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Abbie
Collins met up with singer Jonas, bassist Johan and guitarist Bo
before the gig to find out what makes them tick...
You
toured with Martin Grech before. What made you tour with him again?
Johan
-We had a pretty good time the first time round and it just
seemed like we didn’t really have anything else to do when he asked
if we wanted to go out again. It was a pretty fitting bill and it’s
good for us to do as much touring as we can before the record comes
out.
Do
you think your music is similar to his?
Johan
- No, it’s quite different but we’re still able to reach some
of his audience as well. It’s about creating some sort of base of
fans before the record comes out and then taking it from there.
Jonas
- To just give people a chance to discover it really.
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| Jonas
hits the high notes |
You’ve
built up quite a big fan base in Britain already - How do they differ
from your Danish fans?
Johan
- Well there’s not a huge difference
but one thing that I’ve noticed is that they’re probably a bit more
dedicated over here.
Bo
- I think in general the people that like our stuff are dedicated
because there’s not five or 10 bands that sound like us. What I
discovered from people that I talk to is that they really needed
a band to like. Then we came along and they threw all their love
on us because we’re so different from any other band around right
now.
What kind of bands are you into?
Bo
- Red House Painters, that’s my favourite band.
Jonas
- I don’t know really, there’s not many new records coming out that
I’m really into. I like old Pixies' albums and records like David
Bowie’s Low.
Johan - It seems that all of us have been listening to the
same records for the last five years and I guess that it’s kind
of a shame that we’re so hard to please these days. It’s just that
being in a band yourself, you become aware of everything that goes
on in music and if you play a song now it’s not enough to have a
good melody, you have to have some weird rhythm and some surprising
elements, changes and progressions. It’s hard actually these days
to really be impressed with something, to really go ‘wow!’
Is that one of the reasons why you’ve incorporated film into
your music?
Jonas-
Yeah. You feel tired just watching the same kind of bands. We want
to take people on journeys. That’s what we try to do musically as
well as through film. The films emphasise the changes and the moods
of the songs really and they have to have little stories. The songs
should be a journey as well. We try to write songs that end in a
different place from where they started.
Do you think you’ll make a feature length film one day?
Johan
- Like a rock opera? Yeah, that would be cool.
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Images
shoot across the screen while the band plays.
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Jonas-
I would like to. I do make little films that are sometimes shown
on small TV channels.
You’ve
been in Britain for a while now. Is there anything that you really
like or dislike about it?
Johan-
Well we haven’t really settled in completely yet, but I think that
everyday we grow more fond of the place and get more used to it.
In general, British people are similar to Danish people. It’s not
like a culture shock or anything. We all speak pretty good English
so there’s not a language barrier.
Jonas
- The air isn’t very clean.
Bo
- It’s not a very safe society here. There’s less security.
What about basic things like food?
Bo
- I don’t like English food so much.
Jonas
-I like Indian food.
Johan
- I quite like minced beef pie.
Jonas
- I tried steak and kidney pie. I didn’t like it.
You’ve
got your own record label, Evil Office. How did that come about?
Johan
- The reason we set up our own label in Denmark was that we wanted
to try and get a deal outside Denmark where no-one had heard of
us and that meant we had to get signed to another foreign label.
So we released our second album in Denmark on our own label. It’s
something that we take a lot of pride in.
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| Bassist
Johan |
Is
having your own label paying off?
Johan
- Yeah, I think it’s like a statement of where we come from.
It’s the idea of doing the whole thing yourself and maintaining
some of that control.
It’s a signal to people that we have our own label and you can too.
But because of the way that business works we had to get involved
with a large label that could sell records throughout the world.
You can’t do that with your own little label based in Denmark. I
think we’ve got the best of both worlds right now, so we’re quite
proud of that.
You’ve
got an album coming out over here soon. What’s your favourite track?
Johan
- They all have their own vibe so it makes it hard to just pick
one.
Jonas - I think one of my favourites right now is a song
called Eight Flew Over, One Was Destroyed.
So
what’s next for Mew?
Johan
- We’re going back to Denmark for a short period and playing at
some Danish music award ceremonies. We’ll be releasing our record
in Denmark and then in Britain and then I think we'll go on tour
again.
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