Bio

Time marches on, but the sound originated by four blokes from Stoke-upon-Blighty continues to inspire legions of pissed-off punks eager to get high on noise and distortion. Hell, it might even turn into fashion… Yes, I can see her now, an anorectic cokehead ambling down the catwalk in a torn and frayed Discharge-shirt. Perhaps not. Instead, let’s have a look at Sweden, famous for its Dis-scene. But the Swedish sound is faster, rawer, harder and decidedly heavier than the original version. The Swedes are no replicas, they hold their own.

One such band was Anti-Bofors, emerging in 1989 from the suburbs of Nyköping. Anti-Bofors released a seven inch on their own label No Records, then found a new vocalist and wisely changed their name to Disfear. In October 1992 the band recorded their eponymous debut-EP in Sunlight Studios under the guidance of famed Entombed-producer Tomas Skogsberg. Encouraged by the overwhelming response, Disfear went back to Sunlight and cut the classic MCD “A Brutal Sight Of War”, released in August 1993. This time, the crust crowd was enthralled! “A Brutal...” recieved rave reviews in Kerrang! (4/5 and 5/5 in the German edition) and was voted 1993 top hardcore album in Rock Hard, the German bible of earsplitting music. All this media hubble-bubble was followed by a tour in Germany with Swedish pals Uncurbed. Disfear got several offers from bigger labels, but the boys somehow lost the inspiration, made an unexpected U-turn and split up. This was probably due to a prolonged hangover, because in late 1994 the band got together again, this time with Jallo Lehto (No Security/Totalitär) on drums.

In April 1995 Disfear returned to Sunlight to record their full length debut “Soul Scars”, released on Distortion in May 1995. The album got top reviews and to promote the release, Disfear toured Sweden with a couple of similar bands in tow. The gigs went down a storm and were a perfect warm-up for the forthcoming UK-tour with British legends Doom as special guests. Back in Sweden, more gigs were waiting, but with a different bill than before. Breach, Raised Fist, Monster and Legal Weapon (US) were all quite brutal (well, except Monster...) but not at all like Disfear. The cunning idea was to introduce the band to a wider audience. During these gigs Jallo Lehto realized that drumming wasn’t really his thing anymore. Disfear replaced him with Robin Wiberg who joined the guys for a massive headline-tour of Europe. And the summer of 1995 sure was busy. In June Disfear appeared at the huge festival in Hultsfred, Sweden. This was an important gig and the venue was packed to maximum capacity. Disfear also headlined a couple of other festivals in Sweden followed by a second trek throughout Europe. The band did both festivals and clubs with among others punk stalwarts G.B.H (UK) and metalized speed freaks D.R.I. (US). After the tour Disfear left Distortion and signed a deal with French label Osmose Productions.

Before the recording of “Everyday Slaughter”, the first album for Osmose, a Scandinavian-tour with legendary punks G.B.H was completed. “Everyday Slaughter” was released in October 1997, followed by a smaller tour in Sweden with permanently drunk labelmates Gehennah before yet another Euro-tour with top-deathsters Dismember. Back in Sweden more shows with Gehennah were waiting. In March 1998 longtime vocalist Jeppe decided to leave the band. His replacement was none other than ex-At The Gates vocalist Tomas “Tompa” Lindberg, one of the best screamers ever and a stunning performer on stage. With this new and re-vitalized line-up, more shows and festivals in Sweden and Europe were undertaken.

But a new vocalist was not the only thing that changed. The band also recruited new drummer Marcus Andersson, with founding fathers Björn Pettersson (guitar) and Frykman (bass) completing the line-up. At this point Disfear left Osmose, but unfortunately the foursome ended up in the dreadful desert known as Record Label Limbo. This turned out to be quite a lenghty and not exactly planned vacation. Holiday in the sun? More like a holiday in Cambodia! Well, contract or no contract, Disfear kept on writing new songs and drinking beer in their rehearsal room (ten precent songwriting, ninety percent beer drinking). As always, perseverance paid off and Disfear signed the dotted line offered by Relapse. The songs on “Misanthropic Generation”, released in August 2003, dates back as far as 1997/98, but most of the material was finished 2000. Do you call that splitting up? Hell no, it’s called being stubborn as hell, period. A vinyl version came out on Feral Ward, operated by Yannick of Tragedy. 2003 became yet a busy Disfear-year: a Euro-tour with Entombed and Nine and the “Close-Up Made Us Do It”-tour in Scandinavia with Entombed, Nine and C-Aarmé, ending up with Grande Finale in Stockholm where also Turbonegro and Hard-ons joined the bill. During the fall shows Disfear was reinforced by Uffe Cederlund, adding further bricks of distortion to the already thick Wall Of Noise perfected by Disfear during many years of hardcore soldiering. One thing led to another and Uffe Cederlund soon became a member of the club, making Disfear a five-piece.

In January 2004 Disfear headlined a short tour in Finland, Holy Ground when it comes to punk/hardcore (think Terveet Kädet, Kaaos, Bastards and Riistetyt). Speaking of holy, in March 2004 Disfear finally got a chance to play with none other than Discharge. This almost religious experience took place at a festival in Umea, Sweden. And of course, Disfear hit the Autobahns of Europe for yet another headline-tour, this time lasting five weeks followed by an equally hectic summer of festivals. In august 2004 it was time for Disfear to appease the many US-fans demanding a tour by appearing at the Pointless Fest, in Philadelphia. Upon their return to Sweden, a second gig with Discharge happened in Stockholm, making 2004 one of the busiest years in the history of Disfear. Older? Yes. Wiser? Perhaps. Tired? Hell no!

With roots firmly planted in the halcyon days of tape-trading, xeroxed ‘zines and split seven inch vinyls (all this sadly unheard-of for the millions of spoilt zombie-brats mainlining mp3:s on the internet...), Disfear shared a small licorice pizza with long time heroes Zeke. Released in 2005, this kick-started yet another year of Disfear-acticity, A trip through Scandinavia in March with Finnish grindsters Rotten Sound was followed by a summer tour of Germany and the Czech Republic with a bunch of Euro-festivals thrown in for good measure.

In 2006 Disfear returned to the US, appearing at The Los Angeles Murderfest plus additional gigs in Mexico and along the West Coast, followed by four weeks of touring US and Canada. In May 2007 Disfear once more returned to the sodden clubs of Germany and the Czech Republic, but finally in August the boys managed to pull themselves together and record a new album, “Live The Storm”. Produced by Kurt Ballou (Converge) and recorded in his Godcity Studio in Salem, Massachusetts, “Live The Storm” represents Disfear’s finest hour. Honed by years of touring, the furious twin guitar attack of Björn and Uffe mows down all resistance, backed up by the drum’n’bass (!) artillery provided by Marcus and Frykman. Adding vocals to this power storm seems like an almost suicidal mission, but hey, Tompa pulls it off sounding darker and more twisted than ever before. And while recording the new album Disfear pulled off four East Coast-gigs with Doomriders.

And remember, “Live The Storm” is no different from the hurricanes laying waste to civilisation. Just bow your head and accept it!