Interview

Interview with Linnéa Olsson by Mat McNerney

May 2023

You are an outspoken advocate of the underground spirit. What does that mean to you?

Independence. To never get too comfy in a set pattern. To always challenge the status quo. To question authority. To not ask for permission. To connect and support others. To materialize, not intellectualize. 

“EVERY SUN’S UMBILICAL FIRE” -  Your lyrics are very poetic and steeped in rich imagery. How much are your lyrics influenced by literary writers? You mentioned Kathy Acker when we met, and the Burroughs cut up method. Are you looking at these writers with a specific slant on the female gaze?

A few authors have had a big impact; Chris Kraus with “I Love Dick” was a huge one. I had no idea you could write a book in that way - where it’s a novel and an autobiography and a bunch of essays all in one, you don’t have to choose one or the other. Very smart, incredible writing. Every sentence is like a Black Sabbath riff, just killer after killer. Acker is similar, it’s like a collage. For this album Rebecca Solnit has been an inspiration - reading her take on the female experience of the world is just very moving and relatable and makes it impossible to deny that part of myself in my own art. Some writers feel immediately like home - I don’t even have to read everything they’ve done, I have a feeling I would have gotten on well with Dorothy Parker for instance. Cookie Mueller, whom you introduced me to, is another great writer. They are all women, yes. They should be read by women and men alike. Mueller is sharper, funnier than Bukowski, yet not even half as well known. I don’t know when I mentioned the cut-up method to you, because I actually don’t use it. I do like the blending of reality and fiction though, as mentioned. Enough levitation to keep things exciting, but never far off to lose touch with the ground. Jenny Hval does something similar as well, in “Girls Against God” she also creates a twilight world, both surreal and real. Inspiration to me is mainly on a spiritual level, more than stylistically. I would never sit down and aim to write something in the vein of someone else. I also don’t consume much music or literature for long periods of time where sensory input overwhelms me. Only when I feel happy and strong can I properly digest art, it seems.

About Kathy Acker on Wikipedia: “she was also a punk and feminist icon for her devoted portrayals of subcultures, strong-willed women, and violence” - could that also apply to you and MH in some way?!

Definitely three main topics of mine, but not premeditatively. It just happens to be my life.

What is it about Bowie’s music that inspires you? How did that manifest on Hunger? Would you say that you associate with his themes of alienation and dissociation? Perhaps from your perspective as a female musician, this takes on a different stance?

We have some horns on this album. When the musicians came to the studio I sang the melody for them to play in “Archer” and they said it sounded like something from “Blackstar”, which was a big compliment. I think more than anything, Bowie is inspiring because of his constant evolution, and ways of production. 

As far as the cover art is concerned, what were your main influences? Was the image strongly formulated in your mind or did you explore a certain feeling to get to where you needed to be? I get this fly on the wall feeling of being in an uncomfortable space, another world where things are sordid and turned over. The light comes in, but it’s split, harsh and illuminates also the things we hide from ourselves. What was the atmosphere you wanted to instill in the viewer?

An intimate, vulnerable portrait of strength. The woman on the cover is exposed, the light is coming through, you look at her, but she takes a stance and looks right back at you.

Hunger expertly butterflies out from the raw punk roots of the band into something bigger than a simple genre. Do you agree? If every album has its own world, how would you describe the world of Hunger?

If “Dusk to Dusk” was the mind, and “Mercy Machine” the body - then “HUNGER” is the spirit. It exists on the spectrum of desire versus desperation. Tension & release. I have an appetite for creation, destruction and distraction. And I know what hunger means for the survivor. And for the perceived piece of meat. At what point does your desire turn into desperation? The party is over, why are you still here? The concept of consumption is of course also sexual - this record definitely has its moments. The world of “HUNGER” is a world where the cards are on the table, nothing is left to be lost, all is exposed, the night has turned into day and sun is shining through the window, the meeting of the eyes becomes a genocide, you are an animal and you will eat, you will survive at any cost, even when painful and difficult. The symbol of this album is the archer with the bow (female) and arrow (male), taking aim and letting go in a divine act of vision meets action. More than anything I think the album is very raw, as in there is nothing to hide.

