This article was written for The Big Takeover and appeared in issue #49 in December of 2001.

"The first people outside of Sweden to pick up on the Nomads were the French" says Nik Vahlberg, musing about the early days of his veteran band the Nomads. "Closer Records licensed the first two mini-albums we did in 83-84. The Outburst album on Homestead in 1985 did really well in the US, but when we left them it took us until 1992 to get a US release again! So yeah, we've had to build up our name in the US twice."

Vahlberg, who has fronted Sweden’s Nomads since their inception, has reason to be a little nostalgic. After all, this year marks twenty years of existence for one of the greatest garage bands of all time. Can it really be that long? But looking at the dates on the records, yep, it was 1982 that they recorded their second single, the covers pairing of "Night Time" and the Sonics’ classic "Boss Hoss". And that one post-dated their impossible to find debut, "Psycho", by nearly a full year. It seems amazing that early 80s Sweden could have launched a band with such good influences as the Nomads had.

But Nik shrugs that idea off quickly: "On the contrary, it was easy to find good music here then - Stockholm had a lot of great record stores in the late seventies, and there were some great writers around who influenced our musical taste a lot. One specific article in the fanzine Larm in 1977 about 60's garage punk meant a lot. There were two Swedish bands that were big inspirations: a chaotic punk band from Stockholm called the Stoodes, and a garage/punk/psychedelic band from Malmö called Problem."

It was the Nomads’ opening blast on 12" vinyl, Where The Wolfbane Blooms, that really made folks sit up and pay attention. This record helped set the blueprint for much of the 80s garage band revival – a reverence for the past, but a step into the future achieved by combining the best of 60s Nuggets-era songcraft with the "go for it" ethos of late 70s punks. Only Nik and guitarist Hans Ostlund remain from the lineup on that record, but today’s version has been going for 14 years, and the formula still tastes great. The songs are mid paced garage pop with thick, meaty guitars from Hans sounding like Johnny Thunders at his best, deadpan vocals from Nik, and solid, punchy rhythm from drummer Joakim Ericson and bassist Bjorne Froberg. Live, the Nomads can be a stunningly tight combo, making every show for weeks before and after seem loose and sloppy by comparison.

The band has done an admirable job of marking their anniversary with the killer new CD Up-Tight, which should be out on the US on the Sympathy record label by the time you read this. "I thought it came out really good", says Nik. "It was a very quick record to make - we realized in October last year that our 20th anniversary was coming up in April this year so we decided to try to get an album out in time for that. Most of the songs were written after that and then quickly recorded."

If you’ve liked any Nomads records in the last ten years, you won’t be disappointed with this one. Since their masterpiece Sonically Speaking came out in 1991, the Nomads haven’t done a lot to change the general approach from one record to the next. With some bands this might feel like getting into a rut, but as used to be the case with the Ramones, the Nomads seem to always have such great songs that it's not a problem. I wondered if they ever have discussions about trying to do something radically different.

"No, we don't feel any pressure to develop our sound in any way", says Nik. "We know our limitations and we know what we're good at! The song writing process has changed a bit the last couple of years...Björne, our bass player, is now the most prolific writer of us and does stuff together with Chips, our producer. In the past we did most song writing together at rehearsals. The reason for the similarity of our records since Sonically Speaking is definitely because of Chips - he's the unofficial fifth member of the band."

Chips is the second key producer figure in the Nomads’ career. Earlier on, they benefited greatly from the guidance of Amigo Records head honcho Ulf Lindquist, who traded under the name of 4-Eyed Thomas. Thomas produced most of the early Nomads records along with many other great Swedish garage bands of the day. "He was a very important factor in the beginning", says Nik. "He produced the early records and many early covers came from his amazing record collection. We decided to stop working together after the All Wrecked Up album back in 1989. That album felt very uninspired, and it was time to do something else. He still works for Amigo, our old label, but he's completely lost interest in rock 'n' roll and only listens to free jazz these days."

The late 80s saw a lot of turmoil in the business of distributing indie records as well. Homestead and Closer Records both went under, so the Nomads might have lost their key outlets even if they hadn’t made All Wrecked Up. But the Nomads quickly found other supporters. Estrus Records boss Dave Crider was a huge fan, and so was Long Gone John at Sympathy. So it wasn’t long before they had another US release with 1994’s Powerstrip, a record not far from the standard set by Sonically Speaking. Side by side with this came an essential two disc compilation of their earlier records called Showdown.

Since then there’s been a new Nomads disc every couple years, and they’re all at least very good. I asked Nik what he sees as some of the best moments of the band…the songs that he feels really good about. "Let's see...from the early stuff I'm quite proud of "Low Down Shakin' Chills". Some of the songs from Sonically Speaking still sound great too, like "The Goodbye Look" and "Can't Keep My Mind Off You". And "Dig Up The Hatchet" from Powerstrip is a forgotten gem."

The Nomads were slated to tour the US this past fall, but the events of September 11^th sadly prevented that. But they’ll almost certainly be back, and when they do, don’t miss them.