Stockholm, Sweden based garage rock band The Scrags are making their first journey across western Canada this week and will stop by the Slice, Oct. 9 to play a show with the Void.
“ It’s very good,” said vocalist Antonio Fryk.
“ We’ve been in Vancovuer and we’re heading for Kamloops. We’re going through the mountains now. They’re beautiful. And Vancouver is a very diverse city,” he continued, in the middle of exploring Hope on bassist Jakim Forsgren’s birthday.
Guitarist Anton Fors and drummer Fredrik Berglund complete the quartet who draw a lot of inspiration from classic punk bands like Iggy and the Stooges, Black Flag and the Modern Lovers.
“ We never really got out of punk music, but we’re adding synthesizers. We‘re four people who fit perfectly together. But we like to keep it simple,” he said.
“ We’ve been playing together for 11 years, so it’s been a natural process,” Forsgren added.
“ We started out listening to the Stooges and are developing the darker spaces,” Fryk said.
They describe themselves as “With one leg knee deep rooted in rock soil and the other in outer space.”
“ You can’t go any higher than outer space,” he continued.
“It’s the kind of feeling running through you. Not like I have to pee, but we’ve got to get it out of us,” he said.
In addition to their Lethbridge show, they are also playing two shows on First Nations reserves in Morley and Tsuu T’ina.
“ When we were first told we would be playing a reserve, we didn’t know what that was,” Fryk said.
“ We thought it was a nature reserve. We thought we’d be playing for bear and elk,” he said adding upon learning what a reserve really is, they are excited to play for the residents and see what it really is.
“ We hope people will come and enjoy the show and maybe start bands,” he added.
The band began in a small town two hours outside of Stockholm, where they have since moved.
There is a lot happening in the Stockholm music scene.
“There is a lot of pop music and garage rock and punk music there. There is lots of inspiration,” he said.
The Scrags play the Slice with the Void and Ruby Plumes, Oct. 9. There is a seven dollar cover.
