Mattias “Indy” Pettersson
In some camps, Mattias "Indy" Pettersson is most known for his writing in rock magazines, and in other for his interest in graffitti and hip-hop culture. A man with, believe it or not, just one face, but with many talents and a will to make the most out of life. Hinsides met up with him to discuss what he´s been up to lately and to sort a few things out. A both doomed and blessed mission depending on what angle you prefer to view things from. Read further to find out your own perspective on this and perhaps other matters as well? This is the first part of our conversation.
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All photos by Mattias Pettersson.
Self-portrait. 2017/07/29
Hello there Indy, and welcome to Hinsides Magazine! Please introduce yourself by exposing your most beneficial personal qualities and explain how they´ll come to use while responding to the following questions?
Greetings, almighty Hinsides! I’m just a curious guy with too many interests and too much creative energy, hoping one day that “the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age”, to quote H.P. Lovecraft. I think contrasts are important to me. High and low, left and right, black and white, and everything in between, even though I think the extreme ends of the spectrum are the most interesting ones.
You know the saying “Some people have too much spare time”. I think one cannot have enough spare time! I’m trying to make the most out of life, and I don’t ever allow myself to get bored, at least not when I’m on my own. If that happens, I literally close my eyes and wander around in my apartment until I stumble upon some random book, film, album or whatever, and I indulge in that for a moment, or maybe for a full night if inspiration comes crashing in. Every time I do these random dice man activities is a good time, because I try to surround myself with stuff that I’m deeply interested in. Last time I read a random page in “The Three Pillars of Zen” by Kapleau, and then sat for half an hour just contemplating, kind of meditating, I guess. After that, boredom was way gone and I had lots of energy for creativity again. Another time I ran into a chair and stubbed my toe and cursed the gods for five minutes…
I’ve always been keen on sharing my experiences with others, like writing in magazines, doing fanzines, blogs, paintings, playing music, using social media etc… Sharing is caring, and for me it’s a great way of getting to know yourself and others. Last week I sent some books to Erik of Watain, for example. Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff, like Harvey Pekar said, and I try to use my spare time to escape, indulge and evolve, even if that means just lying in bed scrolling through Instagram. Everything is inspiration, and vice versa.
2017/09/06 Graff by Indy's friend and hero MKIZ.
Hinsides think it's fair to say that you´ve kept yourself quite busy in many different sub-cultural habitats over the years. It's almost as if you've become some kind of missing link between aesthetics and expressions that usually do not respond to each other. Would that be a correct observation, and if so, what advantages/disadvantages is there of such an open-minded and fluent position as yours?
A missing link! I like that a lot. I’ve always been schizo when it comes to taste, and since I’m interested in so many things, it’s both a blessing and a curse. Just the other day a friend posted about Taylor Swift’s latest LP “folklore” (I don’t know what’s up with the lowercase f, maybe she’s part of that dreadful generation who despise the stable rule of beginning a sentence with a capitalized letter), (Yeah, it´s really disturbing and it hurts both the eye and soul - Hinsides.)and I found the cover art really beautiful. I swear to God, on that day I’d never heard of her, but later that day I found out she’s a superstar or something… Anyway, this guy, Kola Krauze, is writing an in-depth book about Bathory, and he said something about the photos relating to “Blood Fire Death”, so I had to check it out. He recommended listening to the song“exile”, and so I did and I was hooked. This thing with me not having heard of Taylor Swift is quite interesting. It’s not that I’m trying to act cool, I just don’t know about some stuff. I mean, just until recently, thanks to my girlfriend, I discovered Sinead O´Connor for real, an artist whom I’d only heard of because of “Nothing Compares 2 U”. I had no idea she’d done a fantastic reggae album (and I mean trve roots reggae, not Statoil reggae).
I guess what I’m saying is there’s so much good stuff out there! I own only one Ramones album (“Subterranean Jungle”), which is sick because they rule. I’ve only got two Ozzy albums (“Bark At the Moon” and “The Ultimate Sin”, haha!), even though I went to New York and interviewed him for a cover story in Close-Up Magazine. But I guess I love Black Sabbath’s music more than Ozzy’s, but still… I should at least listen to his solo stuff. But I ain’t got the time to enjoy it. Also, I obviously don’t have the money to buy everything I like, and I ain’t got the space to stash it. It would be easier if I listened to only one genre, for example, but I don’t. I could probably obsess about anything, and I’m thinking I can find something I enjoy even in the things I despise. Again, a curse and a blessing. Damn, the time aspect is really annoying here, since I’ve got too many projects going that I can’t finish. I’ve started two or three books, and I want to do the blog again, start a podcast, travel more extensively in Japan and write a book about that… Time sucks, and I need more of it. Diversity is seldom bad, but it takes a lot of effort to be diverse.
2017/09/29
Thinking of your broad range of experiences from inside several different cultural expressions and identities, what context do you enjoy the most and why? Would you mind revealing one or two cherished moments that come to mind while searching for arguments to where you feel at home the most?
It all fell into place when I travelled to Japan in 2014. That’s when I felt at home for real. The incredibly humble people, the fascinating culture… Everything just connected 100%. I’ve never felt like that before. I’ve never even thought about it like that, what it’s like finding your place. It just came to me after two or three days in Tokyo. This is it, this is paradise. For real. For me. Everything I’m interested in is to be found in Japan, and the contrasts are mind blowing. One minute you’re in this fantastic zen garden, quiet and serene, sitting next to a Buddhist monk meditating, the next minute you’re in an arcade with the most insane top of the line games you’ve ever seen, and the volume in there is brainmeltingly loud and people are into it as fuck! Chaos and confusion, peace and quiet, all rolled into one. I’ve been there eight times since 2014 and I could go on for years talking about Japan, but this is not the Indy Loves Japan column, so I’ll just mention this: After visiting Japan, I kind of stopped buying records.
2017/09/24 Japanese Elvis clones.
Since you’ve been active both as a participant and viewer/reviewer in some of your areas of interest, it would be interesting to know how you look upon theoretical analysis versus acting in practice? Are both sides equally important and completely dependent on each other or could you dismiss one part in favor of the other? Like if you had to choose; would you sacrifice playing music, write or paint in order to listen, read and just look at art or vice versa?
Ultimately, creating is way more important to me, but if I somehow was not able to consume at all, I guess I would be drained quite fast, so inspiration is probably equally important.
I saw this really great film called “Sound of Metal” (never mind the cheesy title), which is roughly about a drummer’s struggle after losing his hearing. All of a sudden he is forced to exist in another world that is completely silent. The message is: Do you prefer the sound of metal, or the sound of silence? After seeing this film, I think I’d pick silence… If you watch it, make sure you use headphones and turn the volume up, the sound design is amazing.
Anyway, it got me thinking about losing my hearing and losing my sight. If there ever was a choice, it’s not hard. Losing my sight, I would never be able to see my girlfriend again, but I could speak to her even if I was deaf. I could watch movies, go to really loud techno parties and feel the bass pounding through my body. I could still read books. And after watching this film, I was even more convinced. I’ve heard so much music in my life, I think I could recall Funeral Mist’s complete discography soundwise in my mind without even hearing it ever again, haha! Sorry, I’m not sure where I’m going with these ramblings… To answer your question: Both are probably equally important, but if forced to choose, I’d pick practice before theory. I can’t even imagine a life consisting of only consuming, never producing. I would feel completely empty, devoid of life.
2017/11/14 Live with Kungens Män.
You`ve just read the first part of a lengthier interview that will be published in the next issue of Hinsides Magazine. The last copies of the first issue can be ordered here: