ONE ON ONE: AN INTERVIEW WITH BLOOD COMMAND!

THIS IS HIVE MAGAZINE, I’M DANNI BAKER AND TODAY I’M HERE AT 2000 TREES FESTIVAL WITH THE GUYS FROM BLOOD COMMAND! HOW ARE WE?

Nikki: Hello, great! How are you?

I’M GOOD THANK YOU! IT’S COOLED DOWN A BIT NOW SO IT’S NICE. IT WAS SO WARM BEFORE!

Nikki: It was warm on stage. Yeah.

YEAH I WAS GOING TO SAY, IF YOU’RE SAYING THAT AS AN AUSTRALIAN THEN IT MUST BE!

Nikki: I feel like I'm acclimatised to the Norwegian weather now!

OH THAT’S SO TRUE! YOU’VE HAD BOTH EXTREMES THEN!

Nikki: Yes, exactly, exactly! So I get very hot now as an Aussie, and sunburn, I've never had that in my life what the hell!

YOU’VE GOTTA BE CAREFUL THIS WEEKEND THEN, IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE WARM! — WOULD YOU GUYS MIND INTRODUCING YOURSELF AND YOUR ROLE IN THE BAND?

Nikki: I am Nikki and this is…

Yngve: Yngve.

Nikki: And we are from Blood Command. I am the vocalist and Ingva is…

Yngve: The guitar player.

Nikki: Well, not only the guitar player, also the main songwriter and the backbone of the band.

Yngve: Nikki is the mum of the band.

Nikki: I am the stage mum of the band. So that's our roles. We've got many roles, yeah.

AMAZING! SO FIRSTLY ARE YOU GUYS GLAD TO BE PLAYING SHOWS BACK IN THE UK?

Nikki: I love, we love this festival so much. We're so honoured to be here again. So, yes, so happy.

Yngve: Fourth time we're playing here. It's pretty cool that they want us back.

YOU GUYS ARE BASICALLY HERE EVERY YEAR AT THIS POINT!

Nikki: Yeah, we joke. We're like, this is our residency and we love it.

YOU GUYS ARE ON A CRAZY TOURING SCHEDULE RIGHT NOW TO BE FAIR. YOU’VE GOT ALL THE DIFFERENT FESTIVALS, YOU’RE BASICALLY ALL OVER THE PLACE AT THE MOMENT. HAVE YOU HAD ANY HIGHLIGHTS, ANY STANDOUT SHOWS?

Nikki: I mean, like not blowing smoke up anybody's ass, but today was great for me personally. We started the summer festival season with Hellfest, that was a huge highlight for me.

Yngve: That was insane to play. So many people, millions of people.

Nikki: Thousands of people, and it was like 11:30 in the morning and people were probably still drinking their coffee and eating their croissants and it was insane!

I WAS GONNA SAY, SUCH AN ICONIC FESTIVAL AS WELL. WHAT A WAY TO KICK IT OFF!

Nikki: Yeah, definitely start on a high and keep going, keep riding that high. Yeah.

SO YOU GUYS HAVE JUST, WELL IT’S BEEN OUT A COUPLE MONTHS SO PEOPLE HAVE HAD TIME TO SIT WITH IT, YOU’VE RELEASED YOUR LATEST SINGLE. FIRSTLY HOW HAS IT BEEN LIVE, PLAYING IT LIVE TO SO MANY PEOPLE AS YOU SAID?

Nikki: (To Yngve) What do you think?

Yngve: It's been fun. We haven't played it so many times, three or four times or something.

Nikki: Yeah, I feel like I'm dusting off the cobweb still a little bit.

Yngve: Still learning it, kind of.

Nikki: Yeah, that's how I feel too, because the other songs we know so well because we've played them a million times, but this one I feel like it's a little bit of a shock to the system when it comes on. You're like, I need to actually focus on what I'm doing, which is good though. Yeah.

SO BESIDES ‘ALL I EVER HATE ABOUT IS YOU’, DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY OTHER FAVOURITES TO PLAY LIVE? ANY KIND OF CLASSICS I GUESS? YOU GUYS HAVE SUCH A WIDE DISCOGRAPHY SO THERE’S SO MANY!

