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Interview with BLUE
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Short interview with v1.0
B L U E
30-Mar-95
by Erik Soderstrom (chief@lysator.liu.se)
after a gig at "Herrg}r'n", Link|ping, Sweden.
Blue are:
Mikael Nordgren (vocals, guitar) Michael Ohlsson (bass)
Robert Persson (drums) Claes Olofsson (guitar)
Magnus Palmquist (guitar)
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(if the answer is "A." it was answered by someone. If the answer came from
someone special, the initials are written.)
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Q. WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE GIG TONIGHT?
A. It was okay really, though the sound on stage was a bit low. We never
did a sound check though. And there weren't many people here tonight?
[I told them there was a huge party at the university the same night].
A. Okay. There's always _something_ going on somewhere else when we play!
Q. DID YOU HAVE ANY OTHER PROBLEMS?
A. Well, the stage swayed a bit and the drums kept moving forward all the
time! They should get a carpet or something back there.
Q. WHAT SONGS DID YOU PLAY?
A. 'Tin Soldier' (a Small Faces cover), 'Calling', 'Holliday', 'Lazy',
'Dancing All Night Long' and 'Hold On My Heart'. Then the extra
number, 'Can't Explain' (a Who cover), 'Beatboy', 'Hearts',
'Hey Cissy', 'Atomic Tommy 'and 'Be There'.
Q. WHERE ARE YOU FROM AND WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU'RE NOT IN A BAND?
A. We're all from |rebro, and all of us study except for Claes who
works in a music/record store.
Q. YOU HAVE PLAYED IN LINK\PING BEFORE. WHERE AND WHEN WAS THAT?
A. Yeah, we've played here twice before. Both times in december last year.
The first one at J's Place and the other at Skylten.
Q. ARE YOU TOURING RIGHT NOW?
A. We've played a lot after "Sitting On The Sofa" came out. We're going
down to Sk}ne now. In Lund with Mufflon 5 on the 27th of april at
Lunds Nation, Kristianstad on the 28th and Malmoe on the 29th.
Q. HOW ABOUT RELEASES?
A. A mini-CD "Blue" 1993 on West Side and Telegram, two CD singles,
"Popsong EP" 1993 and "Calling" 1994 on West Side and "Sitting On The
Sofa" a full-length CD at the end of 1994 on West Side. All of them
have sold okay really. Oh, we've also made a full-length demo which
we sent to Sound Affects called "Soon" in 1992.
Q. ANY STORIES BEHIND THE RECORDING OF "SITTING ON THE SOFA"?
A. First, the day before we were to go to Skellefte} to record it, Robert
dived straight into the bottom of a pool. They wanted to keep him at
the hospital, but he decided to go anyway. Well there, now this was
in july. You remember how hot it was! And we thought they had air
conditioning, but it almost didn't work. It took us three weeks to
record the whole thing. Then, the cover. We really wanted a group
picture on the cover, but the pictures they took were lousy, so all
we got was a red background with yellow text. It's the worst cover
we've seen!
Q. HOW ABOUT INFLUENCES?
A. Motown, Soul. The Jam, Small Faces, Portishead, Blur. Actually most
things between Soul and Rock Music.
Q. YOU'RE SIGNED TO THE WEST SIDE FABRICATION LABEL. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?
A. We just sent a demo to Jocke, and suddenly we were recording our
mini-CD. Actually Pioneer in Japan likes us a lot, so the full-length
will be released there on the 27th of april. West Side released a
compilation there a while ago, and now there's a new one to be
released with The Bear Quartet and Blithe for example. The cover on
the CD looks fantastic! [West Side reported last week (may 1995)
that the new compilation have sold 10.000 copies, and the other bands
on West Side who have released something in Japan have sold 15.000
copies so far].
Q. HAVE YOU BEEN FEATURED IN THE PRESS/TV/MEDIA?
A. A lot in Slitz magazine, though we only got a "2" from Eva Kvanta
for the full-length. She gave everyone 2's in that issue though,
so maybe she had a bad day. We've been featured in a lot of local
papers, Pop, where we got a 7 [out of 10] for the full-length, and
N|jesguiden, where we got a "happy face" review. A lot of fanzines
want to do interviews as well. We plan to do a video, but we haven't
found someone to do it for the money we can offer yet. Maybe in may...
Q. WHAT FESTIVALS WILL YOU BE PLAYING THIS YEAR?
A. Tr{stocksfestivalen [in Skellefte} 14-15 July] and Raj Raj [in K|ping
16-17 June].
Q. WHAT FESTIVALS DID YOU PLAY LAST YEAR?
A. We've played at Tr{stocksfestivalen both years. It was great the first
year but nothing worked for us last year. It got too late, we didn't
have any drums, and no-one knew we were supposed to play! That was
because it got too late really. We played at Dalarock last year too.
Q. OTHER SWEDISH BANDS YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
A. Waring Corn (now signed to the Roadrunner label). They have a Clawfinger
sound sort of. Their have 20.000 pre-hand orders for in Germany for their
release! Be sure to check them out. Millencolin. Cripple, who are not
that soft [laugh].
Q. ANY PLACES YOU'D LIKE TO RECOMMEND?
A. Caf Creole in Karlstad. That's a great place. We saw Popsicle when
they played there.
Q. I KNOW YOU HAD A DEAL WITH PLEASUREHOUSE. HOW DID THAT GO?
A. Yeah, we were supposed to play in Norrkoping and they were supposed
to play in |rebro a couple of times, but nothing ever happened.
They're all in Stockholm now, under a new name, by the way.
Q. ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO FINISH THIS INTERVIEW WITH?
A. Yeah. Claes here isn't really a member of the band [is he now?].
He usually plays in a soul band called "Cold Sweat", but they have
put it on ice right now. We all knew he was good, you know, people
talk a lot, so we asked him if he wanted to play with us, and...
CO. It's only fun to jump into such things, and that's why I decided
to go for it. I had listened to "Sittin On The Sofa" a lot before
they asked, so it was nothing I would have turned down [laugh].
We've only rehearsed three times, but everything has worked really
well.
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