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Slamming It Down Under With ERIK OHLSSON From MILLENCOLIN · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. My name is Erik Olsson. I'm the guitar
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: player of Emile & Colin from Sweden. And we're about
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: to go to Australia for good things in two months.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Fantastic, Erik. Thanks for joining us, brother.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Cheers.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: So as you say, man, you guys are.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: Hitting Good Things Festival 2026 over December 4th, 5th and 6th,
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: alongside a stacked rock, punk and metal lineup featuring Limp Bizkit,
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Simple Plan, Bad Religion and heaps more, man. How does
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: it feel to be returned to Australia for a massive
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: traveling festival like this?
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Awesome. You know, we've done it a few times. I mean,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: we've done good things before. And over the years, we've
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: done many, many Australian festivals like that. And it's always
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: a blast. We love it. Yeah, cool.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: And looking down on the good things later, man, like
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: you're sharing the build with lifelong punk peers like Bad Religion,
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: there's MXPX. When you see names like that on the
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: same poster, does it feel like a massive punk rock
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: family reunion backstage?
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: I guess it is. We're pretty good friends. We're both
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: MXPX and Bad Religion. And we, I mean, we've played
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: a lot of shows together over the years. And hopefully
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: we'll be playing a lot of shows coming up as well.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: What's the dynamics like back then?
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: You've got the punk bands, you've got the metal bands,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: you've got the rock bands.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Do all the punk bands stick together or do you cross-pollinate?
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: In Sweden, you mean?
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: No, backstage at festivals. Backstage at festivals.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Backstage at festivals. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we're usually
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: friends with... It doesn't matter the genre, you know, and...
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: like since we're playing these big festivals you know you're
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: friends with a lot of metal bands and stuff like
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: that i mean they're all people it's not like it's
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: not like when we were like 16 15 and we're
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: like oh we're the skate punks and you guys are
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: the blah blah blah whatever the other guys were you
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: know It's all good.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: We grow out of that stage.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Kind of. Happily enough.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: Australian crowds are notoriously wild, mate, especially in the festival environment.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: What's the main difference you notice between an Australian festival
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: crowd and the crowds back home in Europe or in
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: the U.S.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: I think in general, you guys are so happy. I mean,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: you're a happy bunch of people and super friendly. And
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's always a good vibe with you guys.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Always happy faces, happy hellos and everything, which I think
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: is you can feel the same vibe in the crowd
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: as well. I mean, there are some countries, I don't
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: want to say a country like that, but it could
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: be like... More like an angry, maybe not that super
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: friendly type of crowd in front of you. I mean,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: they still appreciate you, but it's not, you know, the
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: same friendly, well, hey, mate. It's not that vibe, you know.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: And I don't want to point out any other countries.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, I love touring the whole world, but I mean,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: you guys are definitely the most happiest, which is a
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: big compliment.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Good to know, man.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: And I guess the biggest news for fans is that
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: both the good things that's in your headline and side
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: shows in Melbourne and Brisbane, you were playing Pennybridge Pioneers
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: from start to finish, mate.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: How did you go with that?
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: When you wrote that record, I couldn't imagine that you
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: ever thought one day you'd be playing the whole lot
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: back to front.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Is it easy to learn?
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we actually, we've done it before. When it was
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: a 10 year anniversary of the album, we toured on
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: that as well. So we've done it before, but that
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: was still, you know, 15 years ago. So it wasn't yesterday,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: you know. So, but I mean, I must say that
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: that's probably my favorite album in a way, because just
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: a lot happened with the band during that time. So,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, I like pretty much the whole album. There
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: are a few songs which we never would play live
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: if we weren't doing this whole front to back thing.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: But it actually sounds pretty good, I must say, when
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: we rehearse this thing.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And are there any deep cuts on the album
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: that maybe you don't play so much that you've fallen
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: in love with again because you're having to relearn them
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: for this?
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: But there are a few songs, like a song called
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Stuff to Think, for example. I think that works really,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: really well live. And Devil Me is a song also,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: which I find surprisingly that we haven't really been playing
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: over the years, because it's a pretty catchy song and stuff.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: But it's good.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: It's good. And now we try to stretch it a
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: little bit, because at the end, On the festival, we
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: were supposed to play for an hour, and the album
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: is like 34 minutes. So we are doing some, we
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: are stretching it with some cool parts. Yeah, very nice.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: Petty Prince Pioneers actually went gold here in Australia, mate,
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: and it was famously released down under two weeks before
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: the rest of the world. So why do you think
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: that specific album resonated so intensely with the Australian scene
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: at the turn of the millennium?
