Scandinavian Indie Digest Vol.1 Issue #13
Scandinavian Indie Digest Fri May 27, 1994 Volume 1 : Issue 13
There are 17 messages totalling 765 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. RE: QUART FESTIVAL 21-24 JULY
2. Spiritualized (2)
3. QUART FESTIVAL 21-24 JULY
4. Festival Update: Bergslagsrocken
5. Danish Indie bands
6. Bel Canto/Velvet Belly (2)
7. Re: Astroburger
8. The Cardigans.
9. Re: Miranda Sex Garden
10. Quick Rant (2)
11. What is scandinavia?
12. Newsflash from the Finnish front
13. REVIEW: 15 Songs for the Spring
14. Puffin Interview (v1.1) (sorry)
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Date: Tue, 10 May 1994 10:05:10 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Preben Randhol
Subject: RE: QUART FESTIVAL 21-24 JULY
The festival will also have a camping place so that people from outside
Kristiansand can have a place to sleep.
Preben Randhol
email:randhol@stud.unit.no
----------------------
Date: Tue, 10 May 1994 11:17:45 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Preben Randhol
Subject: Spiritualized
Has anybody heard anything new from Spiritualized?
Preben Randhol
email:randhol@stud.unit.no
P.S: For those of you who haven't already heard Spaceman 3, listen to track
7-11 on Recurring.
-----------------------
Date: Tue, 10 May 94 11:59:20 +0200
From: Kjetil.Kristiansen@ban.aid.no
Subject: QUART FESTIVAL 21-24 JULY
Sorry for repeating a lot of information here, but I wrote this yesterday,
unaware of the messages from Preben Randholm.
Hopefully there is some additional info as well.
-K.K.
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There has been some people on this list that has showed interest in the
Quart-festival lately, and since I'm a Norwegian and (study about 50km
away from the city of Kristiansand) I will share most of the information
I've got.
In fact I've planned to do this for 2 weeks now, since someone mentioned
something about 'a festival in Norway'. (And I hope he was referring to
QUART, not the Kalv0ya-festival which is much more main-stream.)
Firstly, I'll repeat some general information:
(pasted from a posting to alt.no.musikk)
QUART FESTIVAL 21-24 JULY KRISTIANSAND-NORWAY
---------------------------------------------
ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS (UK), THE ORB (UK), BLUR (UK),
ORBITAL(UK), APHEX TWIN (UK), TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND (UK),
SCORN (UK/USA), UNDERWORLD (UK), ONE DOVE (UK), DREADZONE (UK),
ELASTICA (UK)
GRANT LEE BUFFALO (USA), TIM SCOTT (USA/NOR), EARL THOMAS (USA),
JIM SUHLER & THE MONKEY BEAT (USA)
BIOSPHERE (NOR), CLAWFINGER (NOR/SVE), SOURCE (SVE), TOURNESOL (DAN)
OTHER NORWEGIAN BANDS:
DE LILLOS, YM STAMMEN, RED HARVEST, TURBONEGRO, THE REAL THING,
MENTAL OVERDRIVE, STAVANGER GOSPEL CHOIR, WELD, GOOD TIME CHARLIE,
FLAATEN & BERGE, ALBINO SLUG, NO PLACE TO HIDE, PILEDRIVER,
KRISTIANSAND KUNSTKOMMANDO, VELVET BELLY (meget bra), FLYING CRAP,
JUNCYARD SECT
Tickets will be available from 9.may.
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+++-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
I don't know if more bands will show up.
A very promising list. Several of the absolute top-names of techno/ambient/
house, including Aphex Twin, Orb, Biosphere, Orbital, Source and Mental
Overdrive!!! Most of the top Norwegian DJs will be there too (from 'XS to
the Ravezone'). Amazing!
But there are several non-techno top-names as well, as you can see.
(Blur, Scorn....)
As well as a lot of Norwegian bands. Of which I recommend Velvet Belly,
Albino Slug, PileDriver, Kristiansand Kunst Kommando, YM-stammen, ++
The festival is very young. I'm not sure, but I think this is only their
3rd year. Last year they had bands like Godflesh, Daniel Lanois, Cranes,
Therapy?, as well as a wide range of the best Norwegian bands. (Motorpsycho,
Seigmen...).
I didn't go there last year because I was working ( I PLAN to go this year,
though.), but I've heard there were a lot of trouble. Rainy weather, and
other circumstances lead to several delays,lack of information, bad sound,
etc.......
