Turbocharged Interview

Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?
We started off as a trio back in 2000 when we decided during a few drunken nights to simply form a band. Since that Turbocharged has undergone various changes in lineup and at one point we were five members from different musical approaches. It was always a kind of experimental game to write our stuff since no one knew what we really wanted or could do with our mutual effort but in 2008 we were reduced to a trio again and the magic really started to happen in our opinion. That’s when we could just go ahead and do what we wanted since all three of us are old school metalheads and didn’t have to "wait up" for anyone who didn’t get the old scene. There was demos recorded along the way but not until we were a trio again stuff was released officially so there are only two demos "Branded Forever" (2008) and "Arrogantus Metallus" (2009) that really counts as proper releases, the rest never made our own demands I guess…
　
How would you describe the musical sound of the new album and how does it differ from the previous releases    Well, with EP’s I guess you mean the CD-R demos and what differs from those compared to the album is that we were still trying to get out of the old sound and still had some old material that we wanted to record properly once and for all. On the album most songs are up to date and we had found our roots so to speak, it’s weird how hard it is to just reset the ground you are standing on when you have been used to do things differently but at the point of the album recording we simply took what US THREE wanted to create and just went ahead with the old flow.
　
What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the new release explores?
It’s quite simple really, we reflect upon the struggle against organized religion with a make shift guerilla warfare approach basically. In all bands I ever was in it has been a constant variable but this time we are full on assaulting it in our own choice of words, it’s not the most original subject and it has all been done before, we will probably receive a lot of critics about it and all since we are not philosophical enough to pass as a Satanist band and we don’t take a stand FOR any belief but this is who we are and we would love to see religion crushed into oblivion. And besides, what else is there to write about? Flowers, bees and world peace? What’s realistic about that?
　
What is the meaning and inspiration behind the band name?
Yeah, good question, ha ha! We know it gives the wrong impression of what we are these days but at one point many years ago it fit like a glove and after more than 10 years you just don’t change name over night. Somehow it still fits since we are all about energy and we are a well tuned engine in whatever we do and the raw power is more important than impressing anyone with any musical skills, if you want Dream Theatre you should look elsewhere.
　
What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
The best shows are easy to line up: Thunders over Miriquidi (2009), Amnesie Bar in Berlin (2010) and the releaseparty at KGB Bar in Stockholm (2011). That’s where we had the right people showing up and that’s all that counts together with us making a decent job through the set list. A performance with Turbocharged is simply three guys delivering loud thrash to a headbanging audience, that’s all we need. Hopefully that will be enough for now, maybe we can have some pyrotechnics and shit later on but right now our economy won’t allow it.
　
Do you have any touring plans for the new releases?
Not really plans, just hopes and wishes so far. We know all too well that we are still, despite all years as an active band, a new name in the global scene and we can’t expect wonders to happen in a flash. We will carry on writing new stuff and keep ready for gigs but ther rest is not really up to us to decide when tour, gigs or releases will happen. It’s all in the eye of the beholder and we’ll do our best to stand out of the ever flowing stream of bands out there.
　
On a worldwide level how has your music been received by extreme metal fans?
The critics has been both good and half bad so far, we are named as "Celtic Frost/Slayer leftovers" by some and some seem to look beyond the fact that we are not trying to change the scene, that’s where the good reviews can be found. We are still waiting for the CD to be out so hopefully we’ll get more feedback once it’s out. In all it seems that the cool people understands our point and that’s all we can hope for, the rest will have to stick with their Mozart-collection.
　
What direction do you see the music heading into on future releases?
We can only tell from what we have done since the album was recorded but it seems like we are still drifting into the older sounding stuff so we’ll probably have equal pieces of old death/thrash/black (the Venom:ish kind) and we seem to find our way back to the time when not all genres had to be divided into surgical precision. We listen to all sorts of primitive stuff and it will be obvious in both positive and negative aspects.
　
What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We’re basically listening to the same as we did 20 years ago so the obvious bands are as always Venom, Sodom, Motörhead, etc but we are also into new stuff with the old spirit like Violentor, Sodomizer, Children of Technology, Die Hard, etc. Too many to mention really. We are what we always were and now you can hopefully hear it more than ever in our songs.
　
I know that Anti Christianity plays a huge role in the music but do any of the band members have any interest in Satanism or Occultism?
Not really, not more than anyone else out there. We take a stand against religion as a phenomenon but of course we use Satan and a possible hell as symbols in our lyrics to make a point. We don’t practice any witchcraft or occult rituals but we find pentagrams and inverted crosses pretty and correct to wear, ha ha. If you can use what they fear the most against them, why shouldn’t you?
　
Outside of music, what are some of your interests?
I can only speak for myself here and I really don’t have any interest besides music. This means a wide variety of stuff though since I’ve created our artwork and I own the studio we record all our stuff in – I have a finger in all things related to a band but mostly on a hobby level. Old Nick has also some activities in dog training/weight pulling but I guess that’s it. I don’t really ask what’s going on outside the band and when we get together it’s all about doing what’s best for Turbocharged I guess.
　
Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
Thanks for this interview and I hope we’ll meet most of you out there in the festival ground for years to come! Over and out.