Swedish shredheads

Elin Gunnarsson and Lina Falck don’t look like your average Chico State coeds. The two 25-year old Swedish exchange students—and hosts of the metal-themed KCSC radio show Rockin’ Scandinavia—have bigger hair, bigger holes in their ripped jeans, bigger personalities and dozens more bracelets than the typical yoga-pants-and-Uggs-clad students.

But they don’t just look the part of ’80s metal chicks; Gunnarsson (aka Alex Gun) and Falck (Mary Lii) are bona fide “Swedish metal priestesses” who proudly talk of their home country’s contribution to the international metal scene, how awesome KISS is and their aspirations in the music industry.

The duo’s weekly radio show is a quirky mix. In between blood-curdling metal tracks, the pair interjects trivia and anecdotes in their heavily Swedish-accented English about the bands, often from first-hand experiences backstage at European festivals (“getting dragged to a bar” by KISS drummer Eric Singer is one picture they painted).

When the girls met each other in high school nine years ago, they both aspired to become veterinarians. But that was a goal they apparently shared with thousands of students in Sweden, making competition for admission into veterinary school fierce. It was around that time they began attending music festivals, which they “really fell in love with,” Falck said. “We’ve been to so many concerts and festivals since.”

The pair changed gears following high school, spending several years immersing themselves in Sweden’s metal scene, a culture that spawned the “Gothenburg sound” highlighted by bands such as In Flames, Meshuggah and At the Gates. Though extreme metal is far more popular in Sweden than in the United States, they maintain it’s not quite mainstream.

The bulk of their radio show is devoted to metal from home (and is even downloaded by fans in Sweden) and throughout the Scandivian/Nordic region, but as they say on their website, they are “also punching in music from world-renowned bands/artists that can, in one way or another, be connected with Scandinavia.”

When they enrolled together at Umeå University in northern Sweden, they began studying business administration with a focus on music and events management. They chose Chico State as their exchange destination because of the university’s strong music program and recommendations from fellow Swedish exchange students. Aside from the small-town feel, they say the most striking difference is Chico’s sense of fashion (or lack thereof).

“Everyone here wants to blend in; few people want to stand out and have extreme styles,” Falck said.

“Or have any style at all,” Gunnarsson chimed in.

Naturally, their style attracts attention. During a recent Rockin’ Scandinavia broadcast from the KCSC station in the basement of the Bell Memorial Union, a male student entered the studio bearing flowers. Gunnarsson’s deadpan reaction spoke of a lifetime of spurning advances from metal dudes. She explained that accepting the flowers would be burdensome, as she and Falck had class following the show.

“Well, maybe you could give them to your teacher?” the suitor suggested.

“No, I don’t give gifts to my teachers,” Gunnarsson said without inflection.

“Oh, well, you have a good day,” he said, sheepishly closing the door.

Though they haven’t targeted a specific career (and don’t know whether they will continue to operate as a duo), they feel they would be best suited to concert promotion or artist management. And while they have fun hosting Rockin’ Scandinavia (they are often overcome with giggles on-air), they consider the radio show a serious step forward for them.

“If we’re going to work within the music industry, it’s all about who you know and having a big network,” Gunnarsson said. “We’re both really driven. We want to do it for real. It’s really fun having the radio show, but we put a lot of effort into it because we want to tell people we had a show and it went really well.”