That’s the only talent we have

Rozhovor tak trochu o Mtv Unplugged a hodně o Mando Diao...

 

Sophia: How are you today? 

Björn: Oh, good! Thank you, you’re the first one asking that! We feel good, a little bit tired…

S: Was this something you always had in your mind, doing an Unplugged-Album?

B: No, actually we’ve done an acustic concept before which was featured on our B-Sides-Collection, we did that for Swedish Radio. But last Spring we got the offer from MTV and we said yes directly, we don’t like the form where you sit down with bar stools and candles, we wanted to do something different.

Carl-Johan: It’s definitely different from the usual MTV Unplugged stuff, so I think that’ s special about Mando Diao, that we dare to do things like that…

B: It takes a lot of fights sometimes, people telling you „you cannot do that, you cannot do this…“, but that’s the mentality we always had, we wanna stay independant when it comes to music, ’cause that’s the only talent we have and that’s the strength we have.You can break down a personality, we have weak points of course, but that’s where we feel strong, you know.

S: So, what’s so different about playing unplugged?

C-J: It’s not so different, it’s just more honest, it’s really easy…

B: I mean, we write the songs acoustically on the piano and acoustic guitar, that’s the stone age way of writing songs, but we think it’s the best way, also when we rehearse new songs we do it mostly acoustically, so we hear the songs pretty naked and it’s a good way to proof if a song is good or not, therefore we were pretty easy with it. What we were not used to was the whole production thing, the camera team, the scenography, just the logistic of it…

S: Why did you record it in Berlin, is there a special reason?

C-J: It’s a great scenery around the city and we wanted to go away, not do it „at home“, ’cause this way we were much more focused

B: Yes, we wanted to focus, don’t loose the spontanious feeling about it, not having a bunch of friends around, coming to the studio…

S: Did anybody tell you about the history of the place, where you recorded it? There was this famous german TV Show that presented the weekly Charts, kind of a german Top of the Pops, the „deutsche Hitparade“ and the host, Dieter Thomas Heck was quite a character…

C-J: Yeah and Zarah Leander used to perform there…it’s such an old building with a lot of history.

S: Did you design the stage? Was that your ideas?

B: These were our ideas, to do something like a Mando Diao Retrospective, we had a garage and a room that looked pretty much like one of our boy rooms, where we grew up, we had a lounge, which stays for the small little luxury we have, and we had an attic…

C-J: Lots of stuff we took from our homes and studios…

B: It’s like a summary of our career so far…

S: What about the cooperations? Ray Davies (leadsinger of the Kinks), was it a wish to do that?

B: No, not really, it came up when we decided to do it, also the ones with Juliette (Lewis) and Klaus Voormann (german musician and artist who did the famous Revolver-Cover for the Beatles). And we had singer Lana DelRay performing with us and our former organ player Daniel Haglund. I only met Ray Davies one month before recording in Copenhagen and we had a nice chat, but it was not like we got to know him better, definitely the other way round, he was just there for the music…

S: And what about Juliette, ’cause as an introduction you say (Gustaf said...)  „may I present to you an icon of my generation“, I mean we all knew her as an actress..

B: And she really is and was an icon, she really made a mark, when I was 13 and saw her in Natural Born Killers, I got blown away and almost fell in love with her, she was supercool and she’s a great actress and for „High Heels“, the song she sang with us, we thought she would be perfect, it’s a very cinematic song, so the acting she did on this song with Gustaf -was pretty cool!

S: Are there any other plans for cooperations in the future?

C-J: I think for the future, everything is open for stuff like that, we are not closing any door, it is quite fun…

B: We have a very strict thing with our own music, we have to decide everything ourselves, that’s the only rule Mando Diao has at the end of the day, but we are open for a lot of things, producers, artists to work with…

S: Could you imagine doing something with people from completely different music genres?

B: For sure, and we already did it with the last album „Give me fire“ we had the Salazar Brothers, they hadn’t produced a rock record ever, they were hip hop producers, that’s things we really like, ’cause we don’t see us as a genre band, perhaps others do, but we don’t, we don’t care, as long as it is good music!

S: So you’re open to everything?

B: Everything exept world music (laughs…)

S: I have a few basic questions of common interest I would like to ask you.In Germany it’s a big issue – people worrying about the seasons, summer is too short, winter is too cold, is this the same in Sweden?

