neděle 26. prosince 2010

...describe the feelings I have for this man...

Odkazy na videa z Jump párty 18.-19. 12. 2010, Leipzig :-) 



Večer začal s Welcome Home Luc Robitaille...zde
...pokračoval s písní Amsterdam...zde...
a...you know...in english...;-) Misty Mountains...klik
How we walk...klik zde...
No more tears...
...následovala píseň poprvé zahraná na Mtv Unplugged v Berlíně...Losing my mind...odkaz zde...
..a Sheepdog...zde..(Gustaaaaf)



Down in the past
You know what song this is...? Gloria...
High heels...
Never seen the light of day
...a velice osobité Dance with Somebody ...(to nejlepší bohužel nebylo zaznamenáno ;-) )...odkaz zde...

It was absolutely biggest moment in my musical career

Další rozhovor s Mando Diao o Mtv Unplugged pro Students.ch, hovoří Gustaf a Björn.





I hope my love will carry on...

středa 22. prosince 2010

Loneliness kills you in the Wintertime

Další dávka rozhovorů z Jump párty. Tentokrát Gustaf a Björn.

´We want that naive feeling all the time...´

První interview najdete Zde


 
´If I wanna do a solo record I would love to have Björn as a co-song writer.. and maybe sing some...´

Druhé interview najdete po Kliknutí Zde



´We don´t really like each other...´ ;-)

You´d better leave me be

Videa z Jump Párty v Lipsku! Kvalita je dost strašná, ale to jen proto že jsou natočena na mobil nikoliv na videokameru, která zůstala v hotelu... Zvuk nestojí za nic, možná že přílišná blízkost reproduktoru byla na můj mobil moc:-) Protože jinak realný obraz i zvuk byly naproto dokonalé...

 Leave me be (Gustaf ještě chvíli o písni povídá, bohužel na videu není nic moc slyšet...)



Kousek Losing my mind (velmi malý)




A část How we walk



Ačkoliv jsem určitě mohla udělat lepší videa a fotky, moje volba byla spíš koncert vnímat než ho fotiť;-) A rozhodně nelituju... Jak řekl Björn: ´Kdybyste mohli na chvíli odložit ty kamery...´

Kompletní setlist z koncertu:

Gustaf...Gustaf...Gustaf!!!

Gustaf a C-J interview před Jump párty v Lipsku, 18.12.2010. Odkaz zde...

úterý 21. prosince 2010

Now here’s the Mando Diao taking on the world tonight

Leipzig experience with Mando Diao...18.-19.12.2010   


Very cold morning in Brno. The railway station is dark, lonely and everything is frozen. Four o´clock in the morning. Waiting for the train to Dresden.
One important thing that is necessary to know about Czech railways is: They are ALWAYS late. No matter what happens, what day, month or season of the year it is. No matter if it´s too cold, too hot or too dark. The trains are always late. With very surprising regularity. And I´m always naive. I always hope that this case will be different. And I´m always wrong.
This time it´s again this silly game that the railway´s employees are playing with us. They are adding the delay every five minutes. Even if it´s clear that the delay will be more than 30 minutes they always start with 5, 10, 15, 16, 17 minutes and 20 seconds.....etc.
So we have to freeze in this fucking cold waiting, instead of knowing right from the begining ´Ok, I have 45 minutes, so I´ll go somewhere where it´s warmer...´ Well no. That´s not the purpose of the railways. You have to suffer.
Forty-five minutes of delay due to technical problem on the engine. The only thing that I have to add is that the train is leaving from Brno. And it´s already 45 minutes late. Why not, right? We´re in the Czech Republic.
On the board of the train we are trying to defrost our bodies. It´s dark outside and Dresden is somewhere in the distance. 

 
Mando Diao force you to get to know so many cities you´ve never visited. Just because there´s no reason for it.
I would never have gone to Gdynia. Why should I? I would never seen Polish sea and this port I learned about in school. Why should I visit northern Poland?
I would probably never have travelled to Berlin. I had some ideas about this city and I always watched the trains going from Prague to Berlin with a certain feeling that I would love to visit this city one day. But I would always choose something else. Because actually there wasn´t any  reason to go there. Until Mando Diao played their Unplugged show.
And now Leipzig. Another strange city that hasn´t been worth visiting for me until today.
Mando Diao definitely changes your preferences.

