In anticipation of my trip to Sweden and the Hultsfred Festival I thought I’d talk to some of the bands playing that weekend to help me get a better feeling for the festival and the music scene in Sweden. The all girl group Those Dancing Days were high on my list of people to talk to. So below is my interview with Cissi the drummer. You can see what I’ve written about the group here.
(Swedesplease) I’m interested in the formation of the band. There’s a story that you all met in school or while in school. Were you all friends or was their a tryout? Did you expect the band would travel all over Europe and share a label with Peter Moren and Los Campesinos?
(Cissi) Yes we were all still in school when we started to play together, but it wasn’t how we got to know each other. Now you get the long story. Me and Rebecka became friends when we were only five or six and went to the same child minder and Rebecka and Lisa became best friends when they started school together, but me and Lisa still didn’t knew each other until we were 14 and confirmed us together. We noticed we had the music interest in common and decided we wanted to start a band together with some other friends in the conformation. Rebecka joined and we had a band going. we were not very good but we had very fun.
When we where 16 we split up and during the summer 2005 me lisa and rebecka talked about starting something new. We went to many concerts and festivals and got very inspired by for example Shout Out Louds and Hidden Cameras. We wanted to start something we would like to listen to our self. I knew Mimmi a bit and knew she played the bass so we asked if she wanted to join and she did. We started to rehearse in our youth garden just a few times before Linnea started to play with us. Mimmi had told us she had a girl in her class with a really cool and soulful voice. It was a nice mix.
“Hitten”
(Swedesplease) When you first started you were very young (now you’re only just plain young!). What did your parents think about the band. Did they think it was a lark? Were they concerned?
(Cissi) They saw it just like a hobby, like it was. They didn’t care so much. My mother could be concerned it took to much time from my studies.
(Swedesplease) There’s the perception that the Swedish government helps bands by supporting them financially. While that may not be true anymore, did the band have any help from governmental music agencies?
(Cissi) “Hmm we get contribution from something called studieförbundet vuxenskolan (educational association – the adult school), but i don’t know if it’s govern by the Swedish government. It’s a contribution everyone who starts a study circle. They pay a part of our rehearsal studio cost and drumsticks and strings. I’m not sure how it works. But the youth garden where we have rehearsed until now is run by the state and there we kids can play music and borrow the instruments for a very cheep price. That has been very needful for us.”
“Those Dancing Days”
(Swedesplease) Have you played Hultsfred in the past and if so what was it like? If you haven’t what do you expect it will be like?
(Cissi) last summer we played there, but on the smallest stage. the rookie stage (i think it’s called) it’s just for unsigned bands but we had just got signed so we played there anyway. It was real cool. Me, Rebecka, Lisa and Mimmi were there as visitors two and three years before so it was a very big dream come true. It was our first festival we played at so it was a really cool feeling. Not just the gig. Everything around was so new with the backstage and hanging out with other artists. We had a great time! This year it will be even more fun because we will be so much better live than last year (i hope) and play on a much better stage and commonly be more experienced.
(Swedesplease) Are the members in the band surprised by the mentions and reviews of the bands on music blogs in the states? Did you ever imagine that music writers all over the world would be writing about the band?
(Cissi) Of course we could never have imagined. all this came like a chock and we still have hard to understand. there are no interviews without the thought “why would anyone want to know anything about us”. I mean i understand people want to listen to our music, but it’s weird that people want to know things about us that has nothing to do with the music. But it’s very funny. I often think it’s hard to understand it’s us they right about on the other side of the world. But i think it’s good to keep a distance to it. Otherwise i think it would be hard to keep the feet on the ground.
(Swedesplease) How have music blogs, myspace, last.fm and other sites helped the band grow?
(Cissi) Very much i think. It was very much through Myspace we got this much attension. especially in the beginning, when we put up our demo we got response very fast. Maybe we would have came in contact with record companies and clubs now or then but i think it would have taken much longer. Now it all went very fast. Now Myspace is a very good and easy place to get in contact with fans all over the world.
(Swedesplease) What are the plans for your debut release? Is there a title, a release date, a single etc?
(Cissi) We’ll release a single in Sweden and england in may. It’s called “Run Run”. The album will probably be released September or October this fall. We are not sure what we’ll call it but we have recorded about ten songs and it will be a so good album!
(Swedesplease) What are some of your/the band’s favorite Swedish artists? What about in general, what are you listening to recently?
(Cissi) It’s hard to talk for all the band because we have a bit different music taste.
I listen to a lot of different bands and artists but some favorites are the Smiths, the Cure, Vampire Weekend, Belle and Sebastian, David Bowie, Mando Diao, the Strokes, Håkan Hellström, Shout Out Louds, Arctic Monkeys and Muse. Rebecka has recently got me into sunset rubdown. They are very good. Also lately I’ve listened much to Lykke Li and Talking Heads. I like much Swedish pop music. Enough of name dropping!
(Swedesplease) Are there any plans to tour the states when the new record comes out?
We haven’t anything decided yet, but we hope to go there soon. That would be very cool.
[...] Swedesplease, April 2008 [...]