【SKOLD翻译军团荣誉出品】2013年瑞典杂志采访

You can take a boy from Sweden and you can definitely also take Sweden from the boy. Tim Sköld was born in Västergötland but feels more American than most Americans. In an unusually comprehensive interview the normally forward driven bassist and vocalist looks back over his whole career - from Shotgun Messiah’s breakthrough, through the years as Marilyn Manson’s radar partner, to the last investment Doctor Midnight & the Mercy Cult.
Interview by: Emil Persson, Sweden Rock Magazine 2013Pictures by: Michael JohanssonTranslated and brought to you by: tim-skold.tumblr.com crew
Part 1/7
Tim Sköld was born 1966 in the small village Timmersdala in the commune of Skövde and is as purely Swedish as a flatbread roll. He has just attempted to explain why he ileft Marilyn Manson’s band in 2007. He has done it in seamless and well phrased English.
- Do you think for even a second that I could have said any of that in Swedish?
The truthful answer is: no. I don’t think so. Although the Swedish is still left somewhere in there, drowned in a spicy västgötska [name of accent] which seems preserved in formaldehyde, but needs to be painstakingly eased out with pincers. That’s why Tim prefers to give his answers in Swedish.
- I always tell Swedes that “your English is better than my Swedish”.
There I sit and throw out Swedish questions which Tim replies to with phrases like “God damn it”. No oddities.
- I remember when Dolph Lundgren came home to Sweden and wanted to do interviews in English. Although I was young I could absolutely understand his situation. He marketed an American movie he had filmed in USA. Everything that concerned it was associated with the English language. To all of a sudden try to break out and talk about it in Swedish would have been really bizarre.
Already now, after three quotes, Tim Sköld surely had time to anger the Law of Jante reflex in a few readers. But it’s important to emphasize that it’s not about some seditious divas. He talks like that. He is like that. He thinks like that.
But you can think whatever you want about that. You can for example think that it’s not especially “Swedish” - whatever the fuck that really means - because that’s namely what he thinks himself. Contrariwise, he describes himself as “more American than most Americans”. One of his big hobbies home in Los Angeles is for instance to build AK-47’s. He built five in 2010 which he proudly shows mobile pictures of.
The attraction to USA has permeated Tim Sköld’s whole life. Already as a child was he determined to learn to speak good English. Through the local newsstand he ordered home Stephen King novels in the original language. When American movies and series were on TV he knowledge thirstily taped over the lower decimeter of the screen so the text strip was covered.
As a teenager he met Harry Kemppainen (more known as Harry K Cody) at a New Year’s party. In Harry, Tim didn’t only find a magnificent guitarist, but also a like-minded and ambition synchronized friend. When they went to McDonald’s in Skövde, Harry would bring a jar of peanut butter. Before they tore into their Big Mac they lifted the bread away and spread a thick layer of peanut butter over the onion and pickles.
- Harry must have read somewhere that you could get peanut butter on your burger in USA, Tim remembers. He said: “We’ll go buy some and try!” Me and Harry actually went around and talked English to each other, which people weren’t fully comfortable with.

Tim played bass and founded the glamrock band Kingpin together with Harry, the drummer Pekka “Stixx” Ollinen and the singer Jukka “Knox” Kemppainen 1984.
- The only target for the band was to get as fucking far away from Sweden as possible.
The traditional set-up was completed first when Jukka Kemppainen fell away and Easy Action’s past singer Bo “Zinny J Zan” Stagman recruited with help from the magazine Okej [Okay]. The debut album “Welcome to Bop City” was recorded in 1987 and was given out by CMM, even though it rather was to be considered a better packed demo to send around to record labels in USA. Kingpin didn’t care about the Swedish market and the Swedish market didn’t care about Kingpin. They played a measly gig here, in ‘Hard Rock Café’ in Stockholm.
- I think we did some TV appearances too, Tim says. For I remember I went to a kiosk and bought a couple porn magazines, to then carefully cut out the women’s intimate parts, taped them to the bass and held it up for the TV-cameras. It was actually shown on TV, because it was shown in Sweden and nobody cared.