Now I´m waiting somewhere in the snowy landscape, between Prague and Dresden, wondering what´s happening right now. Why our train is stuck in the middle of nowhere. The truth appears in my mind...I should buy a bottle of wine to survive this journey.
´Ladies and gentlemen, due to change of our engine, our train will be late 15 minutes more.´
When we were traveling to Berlin, our bus was late about two hours. One has to be very patient when traveling.

Every time I did one of these crazy journeys trying to see Mando Diao I realized how different it is to be German (or Swedish) fan and fan from the rest of the world. It´s an adventure. One huge neverending adventure. It´s much more complicated, it costs much more money and effort and sometimes it´s just impossible. (Like the case of radio concert in Bochum where you can only win the tickets on the German radio stations.) But on the other hand it´s a great feeling when you reach the goal. When you finally translate all these German sites, buy the tickets, find the complicated train connections, save all money and survive the journey.
Sometimes it´s a great feeling to know how hopelessly devoted you are that you are able to undergo all this stuff just to see them live. It´s absolutely different being fan in Mando Diao non-friendly countries.
And of course...you have to be a psycho just a little bit. 

Dresden. In that very moment when you cross the border, something happens. Everything changes and you suddenly have the feeling as if you were a child lost in the big hostile world. You notice the´west´. The difference is not that big anymore but it´s still present. You can feel you´re abroad. It´s in the air. I can smell it.
Snow is everywhere and the train takes us to our destination. Leipzig. Another place I´ve never had been before.

Leipzig. And two cups of really tasteful hot wine. Amazing markets, Christmas atmosphere and ´being in another land´.
Our place is amazing. Quite scary and little bit in a Twin Peaks way, but it´s also so romantic and peculiar. The wooden house just a few meters from the Haus Auensee. Lonely camping, just the lights turn on. And us.
 
 
We checked the scene of the future crime. In the dark we were walking around the lake and we were listening to the soundcheck of an unknown band who´s going to have a concert tonight. No one around. Just the dark and the snow. 


And the markets. And a lot of useless things to buy. And then a magazin with Mando Diao in it. I bought it although I don´t understand a single word. Just because Mando Diao are in the magazine. I´ve seen it for the first time and it´s amazing feeling. I had to have it.
Now it´s lying on my table near my bed in this strange place. And Mando Diao are in there.
 ´If it was true´

Today I´ve bought Playboy magazine. Really. Quite handsome guy has sold it to me with a very strange smile. Yeah, the reason is that Mando Diao are AGAIN in it! And what great photos!
So now I´m an owner of two german magazines. And still don´t understand a word in it.

Nine hours on our legs, seven hours right in front of that huge loudspeaker. Will I ever feel my body again?
...2:28 in the morning. We´re in Motel Auensee after Mando Diao concert. 


It all began in the morning when we went for a walk around the Auensee Haus and the lake. The weather was nice and the preparations for the evening had already started. We were observing around a little bit and then left the place to visit markets again and drink some wine. 




We surely needed it. Fucking cold again. And the freezing began very early. Around 4. pm we were watching Björn and Gustaf throught the window on their soundcheck. Cigarettes, Gloria and cold in every single peace of my body. Soundcheck ended with a song I´d never heard before. I wonder if it´s their new song and if we´re gonna hear it tonight. Short pause in our amazing and warm Canadian house, which is situated just a few minutes from the concert venue.
And then about 5.30 pm our neverending waiting on that unbearable cold starts.
It seems like the whole crowd is going to die here, but they still don´t want to let us go inside. Finally, just few seconds after 7. pm our tickets are marked and we´re IN. Haus Auensee is just a big hall with no place to sit and two kiosks where you can buy drinks.
Because we were one of the firsts in the queue, we´re between the firsts who enter there. And we immediately occupy the places in the first row. We don´t know yet how lucky we are. I can´t imagine to bear all these hours without the possibility to hold and lean against the barrier. At 8 o´clock the show starts with a few very intensive tones of drums. In that very moment I realize that we are standing right before the loudspeaker and the sound is more than loud. 

