NHMO: Sueco, it’s great to talk with you today! Firstly, congratulations on the release of your new album and also on ‘Paralyzed’ getting certified gold! What are you doing with your plaque?!

Sueco: Hell yeah good to talk to you too! Thanks! I’m hanging it up in the studio next to a painting a fan did of the wave file of ‘Paralyzed’.

NHMO: What are some of your most prized possessions?

Sueco: Maybe my M2 or my E30 or the plaques. To be honest I’ve learned to not really care too much about material things.

NHMO: When did you change your name to ‘Sueco’ from ‘Sueco the Child’. Why?

Sueco: Probably about a year and a half ago. I just thought it was cleaner. Like ‘Drake’. It also helped signify the transition I wanted to make musically.

Sueco – SOS (feat. Travis Barker) [Official Music Video] – YouTube 

NHMO: In an interview, you explained the story behind where you got your name and it was very interesting. Can you share about that?

Sueco: Yeah, so “sueco” means “Swedish” in the language, Spanish. Pretty much I grew up in LA in a mainly Hispanic neighborhood. my family is Finnish/Swedish and when I would go over to my homies’ houses they’re parents wouldn’t really speak English, mainly Spanish. They would call me “suececito” which means the little Swedish boy. The name stuck.

NHMO: Where were you born? What were your favorite pastimes as a child?

Sueco: I was born in LA. In La Crescenta actually. I spent a lot of time playing video games and skating growing up. Fun fact: I actually learned how to read when I was mad young from reading game instruction manuals and cheat code sheets. Dreamcast was my first console I ever had.

NHMO: ‘It Was Fun While It Lasted’ is a powerhouse body of work. Tracks like ‘Loser’ and ‘Paralyzed’ are personal favorites. How long were you working on this album? 

Sueco: The oldest song on the album I think was Primadona which we made probably Fall of 2020. So it’s been about a year and a half close to 2 years in the works. 

NHMO: Where was the album recorded?

Sueco: Honestly all over the place. Hella different studios and houses all over LA. Most of the songs all got finalized and mixed in Nashville with my producer Colin Brittain at his studio.

NHMO: Do you have any crazy stories from your studio sessions during the recording of the project?

Sueco: I got sober about halfway through working on the project. So, the usual day before stopping drinking would pretty much involve getting blacked out by 3 or 4PM, yelling into the microphone until midnight and going and getting lost in the underbelly of LA until I passed out and then woke up and repeat.

I wrote the song ‘Today’ the night before I went sober. I always used song writing as a way for me to gauge my true feelings. So I knew after making that song and feeling those feelings that if I kept on that track it would be the death of me somehow, someway. So the very next day I went up to Mammoth, locked myself in a cabin and quit cold turkey, I sweat it out for like a week and came back down to LA. I had a couple relapses the first month or so but I’ve been clean since.

NHMO: Wow, that’s quite a testimony. Congrats on your accomplishment! You mentioned that on the track, ‘Loser’ you channeled the pain/angst of being 15 years old. What can people who are currently in that situation take home from the song? 

Sueco: You’re not alone. Everybody feels like a [  ] up at one point or another. We all make mistakes. We’re all outcasts. We’re all weirdos and that’s perfectly okay.

NHMO: You have cited producer John Feldmann as a mentor. What sound advice or ‘golden nuggets’ has he taught you? What useful advice have you gotten from other mentors or peers?

Sueco: Feldmann just knows how to piece melodies together to make classic sounding [  ]. I’ve learned a lot more of the ‘science’ of writing songs from people like him and J Kash.

Honestly though, one of the people that I’ve learned a lot from is Jacoby from Papa Roach. he put me on game with a lot of [  ] about touring and really just how to do deal with this whole lifestyle that we as artists lead cause [  ] is complicated. (Laughs)

NHMO: ‘Loser’ is noted by the media and by fans to have an early 2000s sound, was this done intentionally? 

Sueco: I guess. I just wanted to make something that felt like My Chem [My Chemical Romance]. They’re one of my favorite bands/artists of all time. I wanted to take that sound and feeling and bring it to the future.

NHMO: Do you think there will be a resurgence of punk music’s early 2000s era sound? How would you feel about that?

Sueco: I think it’s very clear that the early 2000s sound has already emerged. I actually think what’s in the infancy right now is the next cycle of alternative music that started in the like mid-2000s of emo and scene/screamo [  ]. And you can really see all this across the board, not just the emergence of pop punk again but in fashion. Culture is cyclical so this shit was bound to happen it’s just cool to see it right before our eyes.

NHMO: How do you feel about the idea of genre defiant/ bending artists? Would you say that describes you?

Sueco: I would argue genres don’t really mean anything anymore. Any kid growing up in the past five years has had access to pretty much the entirety of recorded music at their fingertips because of streaming services like Spotify. Everyone listens to everything now, or at least more so than ever before. People care less about the ‘genre’ and more about the artist now. So in short I would say, yes that describes me. (Laughs)

NHMO: You’ve had an interesting relationship with TikTok. After much viral success, can you describe your relationship with the app today?

Sueco: Tik Tok is the only thing that makes anything happen in music anymore. The only exceptions are people that were massive before Tik Tok came about. I’m just fortunate to have been able to connect with people and build through the platform. Tik Tok is what has made all this [  ] possible.

NHMO: Favorite people you have collaborated with thus far: who might you want to work with in the future?

Sueco: Before I die I wanna make a song with Gerard Way and Kanye West.

NHMO: And lastly, what are you looking forward to about your Houston show? What has been your experience performing in Houston?

Sueco: Never done a show in Houston before so honestly, I’m just excited to see what it’s like. I heard it gets lit, so we’ll see if the rumors are true!

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