Scandanavia has a rich heritage of hard rock and metal. Turbonegro are one of their finest exports. Formed in Norway in the late 80's the band did go through the break-up in 1998 but reformed for live performances in 2001.

Rich in influences capturing punk and glam rock of the 70's, being over the top in both sound and performance is what makes Turbonegro unique.

Keyboard player and percussionist Pål Pot Pomparius spoke to Undercover's Tim Cashmere.

Paul Cashmere: Matt, you founded Tarmac Adam.

TC: I saw you guys at Roskilde earlier this year!

PPP: This year? Oh that was quite a good show I think. That's a good festival. It has some good bands.

TC: What did you think of Livid?

PPP: Well it's a very quick change of scenery because we've been doing like this four week tour in America doing club shows, then you suddenly land in Adelaide and you're going to be on the festival scene. You don't have your equipment, you don't have soundcheck or anything like that, so I was just like "Whoa, what the fuck is going on here man!?" [Laughs] This sounds like crap! Actually it was crap; it was probably the worst show we ever played! At least in quite a long time... It takes some time to get into it, so tonight we're going to do the club show here in Melbourne, which I think... I hope will be great, because Turbo is the sort of band that we succeed like we do most nights, but when we suck, we suck so badly! [Laughs] But that's a rarity though!

TC: You're playing at quite a good venue tonight too... it's suited to the band.

PPP: Oh okay, yeah we're going to soak 'em in blood and feathers and we'll see if they're still happy afterwards!

TC: I was standing way too far back on Sunday to get soaked in blood.

PPP: Yeah, I'd probably stand at the back too. Being drenched in dolphin's blood is not exactly my cup of tea, but then again I'm the fucking artist!

TC: So is that really dolphin's blood?

PPP: Yeah man it is! I thought it was going to be artificial blood. Okay so its not artificial someone told me, so I thought it was going to be pigs blood or something, but apparently no it's dolphins blood. It's extracted... umm... what did they tell me? It's not a dead dolphin, it's a living dolphin and it's just extracted in some kind of way, I don't know how they do it! It's a scary thought, it really is. I'm not joking right now! Usually I tell a hell of a lot of lies, but this time I was like "What the fuck?" Because if you taste it, it's really sweet, it's really sweet.

TC: I can't tell if you're lying or not!

PPP: Come tonight, we'll save you a bucket, just open your mouth and wait!

TC: You guys have been around for fifteen years or something like that now?

PPP: Since '89, but we took a little break in '98 due to Hank's drug problems and mental condition, so we had three or four years off. Then we decided that Hank's on methadone now and he's in better shape than ever, so we just got into the rehearsal studios and started playing around and we decided okay, we're going to do three festivals and see how it goes just for a trial round and we did that and it was fantastic! The band just sounded better than ever, which is a little bit scary actually... so we never rehearse really, that was the first time we'd rehearsed in six years, but fuck man it sounds very good these days. We've basically been on tour since May this year, just flying around the world.

TC: Which isn't such a bad thing really?

PPP: No, definitely not. It's just a good time traveling all the time.

TC: ...and you can say to record company personnel "Hey can I have a beer?" and they bring it! [As had just happened] Albeit the wrong ones.

PPP: I know! What's happening with the music industry man? No respect for the artists anymore!

TC: Until you're Iron Maiden...

PPP: Yeah, there's probably going to be another six months before we reach that level. Just start the clock right now!

TC: You guys and Iron Maiden have something in common at the moment with three guitars.

PPP: They have three guitars? I saw them at Roskilde and I only saw two, but then again I was really fucking pissed out of my mind. You know how you're standing there and you see a close up of one of the guitarists [on the screens] and you see the wrinkly face and it's like "Oh fucking hell man!"

TC: But that was a good show wasn't it?

PPP: Yeah it was, but whenever I see Iron Maiden I look at it with a certain humour perspective as well, I don't take it too seriously! But I just heard that Bruce Dickinson is also an airline pilot. He'd get all these sixty year old chartered tourists thinking "Oh, he's such a good captain! I feel safe!" but they don't know do they!?

TC: Your album, 'Scandinavian Leather' has been dubbed as the "comeback" album. How do you feel about that?

