Interview: The Chuck Norris Experiment (Written)
The Chuck Norris Experiment is a Swedish rock band who are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. They will release their new album, ’20’ in July and tour later in the year.
1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.
I am Chuck Ransom, lead vocalist in the Swedish rock band The Chuck Norris Experiment, and we have been around for 20 years this year, so we are having kind of a celebration going on here. The band started out as a side project by all members, but pretty soon we realized we were on to something, that at least we thought was big, and 20 years later we are still around touring, making records and cleaning out bars all over the world.
2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?
I usually say that we play what we like to call “Action Hard Rock” when I talk to people who knows the scene, otherwise I just go for “Hard Rock, like they used to do it”.
3. What’s currently going on in your camp? New releases? Tours? Etc.
Oh man! We are releasing our new album “20” in July and then we go to Spain for our first tour in October, and then we will hit UK early 2025. And we have already started the writing process for the next record.
4. What has been the most positive experience of making music to date for you?
I have enjoyed the travels, we have seen all of Europe a couple of times, we been to America two times. But what I like most about being in a band is the process of making a record. I love being in the studio putting all the pieces together.
5. Likewise, what has been some of the more challenging aspects and how have you overcome them?
Promotion is always the challenging part. Or the lack of promotion from labels, and clubs, it is very frustrating to drive 20 hours to a club and find out that they did not even bother to put up the posters. Or when a label doesn’t even manage to promote your release on their on Facebook. Stuff like that happens all the time.
6. How do you handle the modern expectations of being in a band? Always online, having to put out content constantly, your success measured in likes and follows?
If it would be up to me, it would be all records and tours, and radio play that mattered. But it is what it is, it is a modern pool of shit, and we all must swim in it.
7. What’s something that really ‘grinds your gears’ about the industry/business these days and what would you propose is done to combat it?
I think I am somewhat over the streaming issues, and stuff like that. Everybody knows that everything is fake, a band can have 100,000 individual plays per month on Spotify but 3 likes on every post on Instagram, nobody cares, and everybody cheats in some way. It sucks, but it is what it is, we choose to be a part of it, and then we must play the shit game too.
8. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support your music?
That is a good question. If you hear or see anything you like online, don’t just hit the like button, write a comment to the band, tell our friends, share the post or link. And support all bands you like by buying their records and t-shirts, that’s what we do, and that is what all rockers should do. You can find everything about us at www.chucknorrisexperiment.com
9. Outside of the music, what’s do you do to relax?
I go to concerts, I listen to vinyl records, and I drink red wine and cheap whiskey. I also play disc golf and I play bass in a surf rock band called The Riptide Rats.
10. Where can people find you?
Website | Spotify | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Threads | YouTube
Thank you for having me!
/ Chuck Ransom
