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“In the Air
Tonight” is perhaps the most energy-filled album ever recorded
in this country. I bought it when it came out, and it hit me
like a ton of bricks from the first note – 10 years later it
does. Dave Wyndorf of Monster Magnet has called “the fourth
album Stooges never made” and people like Sonic Youth, Jello
Biafra, and REM have praised it untamed energy and total rock
‘n’ roll assault on the senses. From the opening bars of “Ring
My Bell” to the closing cacophony of “On the Beach” the record
is a tour de force of total physical and mental aggression. The
guitars howl and scream in anguish, the riffs – one meaner than
the other one – churn out endlessly and Ebbot growls like a
pit-bull terrier. Saxophones and some frantic piano on notably
“Ring My Bell” and “Cartoon Animal” add an extra touch. It’s as
if the frustrations and feelings of a whole generation is
crammed in every note.
In ’88 Union
Carbide Productions played gigs in Sweden, and also did short
stints in Holland and Germany. New in the fold was Adam Wladis,
who had replaced Per Helm on bass. He was brought in by Henrik
Rhylander, the two having played together in Pleasure & Pain.
The same year Radium brought the band over for some showcase
gigs in Boston and New York. For those who saw them, the
experience was ecstatic. Among the impressed in the audience
were people such as Lydia Lunch, Foetus, Sonic Youth, Pussy
Galore and Jello Biafra. One who definitely recalls the gigs is
CM von Hausswolff, who engineered the Stateside visit: “They
played CBGB’s and Siberia in New York as opening acts, and the
main attractions sorely regretted letting these young Swedes get
on stage first. I mean Carbide just pulverized them. Ebbot
running around naked, sticking a beer bottle up his rear. UCP
was a tough act to follow”: Hausswolff reminisces.
Ebbot has his
own personal impression of the event: “after a while I took the
bottle out of my butt and continued singing in the nude. Since
it was hot on stage I suddenly felt an urge to drink some beer.
There was a bunch of bottles on stage and I just grabbed one
close to me. One second before I put it on my mouth a terrible
stench told me exactly which bottle I had picked up, and
disgusted I threw it away”.
These chaotic
stunts were typical of Union Carbide Productions, and were not
always limited to the stage. Having a mutual fancy for
mischievous behaviour and provocative humour, the band members
often revealed in creating strange and ambiguous situations. For
example some of the enjoyed letting people believe they were
gay. “We used to have heavy make out sessions in bars and
tongue kiss when we got drunk, especially if there were
skinheads around since they especially took offense. When we
played in Germany I once told reporters that Bjorn had a sex
change operation. Immediately we got a crowd of transvestites
and transsexuals at the next gig, eyeing out Bjorn really good”,
smiles Ebbot. There are more tales of debauchery and general
indecent conduct caused by UCP, but there are too many to
mention and in some cases too gruesome to print. So let’s stick
to the music for a while.
The next album
– Financially Dissatisfied Philosophically Trying – took its
title from a Mick Jagger quote, and was recorded in September
’88. Original bassist Per Helm was called back just weeks
before recording, due to Adam Wladis parting company with the
band. Now the music was more structured and the arrangements
intricate and complex. Psychedelic influences filtered in, with
acoustic guitars and sitar used extensively on some tracks.
Songs like “Born in the 60’s” chronicled a generation bereft of
ideals and visions, content with just pending money. “Here Comes
God” with its mystic sitar intro - made fun of the “third Reich
‘n’ roll” icon and “Down On the Farm” displayed a gentler side
to the band, somewhere along the lines of The Stooges “I’m Sick
Of You”. Overall the album shows a darker and moodier Union
Carbide Productions; Ebbot toning down his growling and instead
singing in a more longing and melodic voice. As if to make the
point clear, the cover was black (except for the UCP logo –
white flower), with an inner sleeve photo of the band gathered
around a Rolls Royce belonging to Bjorn’s father, looking
introspective and lost in thoughts.
“We wanted to
make a record that reflected the times we lived in, and
specifically the way we lived and perceived it then – a yuppie
world where we roamed around creating mayhem, just accepting the
absurdity of it all”, explains Ebbot.
The album was
released early in ’89 and many, including several band members,
considered it their best effort. At the same time Bjorn Olsson
and again – bassist Per Helm for different reasons decided to
leave the band. Bjorn had clashed with the others by not
showing up at gigs, while Per Helm felt that the wild side of
the band took too much attention away from the music. The
remaining members however went on, and quickly recruited
replacements. Ian Person, former GBG Boys was brought in on
guitar, and Jan Skoglund, also ex-punk from local band
Injection, filled in on bass. Ian Person proved to be an
excellent replacement for Bjorn and even added a new dimension
to the band sound as a songwriter and guitarist.
With the new
line up complete the band continues to move away from the naked
aggression of In the Air Tonight. Live they were as loud
and over the top as ever, but on the next studio offering,
From Influence to Ignorance, UCP displayed less distortion
and a more classic 60’s heritage, drawing from bands like the
Stones, Love and Buffalo Springfield. “Golden Age” is a
beautiful ballad-like song wrought with the same sense of
sadness as a really god Neil Young tune. “Baritone Street” has a
jazzy beat similar to what The Doors managed to conjure on
certain tracks. The album was recorded in October ’90, and
released in April the following year. From Influence to
Ignorance is hailed for most people as the best Carbide
ever. The band instantly got a crowd of followers after its
release. Then later that year the so-called ‘grunge’ explosion
came about and by now a sense of fatigue had begun to creep up
on everyone, and high spirits weren’t as easy to maintain
anymore. UCP toured a lot in Scandinavia and continental Europe
but didn’t get along very well.
