No Omega

Hello and thank you for your time. Who is answering the questions ? (Oscar contacted me later and added some informations) Daniel, bass and backie vocals 

 Can you tell a little bit about "No Omega" ? 

Who is playing in the band ? How long are you active ? 

 We're Oscar on guitar, Andreas on vocals, Victor on drums, and me. The others started the band early 2010 I guess, and I got in the band 2011. 

  

Just for personal interest: Who of you is vegan, vegetarian and/or straight edge? (I don't divide into this categorys, but I'm curious)  

 Me and Oscar are both vegan and straigt edge, and Andreas and Victor are vegetarian and really not straight edge.  

Is there any special story behind your bandlogo? It doesn't look like an Omega, does it ? 

Daniel: Well, it was designed by this guy who was doing the first batch of merch for us. It's really long ago, but I guess it's exactly what it looks like - and upside-down cross on top of a feminism/womens symbol. It's mainly just a symbol for our band, kind of representing some values we stand for in some way, but also just something to put our name to. 

Oscar: Actually it is an omega-symbol ( Ω ) but where a horizontal line is drawn at the bottom of the circle. Both to make it together with the upside-down-cross , a somewhat "unique" symbol, but also if you just combine the omega-symbol with an upside-down-cross - the way we did - you get the no omega-symbol...  

How evolved your music style? Was there a concept at the beginning? Oscar and Fredrik (original bassplayer) wanted to play darker hardcore, back when Rise and Fall were getting big, and started this band out of their old Guns Up! esque band. It was kinda people who'd been playing different styles of metal and punk wanting to combine dark gloomy hardcore with a lot of melodic sensibilities and try to create something new.

 What about your local scene? Many shows? 

 Me (and until he moved away, Oscar) are heavily involved in a booking group called Stockholm Straight Edge, doing drug free all ages DIY hardcore shows in our town. I think our scen at the moment is quite good, if you except the problem that a lot of guys in bands have stopped coming out to shows, yet expecting us to book their bands. Otherwise, the mood on shows is good, we get quite good bands up here, and the bands in general in Stockholm right now are awesome as hell. Sore Eyelids, This Gift is a Curse, Grieved, Medea, Disembarked, and many many more.  

You toured a lot in the last years. What do you like about touring? Everything. Shows, seeing new places, meeting new people, hanging out with some of my best friends, seeing bands, sitting in the van listening to music for hours every day. New food, new sodas, new ways of getting miserable and let down over and over. What's not to love, but each and every of those experiences?  

What's more important for you: The lyrics or the music? 

I can't really say. I mean, the music is probably more important just becuase without it, it wouldn't be music. But without the lyrics, how would we get the messages across, and get to acutally experience more fine emotions and thoughts, and not just "RAGE" or "saaaad". 

  How do you write your songs? Is there at first a riff or a text? Who writes your lyrics?  

The songs are most of the time either written by Oscar, Andreas or me at home, and then brought to the practice room to be put together and made into actual songs. Other times, someone just have one piece of music, and then we jam out a song from it. It's really never set in stone how we do it. Oscar writes a lot of lyrics, and Andreas do some songs, and now I've started contributing some lyrics as well.  

Is there any relation between your LP and the movie "Metropolis" from Fritz Lang?  

Not more than it involves the same kind of themes. The dystopic city, called Metropolis, which I suppose is a quite widespread reference. I remember Oscar talked about it when we were in school together, and we were piecing the album together thematically, but the songs themselves haven't really anything to do with the movie.  

What do you think about the modern society?  

Wack, really, haha. Not much to say, it's just wrecked and shitty and probably never going back from that.  

In you song "Lives Worth" you end with "hope we all die young". Just why?  

Those lyrics were written by Fredrik, who wasn't in the band when we recorded the song. I'm not a hundred percent sure about what he actually means, in his own mind. But I guess it's just referring to how people generally give the impression of caring to much about longevity or whatever you wanna call it. Just, kind of "you behave like you want everything to end and die, so I hope it all comes true".  

Can you explain the lyrics from "Heavy Rain" ? Especially this part "the only way for us to be happy again is for the world to end". How do you see this "end"?  

Daniel: Oscar wrote that song, and I can't really talk too much about it. It's more or less just an observation of society and modern civilization in general, probably. Sorry... 