After a short presentation of unknown bald man from the radio Jump, Rooney appears on the stage. It´s a nice begining. The band is nothing special, but guys look handsome, the songs are melodic and they make quite good show. It´s easy to dance and relax.

Second show is an English group White lies. I don´t know their music (same with Rooney except the hit ´When did your heart go missing´) but also this show is great. After White lies I already feel quite tired, thirsty and deaf. Ideal time for Mando Diao.

But instead of Mando Diao appears something what I should call ´My imagination of hell´. This band is called Filter and I have a feeling like if they will play more then 15 minutes I surely die. They played more then one hour. It probably woudn´t have been so horrible if I hadn´t been standing right before the loundspeaker. The lead singer starts the show with the words ´Make some noise!!!!´ And yes. It was a NOISE. Nothing more. Horrible, terrible, absolutely awful. That´s my way how to describe it. One hour with fingers in my ears and all my organs was moved to different places during this show thanks to the shock wave from the laudspeaker. It really throws you off with every single beat.
I was praying for the end and wondering why this type of band who plays completely incompability style of music with Mando Diao is now here. Why they´re playing before our Mando. It was obvious that 99% of people are there just because of Mando Diao and when I looked around all people had fingers in their ears. Three concerts are too much, at midnight I was exhausted. And Mando Diao was only to come. 

The stage changed. The piano was moved nearer to us, Björn´s guitar appeared. It is here. Now it´s their turn.
After (for me) very long Umbau pause, Gustaf, Björn and CJ are coming. Again without Mats and Samuel. Again with the violines in the background. The true music can start.
After these three bands one can very easily realize how huge is the difference between the Music with capital M and the music. It´s like a balsam for the soul (and the body, ears and everything)
Mando Diao. (Two words, baby. Two words.)
Gustaf sits to the piano, C-J takes the bass and Björn with his guitar stands on the microphone.
And they take everything from you in the very first second when the firsts tones of ´Welcome home Luc Robitaille´ rezonate.
The more they take, the more they give to us.
They´re the music.
After the first song from their third album ´Ode to Ochrasy´ they tell us a story from ´Amsterdam´ and then story about ´Misty mountains´ and one mysterious man.
With Gustaf´s words... You know in english...I can´t describe the feelings I have for this band. ´
How we walk´ was followed by ´No more tears´ and my new favourite song since Mtv Unplugged ´Losing my mind´ (the feeling is Canadian ;-) ).
Guys are in a real good mood, joking around, smiling and ...I know that you know that we know.  
Unplugged ´Sheepdog´ and I can´t locate this feeling but I may love them.
Now it´s time for a new song named ´Leave me be´. Wonderful sad song which makes me shiver. You know what is this song...? Well ´Gloria´ and ´High heels´. Gustaf does a really great job in the piano. He looks even hotter then usual. He plays and sings in absolutely stunning way. I´m not the only one who noticed that. Also Björn can estimate what he´s doing. ´Never seen the light of day´ is the penultimate song.
Everything is so near me, everything is so real again. And even ´Dance with Somebody´, the last song, has this magic and makes me forget myself.
The whole night was absolutely epic. It was surreal and unreal even it was one of the most real moments in my life. I still see Björn´s blue eyes in front of me.
And then it ends. Björn goes down from the stage and when he returns he gets angry (no real idea why) and goes away.(Maybe it was just their plan right from the begining or he had an impression that the audience doesn´t cooperate with him like he wants...) Gustaf with C-J play the rest of the song. When also they leave the stage after giving us thanks, the guy from Jump radio appears to tell us another interesting information about the next program, but nobody is listening. The whole crowd is shouting that we want an addition and after that we´re just screaming ´Mando Diao´. The guy looks pissed-off that we are not interested in him and explain to us something in German. Well probably something like that Mando Diao can´t play another songs...they are away. This is the end. And all the people leaving Haus Auensee without any interest to stay there longer. We were there because of Mando Diao. Of course. And it was fantastic. Thank you. 