So let's hope the idealistic arrangers have planned it better this year,
and learned from the mistakes.
Bruce Scott writes:
>Do I understand correctly if you go for 1 day it is 55 SEK and for three
>days it is 220 SEK? How much of a crowd goes to these shows? 100, 1000,
>or >= 10000? How big a town is Kristiansand? (I see it is the closest
>in Norway to Germany.) Does one camp there or must one find lodging?
>(I guess one can camp, no?) Finally, is getting tickets a problem? (In
>crowded Germany it is a big problem.)
>I have never been north of Kiel (except Scotland) so I am a bit ignorant
>of these thing. Can someone fill me in?
The Quart-festival is not like Roskilde, Hultsfred etc, where the bands
play outside or in tents in a festival area.
Instead it's more like a series of concerts at different clubs in
Kristiansand. Some of the concerts also take place at an old fortress
(Kristiansand Festning). Rain caused some of the concerts last year to
move inside. Several problems arised because of this. The club-owners
refused to let people below 18 years in, which was a stupid act if you
ask me. (But probably won't be a problem for people on this list(?))
Some bands didn't get the time they needed for sound-check etc.
Some concerts was even interrupted, because of time-trouble.
I hope they've cleared all this up this time.
About Kristiansand:
It's larger than an 'average' Norwegian town. Appx. guess. somewhere
between 50000 and 100000 inhabitants. Camping should be pretty easy.
If not exactly inside the town, then right outside.
I've only been to one of the clubs there (Markens) which is where concerts
are normally held in Kristiansand. It was pretty small, to say the least.
(which might be positive, but the capacity is small)
The big-acts,like Blur..., will probably play outside at Kristiansand
Festning.
As I didn't go there last year, I don't know the size of the crowd. I
can only guess, but it's much much MUCH less than, say Roskilde.
A couple of thousands perhaps.
About tickets:
I'm almost sure it is NOT 1 day for 55 SEK and 3 days 255 SEK!
(I wouldn't have complained if it was though :-).)
I have no information regarding the prices yet.
Last year you had to buy one ticket for each concert. The ticketprices were
rather cheap. But if you wanted to go to a lot of concerts, it would have
become pretty expensive. It was NOT possible to buy one ticket which gained
access to all the concerts! I hope it will be available this year.
(Esp. for foreigners this is a huge disadvantage)
I'll try to find out about this, and I'll let you know as soon as I find
out. Getting tickets shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Here's an address which might be of interest:
QUART FESTIVALEN
POSTBOKS 427
4601 KRISTIANSAND
NORWAY
-kJeTiL ThEoBaLd
Hey, I've spent 2 hours writing this!
----------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 May 1994 21:23:04 +0200
From: chief@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Festival Update: Bergslagsrocken
Festival Update
BERGSLAGSROCKEN - 28 May 1994 11:30 am - (Folkets Park, Fagersta, Sweden)
---------------
No Fx [USA], Lag Wagon [USA], Charta 77 [SWE], Sick Of It All [USA],
De Lyckliga Kompisarna [SWE], Dia Psalma [SWE], Refused [SWE],
Senser [UK], No Fun At All [SWE], Teddybears [SWE], Snapcase [USA],
Dischange, Radioaktiva Raker, Sober, Mindjive, Millencolin.
Carcass - Canceled. Another band will take their place, but nothing
is decided yet.
Price: 240 SEK (+ fee)
---------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 May 1994 22:43:38 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Preben Randhol
Subject: Danish Indie bands
Could somebody please mail something about the best indie bands in Denmark?
Preben Randhol (My opinions are myown)
Email: randhol@alkymi.unit.no
---------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 May 94 10:03:24 +0200
From: Kjetil.Kristiansen@ban.aid.no
Subject: Bel Canto/Velvet Belly
Warning, perhaps a bit too personal message coming up...
Preben Randholm writes about Bel Canto:
>Did you hear their last music on U, NRK? They are truly not indie anymore,
>(if they ever where?) I would say they now play the kind of music that is
>played at MTV during daytime (terrible!)
Yes, I saw it, and I partly agree to your views. Their next album seems
to be much more standard pop, with a much heavier emphasis on REAL
instruments. (Compare to the development of the Depeche Mode sound)
The electronic feel has previously been Bel Canto's trade mark, and
judging from 'U' (Norwegian youth-program) a lot of that was know gone.
