It’s a big world out there, and no one in it rocks quite like Truckfighters rock. Their fuzz is just a little warmer, their deserts a little sandier, and where so much of capital ‘h’ Heavy the underground comes up with arrives sluggishly at the sacrifice of energy, the trio from Örebro carry across their material — especially on stage — with apparent ease and an upbeat pulse that only subsides when they direct it elsewhere.

Now embroiled in their second-ever US tour and also their second in less than a year’s time, Truckfighters have seen a boost in profile since their last album, 2009’s Mania, thanks in part to a feature-length documentary from filmmakers Joerg Steineck and Christian Maciejewski (review here), that has led to Tee Pee Records picking up the band for a digipak reissue of Mania that’s due out May 8.

Although their 2005 debut, Gravity X, saw North American release in conjunction with MeteorCity, this new issue of Mania (original review here) will be the first time Truckfighters are really entrusting a label with the distribution and promotion of one of their records, and it’s a bolder step considering the record in question has already been out for going on three years. Still, with the run of US shows they did last summer and the current follow-up, the timing couldn’t be better to bring Mania back into listeners’ consciousness, and considering they’re in the States and I didn’t even have to dial international to get guitarist Niklas “Dango” Källgren on the phone for the following interview, the timing couldn’t have been better for that either.

They were in Chicago when we spoke, having played what he characterized as a good set the night before in Dayton, Ohio, alongside tour and travelmates The Midnight Ghost Train, who came aboard last minute as a replacement for Karma to Burn. In our relatively brief conversation, Källgren discussed how that switch was made as well as the tumultuous booking of these shows, how he and bassist/vocalist Oskar “Ozo” Cedarmalm feel about the end result of the documentary, the revolving door tenure of drummer Oscar “Pezo” Johansson (which is chronicled in one of the most entertaining sections of Steineck and Maciejewski‘s movie and who now also plays in Witchcraft), signing with Tee Pee, progress on their next album, and — as the headline above hints — much more.

Please find the complete Q&A after the jump, and enjoy.

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I guess I never got the email or whatever — or else I’ve posted the clip three times by now and just forgotten — but at some point Örebro fuzz heroes Truckfighters put out a video for “Con of Man” from Mania, and it’s hitting the spot perfectly tonight. What I like best about it is it’s not their most accessible track, not their most immediate single, but I dare you to not have it stuck in your head after even one listen. The underlying political implications of the video I consider a bonus.

Thanks to everyone who downloaded the podcast this week and who entered the contest to win the Moth Eater/Black Thai split. The running for that is over, and I fully plan on selecting names out of a hat to get the winners list this coming Monday, so that should be fun. For the time being, it’s been a tiring week in terms of work and class, and I’m glad to see it come to an end.

It was also my birthday this week (please don’t say “happy birthday”) and I always have trouble with that, but that really was only one factor to add to the overall stress. It was a relief tonight to come back to the valley after work, go to dinner with The Patient Mrs., drink some wine and enjoy the evening. I know it was something, but I honestly don’t even remember what was happening this evening in Brooklyn, and I’m just fine with that. Sometimes life turns out to be what we most need it to be at that moment. I’ll take it.

Again, appreciation to everyone who checked in this week. Starting Monday, I’ll be taking a look at records from Generation of Vipers, Morbid Wizard, The House of Capricorn and Ogressa. I’ll also hopefully have my interview with Black Cobra posted by the end of the week, and barring disaster, on Tuesday we’ll have a new track premiere from Rue as well, so stay tuned for that. It’s interesting to see the hierarchy of blog prominence come into play with that kind of thing — at some point, I’d like to write an essay about it, but I probably won’t — but I’ll continue to have new audio as often as possible to the best of my dictated ability. I guess some sites’ hipster cred has to pay off somewhere. Ha.

But anyhoo, this curious fuckall corner of the interwebs wishes you the best and safest of weekends. I hope if you choose to alter your consciousness, you do so in a wholesome and friendly environment, with appropriate aural accompaniment. See you in the Dingerhaus and back here on Monday for more silliness.

Well, if you needed a reason not to jump off of a bridge until August, here’s one courtesy of Swedish fuzz frontrunners, Truckfighters. The trio — who released the unbelievably awesome Mania in 2009 — will be touring the US for the first time, hitting a smattering of easily-driven-to locales on the Eastern Seaboard and in the Midwest. Could the killer fuzz of Truckfighters be what finally revitalizes Detroit‘s failed economy? Only time can tell.

And, oh! Would you look at that? None other than Maple Forum alums Kings Destroy are playing the NYC show. As if life needed to be any better. Hit up Kings Destroy here and tell them how stoked you are to see them with Truckfighters.