Next day we´re leaving Auensee in the early hours in the morning, making the firsts traces to the fresh snow. It´s cold and dark, everyone´s sleeping inside their safe places. But we have to go...go to another place, leaving Mando Diao behide just to be able to follow them.
While we´re waiting for the bus, the cleaning works in Haus Auensee are proceeding. We have a last look at this place and we´re saying goodbye to these three amazing days in Leipzig.
I realize that it was today when we´ve seen them. Not so long ago. But the reality is getting closer. If only they could leave me be...leave me be with Mando Diao.

pondělí 20. prosince 2010

You pack your cases and you hope for a better day

Mando Diao obdrželo kulturní cenu města Borlänge pro rok 2010

Mando Diao je tím nejlepším co kdy město Borlänge ve Švédsku světu dalo. Konečně si tohoto faktu všimli i jeho obyvatelé a ocenili Mando Diao kulturní cenou pro rok 2010. 

Když se vymaníš ze spárů svého rodného města...that’s an open door to the outside world...


The rock band Mando Diao, one of our country's absolute most successful live bands ever, has with great success and by bringing in new influences to rock music, managed to conquer large parts of the music world.
The journey from being a youthclub band to conquer world arenas has become an inspiration for Borlänges teenagers.


Gustaf said that the youth center in Borlänge - formerly known as Torpet - laid the foundation for the bands success. Torpet was borrowed by Mando Diao for three summers in a row and used for reherseal.



For me sex and music are very closely related


Mando Diao v německém časopise Playboy:


 
 
In their heart they are rock’n’rollers. On the outside, they’re gentlemen that know how to achieve success and fascinate crowds. We speak with the singers and guitar players Björn  Dixgard  and  Gustaf  Norén  about  the  new  album  and  “Sex,  Drugs  and Rock’n’Roll”.

Have you ever done this famous hotel room smash?

Björn: We’ve never performed this clichéd action which you mean. Everyone can smash a hotel room or break things, doesn’t matter who you are. That’s why today it’s nothing special for a rock band. Of course, at home something gets smashed sometimes when I’m really pissed off.

So is the album slogan “Sex, Drugs and Rock’n’Roll” just a romantic idea?

Björn: Yes, I think so. It is rather unusual when a rock band says they’re good Christians and lead a boringly normal life, never partying or drinking alcohol. This would actually be much more shocking than smashing a hotel room, having damn lots of sex or take loads of drugs. But look at Jonas Brothers, they’re really sick!
Gustaf: Everyone in the world drinks, fucks and takes drugs.
Björn: In the sixties you were a rebel when you lived according to that credo, but times have changed. Today it’s damn old-fashioned to behave that way.
Gustaf: Just turn on the TV today! You see there more “sex, drugs and rock’n’roll” than you’d really like to. I find this rather irritating. Even the American president lives “sex, drugs and rock’n’roll” in his way. Bill Clinton smokes pot, cheats on his wife and goes to Rolling Stones concerts. You have to be a little bit of a rebel and freak out if you want to make music. This is hard business and so much damn work, it doesn’t work out if you don’t relax. You have to have good vibes to carry away the people away with you.


 
It’s definitely easier to get women when you’re a rockstar, isn’t it?

Gustaf: Well, I was already in a rock band before I started having interest in women, so I really don’t know how it is otherwise.

And what’s your experience with groupies?

Gustaf: I can totally understand them. Everyone is attracted to a certain status, I’m not different, and that’s nothing unusual. But you mustn’t call these people groupies. They aren’t some kind of hookers or something like that. In front of certain people everyone would drop their pants, that’s how sex is. Of course we had such experiences.

 In your opinion, what do these ladies want from you?

Gustaf: They feel sexually attracted to us. Some because of our fame, some because of our music, and others because of adventure or attention that they’d get afterwards. It’s like a drug for them.

Have you had extreme experience with such girls?

Gustaf: I think no. Some have almost stalked us but it wasn’t that after consideration bad. We’re all married and have regular sex, so we’re not sexually frustrated to get fans. But our looks, the attention and all that is also a part of our music. For me sex and music are very closely related.
Björn: That’s a problem which most of the bands face today. No one uses the necessary portion of sex in their music these days. The majority sings about absolutely trivial stuff. In the sixties and seventies the bands allowed themselves more freaky things.


 

It was a good end for the first chapter of Mando Diao

Rozhovor z Tink.ch:
 Music is not something you write about

Mando Diao have released their MTV-Unplugged Concert, their sixth record in eight years. Tink.ch met both frontmen and talked to them about the possible end of the band, their fans and their critics. 

