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Andy Interviews... |
ANDY EXTANCE talks to 'THE WANNADIES' Kristina, Stefan and Par on their tour with Sleeper, trying to make it and the Swedish fire service.
Q . Most obvious question first why are you called the Wannadies when a you play such happy music?
A. Stefan-"We tried to play death metal but we didn't manage it so,"
Par-"We'd already chosen a name then so we changed the music but we stuck with the name."
Q. It's a well known fact that you were gravediggers before you started playing pop music. How do you get from there to playing on tour with Sleeper?
A. Par-"We started recording albums. But we still do some gravedigging in the summer when we haven't got any money, but hopefully this England thing will make us more wealthy, so we don't have to dig graves next summer."
Q. Have you tried very hard to make the big time?
A. Kristina-"We've been trying to make music for 7 years. Now we're here. We just want to make music. "
Par-"We're melody makers. We do songs, if they go big , that's not how we wrote them. We record songs that we like. Maybe if we were a bit more smart, a bit more commercially oriented, we'd say " Put that here, maybe it'll be a bit more catchy ", but I really think that's the wrong way to go."
Q. It's a similarly well known fact that you don't like Ace of Base or Roxette. Is this not just jealousy of their success on your part?
A. Par-"I think it's easier if you're a bit shitty, very lousy, commercialised, it's easier to make money. But I think bands like REM and U2, they're really big, and they're not shitty. So, sure we'd like to sell as many albums as Ace of Base or Roxette,"
Q. It makes a lot in your press release about the endless sunshine you got in summer when you were recording the album. What do you do at night in the summer?
A. Kristina-"Play football."
Par-"We do everything, we go out to small lakes and have a party. The best thing is that you don't realise what time it is. The birds are singing all the time and the sun is up, or at least it's broad daylight. When you go to a bar, and you come out, it's too bright and the birds are singing"
Kristina-(sings) "Wake up it's a beautiful morning"
Q. Right, so you like the Boo Radleys. What other influences do you have?
A. Par-"The Boo Radleys and the Boo Radleys and the Boo Radleys. We like most new British bands a bit, I really love Supergrass, I think the Boo Radleys are a really nice band. "
Stefan-"And Bjorn Again of course."
Par-"And Bjorn Again. They're the best British band I've ever heard. They're Austrailian, aren't they? But it goes back to the Beatles and the Kinks too."
Q. What do you think of Sleeper?
A. Par-"Yeah-they're okay. I saw 5 songs on the first night and 3 songs yesterday. They look gorgeous on stage. They're marvellous live. I really envy them."
Kristina-"I really love the last single, it's catchy, we can't stop singing it."
Par-"It's a horrible song 'cos we can't stop singing it. We wake up in the middle of the night because of it."
Q. How are you getting received on this tour?
A. Par-"It's been great so far, I mean, we thought there'd only be 20 people or something 'cos we're first on, but Birmingham and Bristol were full or almost full as we started . We've never been outside London before and it's been really nice."
Q. You and your fellow Swedes Popsicle, the Cardigans and Salt have all been enjoying reasonable success in Britain. Do you consider this an emerging scene?
A. Par-"We're not part of a scene, just a band with good music, but if you want to label us, we're part of the Popsicle-Cardigan scene ."
Q. There's a song on the album called "New World Record". Do you have any world records that you'd like to set?
A. Kristina-"200 metres hurdles."
Par-"We'd like to set the record for a band drinking for free on an aeroplane. The current record is starting at 9:30 am. There's a rule in the band, if there's free drinks on the plane when we go somewhere, we have to drink, as long as we get served we have to drink. So we'll try to get on a real early flight and start drinking. It's not very mature, but that's the rules."
Q. The fire service in Sweden has a very good reputation. Have you ever had cause to use it?
A. Kristina-"We only use the fire brigade in England, because the last 3 times I've been to London there's been a fire at my hotel."
Par-"In Sweden all the firemen walk around without clothes on their upper body. Only during exercises. They hug a lot, because there is a gay movement in the fire brigade in Sweden, so they have Christmas parties every morning, around the Christmas tree. There is a Swedish TV show about the fire brigade called "Nihle City", about a radio station situated on top of a fire station. The firemen go around half dressed, oiling up their muscles. Any town in Sweden, they'll be in front of the mirror doing the ballet."
THE WANNADIES CONTINUE TO TOUR THE UK WITH SLEEPER, AND HAVE THEIR NEW ALBUM "BE A GIRL" OUT ON INDOLENT.
Click Here to get more details about Wannadies; their first album and other material produced by the group.
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