Posted by andPOP Staff on June 6th, 2006

It’s a late-May afternoon in Toronto, and the notoriously grungy Reverb nightclub is surprisingly well lit. There’s TSN on a big-screen television in the corner, bad ’70s pop playing through the P.A., and a group of mild-mannered Swedes in slippers and tiny shorts, lounging on old couches. Is this what punk-rock has really come to?

Well, not exactly ? just punk-rock in an early summer heat wave.

“We walked up and down the block a few times, but it’s just too hot,” says (International) Noise Conspiracy guitarist Lars Str?mberg. “The place in London [Ontario] last night wasn’t air conditioned. We were already tired after sound-check.”

Tonight’s show will be the tenth on a 16-date tour that’s taken the Noise Conspiracy ? comprised of Str?mberg, bassist Inge Johansson, singer Dennis Lyxz?n (insert Refused reference here), and drummer Ludwig Dahlberg ? across much of Canada and the northern U.S. It’s nothing compared to the two years of non-stop touring behind them, but only recently have things really come together for the band; their long-delayed album was finally released in North America, they’ve rebounded from the loss of a member, and yes?today, the club is even air conditioned.

It’s been almost two years since most of the world saw the release of “Armed Love,” the Noise Conspiracy’s third studio LP. It’s the band’s most mature album, combining their usual subject matter ? mostly Socialist messages filtered through various metaphors ? with a focused pop sensibility that was lost in the mix on their earlier efforts. The record was produced by bearded legend Rick Rubin. And though it can be easy for a big-name studio presence like him to steal the spotlight, Str?mberg says the experience with Rubin was all about the band.

“It seems that other producers will have more of a vision of what they want the band to turn into, whereas Rick looks at a band and sees what he likes and just wants to enhance those qualities,” he explains. “His whole strategy is taking what’s there and stripping everything else down and keeping it as basic as possible.”

The record also features some interesting guest musicians ? renowned keyboardists Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and the late Billy Preston. The two were brought into the studio as temporary replacements for founding member Sara Almgren, who left the band to play in another Swedish punk outfit, The Vicious.

“Everything really changed,” says Str?mberg of Almgren’s departure. “Her stage presence was a really important part of our stage presence. It was just a weird transition. All of a sudden you look over and there’s just someone else playing her parts.”

The loss of Almgren shook the foundation of the group; they stopped touring for a year and a half to reevaluate their place in music. But after realizing that 80 per cent of the band was still intact, they decided to pick up the pieces and continue. When the Noise Conspiracy finally began work on what would become “Armed Love,” they focused on the emotional side of songwriting more than ever before, seeking out the personal in the political.

“We wanted everything to be straight from the heart as opposed to straight from the brain,” says Str?mberg. “‘Armed Love’ is about knowing that you do have to put up a fight to get what belongs to you back. Basically, every song we sing is a love song because we do talk about a better place and a better world and better interactions between people.”

But despite all of the love they poured into the album, some bad karma was about to catch up with the band. When they signed on with Rubin to make the record, they also agreed to have his label, American Recordings, release it. At the time, the label was a part of Universal-owned Island Def Jam. It was the Noise Conspiracy’s first deal with a major label, a moral trade-off the band made in order to spread their Socialist message to a larger audience. That message, however, got seriously delayed in transit.

“We did a tour to set everything up [for the album's release], and right after we did that tour, we found out that American wanted to switch from Island to Warner Bros.,” recalls Str?mberg. “That whole negotiation process took about a year, so we were just in limbo for that entire time because no one really knew what was going on, no one knew how long it was going to take ? it was just very frustrating.”

When the record finally came out in North America in October 2005 ? more than a year after its European release ? the band had already toured extensively, the press had already reviewed imported copies, and according to the band, Warner Bros. seemed to have little interest in promoting an “old” album.

“All the reporters and magazines had already written about it when it was supposed to come out, so when it actually came out no one was really interested in putting anything out about it,” Str?mberg laments. “Basically, nothing really happened. There wasn’t any push for it because all the initial push was spent right away.”

It’s probably why, at nearly every show now, Lyxz?n urges the audience to download “Armed Love.” Not only does the practice of freely downloading music undermine the capitalist system that the Noise Conspiracy so strongly opposes, each downloaded copy means less profit for Warner execs. Even now, as members of the mainstream music business, the Noise Conspiracy are still activists first and foremost.

Admittedly, though, it doesn’t seem like the band has much to complain about at first glance. After all, their native country of Sweden is universally known for its cleanliness, modernity, and high standard of living. So why criticize a system that’s working for you?

“We realize as people living in Western Europe that our well-being is directly dependent on other countries and other cultures and other people’s non-well-being,” explains Str?mberg. “There’s always going to be differences between certain parts of the world, but it’s kind of weird that just because you’re a bit more well-off, people think that you’re not able to criticize the exact same system that allows other parts of the world to suffer. I think it’s always really worthwhile to criticize a system that you don’t believe in.”

But if that criticism is the “Armed” component of the band, then their live performances are all about the “Love.” An (International) Noise Conspiracy show gives new meaning to the term “communist party.” Along with the music and the dancing, there’s a feeling of inclusiveness, a feeling of equality between the band and the audience.

“‘Either everyone dances or no one dances,’” says Str?mberg, referencing a quotation used by the Tupamaros movement in Uruguay and featured prominently in the liner notes of “Armed Love.” “That sentence, that whole notion of everything being all-inclusive, is really important to us. Because if we don’t build a bond ? that feeling we try to create together with everyone in the band and the audience and the people working at the place ? if we don’t thrive on that, then there’s just nothing.”

Tags: International Noise Conspiracy