In Sweden we have a great tradition of "Folkbildning"(translates to "Popular education" I think). With its purpose to offer free education for everyone, they support with money, premises and expertise to people that want to start up study circles. Some time in the 1970s, I think, the communities that offer this type of education picked up on a trend that playing in bands started to become a popular thing. So the communities started offering free rehearsal spaces and have been doing that ever since. I'd say that every swedish band has been helped by Folkbildningen.

We started as a quintet, having Ruben Hultman on vocals but pretty quickly became a quartet. And the four of us have always been in the band.

Actually, I haven't been acting as a singer in any other bands. I don't really know where you find the musical genre -reference but I guess it comes from the high notes being sung in a certain way. And I guess the vocals can be very expressionalistic from time to time, haha. Interesting to hear though!

Thank you! I put a lot of time and effort into writing and recording my solos and leads. I love to do licks that impress myself, haha. Early in life I was very influenced by Mattias 'IA' Eklundh, which is a great swedish guitarist. I also remember trying to nail a lot of Paul Gilbert licks. But honestly I don't think that guitarists in general have had a big influence on my solo, more than music in general; Morgan Ågren, The Tallest Man On Earth, Billy Cobham, Propagandhi, Kvelertak ,…. the list is long. And now you've made me interested in Brad Paisley, whom I've never heard!

I have been writing all lyrics and most of the music for "Silence is a Bomb". I have also been recording the album in my studio, acting producer and mixing the album. Mastering has been done by the great Hans Olsson at Svenska Grammofonstudion. I love the whole process of creating music. The magic can be found and created in every phase of production. It is the most amazing thing ever. So hire me! I need jobs!

I'm a big fan of playing summer festivals. Lots of artists, lots of sun. It's a great time of the year especially in Sweden. In Europe we've been playing pretty cool places but I think the best has been in Switzerland, where we have been 2 times. The whole country looks like a fairytale haha.

We played Malmöfestivalen last year, which made me fall in love in both the city and the festival. Also Malmö has the best falafel in the whole country, so you have to go there! Although I think you might need to crumble the dreams about ABBA playing. Not gonna happen in a million years, haha. But maybe I'm wrong!(Spoiler alert, I'm not).

I'd say moose! Great meat and works great as minced as well. I'd recommend: Dine, skip the hockey match, go to a punk concert at Kafé 44, then get fucked up.

'All My Birds Are Dead' should be in Toy Story! I love that movie and I still love that song.

On the first question I answer: No. On the second question I answer: The short answer is "No". The long answer is "Hell No".

I can't take responsibility for what will happen when blasting our music. Shit might go down, shit might go sideways, shit might hit the fan. And who knows, maybe the sheer presence of our music will create a condom through the sound waves interacting with different secretions while you guys are fucking. But I wouldn't bet on it. Always take precautions by methods based on empirical evidence. This album was just released so we haven't had the time to make these experiments yet. Names: "Lasse" or "Kongo"

When this plague is over we are gonna tour the globe! We are so excited to get out, meet people and play live! We will also release more music! Both live recordings and studio recordings. So keep an eye on us at @thehawkinsband on Instagram!