They didn't sound like the Bel Canto I've previously loved anymore.
The video made for 'Didn't you Know' it, was really bad. They'd try to put
too much ideas in it, and none of them seemed to work. (Probably not BC'sfault)
It's not that I care, I really DON'T like the idea of music videos at all,
esp. since most videos today are made for promotional purposes only,
MTV in particular.
I think the word 'terrible' are really exaggerated. I was a bit shocked
though; I'd expected something more. The 'Tier Obletz' symphony they made
last year was great, and I'd expected them to continue their good work.
It's again very difficult to rate music on first listen though, especially
when you hear it on TV, and sometimes even only short parts of the songs.
..And he writes about Velvet Belly:
>They sound a lot like Rose Chronicle (or Chronical Rose, I forget)
>The first album is the best, and certainly do not hope they get a status
>like Bel Canto. I hope Velvet Belly, which I think is the best Norwegian
>band at the moment should keep their style and not start to make
>commercial music.
I've heard the comparison to 'Rose Chronicles' (spelled correctly:-) )
before from a guy in the USA that I traded 'Little Lies' with.
Hmmm, I don't hope they become the 'new' Bel Canto either. They should
get some more publicity though. (Like when I bought their first album,
'Colours' I had no idea who they were, so I was really surprised!)
I think the band itself would like to sell more than 500 copies of their
albums too, that does not mean changing their style.
I don't want them to end up on a label like Warner, though.
I think 'Little Lies' is better than 'Colours'. I base that upon that
'Little Lies' is more diverse, and they've developed more of a style of
their own on it. The vocals of Anne Marie Almedahl has also improved.
'Colours' sounds more like a mix of other bands.
Someone said it sounds very 'cocteau twinsy'.
Still a splendid album.
-kJeTiL ThEoBaLd
----------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 May 94 10:06:31 +0200
From: Kjetil.Kristiansen@ban.aid.no
Subject: Re: Astroburger
David Bennison inquires about Astroburger:
>Anyway, I digress - I've got the opportunity in a catalogue to buy an LP by
>a Norgegian band called Astroburger and I'm mighty tempted. The LP is on
>'Big Ball Records' and is called 'I Used To Be Mod'. Here comes the spiel
>that is tempting me...
(--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--8<--)
>So, conclusion is as follows:
> Are they huge.
Not even in Norway. In fact no Norwegian indie-band is huge here (if you
make a comparison with the commercial market.) Well, Astroburger isn't even
among the most known independent bands.
Astroburger is a band which has been undeservedly neglected, IMO.
I don't have any of their albums, but what I've heard has been rather sweet.
A really good pop-band in other words.
> Do they have an amazing show.
I seem to remember a review of a concert, which said so. If not amazing, then
atleast lots of humour. They are one of several bands from Oslo, which plays
1-2 concerts a year. And when they do they put a lot of work in it.
(ie. things you DON'T normally expect to experience at a concert).
Like the band 'superSKILL' had a concert with Darth Vader costumes.. :-)
> Should I get this.
I'd say it's worth a try. (Since I've only heard 2-3 songs, you can value
my opinions as you wish). If you were attracted by the description (which
I've cut), you'll probably like them.
If you buy it, and like it, you should try to get their most recent album
too. It's called 'In Orbit', and was released appx. 2 months ago.
I don't know which one is better.
-kJeTiL ThEoBaLd
----------------------
Date: Wed, 11 May 94 1:11:44 PDT
From: jason@mtndew.com (Jason Schmit)
Subject: Re: Spiritualized
Nothing new since _Electric Mainline_. Rumor has it that Jason and co. will
have an album out by the summer. Spiritualized are like wine, the longer
they take to release something, the better it ends up sounding. Stupid analogy
I know but it's the only way I can justify my patience with the band :)
P.S. I'm looking for "Anyway That You Want Me" on CD? Does anyone have an
extra copy they'd be willing to sell or know where to find one. Thanks!
Jason
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| JASON SCHMIT | distantSIGNALS | Super 31 e-mail | 5405 ALTON PKWY |
| TEL: 714-733-2924 | contact address | STE 295 |
| FAX: 714-733-3767 | IRVINE CA |
| NET: jason@mtndew.com | 92714-7585 |
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Date: Wed, 11 May 1994 11:16:04 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Preben Randhol
Subject: Re: Bel Canto/Velvet Belly
> Warning, perhaps a bit too personal message coming up...
