When Nasum frontman Mieszko Talarczyk was tragically killed in the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, the band came to a very abrupt end.  To mark the 20^th anniversary of the band and to finally say a proper farewell Nasum will be embarking on one final tour next year, playing select dates around the world.  So it only seemed right that Uber Rock catch up with drummer Anders Jakobsen to find out details of the tour every extreme music fanatic around the world would give their right arm to see.

 

First of all thanks for sparing some time to talk to Uber Rock

 

The tragic events which led to the end of Nasum are well documented and there’s been a press release regarding the farewell shows, but exactly how did the decision come about for the farewell shows/tour?

 

It’s been in my mind for many years, ever since 2005 to be perfectly honest. It felt like Nasum got a forced and unsatisfying end. I think both the band and the fans needed some kind of closure. In the summer of 2010 I went up to Stockholm and met up with the rest of the former Nasum members and explained my wish to do one final show. As a discussion followed, we decided that there is no point in putting so much time to prepare for one show when we easily could do a complete tour, so that became the next part of the plan. Following that meeting we did a few rehearsals just to make sure that it felt right as well as developing the plan for a year or so until we decided to do it.

 

What’s the timescale for the reformed Nasum with regards to rehearsals and preparing for the shows?  I notice that Coldworker have a new record out soon and also Rotten Sound are a pretty active band.

 

We’re having at least one rehearsal per month with the complete band. We have been rehearsing on and off from the summer of 2010, so the songs are pretty much “there” all ready. The Stockholm string trio are meeting almost once a week to go through the songs, and Keijo is locked up in a room somewhere in Finland and screaming on his own (now, that sounded way more bad than I intended it to do…), so we are actually rehearsing more or less all the time, but not together. We’ll find the time to be totally prepared for the tour, be sure about that!

 

Is there a feeling of nervousness or excitement that you’re going to be performing as Nasum again?  Do you think that first gig might feel a bit weird without Miezsko?

 

The excitement overpowers all the eventual nervousness. We want to get cracking NOW! But the tour is still half a year away… I think that the weirdness has evaporated over the rehearsals and through all the time that has passed since 2004. If the farewell tour had happened back in 2005-2006 it would have felt weirder and emotionally charged. Now Nasum is the five of us.

 

I see that a few festival dates have been announced already. Is the plan to mainly do festivals or are there some indoor gigs planned as well. Also where are you going to be playing altogether?  Any chance of a UK date? How long is the tour likely to last?

 

Most of the European shows will be during the festival season but there will be a few club shows as well. As the tour is being booked right now I can’t really speak of it in details. There are many more confirmed festivals, but I can’t name them right now, as the announcements are a marketing tool for the festivals. UK is in our plans. The touring period will be between May and October.

 

And are you planning the final gig to be in Orebro?  Any plans to make that final gig a little bit special?

 

The final show will be a little bit special whether or not we make it a little special, but obviously the Grand Finale of the Grind Finale Farewell tour should be something special… The plan is to have it in Stockholm, though.

 

Any idea as to the content of the set?  Are you going to be playing some really old shit?

 

We’re still picking and choosing songs. The idea is to have a catalogue of 40 songs to narrow down to a 25 song setlist and perhaps change it slightly from show to show. The main part will be songs from the four albums, and the main part of that main part are songs we used to play live. But there are a few odd bits and stuff that never has been played before among the songs we are currently rehearsing.

 

Following the spectacular ‘Grind Finale’ compilation, is there anything that Nasum recorded that hasn’t been released?  Are the any plans to have any tour editions of any of the albums?

 

While compiling the ‘Grind Finale’ material I couldn’t find 3 or 4 songs from the ‘Inhale/Exhale’ recording that are hidden on some unlabelled cassette somewhere. I found one of them but it was too crappy to release without its true environment – i.e. among the other discarded ‘I/E’ songs. If I ever find them I’ll perhaps do a ‘Grind Finale Companion’ thing online along with some exciting rehearsal recordings and so on. Any tour editions or re-releases are not planed, or at least not something that we have discussed with Relapse, but anything is possible.

 

It’s fair to say that Nasum left an amazing legacy in extreme music. What’s your opinion of the extreme music scene post-Nasum?  Any favourite bands you feel you inspired?

 

I’m not particularly up to date with the grindcore scene after our demise, but I know it’s still out there alive and kicking. It’s true that Nasum left a mark in the music history, but I can’t say that I hear our legacy in other bands. I mean, we picked inspiration from a lot of other bands so it’s not like we invented anything original to pass on. In other words – I’m not hearing any Nasum clones.

 

Finally, something I’ve always wondered is how physically demanding is it to drum for Nasum live?

 

In all honesty, that remains to be seen… But judging from the rehearsals it feels much more easy and relaxed now compared to last time. It’s much harder to play the Coldworker songs actually, so I guess my pain threshold, or whatever, has been turned up a notch during the Coldworker years.

 

Anyway, thanks for time and for answering my questions. Good luck with the farewell dates and thanks for Nasum.

 

Thank you for your support. Latest news about the farewell tour is available on www.nasum.com  or on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/NasumBand.