It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years since I first heard the Swedish Rockers THE CHUCK NORRIS EXPERIMENT. I thought their sound was so refreshing, but rooted in a classis sort of Rock sound. Now they have their new album out, simply called “20”, you can read the review here. We had the opportunity to ask frontman Chuck Ransom about the new album, the past 20 years, beer, influences and more.
First of all, congrats on 20 years of kicking ass, I still remember hearing you guys for first time and just loving the way you guys do business from the songs, the attitude to the album artwork, it’s been an awesome ride.
Now we have the new album just called “20” to mark the anniversary. Let’s talk about the record, what can we expect on this new material, is it classic C.N.E. style material?
Thank you so much! That means a lot! The sound is intact from the previous albums, so if you heard us before, I don’t think there will be any doubt that this is a new Chuck Norris Experiment album. We have gone a bit heavier on a few songs on this one, but as far as I see it, that is the only way to go.
Guitarist Chuck Daniels is back in the band after a 12 year break, which also gave the songs a push in the right direction.
-I really appreciate the way you guys have evolved over the years, it’s been more like a “micro” evolution with the sound, perhaps more just branching out a little more is that a fair assessment?
Yeah, I agree. To be honest, in the beginning there were some guys who didn’t really had a clue of what they were doing. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. The first couple of albums are very honest, they are all in one take, and the mistakes are included. When you record albums without really knowing what you are doing, and you need to do it bloody well, and that gives a lot of nerve to an album.
These days, we are pretty comfortable in what we do, but as you say, we evolve slowly all the time. Much thanks to our brilliant studio engineer Kenny who keeps us on our toes. I believe we slowly transforms from a punk rock band to a heavy metal band! Right now, we are somewhere around the “hard rock band-era” of the transformation.
-The opening song “The Knife” and “Surprise (And Everybody Dies)” were interesting, perhaps my memory isn’t so great, but they had a different feel than most of the songs in your library, they were more epic and melodic in my opinion, can you talk about these tracks?
“The Knife” is a song that Chuck the Ripper have been working on for a long time. I heard him play that intro and those riffs in the practice room for at least two years. That song is all him, and I think it got a lot of that beautiful Norwegian death punk in it. The intro is epic, I just love how he wrote that piece of gold.
I wrote “Surprise! (And Everybody Dies)” in the beginning if the pandemic. Me and The Ripper just came back from a gig in Los Angeles on February 2, 2020. On the way to LA there were no masks, and no restrictions, but on the way back, a few days later things were totally different. I explained the whole Covid situation for my son when I came home and he just said “surprise, and everybody dies”, but in Swedish though. Haha. And then we wrote the song in about 3 minutes. The intro came later, and I think that made the song complete! Heavier stuff indeed, and so much fun to play.
-What really intrigues me about C.N.E. is your fan base, who are they? I come from the 80’s and Metal side, but I see you guys labeled as Punk, Punk N’ Roll, Hardcore, Stoner Rock and so on. Who’s your average fan or are they all over the map?
Most of us are also from the 80´s metal scene, Chuck Buzz used to play drums in Gothenburg Sound bands like Cemetary and Ceremonial Oath, Daniels used to sing in black metal band 21 Lucifers. So, there are a lot of metal in this band. I label us as a hard rock band, nothing more nothing less, and I think people who comes to our shows are rockers, there might have been some punks in the beginning, but we shook them off.
-You guys have always had elements of Horror and B-Movies infused into the music, how big of an influence has this played in your music and live shows in the past 20 years?
We are all big fans of horror movies, and classic b-movie slashers, but most of all I am a big fan of the art and graphics that comes from that culture. And, yes, we have stolen shit loads of artwork from them during the years, and we have stolen sound effects and movie quotes all over the place. Don’t tell anyone.
-I hate bringing up the pandemic, it was a horrible time, but how did you guys deal with not being able to play live? Many bands folded during this period, did you have any discussions about moving forward?
Here in Sweden life went on almost as normal, we could travel, and go to the stores as usual, and schools were open. And we got permitted from work with full pay! So, we were basically just hanging around drinking beers and writing music, waiting for the sick to blow over. We had no thoughts about stopping The Chuck Norris Experiment, we had a year of well-deserved rest from live shows.
-Let’s talk about the tour, are you doing festivals? Where are you going and are you out touring with other bands?
This year is slow. We have done some shows here in Sweden, and we are going on tour in Spain for the first time later this year. That is all for 2024. In 2025 we plan a euro-tour, and we are doing some nice festivals in the UK next spring.
-Did I see that you guys have your own beer called “Orange Lightning” How did that come about and how can people get their hands on some?
Sorry, we HAD a beer, so there are no beers left. And that is a shame, it was a fantastic fruity IPA with a sting!
The guys at the brewery were fans of the band, so they just asked if they could do a C.N.E beer, and who are we to reject such a request!
Hopefully we can get into another project like that soon! We got plans (and we need free beer for the summer).
-Congrats again on 20 years, I’m grateful to have found you guys at the beginning of your career and being able to follow you over the years. Your music has brought me a lot of joy over the years, I appreciate what you do. Is there anything you’d like to add or say to the fans in conclusion?
Thank you very much for having me and thank you for the kind words! I appreciate it a lot!
I would like to add: Play loud rock and be kind!
/ Chuck Ransom
www.chucknorrisexperiment.com
e-mail: chuck@chucknorrisexperiment.com
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Bandcamp: https://chucknorrisexperiment.bandcamp.com