Here are the confirmed dates, plus a trailer for the documentary that’s been made about the band, featuring the likes of Nick Oliveri, Josh Homme and others:

Truckfighters US tour schedule:
07/13 Providence, RI Firehouse 13 w/ TBA
07/14 Worcester, MA Ralph’s w/ TBA
07/15 New York City Cake Shop w/ Kings Destroy and Blue Aside
07/16 Pittsburgh, PA 31st St. Pub w/ Sistered
07/17 Columbus, OH Ruby Tuesday w/ Valley of the Sun, Lo-Pan, Charlie Hustle
07/18 Cleveland, OH The Grog Shop w/ Valley of the Sun, Venomin James and Forged in Flame
07/19 Detroit, MI Magic Stick w/ Valley of the Sun and Bison Machine
07/20 Chicago, IL Reggie’s w/ Valley of the Sun and TBA
07/21 Dayton, OH Blind Bob’s w/ Valley of the Sun and TBA
07/22 Lexington, KY Green Lantern w/ Valley of the Sun and Asylum on the Hill
07/23 Charleston, SC Jimbo’s w/ Valley of the Sun, Gladrockets, Hollow Leg, Hooded Eagle, ElCamino

A quick search on this site and you’ll see almost immediately that I’ve barely been able to even mention the word Sweden in the last, oh, seven or eight months, without accompanying it with the word Asteroid. Very quickly, the Örebro trio have become a touchstone to which I compare almost every act from their home country, fairly or unfairly — it certainly applies more to Blowback than Barren Earth — and because I’ve gone back to it for more repeat listens than anything else in 2010, their second album, II, is my number one pick for the first half of the year.

Even after reviewing the disc and interviewing bassist/vocalist Johannes Nilsson, I’m blown away by the natural feel of the record. If you take the time to listen to II, the songs begin to seep into your consciousness, and I think a big part of that comes from how well balanced the production is. Songs like “Edge” and “Time” might sound simple your first time through, but examine the depth of the arrangements, the vocal interplay between Nilsson and guitarist Robin Hirse, the personality behind the drumming of Elvis Campbell and the flowing but distinguishable jams that permeate the tracks, and you’ll hear an organic clarity that few bands can affect on a recording. Asteroid make it seem easy.

It’s a cliche among music fans: “I haven’t taken it out of my player since I got it.” Obviously that’s not true or there’d be a serious dearth of reviews around here, but safe to say that Asteroid‘s II has gone back in said player more times than anything else in 2010. After finally buying a full copy of the record and seeing the gorgeously intricate cut digipak packaging, my appreciation went even further. Every part of this album is uniquely Asteroid, from the music on.

What it all boils down to is that my enjoyment of II has only increased with the number of times I’ve heard it. It’s far from the highest profile release in terms of the promotional machine, but for me, it’s the richest, most satisfying listen I’ve come across this year, and since it came out in January, I’ve had plenty of time to get tired of it and it hasn’t happened yet. Had II not been my number one pick, this whole list would be a sham.

As was the case with their self-titled debut, Asteroid‘s second album, II (Fuzzorama), reveals its personality more and more with time and repeat listens. Many bands strive for this for their whole career — to make a record that gets richer the more you hear it — but to the Swedish trio of vocalist/bassist Johannes Nilsson, vocalist/guitarist/organist Robin Hirse and drummer Elvis Campbell, it at least seems to come naturally.

In fact, if there’s a word to encapsulate II, it would probably be “natural.” The band has loosened the structural reins somewhat compared to the first record, and in so doing has allowed a series of heady jams to take place within the songs that doesn’t just make the album different from what came before it, but introduces a creative freedom that wasn’t necessarily evident last time around. Very quickly over the course of a duo of solid outings, Asteroid is one of Sweden‘s brightest and fuzziest hopes.

Nilsson took some time out for an email exchange about the band’s shift in approach, the recording process that went into making II and where they think they might go from here. If this album is anything to judge by, that could be pretty much anywhere.

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Okay, maybe not, but I was intensely glad to be able to get my hands on a copy of the first Fuzzorama Records release (fuzz CD001), Fuzzsplit of the Century, featuring Truckfighters and Firestone. Neither band is stranger to these parts, Truckfighters having released one of my favorite albums of last year in Mania, and Firestone‘s Stonebeliever EP having been covered in a previous Buried Treasure, but to get them both on this split CD from 2003, when Truckfighters were really just getting going and Firestone was on their way out, was too much for me to resist. Fortunately, Freebird Records had a copy on the (relatively) cheap and I grabbed it from their mailorder.

