Mirin January we sent few questions to Damaged Dolls, asking about their past, preset and future. Lucas and Linkan found some time in their tight schedule, and answered us, and now, with the release of the new Demo, here comes their answers!

ZT-webzine: First of all how would you describe yourself as a band and what would you tell to someone who has never heard of you to get them into your music?

Lukas: I would say we're born entertainers. If you're looking for a good show and great songs we're IT baby.
Linkan: Yeah.

ZT-webzine: What are your main influences? Any particular hero?

Lukas: Mötley Crüe, Rolling Stones, The Who, Stooges, Hanoi (Rocks ndr). Hero would be Keith Moon, Keith Richards.
Linkan: Mötley Crüe, Guns n Roses, Hanoi Rocks, Poison, Yngwie Malmsteen, Ozzy Osbourne.
Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars, C C Deville, Yngwie, Randy Rhoads.

ZT-webzine: When did you realise that this was the perfect line up?

Lukas: When I got onboard =)
Linkan: When we find Lukas we felt, FINALLY a drummer who plays the drums better than he says he does. Before we met Lukas we went through an endless sea of drummers who sucked more or less.

ZT-webzine: How come you started playing, what made you begin?

Lukas: When I saw the "Look that Kills" video as a kid.
Linkan: When I saw a friend of mine play Afraid To Shoot Strangers on guitar. I just though, "Holy shit, it's possible to play all this cool stuff by yourself!"

ZT-webzine: What memories have of the first gig you played/attended to?

Lukas: The first gig I went to I just fell in love with everything being so loud and chaotic.
Linkan: hmm, the first gig... I actually can't remember the first gig I saw.

ZT-webzine: What memories of the first DD gig?

Lukas: Not much really, we're usually too out-of-it to remember what happened.
Linkan: I remember our first gig with DD, the rest is a blur... hah. The two gigs in Stockholm last summer were our peak and low. The first day we played tight and with a lot of energy, a very good show, and the day after we played like hell, so f* bad. I don’t wanna remember that gig, but I can't forget it :p

ZT-webzine: I know you chose your name as a representation of yourself, cute as dolls, but totally mentally damaged. Who came out with the idea, and how?

Linkan: Actually me and Holm was brainstorming about a cool name... "Something with dolls... perhaps... hmm"... Damaged Dolls was the coolest name we could come up with, hah!

ZT-webzine: How does a DD song comes to life?

Linkan: I sit and play my guitar, and suddenly I come up with a riff. Then perhaps 2, perhaps 3, sometimes they fit together, and sometimes they don’t. When they do, I’m trying to get some structure of the song, and try to find some melodies (sometimes some lyrics, or a phrase). After that I record the guitar and the melodies (if I find any), together with bass, and some computer-drums. I leave it to Holm and he will do the rest. Holm writes the most of the lyrics, if not the whole, and does the melody or sometimes he changes that melody I’ve come up with, to something that fits better with his idea for the song. After that we record the song at my place. That will become a Damaged Dolls PRE-DEMO song.
It's at the rehearsal-room we're changing the arrangement, and/or the structure, the bass and the drums come alive. Everyone has the opportunity to say what they think, and after that we're rehearsing the song with the new arrangement.
That’s why the PRE-DEMO songs aren’t always the same as the recorded song when we're playing it live, or recording an official demo in a hired studio.

ZT-webzine: Are you in contact with any record company at the moment?

Linkan: No, not right now.

ZT-webzine: You look like a very productive band, are you planning to use only new songs for your first album, or you’re going to use some of the old ones, also?

Lukas: Who knows, we'll have to see. We have a lot of old material we like (such as "You show me.." hahaha)
Linkan: hehe, every song BUT you show me, is possible :p. We have some new songs in PRE-DEMO-versions, but we haven't put them out on our website yet. Perhaps we will do that, perhaps we will save them.

ZT-webzine: What bands you like to listen in your spare time?

Lukas: Johnny Cash, Rolling Stones, The Who, The Donnas, Led Zeppelin.
Linkan: Most of the stuff I mentioned above.

 ZT-webzine: You recorded two demos. What differences can you find between them, and what difference were there during recordings?

Lukas: Actually there are three and a fourth coming up. The last one (Sleazy Entertainment ndr) was done in a hurry and we're not really satisfied with the outcome.
Linkan: Yea. We have done three demos, and we're giving birth to a fourth. The first sucked as hell, we didn't know what to expect from a studio session, so the studio enginering did what he thought was the best. It didn't end up well at all.
The second and the third is almost the same. The third one is more tight, and has a lot more energy.

ZT-webzine: Your third demo should be out around Jan/Feb, if I’m not mistaken. Any hint about it, what should we expect?

Lukas: It's gonna turn out a LOT tighter, better songs and like ten times better sound.
Linkan: Yeah, this DEMO will be a real kick-ass-demo. We're recording 3 songs, two old, and one new. We have put a lot of time into recording and mixing the drums at a great studio. After that we're recording the rest of the instruments at my studio. Right now we have only the vocals left to be recorded for the new song, after that the demo will be finished and we will put it up at myspace. The physical demo will probably be finished in about 1-2 weeks.

ZT-webzine: Finally, what’s in DD future?

Lukas: The nearest future is playing with Hanoi Rocks in Gothenburg, then a short two-gig-visit to the UK (London & Birmingham) then we're heading to the USA for a three-week-coast-to-coast-tour. Playing venues such as the famous Whisky á go go.
Linkan: We will go to the UK and play two shows in the middle of Feb, in March-April we will go to US for, at the moment, 8 gigs. In May we're travelling to Helsinki for a show. After that we will probably do some festival-gigs, but nothing is officially booked for the moment, but there are a lot of stuff happening.
 

Website :  http://www.damageddolls.se  

Myspace : www.myspace.com/damageddolls