Weekly > Interviews
First Aid Kit
Scandinavia has produced some of our favourite music of the last 5 years here at The Beat Surrender, the area seems to have a never ending production line of natural talent that offers something a little bit different.
The latest band to make their mark in the UK are First Aid Kit, two young Swedish girls who play together, go to school together and answer interview questions together.
Recently signed to Wichita Records we managed to grab a few words with the duo before the release of their excellent Drunken Trees EP (released on 23rd February).
You have an EP (Drunken Trees) coming out over here on the 23rd February are you excited to be finally releasing something in the UK at last?
Yeah, it’s gonna be fantastic. It truly is a dream come true. We feel very privileged. We can’t wait to play some more shows in the UK!
What can you tell us about the songs on the EP and the themes behind writing them at the time?
They were all written during a pretty short period of time. We were very inspired by other music, discovering lots of great artists for the first time, for example Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. We had no plans of launching a career or anything, we just thought “hey, let’s make music, it could be fun!”. I think the attitude we had at that time was what made the songs, and it’s an attitude we’re trying to keep.
To us the songs on the EP feel pretty old now, but we have a strong relationship with them and we still love to play them. The next album will be the very much the same, but still different.
How did the EP go down in Sweden when it was released over there?
We can’t say that it was a major breakthrough but we did get attention in media and last Friday we won a music prize, The Manifest Prize for singer/songwriter. So we must have done something right, but at the same time Sweden is a small country and the folk scene here is tiny. It was great releasing the EP, because we’ve been able to play a lot of shows in Sweden, which was the initial reason for releasing the EP anyway.
The record is being put out by Wichita Recordings, will your debut album also be with them and will any of the songs from the EP make it on to the album?
Yes, we’re planning on releasing our debut album through Wichita. Wichita rocks. Period. It’s gonna be great! None of the songs on the EP will be on the album, there will be ten brand new songs made with love.
You’ve also got a couple of live dates coming up in the UK, what can people seeing you for the first time live expect from your shows?
It’s “just” the two of us, Klara playing guitar and Johanna playing the keyboard and the auto-harp. And then we’re also singing. And we’re going to be singing our guts out. Seriously. When we play live, it’s all about the vocals.
Weblinks
Add to favouritesHave you lined up any Festival appearances yet this year?
We have definitely some festival things going on in the UK and some other nice European countries, but unfortunately we can’t announce anything yet.
Who are you most looking forward to seeing live yourselves?
We would love to see Bon Iver, he’s a genius and very inspiring. Also we’d love it if we were able to see Slow Club again, we saw them last time we were in London and we really dig what they do.
Scandinavia seems to produce an unbelievable amount of good music in relation to the population size of the area, why do you think that is?
It must be the weather. The snow is filled with a drug that causes musical creativity cells to come into existence inside your body and eventually it takes over you and you just pour out these amazing songs that you had no idea you could make. Or something like that.
Final question, you are both still quite young, how are you coping with the pressure and hype surrounding you at the moment?
We’re not really feeling it. We’re just trying to endure school, we’re doing the best we can with homework, but it’s hard to focus these days. It’s just really absurd flying somewhere to play a gig one day, and then coming back to have Chemistry class and all the time knowing where you’d rather be and what you’d rather be doing. But we probably shouldn’t complain!
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