Interview with Sickrecy

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

S- When i was about 8 (1981) i had a friend who’s older brother listened to a lot of punk and all those records just resonated with me. The look, the anger, the speed, it just hit me and after that i  knew that i had to play an instrument. Drums was the loudest and most powerful instrument i could find and the guys playing looked so cool. Can’t imagine my life without music and i’m fairly certain that listening to music would occupy a lot of my time even if i wasn’t playing any instrument.

 What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

S- I try to balance my life between music, hunting, fishing, family and work and whenever i have time i try to go to some live shows as well. I don’t know exactly how it influences my creativity, all i know is that it does. Hard to explain but i think that i need everything in life to be creative.

 How long has your band been around?

S- Since 2020 but it wasn’t until 2023 that the line up got complete.

 Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?

S- All members live in different cities or villages in the south of Sweden. I don’t think that it matters much or influences us much where anyone lives as long as you are happy and got friends.

 How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you?

S- I came up with the name after watching some documentaries about government red tape and the symbiosis between church and government. The name is a combination of Sick and secrecy or sick and hypocrisy or anything sick - ….crecy.

 Tell me about your most memorable shows.

S- Since we don’t play that very often they are all memorable but playing Obscene Extreme festival in Czech republic last year was something i had on my bucket list. A bit nervous to play on such a big stage but they are super professional and everybody knows their shit. Sound was great, weather was great, beer was great and the people/crowd was awesome. I sure hope that we can play there again in another year.

 What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?

S- Ooh there are so many places that i wish to play and to be honest, it doesn’t matter if it’s a small venue or big festival as long as people find our music interesting.

 If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

S- Hmmm, lets see. Carcass, Vomitory (sweden), Sickrecy, Kill Division (US), Noxa (indonesia), Besta (Portugal) and Phobia (US) That would be an absolute killer night.

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band and some advice that you would give to your younger self?

S- Just do it. Don’t let the nay sayers beat you down. Just do it.

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

S- It must be Follow the leader from our album Salvation through tyranny. The crowd always gets nuts when we play it and it’s our most streamed song so far plus that everyone can join in and scream Follow in the chorus which always gets the audience going.

 Which songs are your favorite to play and which gets requested the most?

S- I would say, Follow the leader or Voice your opinion because everyone can join in on the choruses and scream their lungs out. Most requested song is probably Closure which we now try to include in our set.

 What is the creative process like for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

S- Up until recently it’s been mainly me writing all the songs with exception for a couple of songs and riffs made by Marcus but now everyone has participated more in the songwriting and even though i do most of the songwriting i get a lot of creative input from all the members and i feel that i can take a step back and let Tobbe and Marcus do their thing in a more comfortable way. When it comes to inspiration i would say that it’s the late 80’s early 90’s extreme music era that inspires the most.

 What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

S- It’s the usual punk thing - destroy power not people, Fascism is bad, genocide is bad, far right politics is bad. caring for the planet is good, caring for the citizens of this earth is good…basically the same subjects that i’ve written about my whole life. I believe that if you have a voice you should speak it.  

 Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?

S- Don’t think that we’ve had any big disagreements so far and if we’ve had any we’ve solved them by talking to each others. The beauty of not being a couple of teenagers playing is that you have learned to handle disputes in a better more adult way and learned to pick your fights.

 What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?

S- As you know we have just released a split 7inch together with Austrian grinders Distaste and we will release two more split 7inches this year with Brainwasher (Sweden) and Massive Charge (France) In the meantime we will continue to write new songs for our next album and play a couple of shows. If anybody wish to get hold of us please write to [email protected] 

Thanks a lot for this interview. Cheers/Martin