Swedish music label owner and graphic designer tells me about his work, Swedish music, trips to the USA, The Second wave movement and what in his job matters most…
Piotr Balkus: You are a Swedish manager who has also own label Killer Cobra. How can you describe your label and your bands? What is interesting about it?
Bjorn Rallare: I started my label in 2007 when I had managed two bands about a year. The business was changing and I figured starting my own label was both better and easier than trying to get your foot in the door, especially since no one knew who I was. I have been running my label the same way since I started it, see, I am not a wealthy man but I do however got the ability to make things look good and I can create something out of nothing. So I am basically more like an extra band member economically where we all share both costs and income equally. The bands I have taken on range from Swedish sing and songwriter to metal. I started out with just one band, ended up with seven and have the last two years scaled down again to focus more on a couple of them. Life and family changes so I had to change the way I worked. What’s interesting about it… well, me and my bands do our thing, without caring how things should be done, because we love it. Because we can’t imagine living a life without doing it.
Does Swedish music vary from English or American? Whats the difference between your bands and American/British bands?
These days I don´t think there’s that much of a difference. The difference would be that there are a lot of bands coing out of Sweden, basically because the youngsters got a lot of opportunities in getting rehersal rooms and to learn how to record and stuff for free basically in a very unique way. The Swedish market is oversaturated so many bands seek their luck elsewhere since its hard to break through the very thin hole in that mainstream monster needle. However, these great opportunities might not create bands that really have to work for their success.
One of your band La Fleur Fatale managed to travel to the US on tour. How you remember that experience and what you learned from the US adventure?
We have been to the US twice and we decided to make it happen since the band have had a lot of success in placing songs in commercials over there and the music they do fit the US better than Sweden, especially the sunny side where we went the last time, California. Touring in the US as an indie band is not a economical way to do things, the shows pay badly but we had a lot of fun and the value of doing a thing like that is not only the shows themselves but also the value of actually doing a US tour, you have something to show for.
The same band also created the movie called The Second Wave https://youtu.be/guuIEpiz4RU – about their trip to the States. What you mean by “second wave”?
Actually the idea for the documentary was my brain child and the band agreed to go along with it. I planned, booked and managed the trip and we had three camera guys along as well, one of them was Gustav Skogens who also edited the whole thing. I also did the post production of it and all other work on it like sound mixing, translation and stuff like that we had people helping out for free or for heavily reduced prices. The Second Wave title is all about the connection between the past and the present. Between the late 1960’s and what’s going on right now, politically, musically and spiritually. If you, the reader, watch The Second Wave you will see what I mean.
Are you planning another projects in the US or UK? Or just stick to work in Sweden?
You never know where the music takes you. In August La Fleur Fatale will release a new single with Ebbot Lundberg from The Soundtrack Of Our Lives and another band I work with, MÄRVEL, will soon release their fourth album. They will most likely tour Sweden, Finland and Germany when it’s released. I want to make one more part of The Second Wave in the UK but the problem is money, I spent so many hours, days, weeks and months on it and it’s just not doable one more time. My “real” job is as a graphic designer and right now I’m doing all the graphic work for Dregen (Backyard Babies) solo album and book that will be out in September.
Music labels nowadays are getting down, in a financial way, because of self promotion and self-internet promotion. Do you think musicians still need labels? Why labels are still so important?
A band doesn’t always need a label if they are willing to work hard themselves, but sometimes you can’t handle all the work as a band with families, work, recording, promoting, distributing and what not and then you can need some help from people that got better contacts and love your music to help you get it out there. You can do it all, but it takes a lot of commitment, time and money. These things however are not the most important thing. Fun and personal development, now that is important.
Links to Bjorn’s work:
