´´I can live without rock ´n´ roll, as long as I´ve got the sex and drugs...´´NICKE BORG

Kerrang!:How you define rock´n´roll?

Nicke:"This is f**king Spinal Tap."

Dregen:"I don´t know. Because I think if you are a rock´n´roll band, you don´tactually know what the answer is."

Nicke:"I would say that rock´n´roll is maybe the hardest thing to do for a human being."

But shouldn´t it come naturally?

Dregen:"Yes, Idon´t think you can fake rock´n´roll."

Nicke:"The phrase ´rock´n´roll´ means f**king..."

Dregen:"...It was originally invented as a slang word for f**king. Obviously, because rock´n´roll sounded sexy, they used the phrase to define it. And as much as it´s sexy, in the same way it´s also gotta be dangerous. You also have to have a bit stupidity to put into it the one hand, and be clever with it on the other."

The state of rock´n´roll in 1999. Discuss...

Dregen:"The thing that I consider rock´n´roll-the kind of music we´re playing-has been the same since the ´50s."

Nicke:"Nothing really changed. From when it started up until the today, it´s the same story. And hopefylly, it´ll be that way forever. The bands are always there-it´s just down to when the press chooses to acknowledge them."

Dregen:"The best answers you get are talking to fans who go to rock shows. When you´re in a rock´n´roll band, you don´t think so much the things around you-you just do your stuff. And when people come up to you after shows and say thanks for bringing rock´n´roll back, well... we´re just adding to tradition. Even things like comics can be rock´n´roll today. An actor can be rock´n´roll. I even consider Madonna to be very much rock´n´roll. Like punk-rock, it´s all about attitude."

Who are the most rock´n´roll band around now?

Dregen:"That´s a boring question for me to answer, because I´d have to say The Hellacopters. Besides us, because I think we are the most rock´n´roll band around. But I´ve been a member of The Hellacopters and I know the people in the band, and they represent everything that rock´n´roll´s about."

Nicke:"I would agree. Absolutely. They are one of the finest, purest bands around. When they came along-and Dregen being a part of it-it was a kick in the arse for us."

Dregen:"I´d also have to say the Rolling Stones."

And Aerosmith?

Nicke:"You can´t compare Aerosmith to the Rolling Stones. I mean these days Aerosmith are on Evian. The Stones may have calmed down now -but f**king hell, they still do the whole sex, drugs, rock´n´roll thing."

Dregen:"And man, it´s really impossible to keep on doing that, so there must be something wrong with them. You cannot do it for that many years without killing yourself, so obviously the Rolling Stones must be the most rock´n´roll band of all time!!!"

Nicke:"They´re probably gonna be around when we die. Or maybe the Rolling Stones will die and then will die and then we´ll need a new one."

Who are the least rock´n´roll band around now -and why?

Nicke:"Who cares? If you´re not a rock´n´roll band, you´re not a rock´n´roll band."

What is your earliest rock´n´roll memory?

Nicke:"When Dregen and I were 14 and school was out for summer. We knew that Jack Daniel´s was the ultimate rock´n´roll drink and someone a bit older than us we both knew had his own apartament, so he let us go there with our first bottle. We´d never tasted it before. We filled that bath full of water and sat in it with our clothes on. And I thought Jack Daniel´s tasted like shit!. But we didn´t care, cos it was the rock´n´roll drink."

Dregen:"And then from there, in our wet clothes, we went to see a band called the ElectricBoys do a show. It took one-and-a-half hours on the train. We didn´t even have a return ticket."

Nicke:"After the gig, Dregen and me were left all alone in the midle of nowhere. So we started to walk home, and it was a f**king long way."

Dregen:"We actually had a gig the next day. We just got back in time for the soundcheck."

When was the first time you felt rock´n´roll?

Dregen:"When I bought my first guitar. And the first time people clapped when we were playing."

Nicke:"You have that gig where you think,´F**king hell, this is swinging, man! This is rocking!"

Sex, drugs and rock´n´roll -do they have to go together?