Nikki: I know what mine is, but you go first.

Yngve: I don't know what my favourite is.

Nikki: You have to choose.

Yngve: Right now, it's maybe ‘We Could Be Heaven’. I think it's really fun to play that song.

Nikki: Oh, that's an interesting choice. I like that. Why? I've become the interviewer!

Yngve: I'm a sucker for the na-na-na parts. It has a good tune.

Nikki: My favourite always will be ‘Cult of the New Beat’. I feel so honoured to play that song because I didn't record that song. It was another singer and it's such a well-written song. It's so much fun. It was the first song I played live with Blood Command that I felt like I could really get the crowd moving. So for me, it's very pivotal and I insist on keeping it in the set.

LIKE I SAY, YOU GUYS HAVE SUCH AN INCREDIBLE DISCOGRAPHY AND SO MANY TUNES THAT GET PEOPLE MOVING BUT I THINK THAT IS OBVIOUSLY A VERY ICONIC ONE.

Nikki: Oh, well, it's all him! (Yngve)

NOW THAT PEOPLE HAVE HAD A COUPLE OF MONTHS TO SIT WITH YOUR LATEST SINGLE, I JUST WANT TO ASK WHAT’S NEXT THAT YOU CAN TELL US ABOUT? IS THIS PART OF A BIGGER PROJECT POTENTALLY?

Yngve: It's maybe going to come on another song, yeah.

Nikki: I think maybe. We can't really say, but if you had to guess, I think your guess would be right.

WHEN YOU GUYS ARE WRITING YOUR NEW MUSIC, WHAT DOES YOUR WRITING PROCESS LOOK LIKE? I KNOW SOME BANDS WILL GO ON A BIT OF A WRITING RETREAT, SOME PEOPLE IT WILL BE SOMETHING THAT JUST KIND OF, COMES TO THEM. DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY KIND OF PROCESS?

Yngve: We hang out and do loads of drugs, listen to bands we like, and then it happens!

Nikki: I mean but really, Yngve writes everything, all the instruments and everything, and he will then like he'll invite me into the room which is such a privilege. And if like it, we'll sort of listen to the instrumental version of what he's written, and he comes up with the melodies. Then if we don't know what lyrics to write, we'll put on like rap or pop, it's the best way to like, get your brain moving, like to put on some other music.

YEAH, THAT’S KIND OF TOUCHED ON MY NEXT QUESTION A LITTLE BIT IN ALL FAIRNESS! YOU GUYS HAVE YOUR DEATHPOP SOUND, WHAT ARE YOUR MAIN INFLUENCES AND ARTISTS THAT YOU LOVE TO GET YOU IN THAT SPACE FOR WRITING THOSE SONGS, CREATING THOSE TUNES AND EVERYTHING?

Yngve: I guess Refused have been a big thing. But then it's like a lot of 80’s pop and 90’s Euro techno things.

Nikki: It kind of changes from song to song, but I think Blondie was a big influence of yours as well. And for me, Refused has always been a big one, like vocally, but then sometimes it might be hip-hop, sometimes it might be like dance music, it just depends on what you're listening to at the time.

OF COURSE, A BIT OF EVERYTHING BLENDED IN THERE IS THE BEST WAY TO DO IT REALLY! CREATE YOUR OWN GENRE BASICALLY! — YOU DO ALSO HAVE YOUR TOUR COMING UP, THAT IS A MASSIVE TOUR FIRSTLY! A LOT OF SHOWS! ARE THERE ANY STANDOUT CITIES YOU ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO IN PARTICULAR?

Yngve: On that tour?

Nikki: (To Yngve) You have to answer this!

Yngve: Whoa. I don't know.

Nikki: It's a really good question! Nobody's asked us this question before.

Yngve: What's this place in Leipzig called?

Nikki: Coney Island. Coney Island. I love that venue.

Yngve: Yeah, that's a fucking cool venue.

Nikki: Have you been? Coney Island? It's where Mayhem did the live in Leipzig record, isn't it

Yngve: I wouldn't know!