In a way, it’s a “what you see is what you get”-type scenario. While the “of the Century” is as debatable as any claim of anything being the greatest anything ever is, I won’t argue it’s a fantastic bit of fuzz both bands grow from out their Orange amps. We already know Oskar Cedermalm is the link between the groups (he played guitar in Firestone and handles bass and vocals in Truckfighters), but what’s more interesting about Fuzzsplit of the Century is precisely what was alluded to in the paragraph above: hearing Truckfighters in their beginnings and what could probably be called the most realized version of Firestone before their dissolution.

As someone who encountered Truckfighters first with the Gravity X album, their more nascent approach here is less assured, and, though it carries the seeds that in context can be seen as what would later become Mania‘s progressive bent, less established. They were a young band in 2003. Firestone, on the other hand, had their mission clear from the outset and so sound like the tighter unit. Of course, it’s worth saying that both bands were fuzzy as all hell at this stage in their careers.

It was a kind of curiosity purchase, bought basically so I could hear the roots of one of Sweden’s top riffing outfits, and though Fuzzsplit of the Century certainly isn’t their best group of songs, it’s a fascinating go-through nonetheless, and worth investigation for anyone who’s been mesmerized by their work since. And since Firestone remains a mystery to me (they released several EPs that, so far, seem impossible to find), having five more tracks of them at their best is definitely a win.

What I’m quickly discovering about his band I’m going to call the “Asteroid process.” It happened with the Swedish group’s self-titled Fuzzorama debut, and the same seems to be holding true for the numerical follow-up, II, as well. It happens like this: you listen to an Asteroid album, and while you’re in it, the music relaxes you to a barely conscious state. You hear the laid back fuzz tones and feel as though you might melt in them. Maybe you do. And when it’s over, you say to yourself, “Golly, that was pretty good,” and you go about your day.

Little do you know, though, that there are riffs and lines that are going to stick with you. That more and more you’re going to find yourself humming different parts of different songs until you feel you have to listen to the album again. And again. And again. Next thing you know, you’re out to lunch with your wife and all you can do is sing the refrain of “Disappear” over and over again, or think about that one riff in “Fire” that seems to sum up all of II in a matter of seconds. Resistance, as they say, is futile.

Asteroid’s infectious style is in full force on their sophomore album, but their growth is also readily apparent. Listening to a song like “Karma,” it feels as though some of the rigidity of the first record, which maybe kept a song like “The Big Trip Beyond” strictly adhered to a verse/chorus methodology, has spread out. “Karma” opens with a softly building jam, and opens up to some of the warmest tones this side of Colour Haze with a riff that soothes as much as it rocks. II seems less focused on structure on the surface, but it isn’t, the manner of execution has simply evolved. The guitars of Robin Hirse have taken the musical fore in a big way, leading most of the jams and often competing for dominance in the mix along Hirse’s own vocals and those of bassist Johannes Nilsson.

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Despite the fun-loving feel of the music — like retro ‘60s pop rock gone warm fuzz with an ear for well-placed solos and grooves — the lyrics and themes of Stockholm five-piece Dexter Jones’ Circus Orchestra’s third album, If Light Can’t Save Us, I Know Darkness Will (Fuzzorama), are almost unremittingly bleak, and that bleakness is mostly self-directed. On opener “If Bars Could Bend,” we’re treated to the line, “I am a great shadow in your life, I bring you down/ I try to make it all good, but my words drown.” On centerpiece and Thin Lizzy-fied album highlight “Little Man,” we get “I need to kill what I’ve become/A dirty fly on golden grain,” and even on the more outward closer “Sad World,” the attitude is still much the same: “We’re sliding down the hole/Somebody save our souls.”

It’s an oppressive attitude that, if you weren’t paying attention to what you were hearing, you might just glance past and miss entirely because the music hardly feels mired in the same way at all. Even a cut like “Mentally Insane,” which shows up later on If Light Can’t Save Us, I Know Darkness Will, and is maybe a little darker sounding musically is nowhere near as dreary in guitar, bass and drums as it is vocally. The dual nature of the release can be looked at one of two ways: it’s either incongruous or really interesting. Maybe it can be a bit of both.

The upbeat country licking in the verses of “Sad World” just don’t match the words, but in a way that makes you wonder why. It’s obvious the band — which now includes Josiah’s Mat Bethancourt in its ranks and worked closely on this album with guitarist Jimmy Ågren — would know that going into the album, so what are they trying to say? Is it supposed to be a sign of hope or a post-modern dance party at the end of the world? Hey, we’re all going over anyway, might as well sing on our way down the falls, right?

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