Hey! What was the original spark that encouraged you to start creating music together?
Jacob: I started composing music quite recently and during the pandemic I suddenly had more time on my hands. I knew that Christopher was a very good singer so it felt natural to ask him to join the project and when he told me that guitarist Janne Schaffer might want to do songs with us, it all took off. Just amazing. I still can’t quite believe that Janne Schaffer, who played on so many of ABBA’s songs, including Dancing Queen, is actual part of the band.
Janne: I played on one song and I liked it a lot. It´s a kind of music I haven´t done before, it´s always fun to try new things.
Congrats on the release of ‘Stars Above Us’, the album sounds great. What was the inspiration behind it?
Christopher: I got the question from Jacob to sing to his music and make melodies out of his lyrics. I had never done that before and thought it was inspiring. Suddenly we had material for a record.
Jacob: Tobias Isaksson, who runs the label The Future Sound of Stockholm, advised me to choose from 20 songs I had in pipeline. We settled for 9 songs and he did very good mixes on 3 of them. I mixed the rest of the songs myself. I was very inspired of guitar-based, electronic music from the 80´s and wanted to capture that sound.
What’s your favorite track on the album and why?
Jacob: The titel-song “Stars Above Us” is about a father who is trying to cope with a daughter who struggles with a depression. It was inspired by a story a friend told me, based on his own experience.
Christopher: ”Dreams in Technicolor” and ”Forget about me”. I think “Dreams…” has an air to it, it’s a blend between the four of us that really creates a unique and complex universe. Jacob’s lyrics and pulse, Linnea´s creation of the chorus melody and Janne´s unique guitar playing. ”Forget about me” because it’s simple and catchy. I’m longing for a remix of that song into a heavy dance-hit.
Janne: I like “Dreams In Technicolor” the most. We played it live the other day for the first time, felt quite nice.
Your music interweaves so many different styles and sounds. If you could collaborate with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
Christopher: For me, it would be Martin Gore in Depeche Mode. Depeche were my first real idols and I find them to be the leading band in the world of its genre. The simplicity and yet their complexity in many of their songs inspires.
Jacob: Gary Numan, no doubt. He is constantly developing his music, he´s not “a tribute-band to himself” as some bands that were big back in the days are today, on the contrary: he´s pushing boundaries all the time and releasing new, exciting music. It´s very inspiring.
What’s been your favorite musical experience to date?
Christopher: Since I have done a lot of musical theatre, I must say the title roles in the musicals Dr Zhivago and GG(an Italian musical written by Gianni Togni and it’s about John Gilbert and Greta Garbo). I have also done a lot of French repertoire, especially Jacques Brel and did a record “Wollter meets Brel” in 2019.
Jacob: I loved listen to Gesaffelstein and Hatari from Iceland live in Stockholm a few years ago. Crazy stuff.
Where are you based? Can you tell us how the music scene there has inspired your sound at all?
Christopher: We all live in Stockholm, Sweden.
Jacob: I grew up in Gothenburg, the second largest city of Sweden. In the 80´s, when I was a teenager, there were really not much to do in Gothenburg besides listen to music. There were a lot of small venues for live music and I my stepfather was a music critic, so I had access to a lot of bands playing live like Ultravox and The Clash. There were some really good local bands back then, playing electronic music with heavy Linn drum beats, incorporating solo guitars. I listen a lot to Kai Martin & Stick! and Blue for Two, just to mention a couple of them bands.
Janne: I´ve played with a lot of artists, some of them even before the where famous, like ABBA and Bob Marley. My influences come from all around the world, not sole from Sweden.
If you could perform at any venue in the world, where would it be and why?
Christopher: Olympia in Paris, because of its history and amazing character.
Jacob: Cabaret Sauvage Parc de la Villette, is is a small but a great venue. I would also love to play in Berlin.
Janne: I don´t have any favorite venues, really. I just love to play – every day if possible.
Finally, have you got anything to share regarding upcoming gigs and what have you got planned for the rest of 2022?
Christopher: We are hoping for a tour next year and really looking forward to it.
Jacob: We have new songs underway, stay tuned!
