Five Questions with... Magnus Sellergren

This week we go international.

Far up in the corner of the world, about where the Atlantic meets the Arctic Ocean there lies a beautiful country called Sweden... Maybe you have heard of it? It is the home land of Magnus Sellergren: Punk rocker... Gaphic designer... Film maker.

Sellergren founded The Dialtones, a cross breed of '70s punk and '50s rock and roll in 1998. While the music was outstanding, the band became a revolving door for musicians and it the wheels eventually fell off in 2003. It didn't take Magnus long to rebound... Within a few days after the demise of the his band, Sellergren formed The Plastiques, a band he describes as "heavy metal bubblegum."

Like the Dialtones, the Plastiques feature short songs with rapid fire guitar riffs and catchy lyrics, but like the Dialtones did, the Plastiques suffer from revolving door syndrome. While they haven't completely disbanded at this point, they are "on ice" until they can solve their lineup issues. Meanwhile Sellergren is still writing songs but dedicating most of his time to his graphic design company which incidentally is called Sellergren Design,  and occasionally working on short films, which hopefully I will get a chance to feature soon in the Bigfoot Diaries.

So without further adieu...

5 Questions

1.What would you like the world to know about you, Magnus Sellergren?


That I need money? I really don't know, I have a tendency to get really stumped when asked questions like those and run the risk of writing a damn book to cover it all. So, keeping it short I guess I'm just an average blue-collar guy pushing 40 that lives in the south of Sweden, dabbles with Punk Rock, poster art and weird movies. And tattoos!


2.For those of us who do not live in Sweden, could you please define the term 'Trash/Cult'?
 
 Yet another question that's gonna take forever to answer. If you're thinking about the movies I review on my blog it's pretty much flicks from the 50's up to the 70's that cost about $5 to make and usually have special effects made out of cardboard and clay. Stuff that 9 tenths of the population gawk at and consider downright horrible but I myself LOVE for all the wrong reasons.


3.Who are your biggest influences musically?
 
Too many artists and bands to mention. I pretty much collect records from the 50's up to late 70's and I guess what they all have in common is Rock 'n Roll. But a couple of names just off the top of my head: Ramones, Chuck Berry, Devil Dogs, The Sonics, Link Wray, Stooges, Fats Domino. I've got a soft spot for Sonny Vincent & The Testors 'cuz he writes really good lyrics. The Damned off course, DMZ, Dead Boys. The list goes on and on. Let's just say Rock n Roll in all its mutations over the years.


4.Do you still play with the Plastiques or have you abandoned that project to concentrate more on making indie-horror flicks and Sellergren Design?

The Plastiques are not abandoned but pretty much kept on ice right now due to some problems with the line-up. Got an albums worth of material that I was HOPING would be demo'ed right about now but I guess things change. There's 16 really good tracks that'd blow the first album away but as I said, won't be happening right now. Time is also a factor with my poster art/graphic work, movie reviews and other responsibilities coming in first hand. Got a second band right now though that's rehearsing material for an album, Svarta Maria ("Black Maria" in Swedish) and it's pretty much old school punk/HC with Swedish lyrics. Those tracks will be demo'ed pretty soon and I already got a couple of takers so who knows, there might be something released later on this year.

5.The Dialtones... It seemed that every time I turned around there was a new line-up. What led to the band's break-up?

You've got that right! There were so many changes it actually got pretty ridiculous towards the end. But that's what you get living in a small town and trying to make something happen with people that own way too many records with Metallica and/or Guns 'n Roses. What led to our demise was a cancelled tour of Germany being the final straw for me. A couple of days later I started up The Plastiques.

(Bonus Question): Do you have a good recipe for Swedish Meatballs?

Sure do! Here's my personal recipe:

1 lbs ground beef
1 onion
1 egg
1 tablespoon beef stock
Some breadcrumbs
A dash of cream
salt
pepper
barbecue spice

This is no biggie, just mix 'em all together in a big bowl but my 'trick' for lack of a better word is to GRATE the damn onion. That way it gets blended in with the rest of the ingredients and add tons of flavor. Refrigerate for at least half an hour then fry 'em up with LOTS of butter.

Fucking sweet, Magnus! Thank you thank you thank you...