Scrit: I remember a little demo tape with a flying saucer on the front, and songs on it like “Orange” and “2-Ton Butterfly.” You remember something like that?
Tommi: Yeah that was our third demo...We recorded it in `97, I think. It`s so damn long ago. I don`t know how many songs were on the tape you got, but I remember that we recorded six tracks:
1. Superspeeder (which later was renamed to Speeder and ended up on In the Tail of a Comet)
2. 2-Ton Butterfly
3. Dumper Dumper
4. Orange
5. From Mars
6. Lazering the Vault.
Fredrik: I`ve almost forgot about it completely.
Tommi: Yeah, it`s not every day that you listen to these old nuggets :-)
Scrit: How did you guys get over here to the States in 2004?
Tommi: If I remember correctl,y we were asked to play at the Emissions from the Monolith Festival that year, that`s how the whole idea of us touring over there started. But with only one show, it wouldn`t have been financially possible for us to fly over so we contacted a booking agency, and yeah, the rest is history.
Scrit: What exactly is going on the cover of Through the Eyes of Heathens? Is there a special meaning to it - the buck with insect wings?
Tommi: The whole idea started with me getting this idea that I wanted something with horns on the cover of the next album. I told Peder (Lowrider/I Are Droid) about my idea, and I also told him that we were thinking about calling the album Through the Eyes of Heathens. I think he knew instantly what we were looking for, so he started to work on it right away. I don`t know what he was thinking when he came up with insect wings, but I think it looks cool! Fits the vibe perfectly... adds a more mysterious vibe to it.
Fredrik: I don`t know, but think there`s something really evil with a buck that has got butterfly wings. At least it would be very frightening to see one.
Tommi: We like evil things… ha ha ha!
Scrit: For the record, is it a bulldozer or is it one who dozes off on the couch?
Fredrik: For me, the name Dozer has been those two things. Laid back, dozing off, sleepy. But also the heaviness of a dozer, plowing through everything. That`s why we took that name, cause we never wanted to be or do only just one thing.
Tommi: Bulldozer for the heaviness, dozing off for the trippiness.
Scrit: How have you been able to keep it together after ten years when so many of your contemporaries have slipped away?
Tommi: I think as long as we have fun and things keep moving forward, we will keep on rocking! I don`t think we would be doing this if we were bored out our minds. So I guess a lot of bands that have called it quits were just bored of being poor musicians... and believe me we don`t make much money out of playing in this band.
Fredrik: I guess the key to keep doing something for a long time is to never really be afraid to branch out and try new things, by doing that you keep things fresh. And you don’t really get tired of it. Branch out people!
Tommi: Yeah, I agree.
Scrit: Was there ever a time when it seemed like it could have been the end, or has the unit always been cemented strongly together?
Fredrik: Of course, every relationship has ups and downs. We`re on our second bass player. We just got a new drummer, our third. The only original members are me and Tommi, but we pretty much consider Johan, the bass player, an original member as well since he`s been in the band for like eight years. But you know we`re just like our band name, a Dozer. Not stopping for anything!
Scrit: Why did original drummer Erik Backwall leave the band?
Tommi: He got tired of being a poor musician… ha ha. I think he just didn`t have fun any more playing in the band. At the end he started to give more priority to finding a job and his girlfriend, and yeah, a steady job and touring a lot doesn`t really go hand in hand. It`s really hard to keep a job when you`re out touring two to three months a year.
Fredrik: I wouldn`t hire myself.
Tommi: I wouldn`t hire you either.
Fredrik: Ouch!
Tommi: Ha ha ha ha!
Scrit: Daniel Liden played drums on one album and now he has departed. How has the process been coming along of trying to fill that seat?
Tommi: It`s been going good. We auditioned like six to seven guys before we found Olle Bull Mĺrthans, who is our new drummer! We tried out some really good drummers and some really bad drummers. But when we auditioned Olle, we knew he was the one!
Fredrik: He just had what it took, that`s it. But the best thing is that we knew that this guy also had what it takes to keep making new songs.
Tommi: Another funny thing is that we got e-mails from all over the world from drummers who wanted to audition.
Fredrik: Yeah, that was really flattering.
Scrit: Man’s Ruin was flipping album covers over on many of their releases, i.e. the back of the CD was the front. Was this Frank Kozik’s idea and did all the artists just go along with it?
Fredrik: This was all Frank. I never thought it was a good idea. I shouldn`t confuse people like that... he he... But yeah, it was his idea. We gave him full artistic freedom on both of the covers, we trusted the guy completely when it came to art. I understood what he was trying to do with the flipped album covers, but I don`t think it worked.
Scrit: They went under just as Madre de Dios was released, didn’t they?