>
> Preben Randholm writes about Bel Canto:
Preben Randhol actually :)
> I think 'Little Lies' is better than 'Colours'. I base that upon that
> 'Little Lies' is more diverse, and they've developed more of a style of
> their own on it. The vocals of Anne Marie Almedahl has also improved.
> 'Colours' sounds more like a mix of other bands.
> Someone said it sounds very 'cocteau twinsy'.
> Still a splendid album.
I lie Colours better because the lyrics are better and wider. In 'little lies'
most of the text are about the same thing, love. I also liked 'Colours' more
because it is a bit rougher and more indie.
One sad thing though. In an interview with Rock Furore, Anne Marie Almedahl
said that she didn't like the band being labeled indie. I cannot see whats
wrong with it, but I hope that they won't make the next CD more commercial.
Preben Randhol (My opinions are myown)
Email: randhol@alkymi.unit.no
--------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 May 1994 13:13:40 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Petter Tiilikainen
Subject: The Cardigans.
Hey!
They showed a video from the swedish
group 'Cardigans' on sunday's 120 min.
That was cool.
best regards, pEttEr.
--------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 May 1994 16:51:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: Erika Sherman
Subject: Re: Miranda Sex Garden
Miranda Sex garden have released a few albums.. I have 2 of them...:
Madra is a collection of 16th century madrigals - 22 or so of them, sung
in fairly oroginal versions. Very pretty, if you can stand it. There's a
single from this album for 'Gush Forth Thy Tears' which has some
interesting remixes on it.
Their latest, which I forget the title of, is very variable. Sometimes
fort of ambient/electro goth, other times they do straight indierock type
of songs.. the song 'Sunshine' has really neat vocal arrangements and
heavy uplifting electic uguitars.. there is also a version of the Lady in
the Radiator song from the Eraserhead soundtrack on there. Very strange
indeed, but they're interesting and good at their strangeness..
_
| | Erika Sherman
_ | | esherman@umich.edu
| | O |_| *defender of cosmic freeform*
| |
|_| ...what ever happened to PONG?!
---------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 May 94 09:06:19 BST
From: davidb@dbadmin2.amgen.com (David Bennison)
Subject: Quick Rant
I know that this mail doesn't have any strict musical content
and I don't want to start a huge debate about what countries
are strictly in scandanavia, but personally I think that this
list is a great idea as long as ANYTHING from the USA and UK
is excluded and the rest of Europe included. I don't think we
should stray into the realms of UK 'shoegazer' unless it is a
scan-indie band that is doing the derivative copying and not
another UK band. There are other lists for Spiritualized and
Slowdive info. Other than that, this is fun to read. Sorry to
be a bore. Over and out.
David...
-----------------------
Date: Thu, 12 May 1994 12:31:44 +0200
From: chief@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: Quick Rant
I agree with David about excluding non-Scandinavian indie from the list
as there are lists for such indie. I'm not sure why we've seen cross-
posts from UK-Indie and 4AD-L here more often lately, but it's hard
to stop those from coming, unless I e-mail the "offender" in each case
telling him/her how it is. While the volume is low as it is now, I can
do that, but if it grows.. well. I've seen posts from people not on
this list even, so it's not just a matter of posting to the list, but
anyway. I think it'll get better.
/Erik
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Date: Thu, 12 May 1994 17:52:10 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Preben Randhol
Subject: What is scandinavia?
Is it only Norway and Sweeden or do you include Denmark in your definition?
Preben Randhol (My opinions are myown)
Email: randhol@alkymi.unit.no
-------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 18:35:16 +0300 (EET DST)
From: Sami Rouhento
Subject: Newsflash from the Finnish front
Hi y'all,
just thought I'd brief you in on a couple of new/forthcoming
releases from the northern wastes of Finland!
Larry and the Lefthanded is a bona fide garage band born out
of the ashes of Huggin' Wayne, who were an excellent example
of what you get when you crossbreed 60's garage sound with
some of that more modern Seattle crunch... They managed to
release only one single on Trash Can Records before their
demise, which made me rather sad cos I really really loved
the single. Well, what I'm trying to say is that now two of
the three Waynes have reappeared as Larry and the Lefthanded
and released their debut 7" ep, once again on Trash Can, and
man! I know next to nothing about garage but they do rock like
hell, and they _sound_ pretty authentic (old and kind of funny) as
well. Check it out if this kind of 60's retro stuff is your cup of tea.
