Name of your band: The Chuck Norris Experiment
What have been your musical epiphany moments?Once in a while on stage I can get a moment like that. "Holy shit this is great" or "We will never be better than this". I think the whole band had one when Chuck Dakota presented the opening riff for our song "DirtShot".
Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?It is usually just a small piece of something, a riff, a phrase, a word that pops up in my head when I am driving to work. It is always to work, never from work for some reason.
Most of the times this just ends up as a note or an audio clip in the phone for later use, but sometimes I got a full song ready in my head when I reach work. Those are always the best songs we do. If we have to spend much time on just the base of a song we usually throw it away.
Who has influenced you the most?Hank Von Hell
Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?
I tend to go back to American rock bands from the 70's. Everything about bands like Skynyrd, Kiss & Eagles were so cool back in the days. The looks, the music and the stories, everything I awesome. And a lot of ideas to our new album "20" did come from quotes and music TV-shows and movies, I am not going to give them away, but if you listen to the album and like new TV series and movies, I am sure you will nail a few.
We're all a product of our environment. Tell us about the band's hometown and how that reflects in the music?Gothenburg has always been a rock city. It is a working man's town and I think you can hear that. I suppose you know about the Gothenburg scene, but I will mention some of the great bands anyway 😊. Soundtrack Of Our Lives, InFlames, Hardcore Superstar, Hammerfall, Nationalteatern, The Riptide Rats...
Where'd the band name come from?The band name CHUCK NORRIS EXPERIMENT is often believed to been taken after the US martial arts champion Chuck Norris. But as all true believers and lovers of Rock'n'roll know, the band name is a tribute to the legendary American blues guitarist Charles "Chuck" Norris, who recorded the classic live album "Los Angeles Flash" in the band's hometown Gothenburg on June 25, 1980.
You have one chance, what movie are you going to write the soundtrack for?Cobra with Sylvester Stallone. That would be awesome!
You now write for a music publication (The Ripple Effect?). You're going to write a 1,000 word essay on one song. Which would it be and why?Oh, good one. I would go really cheezy and pick "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. And this is only because I still don't know why they had a beef with Neil Young, and for some strange reason I have not tried to find out for all these years. But I would do that for The Ripple Effect.
Man, there have been so many strange things happening over the years and we usually go by the "What happens in The Chuck Norris Experiment stays in The Chuck Norris Experiment" code. But only about a month ago we got complaints after playing a tattoo fair here in Sweden, that we played too loud (they had a sound guy), we played too long (we played 37 minutes instead of 35), and the worst thing of all... WE DRANK BEER BACKSTAGE!! Grown men drinking beer at a hard rock show.. Have you ever heard of such a thing.
Tell us about playing live and the live experience for you and for your fans?We always give 100% of what we got, it does not matter if there is one person there or 5000. You will always get the full CNE-experience.
What makes a great song?A great song makes my foot stomp and makes me want to drink a beer.
Tell us about the first song you ever wrote?I really don't remember. I have been writing songs for my whole life. But I guess my first full song I got finished and played with some kind of band was a song called "Back to school". I am sure it was awesome in its badness. It was inspired by bands like Twisted Sister & Madame X who wrote songs about misbehaving in school.
Right now, I am very proud of the song "Hot Damn" I wrote for our latest album "20".
Who today, writes great songs? Who just kicks your ass? Why?I have been listening to a lot of Blackberry Smoke lately, and their new album is extremely well written, it is very impressive. I just wish that they went "Free Bird" crazy at the end of the last song, then the album would have been a tenner.
Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?It has always been vinyl for me. It was a terrible time when music was only released on CD. I have sold all those CD's now and replaced them with new glorious vinyl. Digital is a necessary evil, I only use that in my headphones and in my car. At home it is always vinyl.
Whiskey or beer? And defend your choiceWhiskey and beer is the perfect combination, that is always my top choice. Nothing beats a sip of room temperature bourbon or whiskey followed by a sip of cold beer.
But if I have to make a choice for the rest of my life I would choose beer.
We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music. What's your home town, and when we get there, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in?In my small town Kungsbacka there are no record stores, but in Gothenburg you will find some really good second-hand stores and also the finest record store in all of Europe called Bengans. It is located in an old cinema, and they got everything you need, plus a bar.
We will do some shows in Sweden, Spain and UK, and we are releasing a split 5" single with my other band Riptide Rats soon. And we will also release some kind of split LP with our Norwegian friends The Gasölines. We always got something cooking!
Any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with our readers, the waveriders?Yes! Stay safe and stay classy!! And go check out www.chucknorrisexperiment.com
Official webshop: https://chucknorrisexperiment.bandcamp.com
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