Oscar: I just wanted to explain a bit what i was thinking of when i wrote "the only way for us to be happy again is for the world to end" ... Daniel talking about "this end" is fine, but i wasn't so much literally thinking of what the end might look like (except of course ecological collapse) , but it was both seeing how our species will stop at nothing... it seems like we actually want to destroy our world - like that in it self is accomplishing something, filling some sort of need. But also it's like a response or a questioning of myself and other people like me who are constantly negative to society. The way we say that everything sucks and that people are destroying the world etc. It's like the only way for us to be happy again, is if the rest of our species/society proves us right by destroying the world. Maybe then would we be happy again, when we are proven right? That sucks... so that's why i wrote those lyrics. A lot of my lyrics are about all my inner conflicts.  

You are all vegans and vegetarians. So you don't want to harm a living beeing. What do you think about people, who smoke and don't give a fuck about others arround. Especialy at small venues, where hardcore shows often take place.

 I personally hate it. It's one of the most disrespectful things you can do. Not much to say, except - if you blow smoke in my face at a show, especially if I'm playing, pumped with adrenaline, beware. Hehe. Also, vegans who smoke, really? Animal testing, look it up.  

How is your vegtarian/vegan lifestyle conecteted with your political views?  

To me, everything is connected. Veganism, being drugfree, anarchism, feminism, antiracism, gay rights, all of it. If you think things through, you can easily cut out all negative actions and ways in your life, just as long as you stop thinking too much about your own comfortability and narrow way of behaving. The way society is built, and how people act, is very crooked and shitty, and there's really only one way to change it. By what you as a person do.  

You have this awesome patch with Emma Goldmann. Can you explain, how you came up with the idea for this?  

It's actually a stupid inside joke between me and Oscar, which turned out kind of great. He's always had this patch with Emma Goldman and the classic quote "it's not my revolution if I can't dance to it" or whatever. And I used to joke about how we should turn all shows into No Omega shows, and that it wasn't a show if No Omega weren't playing. So, you do the math, haha!  

Is Emma Goldmann an inspiration for you and your music?

Well, she was super cool and controversial and stood for great things, so sure!  

Emma Goldmann was one of the most important feminists in the USA. How do you see the male dominance in hardcore?

  It's not something I like, but I don't really see a way of getting more girls interested in hardcore per se. They probably have better things to do than listen to d-beat and breakdowns. But what we really need is more space for women to express themselves, take up space, be up on the stage and be taken seriously.  

How do you see moshing/violent dancing?

 I do it, don't know... if it's under controlled forms, it good. If it's crowd punching or the way to beatdown guys can clear a room kicking everyone in the face, it's not very cool. 

  

Do you use your band as a medium to spread your ideas of a classfree society?

  I wouldn't say class war is a predominent theme in our songs or our message, but like I said, it's all weaved into everything else we stand for. We need to see an end to capitalism, the class system and anything related for the world to work.  

Do you give speech between the songs? Do you explain your lyrics?  

We never really talk about our songs live, but we (mostly me, Andreas isn't too comfortable talking live) like to adress some issues at shows. I sometimes try to think of things related to the country, city, or show itself, that I like to point out real quick. Too much chatter, like at a Self Defense show, would kind of kill the momentum of our sets.  

What does D.I.Y. mean to you?  

To just do everything yourself, if it is what makes you comfortable. If you want control of your band, and want things to run a certain way, do it yourself.  

What do you think about the decrease of passionate hardcore bands, which are very into politics and don't just try to sell as much CD's as possible? 

Dunno, there's still bands who do the whole band thing properly. As long as people have the opporunity to see real bands, who don't print six different tshirt designs for their first show, I'm not too worried. If you want real music, and to see real hardcore bands, there's allways the chance!  

What do you think about the reuinon of Refused?  

First I was stoked, but after I saw them on their second "secret" show, I was kinda done with it. Heard many tired things about them, and when Dennis was on the cover of a men's lifestyle magazine, I was really done. Amazing band though, who got me into hardcore when I was 17. 

Thanks for the interview. Any shout outs/last words?  

We're going out on the road with This Gift is a Curse in april, they are sincerely one of the coolest bands around, please make sure you check them out!