You have once said that the Swedish in your music is the cold and melancholic part.The weather outside is perfect for that.

Gustaf Norén: Yes, that’s the good weather for every artistic work. Musists are very slow people, and they become even slower when it is too warm. The cold weather brings us out of the bed in the morning.
Björn Dixgård: We are creative lazybones. 

You have just released your MTV Unplugged album. Was this the creative or the lazybones in you?

Gustaf (laughs):  It was a bit too much for us, so many albums in so few years. But it was too good a possibility to reject it. We didn’t want actually to finish our career when it’s not yet over, but at the same time it’s very difficult to make an unplugged album when your career is almost over. It was a big honour to receive such an offer. After this album something new will come. It doesn’t remind you about our previous era anymore. Moving  into a new decade.
Björn: It was a good end for the first chapter of Mando Diao, this is how I see it. We don’t know what will come after that but we hope for something fresh. 

In your interviews the focus has shifted. It’s no longer about your alleged arrogance but about your coming end. 

Gustaf: Yes, when will it end? It will end, we can’t do it much longer any more. The only thing that I know is that there will be another Mando Diao album. But with the last three albums I had the feeling that it would be our last one. One day it will really be the last one. If I have to bet for it, I’d give us another three years.
Björn: We are not a band that plans for ten years in advance or talks about making another five albums. This would be stupid. 

Björn, when I asked you three years ago about your concerts always getting worse,you said you wouldn’t know exactly anymore what you want and where you want to go, that you would need a break Has anything changed? You didn’t have a real pause in these years.

Gustaf: The last tour was really big, so it’s difficult to make something equal to what we did three years ago. During the latest tour there was more production, during the MTV Unplugged we learned a lot, especially how we can have a script, that you need a plan or a story to make a good show. With 200 shows in a year we didn’t have time so far to think about this. In the past year we increased the possibility. We can decide and plan a lot ourselves concerning the show.
Björn: We’ve learned that we don’t have to make a normal show. Rock shows are very static, the majority of bands have the same production and light, but after all you can do everything that is cool. This summer we saw a concert of Empire of the Sun, this was a cool show, I haven’t seen anything like this before. They had a clear story from the first till  the  last  song.  This  made  it  clear  to  us  that  we  can  really  do  anything  at  our performances. 

You also need different music for these changes. 

Gustaf:  Yes, of  course but it’s not  really  something different  because  we’re  always inspired in the same way. The majority comes from the American black music, almost everything that we have heard since we were six years old. Alongside this, Beatles of course, The Stones and Frank Sinatra, but always the American black music.
Björn: I don’t understand why white people don’t listen to the black music any more, like in England they only listen to their own music.
Gustaf: It’s a segregation problem in Europe, it becomes more and more nationalistic. People try to inspire themselves by their own selves, not by their neighbours. It’s egoistic to look at everything from your point of view. Lady Gaga will always win over Mary J. Blidge in Europe. We’ve been doing music for so long already, we don’t think in this way, in colours or cultures. It’s about the essence of music and it comes from the black music of America.

Cliches and categorization has also helped you. Swedish indie rock has been a huge
thing for five or ten years. You also benefited from this when you started, even if it
wasn’t your aim. 

Gustaf: In your eyes we were always a part of that scene. My view on the subject doesn’t count. Music journalism writes on its own, creates styles and names artists, we have nothing to do with it. This scene has existed in Sweden for some time already. For ten years everything is already very similar, it’s inbreeding, a mutual influence. These people go and write music for their friends who are journalists or also musicians.
Björn: We were always on our own, always outside this world in Sweden. We felt that we didn’t belong to this scene. 

This thinking in scenes, one part of journalism is criticizing and even giving labels.

Gustaf: This makes music understandable for people because people  are stupid and need to be told what they must listen to. But music is not something you can write about. It’s something that people either like or not, without knowing why. I had intensive musical experience before i could read. At that time I still perceived music in a different way. I don’t like the bands about which I have already read, then I have a definite opinion  about them. Music is so simple, you listen to it, and here it is. People are simply a bit too lazy, that’s why they need journalists who show them the way how to feel music. It doesn’t seem to be enough to simply love music. The mankind is not self-confident enough to be able to listen to music unconditionally. That’s sad. 

