist

A little over 15 years ago, an envelope from Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitzs Epitaph record label crossed my desk. Inside was a CD by a Swedish band Id never heard of: Division of Laura Lee. The name made me think of those Sara Lee fruit pies you see in the freezer section.

With not-high expectations, I popped Das Not Compute into my drive and, as banal as it sounds, it marked the beginning of a musical turning point for me. Not because the music was necessarily pioneering, but because the unique mix of alternatingly careening and fuzzed-out garage-punk and melancholy shoegaze atmospherics was simply refreshing. For music journalists, the daily deluge of PR-hyped albums can jade you after a while. But Das Not Compute struck me as much for its raucous energy, moody textures, and cool guitar sounds as it did for its lack of affect and pretentionthink My Bloody Valentine meets Sonic Youths more song-oriented side. I soon tracked down the quartets 2002 Black City (also on Epitaph), as well as a compilation of their straight-hardcore 90s work, 97-99, and Ive eagerly awaited every album since, from 2007s Violence Is Timeless to 2013s Tree and, finally, this years Apartment.

Why am I telling you this and thus committing my biggest journalistic pet peeveinserting myself into a story thats not about me? I guess its because so many of the people Ive introduced Division to over the years have really dug them. Why havent I heard of these guys before? Theyre awesome! To me, its a bit of a travesty theyre hardly knownespecially after landing such a promising deal with one of the U.S.s foremost proponents of punk and post-hardcore bands.

Its bittersweet in that it was the best of times, says guitarist/vocalist Per Stlberg of the short-lived Epitaph deal and their time touring with influential post-hardcore outfit Thursdaywhich ended abruptly halfway through and saw DOLL heading back to Gothenburg. We toured a lot and had a really good connection with those guys, but we did a lot of wrongs, toowe were snotty kids. Im so proud of what we did, though, because we never compromised. Asked to expound on the compromise bit, the still-avid skateboarder says it was the typical manager thing. Like, Dude, I broke my arm. I cant tour. Oh, well, lets bring another guy on tour. No! No, we wait. And we waited. Is that good for your career? Probably not, but honestly I dont give a shit. Id rather be me than somebody else. We would probably be bigger if we stuck on and did them, but we didnt. We cant change that now. Adds cofounding bassist/vocalist Jonas Gustafsson, I guess if we had made it a bit bigger, it would have struck way harder. I dont think we would still be around now if we were famous for, like, 15 minutes and then lost it all.

But Stlberg, Gustafsson, and founding drummer Hkan Johansson didnt leave empty-handed, as the bands stateside stint had seeded a lot of growth back home. Violence Is Timeless did really good in Europe and especially in Swedenwhich was the opposite of before, Stlberg explains. Except for the hardcore scene, nobody really cared about us in Sweden when we were touring the U.S.or maybe thats when they found out about us. But [the hardcore crowd] thought we sold out because we played too much [straight-ahead] rock all of the sudden.

I dont give a shit what you thinkI havent wasted my life on punk rock. Per Stlberg

The first single from this years Apartment, a scathing brawler called Hollow Pricks, was released at the end of 2018. But otherwise its taken seven long years for Division of Laura Lee to produce the follow up to Tree. The big reasons for this include the fact that they lost longtime guitarist David Fransson, and each member, including Franssons replacement, Viktor Lager, now has kids, plays in other musical projects, and has a day job. (Stlberg operates Welfare Sounds studio in Gothenburg; Gustafsson, in addition to working in retail logistics, played in a TV talk-show house band; and Johansson works as a graphic designer.)

It wasnt just that life was busy, though. The ambitiousness of their previous LPtheyd convinced themselves they needed to mature into something more sophisticatedhad worn them out. Tree was a big step to the left for Division soundscaping and not so much riffing, says Lager, the bands newest member. It was very hard to play live. Gustafsson chimes in, [On Tree] we were working with [producer] Jason Lytle from Grandaddy and we were aiming at something else. So when we started talking about the new album, I had one rule: no vocal harmonies! Stlberg concurs: It didnt feel like we could write larger-than-life pop songs anymoreit felt really phony. We spent a lot of time talking about what the hell to do. Six to seven months after Hollow Pricks was released, we knew we only wanted to do punk songslike, really on-point and uncompromising: Here we are, take it or leave it. The rest of the songs came super fast and easy. Basically back to what we did in 97, but were way better now.

Then came the pandemic. Slated for a May 8 release in Europe, Apartment was delayed till August in hopes the global coronavirus situation might improve. In the meantime, in a move hearkening back to their DIY roots, DOLL both teased new tunes and revisited their deep catalog at an April 30 gig live-streamed from a Gothenburg drive-in theater. PG spoke to Stlberg, Gustafsson, and Lager a few days later.

Apartment was written long before COVID-19, but many of the lyrics seem inspired by the pandemic. Safe talks about Someday you will be safe / Ill be here, waiting for love / Take some time not worrying about your altered career and all of that B.S. Paris talks about having to fear for your life / The primal instinct to survive / Waiting for disaster / Stacking up supplies. And the urgency of the title tracksI need to get out / Out of the apartment Im trying to survive / But I cant get outfeels like a coronavirus cabin-fever anthem.Per Stlberg: I know, its insane. Especially Apartment! But we were actually done recording in May of last year. It just took forever to start with mixes. It was all mixed and mastered in December

Jonas Gustafsson: Its mainly the lyrics that I wrote, as wellmaybe Id seen too much of The Walking Dead [laughs]. I try to imagine other peoples agony, because Im quite a happy person. I grew up safe in a normal family, Ive got some money saved up, and everything is fine, but we have a lot of friends who have been damaged by drugs and violence.

Stlberg: When youre getting older, you cant really write about how you had a tough time growing up, you know? But the world is still a weird place. Sometimes you feel cornered or alone, even if you have a cool familyand we all do. But sometimes that 18- or 20-year-old dude in you crawls out again and you feel like a weirdo, totally alone. Thats when its really easy to write lyrics, I guess.

Hollow Pricks feels like a brutal indictment of the mainstream music industry. I need to wake up rich / And say bye, bye, bye, bye / You hollow pricks / Cause Im DIY and Im not yours to fix / I got my own plans, thoughts, ideas on how / To make us all be real and forever stay true. Whats the story behind that?Stlberg: It was inspired by a conversation I had with friends who said you can only do punk when youre young. I felt they were all wrong. I dont give a shit what you thinkI havent wasted my life on punk rock. I would never believe that. It doesnt matter who you are or how old you are. You can do whatever you want.

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Maybe I'd Seen Too Much of The Walking Dead - Premier Guitar