Anyone out there remember Power Pop? It’s the closest tag I could think of for a lot of music coming out of Sweden from the nineties onwards that’s collectively badged as Swedish Action Rock. Among the early leaders of this movement were bands such as The Hellacopters, H.E.A.T. and Entombed, but there’s plenty more where they came from! (mostly Stockholm and Goteborg).
One of these new bands is The Drippers, a three-piece band consisting of Viktor Skatt (bass, vocals), William Dickborn (guitars, vocals) and Niclas Kristoferson (drums). They’ve only been around for three years but have quickly gained a reputation of being an explosive live band, sharing the stage with the great and the good of the Swedish scene.
Their debut album was released in Sweden in 2019 and is now available everywhere courtesy of The Sign Records. The album is called Action Rock and contains 11 tracks of high energy rock with lots of raw power, listening to it full length is like having a freight train thundering through your living room! It was recorded and mixed by Tomas Skogsberg in the legendary Sunlight Studio in Stockholm. Tomas is the operator behind classic recordings from The Hellacopters, Gluecifer, Entombed and Backyard Babies, and the eleven tracks on here keep that classic Swedish 90´s sound, but with both a modern twist while retaining the original raw sound of The Stooges and the MC5.
So – these songs really do pulsate with energy, hence my opening crack about Power Pop, i.e. the more tuneful end of Punkdom. Screaming guitars, alcohol-fuelled sing-along choruses and raw throbbing power are their hallmarks, as per many in the new wave of Scando Action Rock, although one thing that distinguishes The Drippers from most other bands is the regular use of double lead vocals to give the sound an extra dimension. You can really hear this in White Light and Bottled Blues, both sounding like early Motorhead; before the snarking punk of Finskt Blod pummels you. The whole thing pulsates and oozes garage rock chaos, it’s not the clearest mix but that’s not the point. It’s meant to be rough and ready, supercharged rock’n’roll to be played loud, bursting with all kinds of energetic good times.
Information on The Drippers can be found at https://www.facebook.com/TheDrippersgbg/ and through The Sign Records at https://www.facebook.com/thesignrecords/