I get some Ice Age feelings and early Nick Cave from the vocal delivery at times. There’s the feeling of punk raw spirit but also of a strong command of emotion. What artists do you align with, musically and/or artistically?

Nick Cave is always somewhere in the background, but when it comes to noise rock I find Scratch Acid superior to The Birthday Party! At this very moment I mainly listen to rap, in the periods where I can digest music at all. Or jazz. Old school stuff like Mobb Deep, but also new artists like Backxwash. I am obsessed with an album by Leak Bros from the 2000’s called “Waterworld” which is entirely about PCP - it’s incredibly dark. I find the ability to create a unique room, one’s own world, key to whether I will be drawn to an artist or not.

Is pop an ugly word to use in relation to Hunger? How would you describe the hooks and shameless joy of the catchier elements on the album? Is there a method at work with the way you have utilised this in the songs?

I absolutely love a good pop hook, and I’m not afraid to go into those territories. There is pop everywhere in staple heavy music, from The Ramones to Guns N’ Roses to Iron Maiden. I am constantly nursing a dream in which I write the perfect power pop song of 3 minutes, even though most of our songs are pretty long. On this album I did want to strip things down a bit at least, and to try to get to the core of the song. I was thinking more in terms of chord progressions rather than riffs, which has always been the main catalyst for a song previously. Also lyrically, I tried to strip things down. I wanted to try to be very straight-forward, not too self-indulgent. In terms of the “shameless joy” that you speak about, that certainly has a place in Maggot Heart - this is rock n’ roll after all, and getting lost in a melody or groove is not a bad feeling. The simplest ideas are often the most difficult to get right. I have so much respect for artists who can craft the most perfect melody arc. Faffing around in a “vibe” is a hell of a lot easier, I say. We worked quite a bit on getting “This Shadow” right, which has a big chorus and a “pop”-like verse. It sounds like a very simple song, but small things there, like what Uno is doing, makes all the difference. “Archer” barely has any guitar on it and same thing there - incredibly simple idea, but quite tricky to get right. We were struggling with the arrangement right up until the same day of recording, when it finally clicked. 

Does the emotive power of being able to express your feelings through song make you stronger, more passionate and aggressive, or is it something that hurts and makes you more wounded?

A lot of the writing of Maggot Heart is me convincing myself out of a hole. Performing becomes a manifestation of that.

Was the sound something that evolved and was hit on as you went, or was it a conscious decision to work with Ben Greenberg from the start, based on his past work?

I know Ben and thought it exciting to have someone involved with all the experience he has, but still coming a bit left field from what we’re used to. He’s American, for a start. He was able to give this record a sound that was familiar enough to feel as a right representation of Maggot Heart, but different enough to push us a bit out of our comfort zone and to move forward. 

Patti Smith will probably be mentioned as much for Maggot heart as Ian Curtis for Post-Punk bands, but is she an influence for your music? Are there other iconic women in punk rock whose work influences you more?

Big influence.

The vocals on Hunger are decidedly more expressive and feel more prominent in their role that before, more considered in their structure than ever before, yet even more passionate. Were the vocals a particularly strenuous part of the album recording and what were you aiming for when considering them as part of the whole?

Yes, this album definitely has an emphasis on the vocals. To give you an idea of where this album is coming from; 2022 was not a great year for me. The pandemic was rough, but coming back from it was even rougher it seemed. Some of the material of this album was left over from the 2021 EP, but it took forever to finish the writing. I felt pretty off-kilter for the majority of the year. Underground touring post-pandemic was tough financially and energy-draining, in many ways it felt like starting from scratch. I had arrived to a point where I had been pushing myself and this band more or less 24/7 since 2016, relentlessly working at a grassroots level to gain momentum, and ended up feeling burned out. On top of this I was living with physical pain, it started in my neck and with time traveled out in my left arm and hand. We did a fun tour with Unsane in the autumn, which gave me the push to finish the writing, and the band had some inspired weeks arranging the songs. 

