• Interviews

• All
• Music
• Cinema
• TV
• Comic Books

Mar 01, 2022 By Adam Olenius Photography by Adam Olenius Web Exclusive

For our recurring Self-Portrait feature, we ask musicians to take a self-portrait photo (or paint/draw a self-portrait) and write a list of personal things about themselves, things that their fans might not already know about them. This Self-Portrait is by Adam Olenius, frontman of Shout Out Louds.

The Swedish band released their latest album, House, last month via Bud Fox/Integral/[PIAS]. It is the follow-up to Ease My Mind, which came out in 2017 via Merge. House finds the band reuniting with producer Björn Yttling (also the Bjorn in Peter Bjorn and John), who also produced Shout Out Louds’ beloved sophomore album, 2007’s Our Ill Wills. The new album was recorded live in the studio and finds the band channeling post-punk. Shout Out Louds also features keyboardist Bebban Stenborg, guitarist Carl von Arbin, and bassist Ted Malmros.

“We still love what we’re doing and get along like we did when we were 15, which is crazy but such a great feeling,” said Olenius in a press release. “It makes us really happy that we’re still able to travel around the world and hear from people that our music’s helped them in some way. We just want to create a space for people to be completely themselves, and to get a little closer to wherever they’re hoping to go in life.”

Above is Olenius’ self-portrait photo. Read on as he writes about being a childhood metal-head, the famous musician his mom dated, the first song he wrote, and the TV episode that brings him to tears.

1. I was a big metal fan when I was a kid. I bought a Jackson King V when I was 15. The same model Dave Mustaine from Megadeath uses. Early Metallica was my favorite band. I learned all titles and in the right order from all the albums. My sister got me Kirk Hammett’s autograph when they met in a gym here in Stockholm. I still have it.

2. My mom dated Colin Blunstone from The Zombies when she was young. He later became my favorite singer. First time I heard the high note in end of “Say You Don’t Mind” I almost started to cry. Fu&%€in hell what a voice.

3. We have really weird nicknames in the band. We used to call Bebban “Tse Tse” (from the fly) because she fell asleep everywhere. Ted was called Tatanka for a while because he was like a bison when he was drunk. My name is Adam, right? So Adam became Adde, Adde became Padde, Padde became Pad Thai, Pad Thai became Thai and then Thai became Thailander. Makes no sense. 4. I wrote a musical in school. It was for my last year project. It was called Gemini and was about a couple of twins living different lives in 1969. I was so into The Doors and the whole Woodstock thing. I wrote it together with my music teachers and my songs were horrible. One song was a rip off of Richie Havens and one sounded like a Barbara Streisand ballad. I’m so lucky I made this in the late ’90s…no SoMe…

5. I love, love The Office (U.S.). I’ve seen the whole thing five times and still cry when Michael leaves for Colorado. I am also a Seinfeld guru and me and my brother used to give each other points if we use a Seinfeld sentence in real life. It happened just a few days ago when my brother was raving about a kebab place and I said I’ve heard about it from Newman because it’s on his mail route (“The Calzone” episode).

6. I make a mean Puttanesca. I love pasta and this one is my favorite. My secret is extra olive oil. It needs a lot and it should simmer for three hours. I also mix white and red wine. I also make it with Pangrattato—which is breadcrumbs fried with garlic and herbs. And a lot of parsley in the end. Done! (Ramsay’s voice.) 7. The first song I ever wrote was a song called “No Dogs Allowed.” I was 13 and me and a friend was watching Snoopy on TV and the episode was about him not being allowed on the school bus. We had just bought Beatles – For Easy Guitar and probably just took a song and changed it.

www.shoutoutlouds.com

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.