You don’t draw a good picture of your fans. 

Gustaf: They react to music like everyone does. I don’t like anybody who likes Mando Diao only because they have read something about us or bought an album just because of a critic in a magazine.But you need media so that people learn about you at all.

 But you need media so that people learn about you at all.

Gustaf: Yes, we had this hype during our first two years but at the same time it brought us many false fans who listen to our music while reading about it. They don’t listen to it, but  read  about  it.  For  this  purpose  you  have  books  which  you  can  read.  You  feel something about music but this feeling is so abstract, you want to describe it and pass further, that’s why there are music writers, that’s why there’s poetry about love. But that’s only a reflection of a real feeling.

Our best performance of all times


Mando Diao at MTV Unplugged

 “If you don’t count Stockholm where we live, we don’t spend more time in any other city of the world as in Berlin, not even in our hometown Borlänge”, Björn Dixgård confirms the  impression.   
Bleary-eyed  but  well-dressed,  he  and  his  band  member  Carl-Johan Fogelklou of the quintet Mando Diao appear in Berlin again.

In the beginning of September the band had arrived here to record an exclusive, purely supported among others by the Hollywood star acoustic concert for MTV Unplugged, and singer Juliette Lewis. It was an absolutely special evening: “I haven’t experienced anything like this until now”, remembers CJ. “It was great from the beginning till the end.And yet it feels like it has never happened”.

Dixgård adds: “People would often ask us what our best performance would be, and that was it. I don’t know if we’re ever able to top that”.

Ray Davies, the singer of the legendary The Kinks (“You Really Got Me”) and a music idol, had also contributed to this, even if it wasn’t big. The old master sang his classic item, a satire on monarchy “Victoria”, live with the Swedes though it didn’t extend to something more than a professional relationship. “We wanted only to play with him, not really get to know him, and I think it was the same with him”, says Dixgård.

But he doesn’t want to dedicate this item to the current crown princess Victoria: “I don’t have any aversion towards her, however monarchy is an obsolete idea that shouldn’t exist any more”.

But the Prime Minister Reinfeldt must be a Mando Diao fan right? They have recently received from him the Music Export Award. CJ: “As far as I know he used to listen to things like The Cure and Depeche Mode earlier. The Minister of Social Affair Hägglund must be a huge fan of Pink Floyd. We’re not in that category”.

Do we have now, after eight years since the debut album, the first Best Of Mando Diao?
“It’s more of a summary, it’s neither an end, says Dixgård who, according to his own words, without the success of  the band  would have become  a telephone operator, metaphorically speaking. 

The secret of the way to where they are now?
 “I believe that our success is due to the fact that we always change and develop ourselves, though everyone always says that it would be commercial death”. 

And has anything been written for a new album?
“Yes, we already have a lot of songs for that”confirmed CJ who would have become a music teacher or a van driver.


středa 15. prosince 2010

And that´s all there is to say

Další dávka rozhovorů o novém Unplugged CD a DVD ´Above and Beyond´, které bylo natočeno letos v Záři v Berlíně pro německou hudební stanici Mtv. 


Sestra Björna Dixgårda Linnéa spolu se svou skupinou ´Twinflower band´ vydá velmi brzy své první album. Producentem tohoto alba není nikdo jiný než sám Björn.

´Linnea has been a role model - both musically and personally - during my childhood. She is one of the main reasons that I'm playing myself at all, and being a part of the album is fantastic.´ /Björn

Malá ukázka toho o čem je řeč: Video Twinflower band a Björn Dixgård...zde.

Ochrasyhili


 Mando Diao pro Street Team... ;-) Přeloženo do Ochrasyhili....

úterý 14. prosince 2010

I just want you to be free


Během 144 hodin, 6 dnů budou tři vybraní jedinci zavření bez jídla uprostřed města Malmö na náměstí Gustava Adolfa, aby tak dali najevo svůj nesouhlas s obchodem s dětmi za účelem prostituce, dětské práce a verbování do armády... Účelem akce je vybrat co nejvíce peněz a proto tuto činnost podporují i známe osobnosti, jako například Mando Diao. 
Mando Diao darovalo do aukce všemi členy podepsanou akustickou kytaru Epiphone a již brzy bude možné si na ní přihodit. Čím víc peněz se vybere, tím líp. 
Takže....Do toho;-) 
(více o Musikhjälpen již brzy....) Musikhjälpen ...bližší info ve švédštině;-)...zde...


