Interview: Ronnie Sweetheart & Roger Ericson, The Throbs

New-York based reprobates THE THROBS (being hailed by some as New York's answer to GUNS N' ROSES) recently seen kicking serious butts around the country, on tour with MR BIG, get down to bone basics with our very own resident comical canine Mark Liddell, while all look on aghast as chaos, confusion and general debauchery ensues...

SIMPLY PULSATING

The Columbia Hotel. It's not just an overpriced hotel in West London for polite foreign tourists, but also acts as a kind of hangout for many of the visiting bands/singers who occasionally (dis)grace London with their presence. True to form, various members of US thrash act ANNIHILATOR and Mancunian melodic rockers DARE lounge around in the hotel's...er...lounge.

However, on this occasion I'm here to meet New-York-based band THE THROBS. To coin a rock n' roll cliché, these dudes have 'attitood' with a capital 'A.' Their debut album, the Bob Ezrin (ALICE COOPER and PINK FLOYD) produced The Language of Thieves and Vagabonds, confirms that these guys aren't just another bunch of flash poseurs peddling out the usual line in sleeze. I only mentioned this because when the Throbs first started out on their journey in 1988, their image suggested that this might be the case. But, having dispensed with the cans of ozone damaging hairspray, they focused on their music. Music that gets back to basics and comes straight from the gut.

I'm joined at a table conveniently situated at an arm's length or two from the bar by the memorably named singer Ronnie Sweetheart. "He's the pretty one in the band" (to quote guitarist Roger Ericson). Sweetheart is both friendly and charming. He recalls that fateful meeting with bassist Danny Nordahl which led to the eventual formation of the Throbs.

"I sort of literally stumbled into Danny in New York's Limelight Club. He told me that they were always looking for a singer from New York because they all have that ball screeching voice!"

Sweetheart, with his deep growling voice and air of vulnerability, was to be the missing piece that completed the jigsaw. A happy accident you might say. Sweetheart grins.

"Yeah, I'm really glad we all fuckin' found each other. We just moulded together really good."

At this point, Roger Erickson appears, turning towards the bar.

"Hi, can I get a drink?" he half mumbles.

Apart from the obvious physical difference, the contrast in character between the two is striking. Roger comes over as prickly and abrupt, but with a wonderfully warped sense of humour. 

The album has a raw, direct feel. However, there are a few embellishments, such as traditional Middle Eastern passages, orchestral sounds, etc., on some of the tracks. Does this present them with occasional problems in a live setting?

Sweetheart:

"We can get away with it because we're a lot harder and heavier live."

Roger (In an accent which is a curious mixture of Swedish and American):

"You know what man, live is live and record is record. Most bands try to copy the fuckin' record. We go up there and have the same songs, but we don't really wanna sound like the record live. I think if we would have produced the record ourselves, we would have been a hell of a lot rawer and louder, and that would probably have been a mistake because you need some extra shit. But if you're on stage you just crank it up and go! Is all to do with energy."

Most of the songs seem autobiographical, for example, a song like "Honeychild" seems very heartfelt and personal.

Sweetheart:

"It's shit that's happened to us. It's a lot easier to get down on tape and feel an emotion that way, if you've lived it. I think that's what music should be and that's what it used to be. We wanted to go in and make a record that represented our language as the four different members of the band."

Roger:

"We didn't try to do anything. We just went in there. We knew what we wanted to do. We wanted a record that sounded like us and we didn't give too fucks about all the rest of it. Like not try to please nobody, man. Obviously we're not pleasing some people. But I don't really give two shits  about that... cause we like it."

The case of the old saying, you have to please yourself first before you can please others?

Roger:

"It's all just groundwork to play live. Being in a studio with no contact with an audience, it's just like.. kinda boring. When you're out there and you're getting on that stage, you might not sound half as good... whatever the case is, the night you're out there playing, it's LIVE and that's what it's all about!"

Sweetheart:

"That's why I got into music, because I love being on stage in front of people. I mean your nerves are fuckin' shot before you get on stage. But as soon as you're on stage...it's like BANG, this is where I'm supposed to be!"

These are fine sentiments, but isn't there always the conflict between following your instincts and pleasing yourself versus the pressures to meet schedules and demands? After all, you're still part of the music business.

Roger:

"We don't have that conflict. That doesn't apply to us, and it's not going to apply to us in the future. We do the music, we write the songs, and we play live shows. We leave it with the management to deal with the record company and please them. It's not our job. We are not business men. A lot of people say that, today, to be in this thing, you have to be half a businessman and half a musician. [Referring to JON BON JOVI as a prime example] He's a clown. I think that's bullshit!"

And they say Swedes are polite and boring!

Despite the fact that Roger's from Sweden, Sweetheart's from Toronto, and Danny's from Maryland Washington, with only Ronnie Magri, the drummer, being a native New Yorker, some people still harp on about you being a New York band. Does that bug you?

Roger:

"The only reason we are really in this band is so we could get out of New York fror a while!"

But seriously, folks!

Sweetheart:

"I enjoy living in New York but people say, '0h you're a New York band,' and I say, 'No, we're based in New York."

Ah the convenience of labelling you or putting you in a box!

Sweetheart:

"Yeah, exactly, 'Oh, here comes another NY band. Here comes like fuckin' gutter fuckin' rock or something like that."

Roger:

"It's just another categorisation, like here's a ballad so people are expected to light a Bic lighter, or, in our case, a fuckin' blowtorch!"

Yeah, I agree. Safe and unimaginative. But where's the sense of danger, the potent whiff of sex? And they used to say that rock and roll was the Devil's music?

Roger:

"You know what's sad about that concept? It is so worn out, but it still works! People that are good musically are still a little dangerous, a little rebellious, a little sexy. But it's like the people that try to be dangerous, sexy... They fail miserably and fall flat with their one inch dicks in the air."

At this stage, our cosy little conversation goes way off the tracks. Hey, these guys are mad, bad, and dangerous to know! I shakily put the question, is rock and roll art or merely entertainment?

Roger:

"Serious artists when it comes to drink!"

We say piss artists here, Roger. It sounds neater. Being a lateral thinker, this leads him on to ole Beelzebub:

"The devil right! He's just God but he's misunderstood by the wicked!"

He trails off, flicking his lighter manically. A visual metaphor or is he trying to light my invisible cigarette? 

"Ocean of Love" from the record, that is a good song. Kind of anthemic ballad, of sorts.

Sweetheart:

"To me that's like a sort of hypnotic song."

Roger (interrupts blurting out someone's name):

"XXXX scored some hash earlier."

Sweetheart:

"How's it, raw?"

Roger:

"Off the record."

Oh absolutely!

Sweetheart:

"Snatch! Snatch! Scorer some snatch!"

Oh, you got lucky with a young lady?

Chaos and confusion ensues. Order order! Do you envisage doing this in 20 years time?

Roger:

"What do you think we are, absolutely fuckin' crazy?"

Have you got another interview lined up?

Both:

"Have you got another tape?"

Some more drink arrives. It's going to be a long, long night!

Mark Liddell
Riff Raff 
July 1991

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