Johan: In Germany we had mostly good reactions... In Sweden there has been very few reviews so far but it's not as positive in the reviews as in Germany. Most people we talk to though seem to like it and we've even gotten some nice credits from other bands ,that we have great respect for, that like the album and it warms our hearts. Maybe we just shouldn’t listen to the Swedish reviews. After all... What do Swedish journalists know? Nothing that's for sure... (Johan works part time as a journalist ;)) Erik: You´ll never become a prophet in your own home town.
Only few know, that you already exist some more years and that “Celeste” is the second album, but the first released in Germany. Why did it last so long to get a distribution?
Johan: It didn’t ... We just had our hands busy with other stuff... And thought about other ways to distribute our music etc. We had loads of songs ready as well and had to be sure that we choosed the right ones for the album. Erik: We werem’t rushing things. The first album “sounds of a new generator” was released by the swedish label substream and their distribution contacts were slim and none in germany.
For all the people who didn’t notice you, just explain who is behind auto-auto and what does auto-auto stands for?
Johan: “the answer we would like to give”: We are quite many people behind auto-auto. Mostly there's a little demon named Sherbert and a gal named Judy who makes the music though. . . Various other synthesizers are somewhat somehow involved in the process and from time to time we also stroke a note. But the music mostly writes itself. When it comes to videos and live-shows and other projects we have going on well.. Sherbert is still in charge of most of the things we do. Erik: “the truth”: auto-auto is Erik Frankel, Johan Hellqvist and Björn Hedén making music. The music spans all over the electro-spectrum. auto-auto as a project stands for nothing, but are not in any way nihilistic or anarchistic, but sooner tries to shine a light on the dualism of man and the right to change your mind and opinion.
On your web-site we can see also some serious words to describe your project. Even though your music is not that political, do you think that politic and art could be or should be linked?
Johan: We think that our music is very political indeed. It deals with serious issues mostly regarding religion and mass psychosis and other psychological phenomena. Of course music and politics should be linked together. Music about love and other stuff that 9 million other bands already have written about is boring. We write about stuff that's close to our hearts and since we're very involved in many political issues, discussions and so forth in our daily life... Well... There's no way to keep it apart from our music.
Your new album is called “Celeste” confer to your last song on the album. Why not “Shadowlands” or “Hastwerk”?
Erik: The album isn’t named after the song...the song is named after the album and Isn’t “Celeste” a prettier name than “shadowlands”? We think so. We wanted a name that reflects the sound and the schizophrenia of the album, and the quadruple meanings of the word/name “Celeste” worked for us. Why, don’t you like it?
I like it :) I just wanted to know the intention as you gave it. One remarkable and at the same time most stupid song is “The Pathetic Mr. Schneider”. Is there any sense behind it?
Johan and Erik: There's many senses behind it. Wanting to dance and get drunk for an instance. If you're talking about ideas. Well... We just did'nt wanna destroy a techno-wannabe song with lyrics so we sampled some old language tapes that we found. The samples made us laugh out loud so we kept them.
How did the people react for example from the label when they heared this song?
Johan: They loved it of course (and they probably laughed their asses of as well).
Even though your lyrics are very meaningful and partly very strong (I think of “toadboy”), you always try to pack the message in pop-friendly sounds. Didn’t you fear, that people only get in the mood with the music and didn’t realize your lyrics?
Johan: If you know english you will get it. If you dont, you might get a kick out of learning some. It's up to the listener to decide what they wanna focus on. We cant change that. We know what we think is important for the music but you know what you think is important when you listen to it.
When I saw your video for “Do You Need Some Space” I thought of a 70s movie with the cutted screens and of the 80s style as I saw you. You just remind me of Vince Clarke and Jimmy Somerville :) Are you inspired by this decade?
Johan: We are inspired by all the things that we love. Music from the 80s is just one of the things. Rhodes pianos, dope and the flag of Nigeria are others.
Listen to the lyrics, they seem very striking. What is the intention behind this song?
Erik: this song is pretty straight forward in it´s lyrics and that is because it has got a political message . I´ve got this friend who uses the Swedish well-fair system in a real ugly way, and it made me so pissed of and at the same time I felt like an idiot for not being as scroupless as he was. To quote Rancid “you´re caught up, you´re brought up in a system that is going wrong”.
In many critics your voice is compared to Stefan Groth from Apoptygma Berzerk. An honour for you?
Erik: Stefan is a good singer, but I cant say that I feel especially honered by this claim. i´ve never seen APB as a source of inspiration.
Many people also said to me, that auto-auto is the reincarnation of the electronic site of APB. How do you see that? Is it a pity to be compared with other bands?
Erik: See above. No one likes to be compared in that way...we try hard to be original, so it sucks that people feel that they need to sort bands into boxes.
Erik: See above. No one likes to be compared in that way...we try hard to be original, so it sucks that people feel that they need to sort bands into boxes.
Erik: We knew it was going to be good, and we were satisfied with the outcome. We are our own biggest critics and we managed to make ourselves fans of us.
Did the production go in other ways comparing to “Sound For A New Generator”?
Johan and Erik: Yes.. We recorded vocals and some other stuff in a really great studio with our friend Max Power. We also fought a lot with John Fryer over the mixing.(who did a great job b.t.w.)
You also passed some gigs here in Germany. How were the reactions?
Johan: Well. All we heard where good things. But on the other hand those who dont enjoy the show does'nt really come to you after the gigs to have a beer, right? Oh,.. There was one fat dude in the audience in Dresden who screamed very nasty things to us and Ashbury Heights... But he was a harsh-electro-fan and obviously a big dope (very narrow-minded) so we actually wanted to hit him with a brick in the face during the Ashbury Show but... Certain people stopped us from that.
The next gig planned is at the amphi festival. Are you looking forward to it?
Johan: YES! VERY MUCH! It's gonna rock and it's gonna be a completely new show (again) with more friends joining us on stage, even more live elements and more live video. Etc. etc.
Are there any plans of how this gig should be passed?
Johan: First of all we're going to steal agonoize´s blood, then we're going to pee red and throw our pee on the audience. No .. Seriously. Read the previous question
You name yourself as a multi-art project. What are you making also except music?
Johan: We have many projects going on. Exhibitions. Political manifests. Guerilla attacks on certain big Swedish newspapers... 2009 will see even more of this. First of all an exhibition in our hometown Gothenburg where ... well. You'll get the picture if you keep a close eye on our homepage and then you can come to Gothenburg to watch it and have a beer with us! Just mail us! :)
Thank you very much and all the best for 2009.
Thank you!
Homepage Band: Auto-Auto
Homepage Label: Out Of Line
(Interview geführt von Nuuc)
