Words & Photographs by Angie Hurlock
When I arrived in the small Northern Swedish city of Umeå one of the first things I noticed was the various propaganda posters for the election which was happening at the time. However, amongst those posters promising a better Sweden was one that caught my eye, AC4 were playing that Saturday night and I couldn’t believe my luck. Umeå is the hometown of AC4 which consist of Dennis Lyxzén & David Sandstöm from Refused and Jens Nordén and Karl Backman from The Vectors who band together create an old school hardcore punk explosion.
In the days leading up to the gig I asked a friend of mine in Umeå about what AC4 were like live to which the response I received was, “they’re great if they’re sober”. So, on that chilly Swedish autumn night I made my way to the river where the gig was to take place on a boat and because they were all local bands, entry was only a mere $8 Australian dollars. Despite being nearly as far away from Australia as possible, to my surprise the bar at the gig was serving Coopers Pale Ale which reminded me instantly of home.
The first band to play were called Forever Young and were pretty decent but not incredibly memorable. Following them was Håll Det Ākta which had the largest fan base of the night. Although the last band of the night was made up of what I would deem as an all star punk line up, the young crowd to my astonishment seemed to be far more interested in Håll Det Ākta and most had left by the time AC4 were to play. As Dennis took the stage the small crowd took a few steps back leaving a two metre space between us in the front and the band, as soon as the began to play the reason for this shift became clear. As they kicked into an array of songs off their self titled album, Dennis began dancing and swinging his microphone in a way which has become synonymous with the performer during his time in Refused and The (International) Noise Conspiracy. The energy omitted by the AC4 is infectious and drummer Jens in nothing less than incredible. As they wrapped up their set a guy in the crowd picked up a girl, slung her over his shoulder and began running around in circles while her legs flailed in the air. It was a perfectly dangerous, high energy and hilarious act for the show to end with.
When I returned back to Australia my friend told me he was bringing AC4 over in April 2011 and I couldn’t wait. So, now I sit and wait anxiously for April 7th when AC4 are taking over The Zoo in Brisbane and recommending everyone to catch them on their first Australian tour.
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