THE HAUNTED Frontman: We Make Music 'Cause We Love To, And We Love Getting On Stage Playing It

Abort magazine recently conducted an interview with THE HAUNTED frontman Peter Dolving. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Abort: How much has the Swedish metal scene changed in the past few years?

Dolving: That's one of those questions that can't really be answered in an interview. You know it's like, "So, how's the trout coming along in Quebec?" Who knows? Me? Definitely not. I've never been a scenester and I never really appreciated that whole idea. Ask someone else. People like me are more interested whether we are getting laid, getting in a god ruckus with people who fucking deserve it or finding the right movie to space out to when I'm on tour. Scene? Fuck that.

Abort: Do you think European metal is still an "isolated" genre in North America — great for touring, but not album sales?

Dolving: … Um, I'm not a market researcher. I'm just a dude in a band who does this out of a mixture of spite, passion and compulsion. I don't even think in terms like that. Sorry, I just don't know and I just don't care.

Abort: After doing the collaboration with Lou (from SICK OF IT ALL),will we see THE HAUNTED looking at the New York hardcore scene either for inspiration? Or for the sake of fucking up our eardrums?

Dolving: Wow… now what kind of a question is that? Why do you think we make music? We make music 'cause we love to, and we love getting on stage playing it. Along the way we meet all kinds of cool fuckers who share view of life or that we just respect. Lou coming in to sing on that song on "rEVOLVEr" was one of those things. The song called for two vocalists and someone suggested we ask Lou and he was on tour coming through town at the time of recording. We are mutual fans and he thought it seemed like a good idea. But I don't think the NYHC is going to be more of an influence than it already is. We love bands like SOIA, CRO-MAGS, GORILLA BISCUITS, H2O and personally, I hold 108 high, but they are no more an influence than any other particular style of music.

Abort: You had been quoted in an interview last year, as saying you hated: HIV, cancer, etc. Were you referring to the hosts carrying those diseases or the diseases themselves and do these subjects have any influence on your lyrics?

Dolving: I hate those diseases no more than any other incurable and horrendous dysfunctions. Thing is those two specifically make it so shamefully clear what an unjust fucking planet we live on, what a financially and politically fucked up society we CHOOSE to live in. Dividing the poor from the rich, and as far I see there is no change near. No one is out there blowing up BMWs and Ferraris and tossing pipe bombs into the stock market offices, banks and multinational corporation main offices, as far as I see, anyway, and maybe that's just what it's going to take. Because the people with the power to make the necessary changes in this world are NOT untouchable. They live down your street. They live around the corner, on your block sometimes. But they don't really care, and you don't really care and even if you do, you probably got it rationalized down a moping self-pitying little "Oh there is nothing I can do…" Well, fuck that. OK? We don't need a fucking revolution. We need simply to get a fucking grip and start thinking about what our real motherfucking priorities are. Survival of the species? Hell, if you don't got any instinct of self-preservation, go out right fucking now and kill yourself. Don't waste any more oxygen, my offspring needs that mutherfucker. If you truly believe financial profits far beyond a reasonable sustenance level is more important that the environment and the lives of other humans, you've made your choice. You have no justification of sharing the surface of this fragile planet with the rest of us and the best thing to do is simply — kill yourself… I feel relieved now, thank you.

Read the entire interview at this location.