Nikola Sarcevic

The voice of MILLENCOLIN - solo!

Nikola Sarcevic wants to defy your expectations. And as his second solo effort Roll Roll And Flee asserts, this musician will not be painted in a corner. A man with two distinct musical hats, Sarcevic adroitly balances his responsibilities as the frontman for world renowned Swedish punk band Millencolin with his ever-developing role as a free-thinking singer/songwriter.

“I think a lot of people were surprised by my first album,” Sarcevic admits of his stripped-down, intimate 2004 solo debut Lock-Sport-Krock. “Although they were shocked, for me, it was nothing unusual. I wanted to try something different as a challenge, so I went off into a new territory. With Millencolin, punk rock is pretty much what we do. But with my solo stuff, I can and I want to try a lot of different things.”
On his sophomore studio offering for Burning Heart, Nikola puts that notion to music. With the alluring, classic pop-inspired “Soul For Sale,” art clearly follows life. “It’s supposed to be about following your heart and not thinking too much about what is or isn’t a good thing from a career standpoint or a financial position,” Sarcevic explains.
As for the engaging title track, Nikola says it is “about these folks who lived like gypsies out in the woods” and was derived from an obscure book. “The title escapes me,” he continues, “but it was written in Swedish and obviously I translated it to English. And the book was kind of critical of the way a lot of people live in the modern world. How they just, roll, roll and flee. They just jump in their cars and try to flee the moment, or their problems in life.”
Like its predecessor, Roll Roll And Flee was recorded with the help of multi-instrumentalist Henrik Wind and Fredrik Sandsten, drummer for The Soundtrack of Our Lives at Svenska Grammofonstudion near his home in Gothenburg. This time out, however, Kalle Gustafsson – who doubles as the bassist in TSOOL and owns the facility – produced and engineered, helping to achieve an effort that is richer with sounds than the debut.
Yet for all its differences, the new disc was captured on tape with the spontaneity similar to its precursor. “I’m not keen on rehearsing the songs over and over,” Sarcevic asserts. “I want my solo albums to be freer; where the songs develop in the studio. And that’s kind of different to Millencolin, where we work on the songs in the studio for almost half a year or something.”
That tact manifests on both the Bob Dylan-esque “Where I’m Standing” and the pulsing, harmonica-steeped contagion “Tybble Skyline.” And when elements of the man born Zimmerman come up in discussion, Sarcevic is quick to make acknowledgements while also citing his punk roots.
“Believe it or not, a lot of these songs have the same chord patterns as Bad Religion songs – a lot of minor chords,” Nikola confesses. “But I’m into a lot of Beatles and Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel – things from the 1960s. And that’s the kind of sound that I wanted. And the studio I used has a lot of keyboards and old microphones and technical equipment from the 1960s and 1970s. So we were able to achieve that sound.
Be it the swooning, horn-fostered classic rock vibe of “Let Me In,” or the brilliantly melodic ballad “Love Is Trouble,” Sarcevic emotes in a previously unheard manner on Roll Roll And Flee. “Maybe half of the songs have an edge,” he says. “It’s a little bit harder than the first. Of course you want to make every album different. And maybe I felt that after the first album, it almost seemed too sparse.”
As for the horns that elevate “Let Me In,” Nikola divulges, “They weren’t by design. When I wrote the song, I had that part in the middle of the song – and it wasn’t supposted to be horns. When I first showed the song to Henke, I was humming the part. And I do that a lot when I’m coming up with vocal melodies. And sometimes it’s supposed to be for an instrument to play. And this time, the only thing that we thought would fit were horns.”
Speaking of things that fit, Sarcevic says that this time out he wants to tour behind the record even though it means being away from his young family. “On the first album, I only did seven or eight shows,” he says. “This time I’m prepared to do a lot more. Last time, this approach was completely new to me and I wasn’t really sure that I would be able to pull it off live.”
With his confidence in Roll Roll And Flee as strong as the music itself, Nikola Sarcevic is firmly at ease with his dual musical roles. “The solo thing is closer to the music I listen to at home,” he says. “When I started in Millencolin, we were all into punk rock, and that’s obviously why we started a punk rock band. And now I’m into this kind of music, so naturally these are the kinds of songs I write.”
“I still love Millencolin and punk rock,” Nikola adds. “But back then it was the only music for me. Now I know there’s plenty of room for both approaches. I listen to a much wider range of music and it inspires me to write differently.”


ABOUT NIKOLA...

BORN: July 9th, 1974 in Örebro, Sweden.
LIVES: Gothenburg, Sweden.
SET UP: Mesa Boogie Big Chief 400+ amp, Mesa Boogie or ampeg 8x10 cabinets, Music Man Bass. Korg tuner, JTS wireless system, Ernie Ball strings, 1mm In Tune GP picks.
INTERESTS: music and chess and other stuff...
FOOD: Japanese and Italian.
DRINK: Hot Sake, Amarone Wine and Loza.
BOOK: Bob Dylan, "Chronicles Volume one"- Beatles, "the complete scores."
FAVORITE MUSIC: I like almost every kind of music as long as it's a good tune.
FAVORITE SONG/ALBUM AT THE MOMENT: "Cold Roses" by Ryan Adams.
FAVORITE MC SONG: Farewell.
COMPUTER/VIDEO GAME: Shanghai on the SAS flights.
PC OR MAC: Mac, of course!
TV SHOW: All the International Soccer/Football broadcastings.
MOVIE: "Time Of The Gypsies" by Emir Kusturica.
FAVORITE THING TO DO AT THE MOMENT: Solve Su Doku puzzles.
FAVORITE PLACE TO VISIT: The Island Pag in Croatia.
FAVORITE MATERIAL THING AT THE MOMENT: My new vintage Les Paul Standard.
FAVORITE WEBSITE: I'm quite into Swedish real estate sites.
FAVORITE MUSICIAN: Henrik Wind.
FAVORITE SONGWRITER: Lennon/McCartney and Mr.Brett.
FAVORITE SINGER: Jason Beebout, Kristofer Åström, Tim Armstrong and Bob Dylan.
OTHER PROJECTS: Besides my soloproject i´ve got a new project together with a few well known musicians from 3 former Burning Heart bands.