1. How did you come up with the name of the band?
Sad story alert! When Pieter, Wouter, and I started the band seven years ago, it was just the three of us writing songs in Wouter’s bedroom. He had a little kitten which was always jumping on our stuff while we were trying to write songs. When Wouter went for a holiday, he asked his housemates to take care of the cat and left a little note saying “if anything happens to the cat” together with his phone number. Unfortunately, while Wouter was on holiday the cat made her great escape, and was never found again. At that time, we were looking for a name. When we saw the little note on the blackboard, we unanimously decided to name the band after it.
2. Do you have a standard procedure of creating a song? Do you just jam around or is there a main riff and the track is build up on it?
Not really, it differs from song to song. Most of the time we start with a basic guitar idea and we see where it takes us during rehearsals. Afterwards, we’ll record demos to fine-tune the guitars. We do have some songs that initially started as a jam, and others which were almost completely written by only one of us, from start to finish.
I think we’ve grown in this process as a band over the last couple years. In the beginning, we would all individually come up with our parts and that was that. Nowadays, we’re working as a collective and are thinking more in terms of what a specific part of a song needs to bring it to a higher level. On our upcoming album ‘Mångata’ we really focused on interweaving our sounds, producing a technical yet more melodically layered record.
3. What are your influences and what kind of music do you hear when you are at home?
We all have pretty different musical influences and backgrounds, ranging from Explosions in the Sky and Mono to Editors to Led Zeppelin to Sonic Youth or August Burns Red. Lately, we’ve also been inspired by more electronic synth based music, like Emancipator, Bonobo, Apparat, Arms and Sleepers and so forth.
It’s actually a nice thing to have an eclectic background within the band, and to try to mix this into something interesting. I think and hope that you can hear this somewhat in our music. Both our first album ‘Sun Drunk Moon’ as ‘Mångata’ are rather diverse and not necessarily ‘traditional’ post-rock.
4. Which is the one album you can't live without?
Hard question, but if I have to choose one, it has to be ‘Give me beauty… Or give me death!’ by EF. It’s a flawless album from the first second to the last, truly breath-taking.
5. What's the first record you've ever bought?
I’m not sure, maybe ‘Californication’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers or ‘Follow the Leader’ by Korn? I still secretly like both albums.
6. Name a band that you would like to share the stage or tour with?
Personally, I’d choose Sigur Rós. Even though they grew to play bigger stages, they remained true to their own original sound, which is something I can appreciate. You’d probably get five different answers if you’d ask all of us though.
7. Did the internet and specifically blogs help to spread your music around the world? Name a place (country) that you were surprised to know your music has reached to?
Social networks and blogs are without a doubt the most important media to get our music heard outside of our home turf. I’m still surprised every time we get a message from someone on the other side of the world saying they like our music, especially in this day and age with the abundance of music out there.
The most surprising order we ever got online, was probably from Lahore in Pakistan. The fact we got invited to tour in China last year was the highlight of our career so far.
8. Do you support the idea of Bandcamp where fans can decide the price or services like Spotify?
Yes, all our music is available as a ‘name your price’-download on Bandcamp. I think it gives people a great opportunity to discover new music, and allows them to support the artists they like.
Bandcamp is also my main channel to discover new music. I love how you listen to an album and then it stops playing, just like a vinyl or CD would. It’s finite, just like the artist imagined it. It’s not a continuous flow of music like most other streaming websites.
9. Where do you see yourselves in 10 years?
I have no idea to be honest. I hope we can keep growing as a band, that we can keep playing nice shows, visiting new places, releasing new music which we’re proud of. We’ll see where it takes us!
10. Is the artwork of an album important nowadays in the digital era?
Yes, it is very important. There are so many bands and releases nowadays. Artwork can add an extra dimension which complements the music in many ways. For our new album, we worked together with BAART art collective. They did a great job creating a cover that reflects the sound of our music.
11. What is your favorite album cover?
I always liked the artwork of …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead. All their albums have a great design, but I especially like the cover of ‘Worlds Apart’.
12. It seems that a lot of people are turning on vinyl again. Why do you think that is and which is your preferable media format?
I prefer to buy vinyl as well. I guess people appreciate the little work of art a vinyl is. In an age where all information and music is so easily accessible, it’s nice to slow down for a bit and listen to music carefully. Vinyl is a great medium for this. That’s why I’m very happy that our new album Mångata, available in September, will also be released on vinyl.
13. What's the most vivid story or moment as a band?
That is without a doubt our China tour in October last year. We were invited to play five shows and travelled about 5000km in five days. It was such a great experience to play in some of the world’s biggest cities for entirely new crowds. People were so appreciative and generous, truly amazing;
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