In Sweden the
media still refused to take them seriously, and the records
never quite got that oh – so – important review and were very
hard to find in stores. Still the band played on, appearing at
big festivals across Europe during the summer of ’91.
After Radium,
due to financial problems in 1990 was bought by established
Swedish label MNW things might have changed, but unfortunately
the next album – called Swing – was to be beset by
problems and turn out to be their last.
Swing
had all the possibilities of breaking the band on a wider scale.
Bands like Nirvana had brought the focus away from posing and
smart fashion, and put guitars and punk attitude on the map
again. Through Cargo records in the US, MNW got in touch with
alternative legend Steve Albini, main man of noisemakers Big
Black and producer of amongst others The Pixies. Albini agreed
to produce, so Union Carbide Productions flew over to Chicago in
the Summer of ’92, MNW was hoping career wise this might solve
the case for them. And the band, now starting to fall apart,
agreed to do it as a test. Adding to the sense of renewal was
keyboardist Anders Karlsson, permanently giving more texture to
UCP’s sound. The sessions with Albini proved disappointing
though. “We played music that had a sort of blues based rock
and roll feel to it, and he wanted to produce us like a typical
alternative band. That just didn’t work. And he mixed the songs
in just one or two days, so everything was very stressed and
just rushed through”, says Ian Person.
Dissatisfied
with the result they returned home to Gothenburg and remixed a
majority of the tracks themselves. As mentioned the former
albums had been produced by Ebbot Lundberg, the two first in
cooperation with Henryk Lipp. Now an outsider had been given a
chance, but straying from the proven path had failed. Swing
was released on December 4th, 1994. Despite the
marred production there are highlights, “Waiting for Turns” has
a guitar riff Keith Richards would have given up drugs for, and
“Chameleon Ride” in turn borrows from the verse of Pasolini’s
120 Days of Sodom coupling it with slower parts, making it full
of nice contrasts. Worth mentioning is also that UCP during its
existence recorded cover tracks for compilation records, the
best being without a doubt a version of the MC5 song “Future
Now” for an unreleased MC5 tribute album.
The failure
with Swing and the continued lack of commercial success
finally made Union Carbide Productions decide to call it quits.
One last farewell tour of Sweden was organized in the fall of
’93, again bringing in original guitarist Bjorn Olsson in the
band. Oddly enough it was Patrik Caganis he replaced, who at
this time felt a need to take a break from this rock and roll
circus. Union Carbide played its last concert on December 4th,
1993, exactly one year after the release of Swing – and
strangely enough the same day Frank Zappa passed away. Sweden’s
most staunch rock and roll machine had grind to a halt. The
party was over.
So was it worth
it? All the excruciating tours, lack of commercial breakthrough
and internal strife that at times threatened to split the group?
I think so. Not many of the acts from the 80’s are remembered
today, even less remaining a musical influence. Union Carbide
managed to do both. Always sticking to their own vision, not
jumping the bandwagon of trends, Carbide eluded commercial
success but claimed instead a lasting legacy both at home and
abroad. Somehow the story of the band is like that of its
unofficial mascot, the now deceased Gothenburg inventor and
eccentric Erling Cednas. All the true Carbide fans know his face
from the band T-shirts UCP sold on tour. A big smiling mouth,
huge nose and shining eyes, Erling mostly resembles a car
salesman in a 50’s TV commercial spot. And it was during the
50’s that he was busy in Gothenburg, trying his luck at
inventing different products. He’s reported to be the first to
patent 3-D glasses, and like Leonardo Da Vinci thousands of
drawings and designs, one more elaborate than the other, were
created from his feverish mind. Poor Erling didn’t get the
recognition he deserved though, and finally went bonkers.
Suffering from paranoia he installed various alarm devices and
fences around his house, more and more turning into a mad
genius-figure out of a James Bond movie. Many years after his
death, the building outside the city center stood abandoned.
That is until a bunch of skatepunk musicians moved in bringing
their friends over to their strange new home. And among those
were the members of UCP, who immediately took a liking to the
life and times of its former owner. Ironically the band suffered
similar fate – creating wonders then being ignored and
unrecognized and finally (almost) going crazy, the end being a
merciful release (at least from the band).
Well perhaps
the analogy is a bit pretentious; this quote from Bjorn sums it
up in a more direct fashion: “Union Carbide Productions was
just an extension of our personalities, and through the music we
created our own world. A kind of 24-hour party, or ever going
theatre play. Sometimes things got out of hand, but at the end
of the day I think everyone always put the music first. When we
played together, and all the bullshit was put aside, it was just
this complete sense of freedom.”
So there you
have it. But as we know, Ebbot, Bjorn and Ian decided to
continue the story by forming The Soundtrack of Our Lives about
a year later.
And the rest is
history….
By Mikael Funke
Union
Carbide Productions MySpace
DEAF SPARROW Zine would like
to thank the author Mikael Funke and MVD records for granting
permission to reproduce this article. |
