Scandinavian Indie - Souls Interview


Scandinavian Indie Presents: A short interview with
Souls

by Erik Söderström (chief@lysator.liu.se) 
after a gig at Herrgår'n, Linköping, Sweden, 04-Feb-94.

Souls are:
Johan Karlsson (bass)
Andreas Danielsson (guitar)
Cecilia Nordlund (vocals & guitar)
Tony Karlsson (drums)

(c) 1995 Scandinavian Indie

If the answer is "A." it was answered by the group as a whole.

Q. WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE GIG TONIGHT?

A. Stage-diving is always fun. That people dare to stagedive when we're wearing suits. Maybe we're looking like a 'dansband' (folk music band) No, but it was a good audience. Students. They're fun.

Q. ARE YOU STUDENTS?

CN. I've been one.
AD. Me too.
JK. Yeah but not a university student.
TK. Ah, then I've also been a student!
CN. I'm the only one who has been a university student.
TK. The rest of us is so low-educated...
JK. (in a southern old man's swedish accent) We think it's a lot more fun to drink alcohol and look at the girls, than to play music (hahahaha).

Q. PRETTY MUCH PEOPLE HERE TONIGHT, IS IT ALWAYS LIKE THIS?

A. There has always been more people than we or those who have arranged the gigs have expected. More and more for every gig actually, and that makes you feel really good. We don't know why.
AD. We know why.. it's because we're the best. (laughter).

Q. NO EXTRA NUMBERS, HOWCOME?

A. I think we gave them what they could handle. I don't think the audience could take any more now. I think it was too much at once. We don't play any extra numbers normally because we play a shorter set than most, but we play as much as possible during that time. Then we finish, because what the audience really want is to buy beer. When they have watched the gig I mean.

Q. HOW DID YOU GET THIS GIG HERE AT HERRGÅR'N?

A. Bob Hund was scheduled for this night, but apparently, their bass-player broke his hand, arm, or whatever it was, his brain. So we got to play instead. And I think we're a lot better than them, so I don't think the audience was sorry about that. No, but we were scheduled to play here in any case, but we didn't know that it would be so soon.

Q. HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME 'SOULS'?

A. Actually, it's funny you should ask that. You know there are loads of bands with 'Soul' in their names, like Soul Asylum, De La Soul etc. We were surprised that no-one had selected just 'Souls', so we grabbed it. (ha ha)

Q. WHERE ARE YOU FROM? HELSINGBORG OR GOTHENBURG?

A. We're from the universe, but now we live in Gothenburg.

Q. HAVE YOU RELEASED SOMETHING? ALBUMS OR SINGLES?

A. No, nothing like that. Yet. We have had two songs on two compilation CDs. "It's Absence" on Snapology and "Boring In A Proper Way" on Life Is A Joke. (Haha) There's a funny story behind the LIAJ compilation by the way. You might have heard that the track really is a cover of New Order's "5-8-6". That was not the track we wanted on the compilation. The guys who compiled the compilation selected the wrong track from our tape but put the right title on the CD. We've only made two covers ever, and it's typical that they had to make a mistake and select one of those!

Q. WILL YOU RELEASE SOMETHING IN THE NEAR FUTURE?

A. Yes. A single, hopefully in April. We haven't decided what to put on it yet though, but it feels right. It feels right to release something now. Wait and see.
AD. It will probably be in May.

Q. YOU HAVEN'T BEEN SIGNED TO A LABEL YET..

CN. 'm not so sure about that... but I won't say more. We're saved, but we don't know when there will be a release.

Q. WHEN DID SOULS START?

A. Souls was formed in 1991, about two and a half, three years ago.

Q. CECILIA, YOU USED TO SING JAZZ-IMPROVISED POP BEFORE..

CN. Where have you heard that? What sources? No, but that's true. But I don't sing that nowadays. Sometimes I do, but what I sing comes from my heart, and I don't think about what type of music I'm singing to. I just sing. But I like jazz, that is true. I don't know if it shows when I'm singing, but it isn't something I'm ashamed about.

Q. DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF IDOLS?

A. I hope we will be one day. That's what we're after. (hahaha) To be an idol, to be in Okej [Swedish popular music magazine for teens], the middle pages.
CN. And at the same time we fart like everyone else, you know? It's good to know about that yourself.
AD. I don't fart anymore.
CN. But of course not!

Q. DO YOU GET ANY FAN MAIL?

CN. We've actually received two (hahaha) from lonely young pimple-faced men with glasses in Kalix [northern town in Sweden] (hahahaha) No, but we have only two songs out on CD, on compilations, that aren't very representative any more, but those who have heard them write us. So I guess there are two who have heard them now. (haha)

Q. BEFORE THE GIG, YOU COULD NOTICE A SCENT OF CHAOS.. [they had misplaced an amplifier and had to borrow one from a local band (Cloudberry Jam)]

A. That is probably what people remember about Souls, chaos. We can't change that. We have tried, really. Talked to each other. But nothing happens. We say 'well, we got to do something about this' but no-one has the energy to start.

Q. ANY SPECIAL THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED WHEN YOU HAVE PLAYED LIVE?

A. Yeah. (haha) Once, in Simrishamn [Sweden] something really funny happened. Or rather, didn't happen. (haha) We came in on the scene, looked at all the people in the audience sitting down, and started to play. After a couple of songs, we started to wonder if they would ever move, you know? But they didn't! Through the whole gig, no-one moved! They just sat there. We didn't know what to think! (hahaha) Pretty interesting experience I think.

Q. WHY DO YOU PLAY?

A. It's because we want Linda Norrman [has a column in the evening paper 'Expressen' about indie music] to write about us. (hahaha) Yes, and Eva Kvanta, in that magazine, what was it called now, 'Snopp'? [roughly translated: 'Dick'] [they're making fun of a magazine called 'Pop'] [all of this said very very late in the evening].

[After a while (and a couple of beers more) they said that the label they have been signed to was 'Telegram Records', which later was announced on March 31st.]


Scandinavian Indie Souls interview 04-Feb-94



Scandinavian Indie - your Internet guide to scandinavian independent music
E-mail: scan-indie-request@lysator.liu.se
WWW: http://www.lysator.liu.se/~chief/scan.html
E-mail: chief@lysator.liu.se Phone: +46-(0)13-175042
Snail-mail: Erik Söderström, Björnkärrsg. 13 B:34, 582 51 Linköping, Sweden

This page was last updated Dec 26, 1995 by Erik Söderström