It´s You and Me forever

Nový rok 2011 je tady a s ním i staro-nové interview, tentokrát podrobnější a v tištěné podobě. Gustaf a Björn před koncertem v městě Leipzig o plánech do budoucna, o Vánocích a sobě samých...

Happy Ochrasy New Year!!!!

You wouldn’t believe it: just a couple of minutes ago these friendly young men were crashing guitars.

I had missed their performance at the birthday celebration of MDR Jump. Nevertheless, the evening in the Haus Auensee in Leipzig revealed many interesting things on the subject of Mando Diao. Short before the beginning of the celebration I met both frontmen of the band, Gustaf Norén and Björn Dixgård, for an interview. It was difficult though to divert them from their backstage hobbies – drinking wine, playing Wii and crashing white Gibson guitars (no idea why they don’t keep this to be done on stage). But then they revealed in the interview that they consider themselves to be Siamese twins, have recorded a Christmas song which probably will never get released, and that after all they find rock bands… ehm… boring.

  

Hi! I’d like to talk to you a bit about Christmas, time for reflection, but also time for looking back. Was 2010 a good year for Mando Diao? 

Gustaf: To tell you the truth I can’t remember that much.

Then it must have been a really good year.

Gustaf: Probably. My God, I really can’t remember anything!

Björn: We did MTV Unplugged. That was good. It felt good. But the details of it? Gone.

Was the unplugged session the highlight of the year for you?

Gustaf: Absolutely. There was something else which I liked: when we played Southside and Hurricane in summer – it was one of the best experiences I’ve had on stage for a long time.

Do you like Christmas? Or does it irritate you?

Gustaf: I like it. Christmas is the only time in the year when we don’t have to play concerts because no one invites us. That’s why we use the possibility to spend some time with the family.

This sounds almost like you’d prefer to be on stage on the Christmas Eve.

Björn: No, of course not.

Gustaf: But basically we find it very difficult to reject concerts. Standing on the stage is simply the essence of what we do. That’s why it’s always very difficult to say no when someone wants us to play at a show.

Björn: This would be like rejecting our own personalities.

Is it then not difficult all of a sudden to get used to the quiet lifestyle during the holidays?

Gustaf: Earlier it was like that. When we were 23-24, it was of course more difficult for us than it is now.

Björn: Every time it was like falling into coma for two days, when you came home. Now it got better.

How should one imagine Christmas at Mando Diao’s? 

Björn: Very snowy.

Gustaf: As a cliché. We celebrate it in the woods of Dalarna. It looks like a Disney film. Christmas trees all around and tons of snow.

Björn: And these are not plastic Christmas trees. They’re real and they’re huge.

Gustaf: A couple of horses run around. It’s very dark most of the time. And early in the morning people go to church.

That really sounds like a cliché. And definitely like one can get sick and tired of it after a couple of years.

Gustaf: No. Christmas must be like Disneyworld. The idea is that we all become kids once again. That’s why we like Christmas so much: we can act as if we’re young. We sing, we get presents, we act like we were happy.

Björn: When we write songs with Mando Diao, we try to create a very similar atmosphere. A bit of naivety, innocence, a feeling of childhood.

Gustaf: When I was in Disneyworld, it reminded me about making music. There was so much to discover everywhere. You couldn’t really say what was the coolest thing there but the feeling is cool. It’s the same about music. There are lots of people who can’t sing even a bit but still they love music.

Do you bring out guitars and sing during Christmas? 

Gustaf: Actually no. This happens during Midsummer night.

What about the presents? Do you prepare small surprises for the other members of Mando Diao? 

Gustaf: No. We actually don’t like each other. The biggest present is that we don’t have to spend so much time with each other during Christmas. (laughs)

Can you imagine writing a Christmas song sometimes? 

Gustaf: We already have one.

Björn: It’s in the drawer, probably we’ll get it out one day.

Gustaf: It’s not a Christmas song in the sense of “Oh wonderful jolly Christmas time”. But the song tells a story that happened on Christmas eve.

Then can it one day become a Christmas single by Mando Diao?

Gustaf: No idea. We have so many songs about which we’re still not very sure what to do with them. They’re simply there. Some songs are actually not for publicity, they’re just for us.

Björn: Probably one day there will be a chance to bring this song out. This happens often to us, an unexpected possibility opens up. It happened with MTV Unplugged. The people from MTV asked us and then we said: we’ll do it.

Will the experience of the unplugged session have an impact on the sound of Mando Diao? Can the next normal album also be a bit acoustic? 

Gustaf: Yes. Rock bands themselves are pretty boring. All the time you have to play in the same way.

Björn: At least it’s true for some bands. We try of course to avoid this.

Gustaf: We’ve been trying for a long time to get away from the Mando Diao image. That’s why we’re always looking for something new. And more acoustic elements is one of the ways for that.

Even before the unplugged album you had a part at your concerts during which you played a couple of songs purely acoustic on a small stage among the audience.  

Gustaf: This is the best method to show the audience how the song was actually meant. All our songs are composed very simply on piano or guitar, and then they grow and develop. When we play acoustic it reminds a little bit about going through a photo album: you see how the song looked when it was very young and just came into this world. It’s the same with the photos: babies are much more beautiful than grown up people.

Do you have plans for the New Year’s Eve?

Gustaf: I’ll try to do just nothing. Exactly like during Christmas. Just relaxing. But Björn will celebrate: he’s going to a wedding.

Björn: That’s true. One of my rather eccentric friends gets married. It’s the first time since long that I’ll celebrate the New Year’s Eve. Definitely since about seven or eight years. I don’t really like it. Everyone is looking for an ultimate party, and then it’s always a disappointment, as you expect too much.

And what’s there in store for Mando Diao in 2011?

Gustaf: We’ll get together shortly after the New Year and prepare an action plan. We’ll see what new songs we have and if we can probably make them into an album.

So one can expect a new Mando Diao record already soon?

Gustaf: Probably. We release every album like it could be the last one. So it also could be that nothing comes after Give Me Fire.

Björn: The songs simply come and they tell you what’s good for them and in what context they’d pass well.

If you have so many songs that don’t fit Mando Diao, you could also release them in another way. For example, as a solo album.

Gustaf: I don’t believe that it’ll work out for us. We’re like Siamese twins. If I want to do a solo album, I’ll like to have Björn to write a couple of songs for it and also to sing some. I’d like to have CJ on bass. And probably a producer with whom we’ve already worked as Mando Diao. That’s why a solo album wouldn’t really make sense. At least not at this point.

So you’re not jealous of your brothers who both have already made records on their own?

Gustaf: No. They work in an absolutely different manner. They both write for their own selves and then try to find a compromise. In my opinion it’s not the right way to make music.