Tommi: Yeah, I think it had been out for a couple of months or so. We were just about to get our first royalty check for In the Tail of a Comet when we got a phone call from them. No money and no more record label! And man, did this suck! We never got a dime from Man`s Ruin. But we are ok with it now, because we got shitloads of promotion being on that label.
Fredrik: That was the only thing we pretty much got from that label. Shitloads of promotion... Damn, that was some expensive promotion!
Scrit: Was Welcome to MeteorCity the first official appearance of Dozer?
Fredrik: No, the first "official" appearance was on a compilation called Nerve!. But Welcome to MeteorCity was the first international release. Nevertheless, I`d have to say, "Yes," on this question.
Tommi: The Nerve compilation was released in `97. Had two tracks on it – "Typhoon" and "Mammoth Mountain."
Scrit: I understand that, in spite of the enormous amount of Swedish stoner rock bands, the following there is still so small it’s difficult to get gigs in your native country. Would you agree with that?
Tommi: Yes, I agree that it’s really hard to get good shows here, but every once a while a good one comes up, but that`s mostly in the smaller cities. The big cites are hopeless most of the time! You never get paid, you should be glad if you get gas money! I think that is what`s ruining the scene here in Sweden. I know that there are a lot people out there who are into good old heavy rock who want to see this kind of music live. But most of the time the crappy promoters we have here don`t want to book this kind of music… so most of the shows you get are organized by other bands.
Fredrik: Yeah, I`d have to agree. Bands like us have to look to other countries. Dozer was saved by the Germans.
Scrit: Dozer’s put out a whole bunch of single/vinyl/EP stuff. Are most of those only available on that format in very limited edition?
Tommi: We try to do something special for all the vinyl junkies out there. Yeah, they are all limited editions, especially the 7"`s. When they have sold out they are sold out. No repressing, so it`s only for the collectors. It`s always fun to have some unreleased tracks and stuff for the die-hard Dozer fans.
Fredrik: But we`ve had plans on re-releasing them on CD.
Tommi: Let`s see what happens. You never know.
Scrit: I will confess something: I recently acquired all three Dozer vs. Demon Cleaner vinyl releases on Ebay, having to shell out quite the pretty penny in order to get them. Good God, I’ve gotten into trouble on that website. How small were those pressings?
Tommi: There are 500 of each 7" except for the Los Natas split. I think they did 1,000 copies of that one.
Scrit: Check this out - You played CBGB’s in New York back in 2004. Not only did I just live about ten minutes away by car at that time, but I had also just moved to Los Angeles like a week before you played that gig. And it was with Solace too, if memory serves? I couldn’t have timed it worse. Damn. My point is how does it look for coming back here across the pond again?
Fredrik: Oh, I thought the point was "Don`t move to LA!" Ha ha ha. No, just kidding. We`re working on it. We really want to come over there again. So of course we`re making plans. There`s one really easy thing you guys in America can do if you want to see us live. Buy the record. As simple as that. Buy the record.
Tommi: So if they buy our record, they can see us live? Is that what you mean, Freddy? Ha ha! Yeah, hopefully we will come over again next year. We are touring Europe again later this year so after that, it would be perfect! Had a blast there last time so we must come back!
Scrit: On In the Tail of a Comet and Madre de Dios, you had the "outer-space aesthetic" totally locked up. Great artwork, fonts, smell, and taste - the whole enchilada. Not only was there a noticeable change in your sound on Call It Conspiracy, but the general feel of things had undergone dramatic change too. Can you talk about that period of transition for Dozer?
Tommi: The art work for the first two records were done by Frank Kozik, so we didn`t have much to do with it more than he asked us what if we wanted to go with a space theme and we said, "Yeah, sure. Space is cool." When it was time to release Call It Conspiracy, we thought it was time to do something different cover art wise. Something to fit the mood of the new songs more. I don`t think we planned to change the feel, it just happened. Natural growth as a band.
Fredrik: I`d have to say that if it would have been the same, I would have been disappointed. Because that would mean that the band hadn`t gotten any better at all. That some people like In The Tail... more than Call It... is a completely different question.
Scrit: Who would you ideally love for Dozer to play a show with? Or have you already played that show?
Fredrik: Whoa, so many bands. Overload! Can`t think... have to sit down... ugh... Just kidding. We`ve toured with some amazing bands. I mean, I`ve been a Clutch fan since forever. Who would`ve thought that one day we`d tour with them. One of the bands I`d really like to tour with is The Foo Fighters. Mainly cause I like the band, good songs, really cool guys. And oh yeah, `cause they`re huge! The exposure would be priceless. Maybe I could convince Dave Grohl to donate a see-through guitar to me... he he he.
Tommi: Yeah we have toured with some awesome bands already. Clutch, Mastodon, Lowrider, Sunride, etc. I would love to tour with all those bands again! And if ever Soundgarden or Kyuss get together again, I wouldn`t mind touring with them!