Then the pain got absolutely unbearable and I had to have emergency neck surgery in December to decompress a nerve, which forced us to postpone the album recording. I woke up after surgery not being able to lift a glass of water with my left hand, and I couldn't feel my thumb or index finger at all. I am still numb in my hand and arm, by the way and I have about 60% of the strength I have in my right arm. I spent the month of January in daily physical rehabilitation. Every morning I was there, and then I went straight to the studio in the afternoons. I could not put any weight on my shoulder, so I had to sit down and play, and do it for short amounts of time. We finished one song a day, vocals and all - to not have me play guitar for days on end. Now, this is not a very guitar-oriented record if you compare it to our previous albums, which are very riff-y. Writing the songs, I thought more of vocal melodies and cohesive songs with good structure, rather than riff by riff. And in this situation, we had no time to fuck around - because I literally was not able to play a ton. We had already talked about having more of a “live” feel to it, which was now also happening by necessity. All the instruments, including the guitars, are live takes. A few leads are overdubs, but otherwise this is the most live we’ve ever recorded. I’m usually a control freak, but I felt good about having looser guitars. And I knew the vocals were gonna be very important. 

Going from physiotherapy to playing the guitar, to singing my absolute heart out over and over, and then stumbling into bed late at night, all in one day, was intense - but rewarding. It’s the best vocal performance I’ve done so far, easily. I wanted to be truthful and fearless and to create a room in which to be intimate with the listener, and I think I was able to achieve that.  

I get the feeling that Maggot Heart could only exist in the here and now, as part of a Berlin punk ecosystem. How important is Berlin and the scene to the band? Like Mary Waranov shedding light on the seedier side of Warhol’s Factory in Swimming Underground, I get the feeling that you are a beat poet punk of the current Berlin underbelly. How much of this is true and is it observation mixed with fantasy or sordid realism?

It’s a lens, through which I can filter my own impressions of life. I certainly hope it won’t be the only lens of my career though, and that I’ll always keep evolving. I wouldn’t want people to think they have pinned me down. In a sense, I think “HUNGER” is a goodbye letter to some of the themes I have been exploring over the past few years. 

As for our everyday life, I feel that we stand as much with one leg outside of the “scene” as our music sounds. The punks are not very keen on us.. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten invited to play together with another Berlin band, ever. We ask other bands all the time, but yeah, we’ve never had the favor returned. There is no local metal scene here really. We are probably too “political” for some, as in two of us being women and not making apologies for that, and not political enough for others. Too underground for some, not DIY enough for others. I don’t think the feminists particularly like us, either. Maybe because we are not all women. This is the story of my life, really - so I don’t really care. We get on well with the Leipzig black metal bands revolving around the label Into Endless Chaos - they have always supported us. And that support is returned. And we circle a bit around the techno and experimental scene, with friends DJ’ing and producing. I often feel that people who get it, they just get it immediately. There is a common camaraderie of a certain type of passion, a certain inner fire and a common thread of abandon, rebellion, what have you - it doesn’t matter what “genre” it is or crowd you hang with. These are the people who gravitate towards Maggot Heart and personally I feel makes everything so much more interesting. 

Would you say that your music is the antithesis of the über-macho view of the world, to redress the balance and redefine the role of women in this music scene? 

I think Maggot Heart is for anyone and everyone who connects with pieces of what we do. Maggot Heart is a rock band, channeling emotional alchemy through music. Maybe you will be more inclined to connect with it if you’ve experienced oppression in your life - whether it be self-inflicted, systematic or otherwise. If you’re a woman, this is more likely by default - but our music is not only for women. You can focus on that, if it’s important to you. Or you can focus on another part that might elevate you, take you somewhere. This is rock n’ roll music - so much magic lies within.

