Ace of Base co-founder Ulf Ekberg has addressed allegations his former band had neo-Nazi ties.
Ekberg spoke after a Noisey Vice report surfaced highlighting his membership of the band Commit Suicide, years before he propelled Ace of Base to stardom with such fluffy pop hits such as All That She Wants and The Sign.
Among the lyrics Commit Suicide sang (originally in Swedish, this is Noisey's translation): "Men in white hoods march down the road, we enjoy ourselves when we're sawing off n-----s’ heads/ Immigrant, we hate you! Out, out, out, out! Nordic people, wake up now! Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot!"
Ace of Base's Ulf Ekberg has addressed allegations his former band had neo-Nazi ties
Noisey points to a 1998 compilation called Uffe Was A Nazi, which features Ekberg on the cover giving a Nazi salute and a selection of his performances with Commit Suicide.
The album, which was limited to 1,000 copies, also includes songs titled Do Not Touch Our Country and White Power, Black Skull Slaughter.
The blog notes Ekberg dismissed that period of his life in a 1997 documentary with the “fairly non-committal” statement: “I told everyone I really regret what I did. I’ve closed that book.”
Ekberg has admitted holding right-wing opinions during his youth, but insists Commit Suicide did not write all the songs on the compilation in question.
Responding to the blog, on Thursday he told E!only two of the six songs on the compilation were written and performed by Commit Suicide.
A 1998 compilation called Uffe Was A Nazi features Ekberg on the cover giving a salute and a selection of his output with Commit Suicide
He added: "The problem is the other four songs [are] very racist skinhead music with lyrics. These songs have absolutely nothing to do with Commit Suicide. We did not write or perform songs.
"I have not been involved in violence or political activism in the past 25 years. However, I find some of my thoughts from those days nauseating to myself today."
“I did have a band called Commit Suicide but we did not write or perform the songs in question on this demo, and I have never been a member of the Swedish Democrats, however the teenage mistakes I did make in terms of my chosen ideas at the time were unfortunate and if I were to live through those days again I would have done things very differently!
“I'm truly deeply sorry for any hurt and disappointment this has caused for our fans and I want to be very clear that Ace of Base never shared any of these opinions and strongly oppose all extremist opinions on both the right and left wing."