The Beat Surrender

In January of this year an album sneaked out from a band called Club 8. The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Dreaming is a hazy, lush and dreamy pop album, with a modern twist on some of the old Sarah Records and Heavenly bands from yesteryear, I was also amazed to find that it wasn’t their first release.

It’s actually the duo’s 6th album to date, so with some catching up to do I set about asking Johan Angergard some questions, he’s the driving force behind the band as well as the owner of Labrador Records, I asked him about being compared to St Etienne and The Concretes, tips for who to look out for this from Sweden and in doing so got probably the first ever Beat Surrender world exclusive news-break!

You released your new album this year and the response seems to have been amazing to it as far as reviews go?

JOHAN: Yes, the response has been really great. The popular independent bands in the UK are often quite the opposite of Club 8. We’re very anti-macho and against trends and poses, so I was happily surprised to see how well received it was over there. But on the other hand, there’s a big difference between getting good reviews from people who actually have a genuine interest in music and being on the front page of NME. I’m sure NME and the likes would hate us if they had the chance to hear or see us.

Has it helped you pick up many new fans, I’m a new convert myself, I guess I can’t be the only person who has got into you a bit late?

JOHAN: We’re been fairly ok in a lot of parts of the world for some time. We’ve not had any overnight success anywhere or anything like that, but we’ve grown a little bit every year it seems. As we haven’t received any attention in the UK with our previous albums I’ sure the good reviews over there helps us a lot over right now.

What are your plans around touring the album in the UK over the course of this year?

JOHAN: Well, I’m pretty sure there won’t be anything like a proper tour. We’re not the touring kind of band, even though that has changed a little over the last year. I think we’ve played as many gigs in the last six months as we did the first 10 year all together and that means we’ve played 10 gigs.

But I’d be happy to play in London again because we really enjoyed playing at the Luminaire and I’ve never been to Scotland and it seems a lot of people from there are asking us to come over right now so that could be fun too.

You seem to get a lot of comparisons to bands like The Concretes, St Etienne and Joy Zipper quite a lot, is that something that flatters you or do you find it frustrating?

JOHAN: Joy Zipper? I’ve never heard of them. I should definitely check them out. We did one song in 1998 which sounded a bit like St Etienne and ever since that we’ve been compared to them. I really can’t see why though. They play pop music and they have a female vocalist, but that’s where the similarities end if you ask me. And it’s the same with The Concretes. I do love “Foxbase Alpha” though and the first two Eps by The Concretes were very good.

The music the bands have put out after that haven’t really touched me though. Taken by Trees, Victoria Bergsman of The Concretes new band/project, is totally brilliant though. If you haven’t heard “Open field” yet you should really check it out. It’s a lot more personal, emotional and better than The Concretes ever were.

The last ten years seems to have seen a major explosion of Scandinavian artists who are being really well received in the UK, how have you found it in other countries outside of Scandinavia and the UK?

JOHAN: In the beginning, that’s around 1998 when we released “The Friend I Once Had” we had most of our audience in the US and Japan. Spain was ok too I think. After that we’ve noticed how more and more people in Asian countries like Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, China and so on discover Club 8. But that’s probably not a part of a Scandinavian explosion over there, it’s just that they seem to appreciate what we do with Club 8. And I don’t see Club 8 as a part of the Swedish indie scene or part of a Swedish indie movement. We feel international in the way that we belong everywhere and nowhere.

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