Hellacopters Incoming

It's the day of the Scandinavian Grammys and The Hellacopters' Kenny Håkansson doesn't seem to mind being dragged away from a Swedish record company soiree to take a phonecall from hotpress. It's not just the champagne being liberally poured down his neck which has the bassist feeling "rather jolly", as his band have been nominated in the Best Hard Rock Album category.

Formed in 1994 by former kindergarten pals Håkansson and singer Nick Royale, the Hellacopters are an old-school heavy rock band - a swathe of flaxen locks, a '70s Detroit sound, and a surfeit of guitar solos. The Grammy nomination for their fourth album High Visibility isn't the first for the Stockholm metallers - they also scooped the award in 1996 with their debut, Supershitty.

"We're not expecting to win the award again," Kenny says modestly. "There are a lot of great bands in the same category, many of whom are friends of ours, so whoever wins we we'll all go out and celebrate together."

Their first major label release on Universal, High Visibilty, should provide just that. With the aid of David Bianco, who has worked behind the mixing desk for with the likes of Springsteen and The Posies, and their 'old friend' Chips K. on production duties, the album develops the 'Copters trademark sound without leaving behind their garage rock influences, according to Kenny.

"Our influences are very varied, from the MC5, to Lynyrd Skynyrd to John Coltrane. I myself am a fan of Coltrane, but the other guys are more Lynyrd. I wouldn't say the influence is directly apparent in the style of the music, it's more of an attitude really".

The band has toured extensively in Australia, Japan and the US.

"Australia was definitely my favourite place to play, just because of the general atmosphere. The people really know their rock music and we always have a great time at shows. We're looking forward to playing in Dublin soon. I can't believe I've never been to Ireland before, but I've heard excellent things about it from other bands who've played there.

"The music scene in Sweden is very cool now. There are heaps of bands, but sadly not very many places to play. It's a seasonal thing, also - in winter, it's so dark and we tend to hibernate, but in summer things start to blossom again. There a lot of new rock bands starting up, and it's good that they have us as an influence now. It was always bands like Metallica for us, but the new kids have Swedish bands to look up to as well."

The Hellacopters had the privilege of supporting rock heroes Kiss on the Scandinavian leg of their tour.

"It was really crazy, the whole circus of the thing," he recalls, and naturally I try to nudge him for some salacious rock n roll anecdotes, "We didn't really get to hang out with the band much, although we did become good friends with Peter Criss' daughter. She was caught smoking with us once, and we got a telling off."

The Hellacopters, Corrupters of Youth - landing at a venue near you soon.

The Hellacopters touch down at the Temple Bar Music Centre on 9th March