Interview with Rikard Wermén of Deranged

Hey Rikard! Mike from Divine Torture here, What's up?
-You know same old…

Give the readers a brief introduction of Deranged! How did it all start?
-Basically just a couple of bored teens that got together and formed a band, probably coz we hadn’t anything better to do… From there on, recorded a demo and have since released a couple of discs and the likes… As one do you know…

How has the respons been so far on the album? I know it hasn't been released yet, but I still know a few people who's already got it (including me, thanks to you!) plus you got some samples on your myspace. Personally I think it's a big step from "Obscenities in B-Flat" and I really, really dig it!
-It sounds like a damn cliché, I know… But the response has been surprisingly good. Man, it was pretty sick and weird the other day, but I was down the pub and was about to order a beer when I catched a conversation, a couple of guys discussing those new songs on My Space. They didn’t know who the fuck I was and gave me the evil eye as any reasonable fellow would do to some random drunk guy staring at you. Ha ha ha… Ehm, anyway… I heard them discussing those new songs and said it was the best shit we had done so far. Mean, shit like that is the most honest thing you can hear… The response besides those three guys’ drunken ramblings has been as mentioned, surprisingly well. Looking forward to have it properly released.

How would you describe the "Redlight Murder Case"? And what separates Redlight from previous releases?
-All in all, just a better release… Both musically and songwise. All of our releases have always been a progression from the previous one. This is no exception. Honest, to actually compare our CDs to each other… I would rather leave that up to guys like you as you have probably been listening to them so many more times then I… I never listen to a Deranged disc once it’s all mixed and mastered. Just during very rare occasions I will listen to individual songs if we decide to throw in an older song in the live set…

Do you think fans will like the new cd more than Obscenities?
-Yes, I think so… Ehm… Production wise The Redlight… has might a rawer and rougher edge to it, at least compared to Obscenities… and that’s what people seem to like about the band. I don’t know… The response towards Obscenities… was weird as hell. On one side you had people that claimed it sounded like something we had never done before, while on the side you had people saying it sounded exactly the same as we have always sounded.

I've always thought you guys had a totally unique sound and you can ALWAYS hear when somebody is playing Deranged (mostly because of those intense and very unique riffs Johan is shredding). Can you agree with me or do you just see Deranged as another band in the endless sea of death metal?
-Might possible… Up to the listener to decide really…

I've noticed you guys have had numerous of different singers throughout the years, how come?
-Well, what can I say… Just a combination of bad luck and personal chemistry. One need to be a team player and that has from times to times not been the case. We have had numerous changes in the lineup and they have always been to the better. This is no exception and the lineup we’ve got today is without a doubt the best ever.

As I understand, the new cd is a conceptual album, is that correct? Can you tell me a little bit what it's about?
-I wouldn’t go as far and say that is a “concept” album… Man, that sounds fucking pretentious. Ha ha ha… It’s more inspired or even based upon the whole “giallo movie” genre. I’m not really a “giallo” maestro myself… Have probably watched tons more than your average movie hound but … The whole thing with those sleazy and cheap horror / detective stories just caught my mind there for awhile and needless to say, the actual titles for a lot of those movies are just so god damn cool. Mean, “The House with the Laughing Windows”. How fucking cool ain’t that?

I really dig the giallo feeling you got on the new coverart, who drew it? Is horror flicks something that regularly inspires you to write music?
-It was drawn and out laid by the guy what are doing lay out work for Regain Records. It turned out fine. As a matter of fact, the first Deranged release to have actually a drawn cover artwork. We have always had some Photoshop crap earlier. Lyricwise, yes… Horror movies and those voices in my head do inspire me or more correct, that’s what I’m basing 90% of the lyrics on.

How does it work when Deranged write new material? I know you write all of the lyrics(?).
-The same old since years back… Me and Johan working on the actual music down the rehearsal room. Later on we’ll do a quick and rough demo and I’ll bring the recording home and start to work on the lyrics and the actual vocal patterns / lyric arrangements. A friend of mine helped us in the past with the lyric side but since he sort of vanished from the face of the earth I had to do that all my myself again. I’m usually doing 80% of the lyrics on a CD.