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: I remember that tour so well. I mean, we started,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: first of all, yeah, we were out in Australia when
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: the album was released because we could do an Back
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: in the days, there were no leaks. Nobody was shipping
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: physical CDs all across the globe. So we could actually
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: release the album in Australia, be there at the release,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: and do a tour, and then come back to Europe
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: for a full release party and be back home when
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: the album was released in Europe. And it was so nice.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: First of all, escaping Europe in that time of the
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: year is so good. And we also had like, I
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: think we hadn't played a live show in like one
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: year when we released that album in Australia as well.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: And it came out there and the crowds were so
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: fucking great. And that tour was just like, it was amazing.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: One of the best tours ever. Because it just felt like, wow,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: we still got it. And they loved the new album.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: It's just amazing, amazing. And then it went gold, too.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: It was our first gold album. We have a few
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: more now, but it was our first gold album.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, very cool, man.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: And of course, you can't talk about Penny Bridge Pioneers
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: without talking about the song No Cigar, which became a
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: global anthem thanks to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, mate.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: But when you were recording that track or when you
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: wrote it, did you have any easing at all that
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: it would become a generation-defining punk anthem or was it
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: just another good song.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: At the time?
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was the very last song we wrote before
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: we went to... We recorded that album in Los Angeles.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: So that was the very last song we wrote before
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: we left. I don't think we even... Brett Gurvith from
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Epitaph and Battle of the Legion produced the album and
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: we had sent him demos of all the songs before
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: but I don't think he didn't even he hadn't even
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: heard it before we got there because we had to
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: play it for him because it was the very very
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: last and also remember Nikola wrote the lyrics the day
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: before he sung it in the studio as well.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: You're kidding!
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: No, it's just so weird. And I never thought of
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: that song as something. I thought we had so much
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: stronger songs on that album. It was not a favorite
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: of mine at all. But then it turned out lots
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: better than we thought. And it became the first song
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: of the album. And I still regret to this day
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: that we didn't make a video clip out of that
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: song with Tony Hawk, which was stupid.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Make a retrospective one?
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we kind of did because he and Steve Caballero
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: and some guys, Nicola was there as well, recorded a song.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: So it's out on YouTube with Tony Hawk singing the song. Oh,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: that's it?
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: What's that like?
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was amazing, amazing. I mean, he's such a
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: great guy, Tony. You should check it out. It's on YouTube.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: It's on one of those channels where during the pandemic,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: people did cover songs of different stuff. So Mike and
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: his uke is the channel name. And it's also, if
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: you go into millicon.com and scroll down, it's right there
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: as well.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: What was that?
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: No, no, no.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, I got.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: email conversations with Tony but I never actually met him
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: face to face because last time we were in in
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: the US he was away and then we he was
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: in Sweden uh we almost we were this close to
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: meet up at the Swedish or Stockholm airport but then
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: we like missed each other so uh I never actually
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: met him which is kind of strange over the years
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: because I met like Steve Caballero like a hundred times
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: uh but uh they're all all great guys all those
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: guys and I mean they were you know The Bones Brigade,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: you know, our big idols when we grew up skating.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: So it's really amazing to have that contact.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: That's so cool.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: And Mellon Collins achieved something incredibly rare in music history,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: I guess. You've had the same poor lineup for over
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: 30 years, mate.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Have you figured out a secret to the chemistry?
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: How do you not fight like man and wife being
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: together so long?
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, we almost, we kind of broken up like
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: three times, but then got back together. But, you know,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: it's just, I guess, I mean, our first three touring years,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: like right before Penbridge Pioneers, actually, on our first three CDs,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: we were like touring the whole time. Like, I was
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: together with a girl back then for five years, and
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I realized I'd been away for three years and with
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: her for two years. You know, we were away the
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: whole time. So it's kind of, you know, after a while, like,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: pouring three albums, you know, all over the place, it
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: kind of, it takes a toll on you. in a way.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: And then I guess it was, uh, our singer Nicola
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: was like, no, no, we need to step back. Cause
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: I can't do this the whole time. So ever since then,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: we kind of learned that, yeah, we need to be
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: home at certain, uh, you know, times and then tour.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: And so, and yeah, it's been working out pretty good
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: and also like just like accepting each other and we're
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: not being super big egos in the band and we
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: also split everything 25 25 25 like everything economy wise
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: uh so that helps i guess it would be you
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: know a lot of times the singer maybe get like
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: 80 of everything and the rest of the band have
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: to share like like 20 that can cause some sort
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: of a you know, turbulence in the gang. So, I mean,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: but we're actually still really, really, really good friends.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the secret, man. Look at that side of
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: the bed.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: We know Matthias has his own hot sauce company and
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: does drag racing, but do the rest of the guys
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: have any wild, non-musical passions that fans.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Might not know about?