PPP: Well it is a comeback album isn't it? We left and then came back! I mean, for fucks sake, people call it so many strange things, it's just a way that people... how can I say this? I mean it is a comeback album, but on the other hand it's just a continuance of when we split up in '98. When we split up nobody really felt like this was going to be it, it was just technical problems and stuff. We never felt like the last chapter was written whatsoever and when we got back and rehearsed and played some shows last year, tones of riffs, new riffs, just started pouring out, so it was like okay, what the fuck? We're going to make another one! We're not done yet! We're going to make more trouble for the people!

TC: Was there a chance that was going to be it five years ago?

PPP: Well at the moment it was, but I think everybody else except Hank because he was really really ill, everybody else just saw it as a vacation. Everybody else has so much fucking other shit to do as well, so it was like "Okay, cool, that's fine." It just meant we could lean back and rest, go on holidays and things like that. I went to New Zealand and I stayed and lived there for a couple of years. It was quite nice, a little bit boring though. Actually I should've gone to Melbourne, it would've been better!

TC: Did you come here at all?

PPP: Yeah I've been to Australia several times. It's a nice country. It feels a little bit like the outback, the end of the world thing.

TC: Yeah, but right now you're in our second biggest city. Melbourne is bigger than Oslo!

PPP: Oh definitely man, but what do they have? Cafés, bars and clubs!

TC: What more do you want in a city?

PPP: I don't know! How do people make money? The welfare system must be pretty good down here!

TC: That's a big call coming from someone from Scandinavia.

PPP: Yeah, that's true, but what do people do? What does Melbourne produce?

TC: Cafés, bars and clubs. You work in one café, you spend your money in the next. It works.

PPP: [Laughs] I'm a completely happy camper down here! I love cafés and clubs, so I'm quite content. I can't complain now, except for this fucking weather, it sucks.

TC: Well I'm sorry about that...

PPP: Try and make it up next time! I went down to Torquay the day before yesterday and it was very nice. There's some action going on down there! We came to Adelaide a week ago and it was freezing, since we'd flown in from California... I threw away all my warm clothes, so I just have short sleeves! It will be good once we get up to Brisbane.

TC: It will also be interesting to see the Livid festival in Brisbane and compare it to Sydney and Melbourne, because this is only the second year it has been outside of Brisbane.

PPP: Oh okay, so it started up there? Well so far on the Livid festival's I think Melbourne has been the best one.

TC: Are you just saying that because I'm here?

PPP: Yeah. I aim to please man, that's what I do. I play in a band, I'm an artist, but I'm also a prostitute. [Laughs] Just pay me well. I'll do whatever you want. That's how the music industry is, that's what it's based on, so I'm just telling the truth! It's tough to discover exactly what you are, but hey, it's an old trade!

TC: ...I hate to ask you a clichéd question here, but you guys have been doing the "rock" thing for so long now and you have been sticking to what you do...

PPP: Well I think we've been doing the "rock" thing, but I think we've been doing it all wrong. That's the difference between Turbo and a lot of other bands. Since we started if we can choose between doing something right and doing something wrong, we'll go for the wrong one because that's way more interesting. Doing the right thing, that's boring, who cares about that? It's when the problems arise that the fun begins and it's supposed to be a struggle and that's when you put on your boxing gloves and you have a fight and something good will come out of it because it's all about the struggle for being free and that's what rock music is all about. It's not about being conformist in any sort of way by wearing a leather jacket or wearing a bandana or whatever man, that shit is too lame!

TC: You say you're doing it the wrong way, but it seems like the right way to me and it seems like the right way to a lot of other people.

PPP: It's the right way because people latch onto it and see that it has something different and you don't have to do it in a formalized setting like too many other bands do. It's just too bloody boring, you've gotta go somewhere new even if you're going to lose, even if you're going to go down in flames, it doesn't matter, just go for it! When you die, you're dead for a hell of a long time.

TC: What about your album cover, is that the Klaus Voorman who made it?

PPP: Yeah it is actually. He's living in Germany right now and I can't remember who called him up, but somebody did anyway and he was like "Bah, what the fuck, it's probably another Beatle fan who wants me to do some stuff." But he used to play bass for Randy Newman and I think it was Happy Tom who actually convinced him by saying "I'm not a Beatle fan, I'm not trying to shoot the breeze here, we want you to do some serious artwork." And I think Klaus made Happy Tom sing a few Randy Newman songs over the phone, just to convince him and eventually he was like "Okay motherfuckers, I'll do it!" We just gave him a vague concept of what we wanted it to look like and said okay, go for it, and when we got the sketches back we thought "Okay, this is a hell of a lot more than we expected!"