Other releases... Well, Circle should have their 2LP/CD "Frateria"
out on Bad Vugum pretty soon, June-ish I think. Should be mind-bending
and weird to say the least.
Oh, one more thing. Liimanarina have finished recording their first
full length album just recently and it should be released in the not-
too-distant future in CD-format by the US label Drag City. I was told
that the sound is very no-fi and the music then... well, you know if
you've heard the ep's! They will play live (!) here in Tampere on
May 27, I will certainly be there cos they're not known for doing
this kind of thing very often...
Sami
--------------------------
Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 13:23:14 +0300 (EET DST)
From: Kimmo S{{skilahti
Subject: REVIEW: 15 Songs for the Spring
Hi!
It's been awfully quiet on the list lately, but here's something for
you:
----------
15 Songs For The Spring - A West Side Fabrication compilation (We CD 031)
Track listing:
Hardy Nilsson: Vendela
Popsicle: Never Know
Popundret: Reach
A Shrine: The Drewling Baby
Vilhelm Fort: Man In The Moon
In The Flesh: All In Your Mind
Komeda: Dizzy Bossanova
The Boom Band: Hjartat Glommer
Holger Danske: Valerie
West European Politics: French Postcard
Nuclear 45: Believe
The Waiting Rain: Borrowed Time
Balanga: Bite Again
Stardog: Vacation
The Spacious Mind: Druid Two
I found this compilation CD, released in 1992 from a second
hand shop here in Tampere with a ridiculously low price (20 Fmk -
less than four US dollars). Given the nice price and the fact that
it featured a Popsicle song I didn't have in my collection, I went
ahead and bought it and I thought I'd give a short run-down of its contents.
Generally the selection of the bands was rather disappointing, even
though I had been told that not all the bands on West Side are as
great as Bear Quartet or Puffin. Yet it was a bit surprising to find
out that there are bands in Sweden that are as bad as some Finnish
mainstream bands. Also, the variety of styles was quite strange,
I wouldn't call some of them 'indie' to save my life (or 'save my
file' as I first mistyped :-)
The best songs of the lot come from the first six bands, though
none of them hasn't so far struck me as a masterpiece, even though the
Popsicle one comes quite close, naturally :-)
The Hardy Nilsson song is a nice, folky pop tune with some acoustic
guitars and an atmosphere of a sunny day in the summer, reminding me
a bit of the French band The Little Rabbits and the acoustic stuff
done by the Finnish band Good Evening Manchester. I don't know whether
this song is representative of their general approach, but it didn't
really make me feel sorry for not going to see them live here a couple
of weeks ago.
"Never Know" by Popsicle is in my opinion clearly the best song on
the CD. It has all the qualities of the usual Popsicle gem - heavenly
melodies, wonderful harmonies, buzzing guitars, uplifting feeling and
so on, you should know by now... But for some reason this particular
song isn't as magical as most songs on "Lacquer"...maybe I'll have to
listen it a couple of dozen times more... :-) It's perhaps due to the
sound, which is a bit tinny. Anyway, the whole CD was indeed worth
the 20 Fmk for this song only.
The Popundret song "Reach" is even poppier than Hardy Nilsson one
and it has also even more acoustic guitars sunshine and overall
happy feeling. The band has a female singer with a strong voice,
who sounds a bit like Natalie Merchant (of 10 000 Maniacs fame) at
time...or maybe I'm just imagining that. The song itself is maybe
nothing special, but as I have a weak spot for female singers,
I can't help liking it, especially the chorus which has a bit
more energetic guitar playing.
A Shrine's "The Drewling Baby" is kicked into action by a driving
bassline and groovy drumbeat. The song is not as straightforward
pop as the ones mentioned above, instead it has some changes of pace
between verses and the chorus. I apologize for my excessive lazy
comparisons to other bands in this review, but this particular A
Shrine song sounded to me a lot like Inspiral Carpets (or our own
Supperheads, if you want a Scan-Indie comparison :-), especially
as far the vocals are concerned.
Vilhelm Fort's "The Man In The Moon" is the biggest surprise (in
the positive sense) on the disc. I had heard one song by them
before this ("Fade Out", if memory serves) and it sounded rather
generic jangly pop to me. The song on this compilation is however
more interesting thanks to the use of violin and some attempts at
feedback guitar towards the end of the song. The song reminds me also
of George Best -era Wedding Present, which is always a good thing,
because I'm a huge WP fan! :-)
I seem to remember that in Erik's interview the guys from Puffin
said that they were previously called In The Flesh. If it is the
same band that appears on this compilation, it's a bit hard to
believe how they have been able to progress so much in a year!