Nikki: No, it is me being an old school black metal fan sorry everybody! I think it is where they did it, so it's a very iconic venue in Leipzig in Germany, and yeah, it's a great venue. So I think that might be the standout for me as well. Just everywhere. I just feel privileged to play anywhere. That sounds really desperate and lonely, but I just really feel privileged to be able to play anywhere in Europe and people come to the shows. It's amazing.

YEAH, FOR PEOPLE TO COME TO SEE YOU GUYS SPECIFICALLY IN SO MANY DIFFERENT CITIES ALL OVER THE WORLD, I COULDN’T EVEN BEGIN TO IMAGINE WHAT THAT FEELS LIKE! ESPECIALLY JUST HAVING PEOPLE SCREAM THE WORDS BACK AT YOU AND PEOPLE GETTING INTO IT! BEING PART OF THOSE CROWDS IS AN INCREDIBLE THING, BUT WITNESSING IT!

Nikki: You summed it up perfectly. It's like it brings tears to your eyes, it is the biggest payoff.

Yngve: Yeah, like what you've been working on in the studio for months and you see that manifest live, it's so cool.

JUST WITNESSING THAT VISION PAY OFF IN A WAY IS, INCREDIBLE.

Yngve: It feels like “Told you!”

Nikki: Told you so!

WHEN YOU GUYS ARE PLAYING THOSE SETS, HOW DO YOU DECIDE ON SETLISTS? OBVIOUSLY YOU’VE BEEN A BAND FOR SO LONG NOW, OF COURSE THERE’S BEEN MULTIPLE LINEUP CHANGES, BUT THERE IS SUCH A WIDE DISCOGRAPHY THERE. HOW DO YOU DECIDE ON WHAT TO PLAY?

Yngve: I try to pick highlights from the entire catalogue, but I also play a lot of new stuff, present new stuff.

Nikki: Yeah, new stuff plus the old hits plus, like, curating the set so that people can catch a breath. Or I love doing a costume change, I didn't get to do that today because it was only a 35-minute set, but like if it's an hour, I'll always do a costume change, like really thinking about the show as like a whole production, like what do people want to see start to finish, you know?

YEAH OF COURSE, MAKING THAT TINY VENUE INTO AN ARENA SHOW BASICALLY.

Nikki: Absolutely! I think it's the best way to do it.

Yngve: Make it into canvas.

Nikki: I am Kylie Minogue!

JUST TO START TO WRAP THIS UP NOW, HAVE YOU GUYS GOT ANY UP AND COMING BANDS YOU’RE LISTENING TO AT THE MOMENT YOU’D LIKE TO GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO?

Nikki: Well that's a really good question again, you've stumped me so Yngve I'm handing over to you!

Yngve: I don’t know!

Nikki: We listen to like pop music!

Yngve: Lia Larsson maybe, from Sweden

Nikki: Yeah, that was the girl who we saw at Alive Festival.

Yngve: It's 90s Euro techno, but it's released now.

Nikki: Yeah, that was great. For me, I'd say. I don't know, maybe Beyoncé!

SO UNDERGROUND!

Nikki: Yeah, you may have never heard of her! Beyoncé. And just as a fact for everybody at home, I was in Paris when Beyoncé played and Jay-Z was on stage. I was there in the front row.

Yngve: And they played a Paris song.

Nikki: Yes, yes, it was amazing.

BEING THERE, AT THAT SPECIFIC SHOW AS WELL THAT’S SOMETHING ELSE!

Nikki: It was insane. We played Hellfest that morning, and then I went on a train to Paris from Clisson and watched Beyoncé. It was the best thing. It was the best day of my life.

I RESPECT THE DEDICATION THERE!

Nikki: I was exhausted by the end!

BUT IT DOESN’T GET BETTER THAN THAT!

Nikki: No, it was a dream. A dream.

THEN MY FINAL QUESTION FOR YOU GUYS TODAY, WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HEADLINE 2000 TREES IN 2026?

Nikki: Us!

Yngve: Yeah us! Easy!

Nikki: Easy!

Yngve: It’s our time now!

Nikki: It’s our time, we've earned this now!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING HERE WITH US TODAY GUYS!

Nikki:Thank you for having us. Thank you!

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