Anders Jakobson, drummer for Nasum, is the most polite, well-mannered Swede I’ve ever spoken to. He’s also the only Swede I’ve ever spoken to, but it still counts.

In case you didn’t know, Nasum is Sweden’s powerhouse of grindcore, world-renowned for melting more faces per minute than any other band, period. That is, they were; Nasum disbanded after lead singer Mieszko Talarczyk was tragically killed in the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. “After Mieszko died we were forced to quit the band. Nasum was never really able to have a natural ending.

I guess over the years there’s been a feeling between us that we’re not really satisfied with how things ended, and we felt we should get together and play one more time.” That “one more time” has turned into a string of international shows — but be warned, Nasum isn’t “back”. This tour isn’t a reformation, it’s a farewell; a celebration of the lives of the band and of Mieszko. “It was only supposed to be one show, so I’m surprised that it’s ended up being this massive tour. After agreeing to play the first show, we agreed to a few more until it became this massive thing.”

Anders is quick to profess how excited he and his colleagues are to reunite and hit the road again. But he says some people have a problem with Nasum’s remaining members embarking on this farewell tour, arguing that Mieszko can never be replaced. “It’s true that Mieszko was an integral part of the band. But to be perfectly honest, he wasn’t a founding member. I formed the band! Besides, we’re not reuniting. It’s a farewell.”

An awkward silence grinds the conversation to a halt, so I try to make Anders feel more comfortable by assembling IKEA furniture in front of him. He is not impressed. “Ja, is this some kind of joke?” “Erm…” “Ja, seriously, what are you doing?” “I’m putting a Malm together.” I put the Malm away and instead ask why Nasum never made it to Australia during their time as a band. “I guess we never really got any offers to play there. Australia will definitely be a highlight of the tour. We’re excited about it, since we never played there while we were a band.”

Nasum will play at The Hi-Fi on Friday August 17.