The band was born in 1998. How did you decide to start and where does your name come from?
Ida and Klara started to play together in '95 and Nicki joined in '98. That was when the band got it's name Crucified Barbara. There was another vocalist at the time, Joey Nine. In the beginning the band was just common punk rock/ hardcore band. I joined the band in 2001 since I was looking for a new band and CB wanted a lead guitar player. I wanted some heavý shit and the other wanted rocknroll so I guess we've growned into each others music styles, and created something extra... I started to sing 1 ½ years ago, since we couldn't find a new singer. So I gave it a try and it worked out fine!… To form CB I don't think there were any special thoughts behind the band except from that we all wanted to play loud and cool rock music and have a good time. The fact that we're best friends is a big bonus of course.

The name comes from the Roskilde festival '98 when half of the band was sitting outside their tent, and saw a guy carrying a crucified blow-up doll (the name for that is Barbara in Sweden) and the girls decided to give that name to the band. I think the name meant more in the early days than it does now to us, and it's up to you to interpret the name and messages in it. Today Barbara is more like a symbol for someone who deserve to eat shit.

Your debut album has been released at the beginning of the year and it will be available in Italy too through Frontiers. How have the critics reacted to it?
We've got good response so far, from everywhere the album has been released. Of course there's a lot of bullshit about our looks and that we're female, and sometimes people have major problems to focus on that we're playing rock music but we don't really care… I have all respect for opinions about the production like if you like this and that sound of prefer another, and we can talk about that too, but since this is our first album, we're at least very proud of it.

I think that Sweden is a great country to grow in as a rockband. The critics are SO rough and evil, and there's so many bands playing that you have to fight a lot to be something. Then, when you finally release your album, the critics will spit on your face and laugh, and it's hard work to get gigs in Sweden. But if you fight hard and have a good band, then you'll get all the success you deserves!

What kind of audience is "In Distortion We Trust" addressed to?
I think our music speaks to a lot of different kinds of people. Everything from young cool girls to old farts who says that we've brought rock'n'roll back to their life again. That's really cool and we really enjoy the mix! We've also made ourself a name in the glam/sleazerock scene somehow, and have done a lot of successful gigs at biker places so I guess everyone who likes good heavy music that you can play while drinking beer with your friends, should give this album a try. While writing songs and recording the album we didn't think about who's gonna listen to it or not, we just had a great time.

Michael Hannon from American Dog about you: they are the female version of Motorhead in the "Killed by Death" era. How would you describe your sound and what are the bands you take inspiration from?
A lot of people compare us to Motörhead but I have a feeeeling it's because we've done a cover of Killed By Death and it's easy to do that comparision then. Of course with that description you understand that we're not a Whitney Houston coverband or something so maybe it's a good one anyway but we're not that much influenced by Motörhead as some might think. We describe our music as a mix between punkrock and heavy metal, with a lot of energy, humour and heart. We are all influenced by different bands and no band is more obvious than another when it comes to affecting our sound. But to mention some bands I know that we all like are: Monster Magnet, Guns'n'Roses, Slayer, Mustasch, Queens of the Stone Age.

Michael Hannon again said he had good fun with you. What did you do???
Well, we had good fun, as you can have on tour with a bunch of ol' crazy Ohio rockers with Cowboy hats and a unbelievable taste for beer… :P

You have shot the video for "Losing The Game", let's talk about it.
Well. it was our first video and it was a lot of fun to make it, but also hard work!!
It took about 15 hours in a row to shoot it so that was the work we did... then the producer took over and cut everything in order.
The song is about someone - a boyfriend or what ever. that consider you as too much... To much make up, to much dancing, to much being yourself. but in the end, if you can't be your self you'll loose the game. That's what it's all about!

"Bad Hangover" is the title of one of your songs. Tell us about the times you got more pissed ever.
I think the Swedish tour with Pain was just a big piss! We had so much fun and the nights were totally insane. Actually I had expected American Dog to come up with something like that but no no.. and actually, mr Pain wasn't in a party mode so we just took his wife as the 5th member of our band -we love you!!! - and she was just as wild as we us. Memories for life!!!

…actually I haven't eat anything today and there were (!) a lot of beer here before I started to answer those questions.. I really have to stop doing that!!

Talking about being pissed, what are your favourite cocktails and what's the coolest place to get pissed in Stockholm?
Hmm.. I know that Nicki prefers whiskey, I'm just in it for beer and blood, don't know what the other 2 are into right now.. We don't have cocktails that often you know. There are some really nice places to visit either if you want to get shitfaced or just have a beer and enjoy good music. If you're into metal I would recommend a visit at Kelly's bar or Pub Anchor. If you like plain rock and to see new cool stuff, visit Club Rabbitfighter or KGB-Bar. Rocks, Medusa, Debaser, Alcazar are all good rock bars. A lot of them with live bands playing almost every night so there's a lot to choose from if you're not as lazy as we usually are.. It's actually pretty nice to just hang out in a local bar as well. I could talk for hours about where to spend a whole night out, but if you're looking for a glamorous place with disco and expensive drinks you must ask someone else.

