This Month: An Interview With Johan Angergård of the Swedish ultra pop supergroup Club 8
It was well after midnight, and things were just starting to get interesting. Ines was tugging on my arm, begging to get back to the villa, while in another room of Gerard's sprawling estate a young nymphet whose name escaped me was waiting tremulously.
But duty called. I asked Ines to get me another Cognac and deftly slipped out the back door, where my Citroen was waiting, engine purring softly into the quiet night.
Tonight was the night I had (at long last) been able to track down the key musician and songwriter of one of my favorite internacional pop groups, Johan Angergård of Club 8, for an informal interview.
As the G5 was being serviced (dreadful Belgian mechanics), I would be unable to conduct the interview in person, and instead dialed Johan on my cellular telephone...
Phillippe Coullette, IV: Hello Johan is that you?
Johan Angergård: Yes.
PCIV: Well it's great to finally speak with you. To start with, how did Club 8 evolve from the Swedish pop scene and your work in other important bands like Acid House Kings?
JA: When we started Club 8 I had been playing with Acid House Kings and Poprace for a couple of years. Karolina was in Poprace too. Poprace was a bit rough and we felt like doing something more sophisticated.
We didn't want to break up Poprace (Poprace broke up later), just do something new.
It also felt quite easy and natural to do songs together as we were seeing each other quite often anyway. At least for me it did (feels a bit strange to answer for Karolina as well, she might have felt awkward).
We were very happy with the first songs we recorded, which is the first single with "me too", "girlfriend" and "before I came". I think we saw ourselves as much more mature sounding than we actually were. At some times we were extremely twee. I don't know if my taste in music has become much more "mature" since then, but I definitely feel like making more mature music.
I know that "mature" can be the same as "boring". I don't mean it that way. And if I can, not make music that sounds like 1000 other bands.
PCIV: I don't think that will be a problem for Club 8, you sound like no one else right now. Speaking of right now, what music are you listening to?
JA: My taste in music is changing very slowly. I've been listening to twee-pop for almost ten years now and I still really like it.
I constantly find new bands, but very rarely they sound like something I haven't heard before. I like the most when they sound like nothing I ever found before though.
When I first heard Kahimi Karie, The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group or Sukpatch I might have felt like that, but that was some time ago. Looptroop is the latest thing I've listened to that has a, for me, brand new sound and they're not great. Just good.
I listen to Aden "black cow" a lot. And I got the Majestic CD yesterday along with some other stuff and it seems really good. I'm so honoured that they did a cover of one of our songs.
PCIV: Hey Johan, you're hard to get in touch with, I understand you've been working a lot lately?
JA: Yes. I work at Egmont Entertainment in Stockholm. I market computer games for PC. It's a quite new experience for me after having studied for 17 years or so.
PCIV: Luckily I was born wealthy and don't have to do such work. But Club 8 is truly a phenomenal band, I imagine that in a few years you will become an international super pop sensacion. When that happens, what outfits will you buy?
JA: The same as now, only more...
At that point the Citroen was stopped at a red light in the 17th. Some dangerous yet attractive looking French women, crammed into a tiny car, looked at me and blew kisses. The light turned green and they sped off, leaving behind only a deep hip-hop beat that lingered in the air.
PCIV: Johan, do you listen to rap or hip-hop?
JA: Not really. I have discovered a Swedish hiphop band called Looptroop recently. My younger brother is really in to hiphop so he's trying to convince me of the excellency of the music sometimes. With Looptroop he succeeded. They're cool. If Sukpatch were a hiphop band they might have sounded like Looptroop.
PCIV: I notice some Sarah Records influence in your music. Which bands do you like from this label?
JA: Blueboy and Harvey Williams/Another Sunny Day are my Sarah favorites. I like most of the Sarah bands. And the Orchids album "lyceum" is a classic masterpiece.
PCIV: Why do you think the label gained such a following in Sweden?
JA: I really didn't know that they had gained a following in Sweden. Many of my friends are really in to the Sarah bands, but apart from that I very rarely meet someone interested in the label. Or someone who has heard about it at all.
PCIV: Tell me about your relationship, musical or otherwise, with Karolina, your beautiful golden-voiced partner in crime:
JA: She was my girlfriend for a really long time but we broke up about 1 1/2 year ago or something. Now we are just very good friends.
PCIV: Well, you make absolutely stunning music together.
The last question I have-- people from Tokyo to Stockholm to Rome to Los Angeles to New York are all asking the same question: What's next for Club 8?
JA: I'm writing songs for our next album and I'll continue to do so until I feel we have enough good songs. There's no knowing how long that will take.
We'll probably records a couple of songs during the summer and continue at different occasion during the autumn. Sometime next spring a new album should be ready I guess.
PCIV: I'll be counting the days...Thank you so much, Johan.
I clicked off the phone and pulled into the driveway, exhilarated by the conversation. I opened a bottle of champagne, popped the "Friend I once Had" CD into the Citroen's disc player, and leaned back into the supple leather seats, content. The sweet melodies carried me into the land of endless dreams, and I awoke to the sound of tiny birds chirping in the dawn.
USOUNDS | 1999
