Home sweet home, Those Dancing Days are back in London. The Swedish quintet are excited about their second album Daydreams And Nightmares and they are bursting with enthusiasm to play the new tracks live to a British audience. But before they take to the stage Middleboop had a nice chat with the girls at the Hoxton’s Strongroom Bar.
Middleboop: Welcome back, how’s London been so far?
Lisa Pyk: Good. We went to see Frankie & The Heartstrings last night and we’re excited to play in London tomorrow. Actually, Frankie Francis will sing a song with us tomorrow (their past London show at The Lexington).
Middleboop: You’re playing in London, you’re even playing ATP. Are these UK gigs a test for the upcoming album?
Cissi Efraimsson: I don’t know. We’ve already played in London so it will be more comfortable now.
Rebecka Rolfart: We’ve practiced a lot and want to show the audience that we’re better than three years ago. We’ve really taken a step forward.
Mimmi Evrell: The only nervous part is that it’s many new songs to play and it’s more difficult than rehearsing them in the studio.
Middleboop: Is the British audience more important for you?
Lisa Pyk: Every audience is important but here you have the most well known music magazines of Europe, so London is very good for promotion.
Middleboop: When I listened to the new single ‘Fuckarias’, I noticed that the drums and bass are harder and Linnea’s voice is more powerful. Is this a general direction for the new album?
Rebecka Rolfart: We play harder because I think we are more confident. We’re also better musicians now.
Middleboop: For me, ‘Fuckarias’ was a message from Those Dancing Days to the audience, that you don’t want to be the 'sweet as apple pie girls' anymore. Is it a sort of fuck(arias) off?
Linnea Jönsson: We never wanted to be those girls. That’s a name the press gave us.
Lisa Pyk: I think there’s more variation on the new album, that's for sure. A lot of songs have a different mood and 'Fuckarias' is the most angry one. There are some warm songs on it as well, it’s more diverse than In Our Space Hero Suits.
Linnea Jönsson: And the name of the album is really good. Daydreams And Nightmares, because it’s both good and bad. We used a lot of our own fantasies in the songs.
Middleboop: On, the previous record you all wrote the songs together. Did you still work as a team on Daydreams and Nightmares?
Rebecka Rolfart: Yes, musically we worked together as a team but we wrote the lyrics individually.
Mimmi Evrell: But on the new record we helped each other more with the lyrics. We analysed the songs and tried to make them the best they can be. That was new, we learned more about the lyrics and knew exactly what we’re playing.
Middleboop: How did you manage to get in contact with producer Patrick Berger (Robyn)?
Rebecka Rolfart: He always came to the café where I worked. So I told him about Those Dancing Days and every time he came by, he asked how it was going. And one day I gave him a demo and he found our music so amazing, he became our producer.
Mimmi Evrell: Actually, he wasn’t the obvious choice. We had some other people in mind but it didn’t work out.
Linnea Jönsson: Patrick really liked our songs and at the same time he wanted us to rehearse the new material a lot more.
Mimmi Evrell: He was super hard but in a good way. It helped us to become better. That’s what we needed.
Middleboop: These days you have a lot of succesful girl bands like Warpaint, Best Coast and Dum Dum Girls. Are you feeling connected to other girl bands in a way? Do they influence you?
Mimmi Evrell: Hey, we began before them!
Linnea Jönsson:We like their music.
Lisa Pyk: Maybe when we see them, we feel connected, but we aren’t that influenced by girl groups, although we adore The Slits.
Middleboop: It’s almost Christmas, Are you planning something special?
Rebecka Rolfart: I’m gonna spend Christmas on the beach in Vietnam with my family!
Lisa Pyk: And the four of us gonna DJ on New Year’s eve in Stockholm.
Middleboop: And what’s the new year gonna bring for Those Dancing Days?
Mimmi Evrell: More singles, the new album and a lot of live dates. We’re playing at an Awards Show for Swedish television and we're gonna tour America in March and May and next summer we’re doing the festivals. Everything is gonna happen for us in 2011!
Words: Kasper-Jan Raeman
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