Mando Diao

Mando Diao fresh from staking claim to Japans rock hierarchy hope to become natural heirs to the rock crown in their native Sweden, but as I heard from singer/guitarist Gustaf Norén their plans for world domination have only just begun.

MN: I saw you down at the Barfly a couple of months ago, it was an absolutely fantastic show.

Gustaf: Yeah, it was really intense.

MN: It had pretty much all you could ask for in a live show, energy, drive, enthusiasm and great songs, is that how you plan to win over the UK?

Gustaf: Well, if they like music they will like us. We've got everything, all the elements you need in rock ‘n' roll music we got the melodies and the energy, those are the two basic things you need. Most bands only have one of those. Most bands have energy and no melodies we have them all.

MN: The album Bring 'Em In was recorded in a garage then?

Gustaf: We recorded it in a basement like demos really and when we handed it over to the record company they didn't want us to rerecord it because we couldn't recapture that feeling we had so we just released it.

MN: How long ago was the album recorded?

Gustaf: Three years ago.

MN: Have you got a second album?

Gustaf: Yeah, we got it recorded this summer in England actually. It's going to have a proper release in Febuary/March. We recorded it in Bath we had a relaxing couple of weeks there.

MN: What is the Mando Diao masterplan?

Gustaf: It's what rock ‘n' roll should be dirty, loud, in garages but we can do songs for the big stadiums too, why not, we reach for the stars.

MN: You have a massive following in Japan.

Gustaf: Yeah, for some reason the Japanese picked up on it real quick. We had massive import sales there. We went over and sold more in Japan in a week than we had in Sweden for years. When we came back for the second time we were one of the biggest rock bands in Japan, I don't know what happened. The Japanese think we're British or something because it's not Swedish music to them this is rock.

MN: What does rock ‘n' roll music mean to you?

Gustaf: Not really caring about tomorrow as when you have no future you just don't really care. So the music becomes rock ‘n' roll, it's very important you don't have a future. Hip Hop is also rock ‘n' roll in some ways.

MN: Who writes the songs?

Gustaf: Me and Björn. It's important that the writing team is as small as possible otherwise everyone wants there ideas, there has to be a leader. Look at The Soundtrack Of Our Lives they have some good songs but everyone in the band needs to have there input even when they are producing it and if you hear it there are some weird things going on in there.

MN: Soundtrack Of Our Lives are a great band why are they not bigger than they are?

Gustaf: The things with bands like that is that it's more history than future and you don't really want bands like that do you.

MN: You have a really big Mod sound especially on Motown Blood the b-side?

Gustaf: It's much more bluesy when we do it live but when we recorded it it was real Mod.

MN: Great song almost better than Paralyzed.

Gustaf: It was the first single we released in Sweden on limited edition vinyl.

MN: What does the future hold?

Gustaf: We need to break in Britain and carry on playing around the world.

MN: How much of a say does the record company have?

Gustaf: We are pretty free to do what we want, they want to make money from us so let us do our own thing because we know best. No record people could really say that they know more about rock ‘n' roll than a 23 year-old kid.

MN: Where do you get the best live audience?

Gustaf: I have to say that the last time we played in London the audience went crazy at the Barfly.

MN: Yeah, I remember being worried as I could feel the floor groaning under the weight and thought that any second we might fall through to the downstairs bar.

Gustaf: It was great really because as London is really the capital of Europe we had people there from all over the world, some had seen us before some hadn't, a real good mixture. You don't get in other places, that's why the crowd was going mental.

MN: Paralyzed is a great song, any better on the second album?

Gustaf: There's a lot of pop songs on it, we wanted to write songs like the kings of pop music did, Bowie, Holland Dozier Holland, Motown, all brilliant. The album is controlled chaos, focussed punches, has more of a groove to it which makes people dance. Some of the tracks on Bring Em In were so fucking punky that the people coundn't dance, so we added things like that.

MN: Franz Ferdinand have got no toms and have a real disco beat but with driven guitar riffs, do you like their style?

Gustaf: Yeah, it's a bit too structured, not impulsive enough. Every guitar chord feels like it's been calculated for years. But that's good too you can't have only chaos, I like bands like Franz Ferdinand we should have more of those in Sweden.

MN: What is the music scene like in Sweden then?

Gustaf: It's terrible really because it's not appropriate to be successful, you have to stay indie and you will never have any good indie bands as they are the ones that want to reach for the top. There's too much art and not enough soul.

MN: So which are the songs to look out for on the new album?

Gustaf: My favourite is You Can't Steal My Love a real pop song which groovy drum sound, with a little punk line in there to. It's an anthem. We've also written Down In The Past a dark soul song and that will be the first single in the UK.

MN: We had a Music News exclusive a couple of days ago that the Libertines are breaking up, what do you think of that?

Gustaf: Well it was a sinking ship wasn't it. Maybe there was no more to give and that's why they split. When bands split at their best it's always good. I hope we only make two or three more albums.

MN: So do it all in a short space of time then quit?

Gustaf: Live off the music for the rest of my life in a big house in the Bahamas, that's the masterplan.

MN: Sounds pretty good to me. See you at the Buffalo bar on Tuesday, can't wait.

Paralyzed by Mando Diao is released November 15th.

Mando Diao are: Björn Dixgård - vocal & guitar, Gustaf Norén - vocal & guitar, Carl-Johan Fogelklou – bass, Samuel Giers – drums