Rickshaw areone of the best example of grooves with pure rock'n'roll & punk raw attitude. When they play fast is like a ton of dynamite exploding in the studios, and the only way out is to quit everything before it bursts! But when it’s time for some slow song, then they let the amplifiers touch the stoner’s fields. Just one advice: remember to kill them if they begin following the last Backyard Babies sound!!!

Hi Jocke! Finally we manage to have a chat. "Sonic Overload" is becoming top album amongst 'The Rock Explosion' pages! Which are the main differences from the previous album?
Hey! Nice to hear that "Sonic Overload" is working its way up the charts! We had a little more time in the studio this time and hopefully we are all getting better at what we do. The songs have absolutely gone better and better! I actually see this album as the first "real" Rickshaw album! So things can only get better. Rickshaw is like a bottle of wine, we will only get more classy, tasty and expensive with age!

Your attitude is somewhat particular. You can mix stoner echoes and punk/rock influences, adding to it all millions of watts! Do you agree with my point of view? Which bands of the past has had the main influence on you?
I think I have to agree, It is all in the ears of the listener, but hell yes! Rickshaw started up as a Punk / Garage kind of band, and after a few line-up changes new influences and new attitudes arrived, and we found ourselves in between a punk and a hard place. As long as it has a groove and we still want to get drunk when we hear it, It's ok!

Jocke how does one of your songs get alive? Which is your main inspiration and which is the most frequent mode you use to compose? Would you define it as a team work or just of one of you?
Basically it is just me or Bobby Dawn who writes the tunes and take them to rehearsal. Personally I prefer writing songs after a few beers late at night. I know that Bobby usually writes his songs naked with Tom Cruise movies running on the DVD player. Inspiration? Difficult, I guess I get my inspiration from everything that happens in the daily life, girlfriend, booze, sex & work.

One of my favourite songs is 'White Light'. What can you tell us about this great song?
That is one of the finest riffs Bobby ever have done! It's a killer from the beginning to the end. I just love it, and I love playing it live. I wrote the lyrics just an hour before we recorded it, so I really don't know what it's about, sorry. Great song though!

With 'Island In The Stream' it seems to me like you want to challenge, in your own way, Backyard Babies. After listening to 'Stockholm Syndrome' your victory is clear. They lost their bad attitude, which is something you still hold proudly. How do you interpret my opinion?
I never looked at it like that! I would not want to challenge a band that went from excellent to pure shit over one album. That would just not be fair to them. I promise you that you will never watch Rickshaw turn soft like they did! If we do, please kill us.

I think there is a slight difference between the rock scene is Stockholm and the one in Gothenburg, your hometown. Are these just my impressions or are these differences real? Are you proud of your origin?
Yes there is a small difference, I like most of the Stockholm bands too. The only problem I see is that many of them don't seem to be able to find their own style, they try to look like Dregen and sound like early Hellacopters. But there is many real good bands from Stockholm, Entombed, Hellacopters… Gothenburg have a great rock scene these days, The soundtrack of our lives, In Flames, The Awesome Machine, Mustasch… yeah, the list goes on and on and on.

Is there any song on 'Sonic Overload' you feel more closed to? If so, can you explain why to our readers?
If I have to pick any favourites I would say: "White Light", "Get You Down", "Last Man Standing" & "I´m Ready"! All great songs with a nice groove. And I'm pretty proud of the vocals on those tunes.

On your CD you add also the video of 'I'm Ready', why did you choose this song to record your video? Would you share with us some backstage episode which occurred during the recording of the video?
I really don't know why we picked it, we all liked it when we recorded the album and just said, this will be the video, we never thought any more about that choice. We had a really great time recording the video, we painted our rehearsal room red and throw all the furniture out! We left it the day after and never went back!! Looking forward to do more videos, good fun.

How is it going in terms of selling copies your latest 'Sonic Overload'? How was working with the American label Devil Dolls Records?
Devil Doll has been really great to work with, John is a really cool guy! I don't know how many copies that are sold. A lot I hope, we need the cash (laughs).

After the release of this album you went on tour around Europe. How did it go? Anything worthy to be remembered and shared with us? Which are the songs that worked at their best in your live experience?
Yeah, that was good fun. Had some shit gigs and some really fantastic gigs along the way. I really don't remember that much, lots of rock´n´roll, lots of beer and long nights! There is some new pictures from the tour on our website now!

'Snake Oil Supercharm', Zodiac Mindwarp's tribute on Sleazegrinder Records is recently on sell: there you play a devastating version of 'Hangovers from Hell'. Why did you choose that song? What do you think about 'ZM' and 'The Love Reaction'?
I´m really not a big fan, I mean, I like them but... yeah you know! Sleazegrinder asked us to be on the CD, and he is a good guy so why not? We choose to do that song just because it was a song we could trash without someone getting pissed at us, most people have never heard that song. It is on a b-side on the only record I have with Zodiac, an old maxi-single.

You are around since '98 and you already have a 'Best Of' in your discography. Why did you choose to publish an album that could seem premature from a certain point of view?
That's true, we have some kind of 5 years celebration this year. I just realized that!! We did that CD because we wanted to collect all the singles and the best from Split-albums for the American kids, that never heard the songs, They were all released in Europe in small pressings. Hopefully people like it!

There is a band that I really appreciate you collaborated with, Trigger, on the split 'Action Go'. Can you tell us something about this work? About the song 'Temple Of Your Choice', released also on 'Cock'n'Roll' compilation. How did you meet Trigger?
We met those guys long ago, they have turned good friends to us so we wanted to do something together. Frank at Devils Shitburner wanted to release a CD / LP so we went in to the studio at the same time and recorded a few songs each. It was a strange experience to share studio with another band, but I think it turned out well. "Temple Of Your Choice" is one of my favourite Rickshaw tracks ever, I think that song will always be played live.

How did you appear also on VHS and DVD of 'Crazy Chicks & Party Tricks'? What is this documentary about?
I don´t know! I got a DVD in the mail from our label one day, with a note that said: You are on this DVD!

Ok, as we touched the topic 'nice chicks'. I'm gonna ask you who is your favourite porn star? And what about your favourite drink and top 5 albums of ever?
Jocke´s favourite porn star : Kitten Natividad (Back in the 60's). Jocke´s favourite drink: Jim Beam. Jocke´s top 5 albums ever: Iron Maiden "Piece Of Mind", Kiss "Destroyer", Rolling Stones "Exile On Main Street", Sex Pistols "Never Mind The Bollocks", Lowrider "Ode To Io".

Jocke, what do you do when your are not busy with your music commitments?
Eat, drink, drive, love & sleep.

All right Jocke. The interview is over, so now you have free space to say goodbye to Italy in your own way…
Alright! Thanks for having me! We will try to play in Italy as soon as we can, book us and we will be there! Support your local rock´n´roll stars! Take care and don't stay dirty!

Intervista realizzata da Bruno Rossi.
Traduzione a cura di Laura Delnevo.
Supervisione di Margherita Realmonte.
Photo by Gunnar Jönsson at www.gunnarjonsson.com and Stefan Peterson.