Music Festivals are at their best when organisers try to diversify the line-up without trying to be overly eclectic.
It is a fine balancing except, especially when it comes to pleasing everyone, but the good folk at Good Things Festival which touches down in Australia in early December seem to have done their homework well.
With bands such as Bring Me The Horizon, Deftones, NOFX, TISM, The Amity Affliction, Jinjer, Gojira and Fever 333 heading the list of names if there’s one genre that could be better represented it’s punk.
It’s a Good Thing then that a little Swedish band by the name of Millencolin has also been invited along for the ride, with guitarist Erik Ohlsson joining HEAVY to chat about our early Christmas present.
"It means a lot,” he smiled when asked how it feels to know people so far from the band’s home base are excited about their arrival. “It means the world. We've been coming to Australia - the first time was 1995 I think - and we've been coming over every second or every year since."
With Good Things being held in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane over consecutive days, we ask Erik if the band will be having any holiday time before or after the shows.
"We love Australia, and I love going fishing in Australia so hopefully I can go fishing one day,” he answered, coyly. “Still, we are there to tour so I'd rather play a show every day!”
In the press release announcing Good Things, Millencolin are referred to as the “troublemakers from Sweden”. Unsure if the band were aware of their Australian reputation, I feel obliged to bring it up.
"Troublemakers?” Erik laughed. “I'm not really used to being called a troublemaker, but I'm fine with that. It sounds better than those sissies from Sweden."
In the full interview Erik tells us some of his festival experiences, talks about playing with fellow overseas artists and the comforting environment it creates, the diversity of the line-up, the early days of Millencolin and where the band fit in, the bands career defining album Pennybridge Pioneers and why it resonated with fans, keeping the same members for over 30 years and more.