TC: I now have the sticker of it on my guitar case...

PPP: Was there a sticker with the album? People don't update me! Even with records man, we went to this guys house for a party and I was looking through his record collection and he said "Oh, you gotta look at my Turbo section, I got all the stuff!" and I was like "What is this? What is this?" I've never seen it before! Like 50% of what he had there I've never seen. I think I've heard the songs though... but all the artwork I'd never seen before.

TC: So where did it come from?

PPP: I don't know! There's six people in the group, so it's a very hard environment to control. It's like when you leave a tour bus people just fan out and disappear and make their own little small decisions during the day, but nobody really tells anyone. It's just fucking chaos from one end to another!

TC: Chaos seems to be the theme of the band, especially listening to the song 'Fuck the World'.

PPP: Yeah. That's just about sex you know? It's not about having sex with people, but having sex with the world. You gotta go big, you gotta think big! The sky is the limit, if you want to have really really great sex, go for the world!

TC: I think Hank had the world's greatest line on stage last Sunday when he said "I'm going to single-cockedly fuck the world!"

PPP: [Laughs] I think I missed that one! I'm gonna ask him later and if that was something that you just heard, I'm going to tell him to do that tonight 'cause that's a good one!

TC: It could go on your next album...

PPP: I'm not sure there's going to be a next album. It could be a movie actually! We'll see it goes!

Chris Summers: He's lying, it's all a lie!

PPP: That's what they always say! People walk past me and just point their fingers at me!

TC: Do you even know that guy or was he just happening to walk past?

PPP: I don't think he's part of the business group in there, but he looks slightly familiar to our drummer. I think that was Mr. Summers heading for the first beer of the day. He's always in a bad mood before he can start drinking. He's a complete alcoholic!

TC: Is that your first beer of the day?

PPP: Nope. I've been up since eight o'clock. So I've had a few, and a glass of champagne. It's nice to be down here to dive into that beautiful world of bubbly, and it's a lot cheaper [in Australia]!

TC: Tell me more about this movie... or is it all a lie?

PPP: No, it was just something we talked about one night when we were completely fucked up. I'm not sure if people were joking or not, but anyway, I decided to believe it, so I've been working on two small concepts, but it's not going to happen. We'll see, nothing's decided yet, but then again, nothing is usually decided until the last minute with this band.

TC: ...which is part of the fun?

PPP: Well sometimes it can be fun and sometimes it's a problem. Like "Okay, we're going to go to America and tour in two days." That sort of stuff. Shut up! [to Chris Summers walking back with his beer]

CS: Har du rik?

PPP: Ja. This is Norwegian. It means can I have a cigarette? Good night last night sweetie?

CS: ...

PPP: Well, goodnight. Go away. Drummers, so full of themselves!

CS: What?

PPP: Not talking to you!

TC: Teach me some Norwegian to shout at him!

PPP: It's too late, he's gone.

TC: M2M once taught me "I like your arse" but I forgot it.

PPP: Oh yeah? That sounds like something we should be teaching you. They broke up now. I've been shedding tears since that horrible horrible night.

TC: It must've been around the same time Aqua broke up too!

PPP: Yeah, but she's back again though. She's got a new sort of metal band going. We actually thought of bringing her with her new band as support for a few Norwegian shows.

TC: Do it, it would be great!

PPP: Yeah. She's a foxy lady! Lene is her name. She's Norwegian, but she's married to a Danish guy. I don't know why she would go and do something stupid like that! They're probably the most boring people on the planet!

TC: That's a big call from someone whose country borders Sweden.

PPP: Well they come in a close second! But what kind of rock music has Denmark got? What kind of other good music does Denmark got? NOTHING!

TC: ...apart from Aqua.

PPP: Apart from Aqua. Yeah I take that back, they're the winners. They're extremely entertaining people... they're so fucking stoned all the time. They've got an even better welfare system than Melbourne and Norway altogether, but their national debt is rising by the day, but apparently it doesn't seem like they care. Living in the present, not caring about tomorrow... actually that's not such a bad idea. Ahhh fuck it, I'll give 'em some more credit!

TC: Move the band there!

PPP: If we go somewhere it has to be Hamburg. The home of homos. It's a good city! Have you been there?

TC: No.

PPP: It's really seedy. It has the biggest red light district in the whole world! It's a city made out of prostitutes! We can make some extra cash!