"All In Your Mind" hasn't got actually anything wrong with it, but
like most of the other songs on the CD, it lacks originality and
imagination, which both the Puffin album "Carnivore" has massive
amounts of. Then again, if it's a different band, well, my pondering
is quite meaningless. Funnily enough, the main riff of hte song
sounds like it could be on "gish" by Smashing Pumpkins!
The Komeda song "Dizzy Bossanova" sounds interesting for the
first 30 seconds, but it becomes soon quite boring and sounds a bit
too pretentiously 'dizzy bossanova'.
"Hjartat Glommer" by The Boom Band is a very mainstream -like adult
pop tune a la Bryan Adams, which I am surprised (and disappointed
maybe?) to hear on a West Side CD. Of course it is nice that a label
has a variety of bands with different styles, but also it might be a
symptom of a lack of vision, which would be hard to believe as far as
West Side is concerned. Anyway, I couldn't tell this song from a
Tomas Ledin :-)
Holger Danske has to offer a two-chord folky ditty with some
annoying harmonica blowing going all over the place.
"French Postcard" by West European Politics sounds like an out-take
from Marc Almond's Jacques Brel cover sessions with predictable
cliches that supposedly try to represent typical French musique,
I guess. Horrible.
Nuclear 45 are probably from the genre which is called 'EBM' (or
'industrial' or whatever), though I'm not certain. Being no expert on
this field of music all I can say that it sounds a bit dated and
rather generic to my ears.
The Waiting Rain is a Swedish version of mid-80's Bon Jovi.
Balanga plays the kind of rhythm'n'bluesy American rock that I thought
sounded 'cool' when I was fifteen. To be avoided at any cost by all
Scan-Indie readers!
The first seconds of the Stardog song on this CD are enough to bring
in mind New Model Army, whom I never liked a bit.
The last song on the compilation is some sort of ambient techno (I
guess) with the usual bubbling, bleeping and humming on top of some
new-age synth layers. It also has a whispering low male voice.
That's basically what I can say after a couple of listens. It's
probably not the best West Side Fabrication compilation around, but it
has some fine moments. And for the 20 Fmk - I really can't complain.
Kimmo
------------------------
Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 20:18:06 +0200
From: chief@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Puffin Interview (v1.1) (sorry)
Short interview with "Puffin" 6 May 1994 - by Erik Soderstrom after a gig at
"Herrgar'n", Linkoping, Sweden. (v1.1)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Puffin are:
Per Helin (vocals, guitar) Robert Norsten (vocals, guitar)
Jon Rudberg (percussion) Magnus Astrom (drums, sampler)
Mattias Jonsson (bass) Helena Espvall (additional vocals, cello)
Eskil Lovstrom (trombone)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(if the answer is "A." it was answered by someone. If the answer came from
someone special, the initials are written.)
Q. WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE GIG TONIGHT?
PH. The stage was too high and it felt a bit small for all of us.
And it swayed a bit too. But the crowd was really, really great.
We played 17 songs. Nine from Carnivore [their full-length CD]:
'Sir', 'Elephant Stomp', 'Our Friend Insane', 'Medium Cool',
'Laugh & Die', 'White Noise', 'Kooky', 'A Dream It Seems',
and 'Culture Club', three from the Medium Cool E.P.: 'Five Ants',
'Three-Piece' and 'While You're Gone', one from the Life's A Joke
compilation: 'Ooh!' and four other ones: 'The Leaves', 'Flipper',
'Sibyl Vane' and 'Femme Fatale'. The two extra numbers were
'White Noise' and 'Kooky', then 'While You're Gone' and
'A Dream It Seems'.
Q. ARE YOU TOURING RIGHT NOW?
A. Sort of. We played in Kalmar yesterday, Linkoping today and tomorrow
we play at Kalmar Nation [It's like a club for people from the same
part of Sweden (in this case, Kalmar) at the universities] in Uppsala
together with HappyDeadMen, Sonic Surf City and Cloudberry Jam.
