RW: Basically a couple of bored teens got together and formed a band, probably coz we hadn’t anything better to do, and from there on we recorded a couple of CD’s and have since then been touring all over - as one does.

CD: You've been going for a hell of a long time now – how do you think you've weathered the storms that saw the end of other bands in that time, and what tips could you give for other bands just starting out now?

RW: I would say a mixture of just being plain stupid and stubborn. You know, it’s fucking true as they say; life is indeed a roller coaster. Once you’re up, take as much as you possibly can. That’s my tip. That and don’t fucking trust anyone!

CD: Metal seems to be back on the map now, after a lean period in the mid to late nineties. Now more than ever, the death metal scene seems to going from strength to strength, although not too many new bands seem to be able to craft memorable songs. What do you think that Deranged offer that other bands don't?

RW: I don’t know… (it) might be possible that “metal” is back on the map as you put it, but as for death metal making a comeback… I’ve think that being in a band the last 10 years I would have noticed something, but it hasn’t really changed. It’s the same old shit as let’s say… 10 years ago. Not too much has changed. There are so many newer acts around that are fucking killer, but just as you said, there’s a lack of memorable songs. You know, when we first started out, at least most of us had been heavily into heavy and thrash metal and probably without even realising it, it brought along some kind of verse, refrain based song writing, at least in the main! Ha ha ha. That shit makes a song, if you ask me, more memorable. I don’t know, but a lot of newer acts have probably totally different influences then what we old timers had. It’s not what you play it’s how you play it. Just coz you have 1000 different riffs and twice as many tempo changes doesn’t necessarily make it a good song.

CD: Deranged have stuck to their guns pretty much, without deviating. What do you make of some of your fellow compatriots that have “diversified” their sound, only to “return” to metal after some time?

RW: Naturally it’s up to them… I don’t care to be honest. I mean… as for Deranged, we’re not the type of band that will have like band meetings where we discuss what musical direction if any we’ll take the band. We just fucking play and if it sounds cool, we’ll keep it. It’s simple as that. That’s how we have always worked…

CD: “The Redlight Murders” is a really solid, enjoyable album. How was the songwriting process this time round, and how was the recording process?

RW: Earlier whenever we were working on new songs we would be constantly writing and only working with that for a certain period of time. This time around we were only working on the material once a week and just rehearsing or whatever the rest of the time. It was a nice thing. One could think about the stuff we had done for a week and see if it was something really good or just crap. I wouldn’t go as far and say that it’s an extraordinary way to work or whatever… it’s just how we did it this time around. I know it sounds like a cliché but everything went real smooth whilst recording. We spent 14 days recording, mixing and mastering and that was it.

CD: Are there any plans to tour on the back of the record? Can we look forward, perhaps, to a UK visit?

RW: We’ll do a shorter tour end of this month and during summer a good bunch of festivals. No, nothing planned for the U.K. right now, but I’m sure something will come. We have been playing the U.K. a lot of times and a city like London is always good. But besides that, we have rather bad experience when it comes to shows in the U.K. There's almost no public attendance and a lot of club owners are fucking ass holes. But hell, if someone offers us a tour in the U.K. we’ll fucking go!!! (To be fair, he's right – when I make the 100+ mile trip to see a band, it's frustrating to frequently find less than a hundred punters there!-CD)

CD: I've never seen Deranged live – when (and if!) I get to see you on these shores, what can I expect to see from a Deranged gig?

RW: Hopefully we don’t fuck up the set to much! Ha ha ha. Besides that, we’re just trying to make a good gig. We do encourage a nice and violent mosh pit, and tons of stage diving.

CD: As elder statesmen of the scene, are there any younger bands that you would (ideally) like to be able to take out on tour with you?

RW: Nah… Just about any band we would get along with. Personally it doesn’t matter if it’s a death, black, thrash of whatever metal band…

CD: Horror films are clearly an inspiration to the band (though Pete will add more questions as he knows what the fuck he is talking about!). Are there any other influences that seep into Deranged during the songwriting?

RW: Voices in my head.

CD: Just how important are the responses of the critics to you? How have the reviews to The Redlight Murders been so far?

RW: I mean, naturally it’s important what critics say, that’s a big part of how the record will eventually sell but on a personal level… not much. I know whenever we have done something good or not and don’t need some failed musician (which most critics usually are) telling whether it’s good or not. Once again, it does sound like a cliché but the few reviews I’ve read and heard what people have said about it, it’s all been really good.