What is your best gig experience? Any particular shows/tours?
-The best shows we’ve done so far are France, no doubt. They fucking go insane down there. Occasionally you will catch a few guys with blood running from the noses and people jumping on one leg after a show in France. That’s the way it shall be… Mean, compare that with an overweight, starting-to-get-bald, one hand in his pocket and the other hand grabbing a beer, banging his head out of tempo type of guy that you’ll at least from my small experience get in Sweden… I rather go for the nose bleed.

How come you play so rarely in Sweden? It's your home country for gods sake, and I wanna se you! Haha
-Pretty much as we have never been especially requested “at home”. Simple as that!!! I’m a straight forward and honest guy and say how things are… What can I say? Deranged is an extreme band. Probably too extreme for the average Swedish death metal fan…

What do you think of the death metal scene today compared to 15 years ago? Are you updated about all new releases? Do you prefer old school or new school?
-Lots of good releases this year… I try to check out any new band you know. Man, if you ask me, the most exiting albums are the ones coming from newer acts… I pretty much grow up with a lot of bands people claim to be “old school death metal” and it meant a lot to me, so that will always be a part of me you know but for fucks sake, I’m not one of those guys that claims everything was better before. A lot of times I would say the opposite. I don’t prefer either… I just try to see things for what they actually are.

I know from before that you used to collect horror movies, are you still collecting? Is horror movies the only flicks watch?
-I pretty much was a fanatic horror / splatter / exploitation / whatever movie collector for a good 10 year period but the DVD entered the picture and I immediately hooked on that format. I’m not really “collecting” nowadays and I do watch porn as well…

Are you only into extreme metal, or do you enjoy other genres as well? And do you have any favourite bands at the moment?
-I pretty much listen to anything except from black metal and “melodic” death metal… Favourites for the moment would be the new The Dillinger Escape Plan, the new Obligatorisk Tortyr, the new Dinosaur JR. and High on fire.

What happened to Killaman, are you guys still active?
-Killaman is pretty much on ice as one say. Johan and I are doing Deranged, Roger is doing Insision and Casper is doing Thorium and a lot of other projects so…

If you had to choose between Rated-X, High on Blood and III, which one would choose?
-Now when I look back upon them I would say High on blood coz of the very straight forward song writing we had going back there. But hell… We recorded High on blood fucking 10 years ago…

I recently started a poll on a forum about which favourite Deranged record people have and the results came out: Rated-X (35%), High on Blood (25%), Deranged (25%), III (10%) and Plainfield Cemetary (5%) and Osbscenities in B-Flat (0%). What do you have to say about that?
-Yeah, really? Ha ha ha… That’s fucking awesome!!! Ha ha ha… Man, being a fan of music myself in general I know how I thinks about other bands releases… Hell, for 99% of the time I would also much rather go for a bands earlier releases then the newer one, all though the newer releases is far more superior musically. That’s how things are…

My girlfriend (Bless her!) recently bought the Rated-X longsleeve as a pre-christmas gift for me. She paid $100 for it. Did you ever think that Deranged merchandise would get so sought-after?
-I have seen people coughing up smaller fortunes for the demo tape as well as the first 7” single but never for a piece of merch like that. Nah, obviously I never in my wildest imagination would believe that a good 10 years ago… I would had fucking kept a good bunch of them and laid it out on Ebay. Ha ha ha…

Last question! List your 10 favourite metal records of all time!
-Kiss Destroyer, Slayer Reign in blood (That’s an odd choice), Suffocation Effigy of the forgotten, Napalm Death Scum, The Dillinger Escape Plan Miss Machine, Deep Purple In Rock, Queens of the stone age Songs for the deaf, Autopsy Mental Funeral, Rigor Mortis ST and Ripping Corpse Dreaming with the dead.

Thank you Rikard, for letting me do this interview with you! Good luck with the upcoming european tour and STAY SICK!

Deranged @ Myspace