Millencolin

In summer 2009, Swedish punk group Millencolin designed and released a skateboard with an interesting illustration: a beer bottle with a logo featuring a Polar Bear roaring and the name of an imaginary brand of beer, Polar Beer. The design captures the essence of Millencolin: a band hailing from the vicinity of the North Pole, with a love for skateboarding and beer, which they pronounce as "bear" in their Swedish accents.

Millencolin came together nearly 20 years ago while skateboarding around their hometown of Örebro. Bassist Erik Ohlsson tells The Prague Post that the independent culture of skateboarding led him and his band mates into music and art, and drove them to form the band, which they named after a skateboard trick, "the melancholy."

"In the beginning, we could barely play our instruments," he says. "We started out as kids learning how to write songs and how to play. Of course, we've become much better musicians."

Ohlsson attributes Millencolin's first three albums - Tiny Tunes, Life on a Plate and For Monkeys - to a heavy influence from California punk rock bands, especially those on the legendary record label Epitaph, such as Rancid, NOFX and Pennywise. It wasn't until Millencolin's fourth album, Pennybridge Pioneers, released in 2000, that Ohlsson says the band came into their own. The album, which went gold, is considered their breakthrough recording.

"With Pennybridge Pioneers, which we recorded with Epitaph, that was the first time we found our sound ... that's when we allowed ourselves to borrow from all other forms of music, not just punk rock," he says. "We still keep a Millencolin sound but we try to keep it more up-to-date on every album," Ohlsson says.   

The success of Pennybridge Pioneers motivated Millencolin to embark on a string of 10-year anniversary shows, which now brings them to Prague. But Ohlsson says that what began as a small idea soon gathered more momentum than expected.   

"We told our agent to book some shows, but we never ever expected it to become a world tour," he says.  

Millencolin's tour started in Canada last September, and has taken the band to Central America, South America, Australia and now Europe. The shows aren't your ordinary mix of the band's hits from beginning to end. Ohlsson says that the first set involves playing Pennybridge from beginning to end, and in the second portion of the show the band will play a mix of songs from their first three albums. Each night's set list will be determined by a fan poll on Millencolin's website, where people can vote for which songs will be played.

"We rehearsed like six or seven old songs that we had never played since recording them in the studio - so it's like a brand new song, and these days we sound better than we did back in whatever year we recorded that stuff," Ohlsson says.  

Even with 20 years of experience behind them, Millencolin continues to grow musically. While their legacy may already be indebted to Pennybridge Pioneers, the band continues to make music, pulling from various influences with each new album. Their last release, Machine 15, includes a strings section and sees the band experimenting with a cleaner sound.

"We wanted to have a really shiny production and a really produced album because we haven't really had that. I'm really happy with that album," Ohlsson says. "But I think [Machine 15] came out a little bit slow, to be honest. I think the next one will have more attitude. ...  I think it's gonna be a little bit faster."

As Millencolin prepares to play Prague for the first time since 1997, Ohlsson says he's not sure what to expect from the city, but where refreshment is concerned, the band has stayed true to its roots.

"I think a lot has changed in 14 years," he says. "But I'm looking forward to the Czech beer, of course."

Stephanie Thornton can be reached at
features@praguepost.com