Brzy již nastalo...a proto je tady odkaz na aukci, kde můžete vydražit tuto úžasnou kytaru plnou Mando Diao podpisů.


pátek 10. prosince 2010

I can’t locate this feeling

ricardo.ch  Pokud jste zaregistrováni na tomto podivném švýcarském serveru, máte možnost vyhrát v aukci podepsanou kytaru Gustavem a Björnem...viz. video níže...:)) Každý cent se počítá. A výtěžek aukce jde na dobrý účel. ;-)

You can´t steal my love

It seems like you could describe it. It seems like it´s possible to express it. It seems so easy. It seems like it´s always easy to find the right words. It seems you are able to describe with words what you feel, what you have hidden deep inside you. But the truth is that it is impossible to express with words anything at all. It´s impossible to express the beauty, it´s impossible to describe happiness, it´s impossible to catch a moment, the flashy moment of life. With words you cannot express the pain, you cannot describe the extension of loss, the words that could describe the most hidden in us, haven´t been invented yet.
It may seem easy to say what I feel when I´m recalling Berlin. It seems that it´s a simple task to describe that evening, those few hours. But now I´m sitting in front of an empty paper, listening to Song for Aberdeen from that evening and I don´t really know what to do with all the feelings that are filling my body and all my senses...
I would like to say how amazing it was to be a part of something like that, how amazing it was to get up and go up to the stage, go to Mando Diao. How wild it was to realize that I really have the possibility to see and experience something I´ve been dreaming about for so long.
One night in Berlin. And us. One night and Mando Diao. Twenty-four songs, nine thousand seconds and all my senses seemed to be in that moment in one place. If only one could get the chance to go through that moment again. If only it was possible at the end of your life to come back to the moment when you were really happy.
Not only me, but all of us were floating high above the earth that night, far away from Berlin´s film studio, together with Mando Diao we experienced something unforgettable and created something really special. The true beauty of art, the true love to music, the true passion to the thing one does. That´s what Mando Diao is like. They are real. Every single feeling is sincere, ´naked´ and real. The pain and the beauty, the love and the hate. It´s all there in their music. It´s all in the music they make. And all those true feelings came to us on the 2nd of September. To us in the audience.
It seems like I´ve said it all. All I´ve wanted to say. But the truth is that the most important things are going to stay unspoken. Because sometimes the words are not enough.

  

středa 8. prosince 2010

A small story that must be told


Loud guys in quiet: Mando Diao in an interview


 You´ve played an MTV unplugged concert. When did the idea of this appear? 

Gustaf: We´ve had this since 1992. But the possibility turned up only in 2010. 
Björn: Some of our fans wrote letters and mails and called MTV. I have no idea if it´s just a rumour but it has been said that they permanently called MTV and told them: you have to play Mando Diao at MTV Unplugged. And all of a sudden we had a request from MTV in our inbox. Looks like they were convinced. 

What was your aproach to the acoustic versions?

Gustaf: Some songs had to sound almost the same like on the album. But with acoustic guitars you get this different rhythm. Such song as ´Long Before Rock´n´roll would absurdly become even more electric and got a considerable portion of upswing. With ´Sheepdog´ we wanted on the contrary, a slower, clearer beat. This is why some songs had to be arranged a new.

This concert was definitely made specially for the television. Was it different from your other concerts, for example, did you have to repeat things?

Gustaf: We feared that too, that we´d have to repeat something constantly. That´s why we rehearsed like we´d never have any opportunity to repeat anything. This was our aim, and at the end it turned out to be quite a normal show. From the beginning till the end without repetitions. But as you said, it was a TV-show and of course there was a completely different directing. Actually we had to think in cinema dimensions. 

Why did you record this concert in Berlin? 

Björn: We come here often and with pleasure. Even the rehearsals took place in the studios of the former GDR Broadcaster. Besides, there are good TV studios in Germany- so that´s exactly what we needed: a studio with large space, more rooms, etc. 
Gustaf: Besides, Berlin is the center of Europe ... like Rome was a couple of millennia ago. The media and cultural center of Europe is Berlin, thatís why it´s much easier to work here. 