Dregen:"Too much sex, and you´re gonna end up like all those L.A. bands in ´89. Too much drugs, and you can´t write songs and don´t care about sex, because you´re too busy worrying about getting high. And if you´re into too much rock´n´roll..."

So you´re saying that they don´t have to go together?

Dregen:"Yes, they do!. You just have to do a little bit of everything."

Nicke:"Let´s put it like this -I can live without rock´n´roll, as long as I´ve got the sex and drugs."

Dregen:"He´s got a point."

What´s the most outrageous thing you´ve done in the name of rock´n´roll?

Dregen:"Our soundman Stabbe got an axe for me when I was trying to throw a TV out of a dressing room window in Sweden. The window was too small, so I chooped the TV in two!"

What´s the most stupid thing you´ve done in the name of rock´n´roll?

Nicke:"I paid for the TV that Dregen smashed."

Live fast, die young, leave a good-loocking corpse, have you tried?

Dregen:"I don´t think any corpse looks good. That whole romantic thing about dying young is stupid. It´s the only word for it. I´ve seen a corpse, and they´re not nice to look at."

What´s your proudest rock´n´roll moment?

Dregen:"I predict that will be later this month, when we receive a gold album for "Total 13" in Sweden. We´re only 5.000 records from it."

What rock´n´roll moment do you most regret?

Dregen:"I don´t have one for us. But elsewhere, it would be when Kiss took their make-up off."

Who epitomises rock´n´roll to you?

Dregen:"I would say Mike Monroe. He´s still rock ´n´roll. Phone him at five in the morning, and he'll be playing the f**king saxophone. He's 37. Still wears leopard-skin pants. Ask him, and he'll do the splits for you any time."

Nicke:"I would agree. He's just a big question mark. You can not put your finger on that guy. Like the Stones, he should be dead by now."

Who is the antithesis of rock´n´roll?

Nicke:"Er...It'd be too easy to name-drop here. But we'd prefer to skip that question."

What's the most rock'n'roll record ever made?

Nicke:"Slippery When Wet'. HA,ha,ha!"

Dregen:"It's gotta be the Sex Pistols 'Never Mind The Bollocks'. I was about seven when I first heard it."

Did you know what bollocks meant?

Dregen:"No. I still don't."

Bon Scott, Phil Lynott, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin -the rock'n'roll casualties. Who'd you have rather seen go instead?

Nicke:"Whoever wrote that question."

Dregen:"Nobody killed these people, they died because of themselves. How could you wish the life of someone else to be taken? If i want someone dead, I'll f**king kill them myself."

Nicke:"I don't want Marilyn Manson to die, because then I don't get a chance to f**k him in the ass."

What's been the single greatest crime committed in the name of rock'n'roll?

Nicke:"Although the Sex Pistols was a great scam, it was a crime that it led to the death of Sid Vicious."

What have you brought to rock'n'roll?

Dregen:"Back."

Eh?

Dregen:"We brought it back."

When you are too old to rock'n'roll?

Nicke:"You never get old when you're in rock'n'roll. Ginger was celebrating his birthday at our Water Rats gig before Xmas -and he's still nine years old!. I think you're always valid until you lose the plot."

Dregen:"That's why Iggy Pop's still around, cos he knows what he's doing. If he wasn't a smart guy, he wouldn't still be here."

Rock'n'roll then: a 24-hour state of mind?

Dregen:"Well, on our tour it is. Otherwise, it's maybe 12 hours."

Nicke:"It's easy to answer that: When we were in the studio with Michael Monroe doing the song 'Rocker', a stupid Swedish journalist saw Mike drinking Evian water and say, 'Thats not very rock'n'roll'. Mike said, 'Who are you to judge what is rock'n'roll? I'm drinking water because I've got to sing'."

Dregen:"And he had a fat L.A. guy called Vince Neil actually kill his drummer Razzle in his car -and kill his whole rock'n'roll career at the same time. If Vince Neil hadn't been drunk, I don't think Razzle woul be dead. So drive carefully, kids."

WORDS BY RAY ZELL

PHOTOS BY PAUL HARRIES

Interview from the Kerrang! magazine