How much of your own past comes into play when thinking about where you are as a musician and a band now? Would you say that Maggot Heart is an artistic reaction and a radical movement?

I have lived a lifetimes dedicated to music. The past have included record deals with several of the so-called independents, and I was even signed to a major label for a hot minute. In my experience, for a small level band, it seemed no matter how it was packaged and presented to you initially, what it ultimately would boil down to was two choices; compromise on almost everything and question nothing, or care less about your work and lower your expectations. You do one or the other, and a certain ”career” will be attainable. There will be guaranteed press, tour opportunities and festival slots saved for certain label rosters. But the trade-off would be literal dealbreakers like terrible contractual conditions, zero transparency, working with straight up liars or people not interested at all in your music. It sometimes seemed contradictory by nature; the higher the ambition to actually get somewhere, the smaller the return once you signed up. If you’re already established, you’ll have a leg to stand on. Or if you’re happy doing this as a bit of “fun” on the side, sure. Neither was the case for me. So when I formed Maggot Heart, I just couldn’t bring myself to go down this route again. It might not be a surprise that a major label would be tone deaf in relation to an underground rock band, like, what do you expect? But the realm below the mainstream isn’t much better either - and that’s more disappointing. Not to mention; boring as fuck, mediocrity reigns…

It’s just the same kind of system, in smaller settings. 

I banged my head against the wall in a perpetual trial and error for years trying to get through, be heard, do something inspired and inspiring, different, to be taken seriously as a songwriter and musician and to do it full time and get something back for it - not only on the weekends, not as some sort of front on social media, not to massage my own ego, not to please anyone else or fit in. I also wanted a community, to collaborate, to be inspired and rebound that inspiration. Not regurgitate the same old, over and over. Finally I realized it was futile trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole. Even if I, we, would adjust enough to maybe coast along for a few years in the pre-set album/tour cycle, there was another condition: don’t be a woman. If you really have to be one, then at least don’t make a “thing” out of it.

You think me and Olivia have had equal opportunities as all the countless men we’re surrounded by? No chance. Not in society as a whole, certainly not in underground music. Some people think that’s a “political statement” and it should be kept out of music. Ah, what a luxury that must be, to think you can separate your art from “politics”. Everything in life is politics for a woman. 

And besides, I don’t want to coast. I want to make waves.  

There were no women celebrated in the scene where I cut my teeth. This is the environment that shaped me, told me my worth. I am not interested in operating on those terms. Neither am I interested in operating in a music business where I am supposed to be grateful for the absolute minimum. Women are always expected to be so fucking grateful. 

So I stopped. I stopped asking for permission. You don’t want me in your world, ok, I’ll make my own. By co-founding Rapid Eye Records, I felt I could create a legacy for Maggot Heart, that no matter how small or insignificant to others, it would be one of integrity. I look at what I admire in other artists and I feel like you might be able to pull off a decent tune, but if there isn’t any integrity there - if I sense a whiff of phony, it’s game over for me. Integrity can mean a lot of things, but essentially for me it’s “Do you stand by what you are doing? Is this you? Would you be doing this even if nobody was listening?” And I just know that I have to operate by my own standards. The ones who get it, get it. Because I know some people do. And you are welcome in our world. I focus on people like you, everything else is just noise. I want to connect. Fucking do something that isn’t some vanity project. Not internalizing the capitalism and misogyny. See what is possible. Move forward. Expose some nerve ends. Get loose. Cross borders and genres. Work with like minded people, play in front of like minded people.

I treat my music as a marathon, not a sprint. Still, I would like to see us step it up with this album. I think we are completely unique. I say that confidently. No other band does anything like what we do and we deserve a lot more recognition for it.