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm part owner of a boat company called Mojo Boats.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Like in Mojo, Mojo Boats.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Nice, good plug.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we are like the Scandinavian dealer for Bass Pro
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Shops and all their boat brands, like Bass Boats and
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: stuff like that. Because I've been into angling pretty much
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: my whole life. And then I bought a boat from
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: this Swedish guy who lives in Chicago. And he had
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: the dealership for all the Bass Pro Shops brands. Then
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: I became a pod owner and it's like, you know,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: I actually did the work and like almost like half time,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: like doing marketing and stuff like that. All the socials,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: showing videos and stuff like that. It's fun. I love it.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: It keeps a bit occupied away from music anyway. Yeah. Yeah.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: And I got my, you know, I've done all the
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: designs for Milling Clone all over the years, like all
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: the record covers and all the merchandise and everything. So
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: I also got my own, it's just me, but my
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: own graphic design company, which I had for a lot
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: of years.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: That's sweet.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: And have you had the hot sauces, which I was
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: going to bring in here and throw it out to
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: the crowds over here?
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: I don't think I've seen any of it over here yet.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: You know, your customs, I don't know how they deal
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: with it. You know, the dog is coming, they're sniffing
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: his sauce, you know, we might not be. be allowed
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: into the country.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: Probably good thinking. I've been mentioned the side shows before.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: So outside the festival sets, you've got North Cote Theatre
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: in Melbourne on the 2nd of December, got the Tivoli
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: in Brisbane.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: On the 8th for exclusive headlining shows.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: But like you say, you've got an hour at Good
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: Things with a 32-minute album.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I can imagine your headlining set is going to be
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: a bit longer. So how are you going to flesh
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: them out?
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: No, no. Our own shows is no problem. I mean,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: we just threw in, you know, the songs we like
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: and we know the people like afterwards. So that would
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: kind of, I guess, we haven't decided yet, but I
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: guess that would be kind of like a two-part set,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: you know? We're doing Penrith Pioneers, and then, I don't know,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: great hits set after that or something like that. But
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: it's going to be fun. I mean, festivals, I love festivals,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: and it's going to be awesome with the festival, but
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: our own shows are special in a way, too. So,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: I mean... I think people that go to the festival
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: are also going to enjoy our own shows as well,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: because they're going to be a little bit different.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: A bit of an interesting dynamic, because when you're playing
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: your own shows, you'd fill that out.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: With songs that you know everyone is going to love.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: But at something like Good Things, you've got a cross-section.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: You've got your rock fans, you've got your metal fans,
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: you've got your punk fans. So you'd have to try
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: and think of songs that would probably appeal to a
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: broader cross-section of people, wouldn't you? Yeah.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but now we don't have to think. We just
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: have to play that album. It was all set up
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: for us. Come and play that album. We're like, sure,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: let's do that.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: Life's easy. Did you remember the very first time you
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: heard one of your songs played on the radio? And
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: what song was it and where were you?
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Whoa, now I can't really remember. But it was, of course,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: some local station here in our hometown. But then, I mean,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: a big thing for us, I guess, was when our
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: first video was playing on TV. It was this awesome
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: TV channel called ZTV over here, which was huge. Like,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: everybody watched it. It was like the Swedish MTV, you know?
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: And they had a show, like, rating videos, new videos
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: or whatever. And we had this super low-budget video for
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: our song, The Strike, of our first album. And they
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: played that and they loved it too, which was good.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: They thought it was, you know, crazy kids doing something different.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: That was big for us, of course.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, very cool. All right, well, thanks very much for
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: your time.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: Roadmill and Con will be in Australia over December 4th,
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: 5th and 6th for Good Things. You've got your own
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: shows in Melbourne and Brisbane on the 2nd and 8th, brother.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: So until then, you take care and we'll see you
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: in December.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: See you soon, man. Can't wait.