What's the adjective that fits you most?
Mia Coldheart: confused
Klara Force: Sick as hell
Ida Evileye: pleasant
Nicki Wicked: optimistic

SLAM! has already got in touch with many bands such as Babylon Bombs, Crashdïet, Gemini5, Loud 'N' Nasty, Paradice, The Enemies, etc... is the Scandinavian scene as cool as it seems? Are there arguments and envy among the bands?
Yes the Scandinavian rockscene is cool!! It's fun to read your band references since all of them are good friends of ours, very nice guys and I think they all kick ass. I've never heard any arguments between bands, when we meet at gigs and play together we just have a lot of fun. Mostly when there are some trouble it's due to personal conflicts, never about competition between bands –our point of view! Also media tries to create conflicts by writing a lot of shit, but we don't care. We know that behind every band –girls or boys, you'll find a hard workin' rocker that wants nothing but to rock'n'roll.

What is good and what is bad in being an all female band?
Bad things:
-People STILL don't believe that girls can play, and that pisses you off to hear that all the time since it's bullshit.
-Some people even say that girls shall stay out of the metal scene since it's a "male-thing". But that might be on the "Good thing" list since it gives you a great laugh anyhow..-People sometimes focus too much on our looks/ image and can't listen to the music with an open mind.
- People often compares us to other female acts just because we're females and that sucks, my opinion. In Rock We're All The Same. (dirty bastards.. )

Good things:
-You get a lot of attention from it since it's still a bit rare (-BUT as a female band, you always have to prove that you deserve the attention, otherwise you're out faster than your mom says : "wake up", in the morning..…).
Guess that's the good thing about being a female. We're not fighting against anything, we just play rock. The only time we're aware of that we're actually females, is when journalists asks how it is to be a woman in rock. How the f**k can we know since we've never been male? It's just the same. Some bands are formed to make a statement or bring out a political message, but that's not what Crucified Barbara is about. We can't save the world, but we know how to rock. That's all and that's all that we want to do.

Daft question: the rock bands usually brag about having groupies. Is there a male version of them?
Yes there are male groupies. If you like to take a chance, don't be an asshole. There are too many of that kind already. We're not impressed by muscles, drunken idiots who spits when they talk and we don't want to know how many times you've seen Iron Maiden live, we just want to have a good time. So just stay cool –and don't cut your hair to get a job!

AHAHH! ... L7, GIRLSCHOOL, VIXEN, SKEW SISKIN, THE DONNAS, KITTIE, PHANTOM BLUE, is there one of those bands that made you say "I want to create an all female band"?
To talk for myself, I haven't grown up with rockmusic. I discovered it for the first time when I was 14 during (or in the end of…) the grunge Era and I think it's about the same for the whole band. I began to listen to Nirvana, stole my younger sister's acoustic guitar and started to learn some chords. Then I discovered Hole and we all liked bands like Hole, L7, Bikini Kills, 7YearBitch...

My first goal as a guitar player was to become as good guitarist as Courtney Love. After I'd learned her lead stuff I looked around for new shit. Discovered the metal music and now I'm old enough to realize that the music isn't about how fast you play or how many pedals you have on stage… it's all about the music you create. I love insane guitar schredding if it's good and I also love soft music like Norah Jones… It's all about music, fuck genres, gender and bad attitude!!!

But OK.. L7 kicks ass (kicked ass…), vixen are too slow, Skew Siskin REALLY KICKS ASS – I LOVE THE SINGER, the donnas are cool, Kittie are heavy but I don't listen to it. I saw one video and I didn't like the production.. but it would be really cool to see them live, I really hope -and think that they kick ass as well.

But to answer your question…:P
some of the bands mentioned have been an inspiration to me/ us, me for example just love the Phantom Blue album "built to perform". I think that it's very common that you start to play 'cause you have a role model. And it's natural that you stick with your gender like guys wants to be like the cool guys and girls stick with the chicks. But after playing for some years, you'll get your own identity as a musician and then those kinds of words like male and female doesn't mean anything.

Shall we have the chance to see you in Italy? What do you think of Italian people?
Of course we're coming to Italy!!! We're planning a Europe tour in the fall so we hope to see ya all then!!! There are not dates set yet but we'll announce it on the website for sure.. We think that Italian people are beautiful and the language as well. And we're looking forward to see and hear more of the Italian rock scene and we can't wait to face all the crazy headbangin' metalheads out there! We know that you're out there!!!!