PW: As Chris mentioned Deranged have some very close connections musically to horror movies and real life grisly acts of carnage, lets face it, all death metal bands should really deal in celluloid evisceration and what is going on in this somewhat sick world. Hijacking the interview I cheekily added a few questions about these subjects.

PW: Firstly any self respecting horror buff should pick up on the fact that you quite like your splatter movies. When you picked the name Deranged was it partly in tribute to Alan Ormsby’s great serial killer flick about Ed Gein?

RW: We were looking for a name of the band we had just formed and back then, a band name was more important than having a steady line up. We took the name right off that movie, right. It might not be the most original choice when you look back upon it. It’s a nice movie though. Ha ha ha.

PW: You actually called one of your albums Plainfield Cemetery too, this was Gein’s stalking ground and final resting place. I was wondering what other serial killers inspire you and do any actually top the work of the infamous Gein?

RW: I wouldn’t claim myself as being a serial killer fanatic nor especially interested, but I probably know more about the topic then most other people. I don’t think that serial killers have inspired me lyrics wise that much. Sure, there are probably some bits here and there but overall, no… Plainfield Cemetery is one of those “innocent” sounding titles if you don’t know what it is. Once you know what it is, it’s get a complete different meaning… That’s how a good title should be.

PW: New album The Redlight Murder Case was instantly recognizable to me due to the fact that virtually all the tracks are named after Italian giallo movies. You really went for a few obscure ones as well, what are your favourite examples of the giallo genre and how good are you at guessing the killer before the end of the movie?

RW: I’m not really a “giallo” maestro myself… Have probably watched tons more than your average movie hound but … The whole thing with those sleazy and cheap horror / detective stories just caught my mind there for awhile and needless to say, the actual titles for a lot of those movies are just so god damn cool. I mean, “The House with the Laughing Windows”. How fucking cool is that? I would say that I do prefer any early Argento flick and I always guess right away who the killer is. Ha ha ha…

PW: Which member of the band is most likely to don the black gloves, what are your favoured methods of dispatch and how would you dispose of the body?

RW: Me and probably hack the dead body to pieces, make a lovely carrot stew out of it and invite certain ex girlfriends over to dinner.

PW: The album actually is coming out at a bit of an opportune moment in the UK as we have a trial going on at the moment in Ipswich, of a suspected serial killer who killed working ladies in the town’s red light area, were you aware of this at all?

RW: Maybe possible that I have heard something about it?

PW: This brings me to another point, I guess this coincidence could cause a bit of a public outcry over here. Also lets face it song titles such as ‘I Torture, Rape, Cum And Kill,’ ‘Beaten, Raped, And Left And Left To Fuckin' Die’ and errrr ‘Black Semen Vengeance’ are hardly subtle are they? How much of a problem has censorship been for you?

RW: The last couple of years none at all, but we had our first 7” single banned, censored or whatever in Germany. That was back in ´93 or ´94. Nah, there are lots other releases out that are way more offensive anyway so…

PW: Popping along to your website our good old friend Dr Fraudstein puts in an appearance, obviously Fulci is God but what are your all time favourite horror movies?

RW: My all time fave movie is The Exorcist. One of the very few movies that has this certain kind of “aura” round it… Fulci did some nice flicks but a lot of fucking crap as well.

PW: No offence but Sweden isn’t renowned for horror films. The only example I can think of off hand is a short feature Lyckantropen, which I covered in the past. Not ignoring the fantastical elements of Ingmar Bergman of course, I was wondering if there is much in the way of a horror film industry in Sweden, if not why do you think that is?

RW: Hmm… Thriller (the great Bo Arne Vibenius exploitation movie PW) made some kind of a “comeback” after Tarantino started to talk about it right after Kill Bill you know, but I wouldn’t call it a horror movie though… To be honest, I don’t have a clue. Maybe it's not in the nature of Swedes to be doing horror movies?

So there you have it, but they sure make up for it as far as death metal is concerned!

Visit the band at http://iamderanged.com
www.regainrecords.com
www.metalblade.com

If you enjoyed this interview you might also like the following:
Interview with Aeon
Interview with Obituary
Interview with Claudio Simonetti

Interviewed by Chris Davison / Pete Woods

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