Q. WHEN DID PUFFIN START AND WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
PH. We started as Ultraflesh, then changed to In The Flesh and finally
when we recorded our CD, we changed to Puffin. Magnus Astrom and
I started out in a band called Pepperland Acid Waste [I may have
heard wrong] about four and a half years ago. When Magnus went
to England, Robert Norsten joined and we formed Ultraflesh. (haha)
We played dance music then, like Jesus Jones, you know? We were
seven then, but after a while our keyboardist and drummer quit,
and about one and a half year ago we got a new bass player
[I think the old one was Erik Danielsson]. We're all from Umea,
but Magnus is moving to Stockholm to study Graphic Design this
autumn.
Q. HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH PUFFIN, AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
A. Did you see the bird we had on one of the speakers? Well, that's
a Puffin bird [Lundfagel in swedish], and that's how we picked
our name. [someone says: It can hold more than one fish in its
mouth at the same time. (haha)]. From Ultraflesh to In The Flesh
was just a small change as you can see.
Q. HOW DID YOU GET SIGNED TO THE A WEST SIDE FABRICATION LABEL?
A. Well, we started out on the North Of No South label, and then just
moved over to West Side. [After a small discussion about the North
Of No South label and the bad move to put a lot of weight behind
the release of a full-length CD with Komeda [another swedish indie
band] which didn't do well at all, I find that Per Helin and Robert
Norsten are the owners of the North Of No South label and that Magnus
Astrom designs their covers.]
Q. HOW ABOUT RELEASES?
PH. We've been on a couple of compilations, released one Mini-CD, one
full-length CD and one E.P. The compilations we're on are:
"North of No South Compilation One" with 'Snow' and 'Slowtime',
"Life's a Joke" [Rainbow Music] with 'Ooh!', "15 Songs of Spring"
[West Side] with 'All In Your Mind', and the latest one was
"We're All Part Of A Family" [West Side] with 'Surface Earth'.
The Mini-CD, "A Dream It Seems" [with 6 songs] was released on
the North Of No South label a year ago. And finally, the full-
length CD "Carnivore" came out last year, and the E.P. "Medium
Cool E.P." a couple of months ago. Now we're going to hit the
studio again in June to record a new full-length [out after the
summer], and an E.P. after that. We plan to release an E.P.
a few months after every full-length we make.
Q. HOW ABOUT INFLUENCES?
A. Don't know really... but Pavement, Sebadoh, Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Idaho, Roller Skate Skinny, Mercury Rev.
MJ. I like jazz, John Coltraine, Michael Nyman and so on.
A. Kahlil Elseb from Africa, Monica Zetterlund.
PH. We listened to all albums with ELO when we recorded Carnivore.
A. Can, from Germany, are really good. They made music to the movie
"Til The End Of The World". They're Loop's favourite band by the
way.
MA. Dead Kennedys.
Q. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE BRITISH/AMERICAN INDIE SCENE?
A. The British scene isn't interesting at all anymore, but the american
one is. Just take a look at Pavement, American Music Club, Idaho,
Red Hot Chili Peppers...
Q. HOW ABOUT OTHER SWEDISH INDIE GROUPS?
A. Well, if they want to call us 'indie', okay... but we think of
ourselves as indie too (haha). No, but, Bear Quartet, Meshugga,
Blithe.. can't really talk about groups on our own label though
(haha).
Q. WHO WRITES THE SONGS?
A. Per writes about 50%, Robert about 40% and the rest 10% are by the
rest of the band. Everyone writes. Like on Carnivore, there were
songs by all members of the band. Jon writes a lot more nowadays
too. He has written two songs so far for the new CD. But like I
said, everyone writes. We start with complete songs, then we break
them down into pieces and they become new songs. Everyone sits
at home composing, but Per and Robert writes most of the songs.
Q. ARE YOU PLAYING FESTIVALS THIS SUMMER?
A. Nothing is planned, and we haven't heard anything, but we _will_
play _somewhere_. We just don't know yet.
Q. ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO TELL ME?
PH. One funny thing about our sound [Boo Radleys are mentioned a lot when
people try to describe their sound] - when we had recorded Carnivore
and it was a couple of weeks before it was to be released, Boo Radleys
came out with their "Giant Steps" and I thought 'oh no, they picked
the same style!'.
A. 'White Noise' and 'Our Friend Insane' was played a lot on the finnish
radio and got "Heavy Weight" labels.
PH. We got stopped by the police on our way here. They told us the car
wasn't built for more than three people. (haha) But it was okay.
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End of SI Digest #1.13
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Last updated Dec 07, 1994 by The Chief
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