Stockholm post-punks Viagra Boys stand apart due to how they consistently push the artistic envelope. Some songs have an aggressive vibe while others have some twang, some will make the listener want to dance and some are just weird as hell. Their third full-length LP Cave World that came out via their hometown label Year0001 on July 8.

I recently had a talk with lead vocalist Sebastian Murphy about the making of the new album, traveling to Eastern Europe to make a couple music videos, being a tattoo artist and the next Viagra Boys album already being in the works.

Northern Transmissions: How would you describe the experience of making Cave World? Musically it seems that the synthesizer has more of a presence than in the band’s previous records along with numerous interludes.

Sebastian Murphy: It was similar to our other processes, really. With a lot of stuff we do, we kind of make a rock record first and then a lot of things get taken away. If you heard a more synthy sound it’s more to do with the production and stuff like that which has happened after the first demos. It was a pretty long process, we recorded the album twice you could say. We recorded it once and at that time it consisted of a bunch of different songs but then when we got into the studio we decided to re-do everything, which we tend to do a lot.

NT: Ahead of the album’s release you guys released a couple music videos for the singles “Ain’t No Thief” and “Punk Rock Loser”. The one for “Ain’t No Thief” has you depicted as some sort of cult leader who does sermons in the attic of a house. Who had the idea for that setting in the video and whose house was the video shot in?

SM: That’s actually a church in Romania. It was supposed to look like a church, not as the attic of someone’s house but yeah it’s all filmed there. The idea for it came from the director, actually. He’s a guy named Erik [Kockum] who works for a company called SNASK, he’s a friend of mine and the both of us kind of came up with the idea with him first bringing it up.

NT: For “Punk Rock Loser”, the music video has a Western setting to it that’s kind of reminiscent of The Good, Bad & The Ugly and Blazing Saddles. You’re just shooting your gun without hitting anything and by the end of it you and the other cowboys in town are dancing together. Who came up with the choreography for the dancing at the end and how were you able to get this Western studio set up to happen with all the buildings and everything?

SM: That’s also in Romania. They’ve built this Western town out there and the director wanted it to have sort of a Western feel but the choreography was my idea. I wanted it to be as stupid as possible and I wanted to have this whole stupid Tik Tok vibe to the whole thing so we did that choreographed dance.

NT: It’s pretty funny, I did get a kick out of it. What brought you guys to Romania in the first place for these videos? Were you on tour out there and you had some time off?

SM: No, it had more to do with budget. It’s cheaper to do things in Romania.

NT: That makes sense. Outside of music, you’re also a tattoo artist. How did you get into that profession and what do you like most about tattooing? Is it the creative aspect of it or is it something else?

SM: I got into tattooing mostly because it’s one of the last true outsider professions. Most of the people I’ve met in tattooing were sort of in this outsider subculture and it’s a great way for me to make money off of being creative with my drawing skills and stuff like that. It was definitely an alluring profession when I was a teenager, I was kind of lazy and I didn’t really want to work a normal job. I worked a bunch of them but I could never see myself sitting behind a desk or anything like that. I’ve always wanted to do something in some sort of subculture so I thought tattooing was perfect.

NT: How do you balance that with being a touring musician? Are you a steady tattooer when you’re not on the road and you work in a shop?

SM: At the time being I actually haven’t tattooed for months just because I’ve been too busy with music and I don’t really have that much time while on tour to do tattoos. I’m also always really tired so I’ve put that on hold for now but it’s definitely something I’ll be doing for the rest of my life, I just have no rush to do it now.

NT: I understand that, especially with the new album being out. After this current tour with Shame, Viagra Boys will be back in Europe in December. So after this run of shows when the year ends, what are you and the band’s plans going into 2023?

SM: Our plans going into next year are probably mostly just writing new music. We’ve already started that process a little bit and we’re going to tour as much as possible even though we can’t really tour as much as these younger bands because some of us have kids and lots of responsibilities. We’re probably not going to tour too much and try to have a bit of time to be at home while writing new music and hopefully make a new album.

Viagra Boys 2022 Tour Dates:

10/10 – Red Flag St. Louis, Missouri*
10/11 – Brooklyn Bowl Nashville Nashville, Tennessee*
10/12 – Headliners Music Hall Louisville, Kentucky*
10/14 – Woodward Theater Cincinnati, Ohio*
10/15 – Mr. Small’s Theatre Millvale, Pennsylvania*
10/17 – White Eagle Music Hall Jersey City, New Jersey*
10/18 – Brooklyn Steel Brooklyn, New York*
12/7 – Astra Kulturhaus – Berlin, Germany
12/8 – Substage – Karlsruhe, Germany
12/11 – Bataclan – Paris, France
12/14 – X-Tra – Zurich, Switzerland
12/15 – Fabrique – Milan, Italy

* – w/ Shame

Order Cave World by Viagra Boys HERE