C-J: Yes, everybody is disappoited all the time, in the winter they are disappointed if it’s not snowing, in the summer if it’s not warm and even if it’s really warm, people are disappointed ’cause it’s too warm…I don’t know how it is in the spring and the fall…

B: I like the spring and the fall, ’cause that’s when people relax, they don’t have any demands on the weather, they get calm, rest a little bit, they don’t stress so much, in the summer, everybody has to do everything, have to travel everywhere, have to meet all the people they haven’t met in 10 years…

C-J: You have to get a sun tan…

S: So, your favorite season is fall?

B: Yes, fall is so nice…

C-J: I like summer, this summer was excellent, long and warm…

S: What do you do against a winter depression?

B: I like to make a big fire, stay inside, play guitar, read a book-clichee style, you know?

Sitting in front of a fire is probably the best thing you can do, old school…

S: You’re a lot around, what’s your personal recipe to keep romance alive at home with your beloved persons?

B: Well, sometimes beeing away could be pretty good (laughs), ’cause when you come home you have a lot of energy, or let’s say just have a lot of will to do stuff, it sounds stupid to talk about romance like this, but it’s sometimes good to miss the loved ones…

C-J: Back in the days they said a way to win a man’s heart was through the stomach, I think it’s the other way round to be honest, when a guy cooks food for his girl, I mean it has changed over the years…

B: I don’t know a single girl who doesn’t love that, unluckily I am not that type of guy, i try to make food,…

S: What’s your favorite food?

C-J: I like seafood, shellfish, crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimps, octopus,

B: I am more of a meat boy, extremely a meat boy, good meat, doesn’t matter which…

S: No matter what animal? So my next question: What’s your favorite animal? Not to eat, I mean…

(laughter…)

C-J: I love cats, I do have a cat, Charles, he can be a pain in the ass sometimes…

B: I don’t live a life right now where I could have an animal, but I would choose a dog, a Schäfer(hund), actually, that would be great…

S: Are you dreaming and is it a source of inspiration for you?

C-J: Oh, yeah, absolutely!

B: Yes, a lot of songs are based on dreams, also some video ideas actually (laughs)

S: ..same with your band name, or is this just a legend?

B: No, it isn’t, doesn’t mean anything, but there was this guy who told me: You should be called Mando Diao! It makes no sense, the name, but it makes sense now, cause we had it for 15 years…

S: Do you believe in supersticion?

B: Yes, a little bit, with some things…

C-J: I had to move into a new house the other week and I wanted to throw away some old mirrors, but I didn’t dare, so I had to hide them somewhere, cause if they break you have 7 years of bad luck…

B: I have this thing with leaves in the trees sometimes, If I cannot reach them, sometimes I get in the mood that I have to reach all the leaves on one street otherwise this or that will happen…

S: Sounds exhausting…

B: Yes, it is, sometimes people look at you and think, what’s wrong with this guy?

C-J:..Oh, it’s the singer of Mando Diao, trying to reach leaves all down the road…

S: So it’s easier in the winter time when there are no leaves…

B: Yes, much easier…

S: What’ s the first song you can remember from being a child?

C-J: (starts to sing in swedish) Diggi-loo Diggi-ley by Herreys. It’s the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1984, the second swedish artists that won after Abba,…(starts to name all the Swedish winners in the history of the competition in chronological order…)

S: I see, you are quite into it, I mean it IS a great show…

B: Sometimes, especially when you’re really tired it’s the best, these cheesy tv shows…

C-J: I watch American Idol every time it plays I have to watch it…especially in the beginning when all the idiots come to sind and they cannot sing…

S: So you would never consider to join something like a Song Contest for your country?

B: No, contests, to begin with is a really stupid thing probably invented by some sport-interested music guys and they pretty much suck! But talent shows on TV are still great fun to watch…

S: Would you draw something for me into my notebock?

C-J: Absolutely!

B: Sure!(starts with 4 little boxes) I let Carl finish it, I am not good in drawing…

That’s the stage design for the unplugged show drawn by the “better drawer” Carl-Johan..and a swedish flag I guess…

S: Thank you!

Převzato z: Sophia´s chat with Mando Diao