但你可以设想任何你所能想到的，你可以举个与瑞典语无关的例子----不要管这个他妈真正含义是啥----因为他就是这样看待自己的。他很固执的将自己诠释成“比绝大多数美国人还像个美国人”。在几大爱好之中，比如以在洛杉矶为例，他热衷于自制AK-47。他骄傲的用手机向我们展示了他在2010年自制的五把AK-47的照片。
对美国的向往充斥着Tim Skold的整个人生。
早在孩提时期他就已下定决心要学好英语。通过当地报刊亭，他往家搬了许多英文原版的史蒂芬·金小说。当美国的电影与剧集在电视上播出时，他充满学习热情地把电视屏幕的下方用胶带封了起来，这样就可以挡住字幕了。
在青少年时期，Tim在一场新年聚会上遇到了Harry Kemppainen（更以Harry K Cody之名被熟知）。在Harry身上，Tim发现了一个杰出吉他手的影子，而更为重要的是Tim找到了一个志同道合的知己。他们去舍夫德的麦当劳的时候，Harry会带上一罐花生酱。在他们攻陷自己的巨无霸汉堡之前，他们会先把最上层的面包拿起来，在洋葱和腌黄瓜上抹一层厚厚的花生酱。“Harry一定在哪看到过，在美国，人们可以要求往自己的汉堡上抹花生酱，”Tim回忆道，“他说：‘我们去买点试试吧！’其实我和Harry走到哪都用英语交谈，这让别人感到不是很舒服。”
Tim作为贝斯手，与吉他手Harry Kemppainen，鼓手Pekka “Stixx” Ollinen和主唱 Jukka “Knox” Kemppainen在1984年一同建立了华丽摇滚乐队Kingpin。
“当时我们乐队的目的只有一个：尽可能的远离瑞典，越远越好。”
“Shotgun Messiah的经典组合是在Jukka Kemppainem离开我们之后，Easy Action乐队曾经的主唱Zinny Zan在杂志Okej②的帮助下应招加入我们时首次形成。1987年，我们录制了首张专辑《Welcome to Bop City》，而后被CMM发行。尽管被认为只是精致的demo礼盒装，但还是在美国传播很广。Kingpin和瑞典市场互相毫不在意。我们也只在斯德哥尔摩的‘Hard Rock Café’举办过少数几场演出。”据Tim回忆，“当时我认为我们应该做一些电视访问，有一次我去报摊买了很多色情杂志，将女人们的私密部分小心剪下来再将它们粘贴在我的贝斯上，对着摄像机，我举起了它。而这一段真的在电视上播了出来，但因为在瑞典，根本没人在意我们在表演什么。”
译者注：
① 詹代法则（Jante Law）是一个斯堪的纳维亚社群中对个人的一种看法，其特点是否定个人的成就。詹代法则共有十条，总结成一句话即为：不要以为你很特别，不要以为你比我们优秀。
②Kingpin乐队&Okej杂志&Zinny Zan缘起
来自sleazroxx.com的2006年6月3日Zinny J.Zan Interview
下文中SR=sleazeroxx.com网站 ZZ=Zinny J Zan

SR: Let’s talk about Shotgun Messiah, how did you become involved with them?
ZZ: It was OKEJ, at that time Sweden’s biggest Rock Magazine, that called me up and told me that this band (at that time named Kingpin) was looking for a singer and that they really wanted me or Mike Monroe. I told the magazine that they could give the guys my number and a few hours later they called.
We got together and I heard their songs, it was love at first listening, I had honestly never heard anything like it. This was great songs and with an attitude (that has always been my brand).
We went down to the studio they rented at the time down south of Sweden and I poured me a whiskey and started to sing to some of their songs.
3 hours later they asked me if I wanted to join the band and I said yes. They liked me since I did not hesitate, just poured me a whiskey and sang, and did not ask for any delay or anything on the vocals, just dry Rock’n’Roll vocals. And for me? I liked them cause these guys were unique, the sound, the attitude, the approach to the music and of course the amazing guitar from Harry K Cody.