The programme has a long history. Can you remember a concert of this series that stayed in your memories when you were teenagers? 

Björn:  Nirvana was surely a big thing for us because it was shown when we were younger. From the musical point of view this was definitely a highlight of my younger years. Later I haven´t seen that much. Jay-Z was rather good, I can´t say anything about the others. 
Gustaf: Alicia Keys Show was also pretty good. I still remember Mariah Carey - also cool. My father always liked Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton. Actually for this reason Eric Clapton was my first MTV Unplugged memory. 

MTV doesn´t have the big status any longer it used to have still a couple of years ago. Do you have any thoughts in connection with this?  

Björn: I haven´t analyzed your situation but probably it´s due to the fact that you don´t show so much music any longer? Or maybe people don´t want to see music any more. Who knows?! 
Gustaf: This makes our show even more important for the modern kids. Even more than in the 90ies. To make something like that for a programme like MTV is really exclusive. 

Has your opinion about the value of music changed over time? 

Björn: You can´t change the value of music at all. Everyone needs music and this will always be like that. We want to be a band that inspires people to do something similar. That´s why we made everything ourselves: from the decorations to the setlist. This is our product. We want exactly to bring others to this. And today - with all those X-Factor and Pop Idol shows n this is even more important. 

You don´t seem to like such formats? 

Björn: I don´t see them as enemies but it´s a different world. It´s not about music but mostly about rubbish. 

Have certain things changed in music business over the time? 

Gustaf: Oh yes. In my opinion the biggest problem is that there is no more good music. People live only on nostalgia and nothing new anymore. There´s always place for nostalgia but when there´s nothing new coming, at a certain time there will be no nostalgia either. Sometimes I have the feeling that Madonna, U2 and The Rolling Stones are the only acts who still go on tour. The only ones for whom people still want to give money away. 
Björn: I´m not sure if record companies don´t bring up any new bands or if there are no young bands. But that can´t be. 
Gustaf: A new band is a risk that you have to take if you want to keep the quality of the music. But then the sales numbers go down and money is lost, record companies don´t want to make mistakes any more. But for music it´s most dangerous when one doesn´t want to take that risk. So the value of music has changed. Everyone listens and uses music but its value can´t be measured by diamonds or gold. 

You´re The Beatles fans. Are there modern artists that have also influenced you? 

Gustaf: There are some artists that have inspired us in the past ten years. Empire Of The Sun for example, a very special band. Or The White Stripes and The Strokes - both are pretty good. All these bands and us, we see the world, so to say, in retrospective, looking back. Outkast for example can be important for our generation, even more important than us. The entire indie stage is pretty retro, looking back with pleasure. This must definitely be changed. 

In the beginning you didn´t have the best reputation with the media, you were considered very arrogant. Why has your attitude towards media changed or why have you changed?

Gustaf: We haven´t changed but media looks at it in a different way. In the beginning we were arrogant because everyone asked us if we were the best band in the world. And of course we said yes. 
Björn: Otherwise I would have played in another, better band. 
Gustaf: It´s like when Lil Wayne rapped that he´s the best rapper in the world. What he wants to say is that you don´t listen to anyone who claims that he´s better than you. Music will be so much more boring if people donít decide themselves what they do. We´re simply able to talk only about what we want. 
Björn: Songwriting and self-confidence just belong together. When you don´t believe in what you want to achieve with your song- then who will? In this regard we were always strong. 

How difficult is it for you to combine music with private life? 

Gustaf: For me music and private life go perfectly well together. It´s fine to be a songwriter and a family man at the same time, because you always write new songs. You absolutely can´t control that. You´re cleaning up and suddenly this song comes to your mind. You can combine that well. 

In your opinion, is there a Mando Diao brand mark? 

Gustaf: Of course the energy and the big sound but the longer you think about that, I think you come to the conclusion that we´re story-tellers and songwriters. That´s the reason why ´Dance With Somebody´, ´Gloria´ and ´Sheepdog´ have something in common: they´re pop songs with soul and a small story that must be told. 

 

Holding onto memories of the paradise

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