Remedy interview

This interview took place at the backstage of Kurkkurock festival last August. It’s a rather free form conversation… Back in May 2024, we talked with Rolf Forsman of Remedy the last time. That was just before the release of their second album. So I opened with an obvious question:

Now, what about the third Remedy album?

- Yeah, you know, everything has been in order quite some while. It's been ready to set to release for quite some time. But we just want to get the last pieces in order. Regarding the label and the right way to move on forward. The gun is loaded

So do you have a new label in mind or something?

- I'll pass on that one. Something is cooking. We'll have something to say in the media quite soon.

The last two albums were rather successful?

- Yeah, you know, actually we hit the second spot on the physical album chart in Sweden. We sold everything we pressed, it's been that way with both our records.

So, the trajectory is upwards?

- Absolutely. And that's, you know, for us as a new band, that's amazing.

You've done some big shows, Sweden Rock, I believe.

Yeah, absolutely. Sweden Rock and Skögsröjet this year. That was a great festival, so cozy.

You were in the first Malmö Melodic, I think? We missed that one. I attended the second one on my own and we were at this year’s festival together with Mira the photographer. We had an amazing time!

- Okay. I know the guys, you know, handling the festival are so nice. I like the people.

I would like to see you there next year, maybe?

- Maybe you will have your wish come true. Yeah, let's see.

So, are you still working with Sören Kronqvist, who introduced your band to us? I was trying to lure him to come here, but he couldn’t make it unfortunately.

- Yeah, absolutely. He's going to contribute with a few songs on the upcoming album as well.

Have you've seen the stage here?

Not yet. I I we just had a few interviews and got some food in my belly, so I haven't seen the stage yet.

It's kind of intimate.

- Okay. Great! We've seen them all.

It's been nice here. It's a kind of local gathering, so there's lots of people of all ages in there and lots of people who have been really enjoying the spirit. Let's see how the night continues.

- Yeah.

The next band is about to play in 10 minutes and they play '80s movie rock.

- That sounds great. That sounds awesome. It's the kind of music I love.

I had a chat with them and it's going to be like music from Rocky, Top Gun… That's gonna be good support band for you.

- Absolutely. Perfect. That was music that got me going. I found the tape in my sister's room. It was the Rocky IV soundtrack with Survivor. You know, and I was like just a few years old. I listened to it, thought this is the best music I've ever heard. And it still gives me goosebumps when I hear songs like Burning Heart.

So, do you have any touring plans?

- Yeah, we're going to do a two-part tour. And the first part is going to be in December and January and we will end the European tour in in Turku, Finland.

Awesome! We’ll be there for sure! Are you organizing the tour yourself?

- We are working with David of Northloud. He's the promoter for Crashdiet and Eclipse and many more in Sweden. We've been touring with him in Europe with Eclipse. So, now he's handling this tour.

Cool. So, are you the headliners?

-Yeah. It's our first headliner tour.

Do you know who's going to be the support act?

- We're going to go with local supports this time around, you know, because otherwise we will need a nightliner and so on.

-Let's hope that people from here come to check you out. I’m sure you're going to make a few new fans here in Kurkkurock. Turku is close by and maybe they will make the trip to the big city through the cucumber fields.

- Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

- Also, as you saw, we have like a new style. Cuz now we look like each and every other rock band, so… (editor’s note: the stylish new look Remedy can be seen on their updated website, www.remedymusicsweden.com)

It's always nice to see when bands, you know, take care of their appearance and try to do something different.

- Yeah, you know, it's not just about the music today. It's so much visual and, you know, social media and everything. So, and as we see, Spotify moving to a more visual direction, with videos out there.

Yeah. And it's always the the fight against all this AI slop that is flooding the market.

- Yeah.

Some people don't really care if it's AI or actual written music.

- But it's like art without any soul. t's not the same thing.

Yeah. It seems to be that the tide is kind of turning because I Spotify ihas started to remove some of the AI stuff or at least mark those as AI.

- Yeah. And I also work la as a manager on a music school in Stockholm where we have like pretty young musicians, songwriters, producers, like 20, 25 years old. They are so anti-AI. They hate it! So the younger generation, they have difficulties with AI.

So, you have an hour and a half to go? Do you have a long set?

- Yeah, we we we got 1 hour over here. That was what what they wanted us to perform, so we will do that. 1 hour of Remedy.

1 hour of hits. I wish they were like radio hits, too, but for me they are.

- We see tendency, you know, Sweden and Germany are the best countries regarding streams. After that, Finland is number three.

Great!

- And we would like to get more things going on over here because, you know, I love Finland. I'm from Finland. You know, I was born in Pietarsaari, but I lived my whole life in in Stockholm.

Okay!

- People are great over here and, you know, everything always works fine when you're in Finland because people do as they're told. It's not like in Spain. So, it's close to our hearts. We want to get the ball rolling in Finland. So, maybe this is like a starting point.

Yeah. Start with the small audience and make a good impression, it does get the ball rolling.

- Yeah, Absolutely.
[
Do you speak any Finnish?

- ”Joo, mutta mä puhun hyvin huonosti nykyään.” I speak so seldomly, you know. It's like maybe every second year...When I meet some Finnish people. And you know, all the new words, you know, with digitalization with Wi-Fi, iPhones... I don't know the words. My Finnish is is not good anymore. I wish it was, but...I need to meet some Finnish people then to get going again.

And that's about it... I think we rambled on a bit more but this is what I had recorded.

Interview by Kimmo Toivonen

Photos from the band's website
Live photos by Mira Suutari-Toivonen