Interview with Mando Diao:
You’re not supposed to follow trends as an artist.

Indiespect: There are a lot of Swedish rock bands and most of them sing in English. It seems that everyone of you is very fluent in that language. Is it sometime still difficult for you to express certain feelings in that language because it’s not your own?

Patrik Heikinpieti: It’s hard but it’s doable. It’s harder in Swedish in one way. You get more naked when you write in your own language. You put so much out to people. It’s kind of nicer to write in English because it doesn’t feel as personal, though it can be. It’s a small safety wall against the world to write in English. I don’t know how you feel about it, CJ?

Carl-Johan Fogelklou: I think, it is exactly the way you say. Sometimes you have to look up some words if you don’t have a synonym or whatever.

Indiespect: Why are the Swedish people so fluent in English?

Carl-Johan: There is nothing dubbed in Sweden. Every TV programme is in English if it is in English, if it’s a German programme it is in German, if it’s a Dutch programme it’s in Dutch. You only get subtitles which means that you hear the languages from a very young age. My daughter is ten years old now and she is ten times better in English than I was when I was ten years old. Swedes are almost becoming bilingual with English. And we’re such a small country which it’s based on trading. We have the woods, we have iron. It’s really important to go abroad and trade some stuff.

Jens Siverstedt, Daniel Haglund, Björn Dixgård, Patrik Heikinpieti, Carl-Johan Fogelklou (from left to right)

Indiespect: On your current record «BANG» you rediscovered a lot of styles in guitar music. You have blues, soul and your rock sounds of the early days in it. Was it intended to use those styles again or did it happen by accident?

Patrik: It really was intended. Jens, our guitar player, had some riffs on which we wrote melodies around and tried to make a more simple rock album this time. I mean, rock’n’roll has always been around the corner for us. We never lost it. Even if we did a Swedish album with slower songs and some synthesize record. It was just a question of time before we do a rock album again.

Carl-Johan: It was really nice to look back at all those rock records from the start, like Bring ‘em In, Hurricane Bar, Ode To Ochrasy and so on. We were doing basically the same thing for ten years. We needed a break from that and wanted to do something different. Then we came up with this Swedish record. Then we started experimenting with synthesizer and electronic music. That was such a big relief for us. But then it felt the same way, going back to play proper rock’n’roll music again. If you do something long enough, you do get tired of it, for sure.

Indiespect: A special song is «Scream For You». Björn sings softer on that one and it even has a western touch to it. Where did that come from?

Patrik: Good question. I don’t know.

Carl-Johan: It comes from our inspiration of Afro-American music. Blues, soul music, even country and western. We are hugely inspired by American music and have always been. Sometimes people think that Mando Diao is sort of a britpop inspired band. But the britpop is inspired by American music as well.

Carl-Johan and Patrik on stage in Zurich.

Indiespect: Since the making of «Good Times» and the new lineup with Jens you seem to be as happy like you haven’t been for a long time before.

Patrik: Correct, yes.

Indiespect: What makes the current lineup perfect for you?

Carl-Johan: I think, we’re all easier nowadays.

Patrik: We’re a good match to each other. We’re getting older and that helps. We know what fights to start and what fights not to start. We travel a lot together. We don’t always disagree but when we do, we will start a small fight and solve it.

Carl-Johan: Everybody in this constellation has a more defensive way of thinking about life. You don’t have to throw yourself out, if it’s not about music or art. I don’t have to throw myself on Pat if I’m not feeling alright. Then I’m gonna say that I’m not feeling alright.

Patrik: Then I can back you up.

Carl-Johan: Exactly. You help each other out.

Indiespect: So, you’re a better team now.

Patrik: Yes, best ever.

Indiespect: With Mando Diao you’ve experienced the peak of indie rock...

Carl-Johan: I don’t agree. It’s gonna come, just gonna come (laughs)

Indiespect: So, the first peak maybe.

Carl-Johan: I can agree with that.

Indiespect: Then this genre got less attention again. What was the main thing that changed for you?

Carl-Johan: You mean when EDM got big?

Patrik: (laughs) Or German hip hop.

Carl-Johan: Well, one thing that is really important when music genres go up and down… One thing we did in the middle of the EDM hysteria was Dance With Somebody. I don’t think we really thought about it. We felt like doing a sort of disco rock’n’roll kind of tune. That fitted quite good in what was going on around at that time. When hip hop came along we did Ælita. Of course you get inspired by things you are surrounded with. But the other thing is that you’re not supposed to follow trends as an artist. You’re supposed to create them. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do right now. What is going on right now? German hip hop is super big in Germany. But what would people say if Mando comes out and will do a ten track record, rapping in German with trap beats. We have to do our thing from the bottom of our hearts. As soon as you start following things, you will fall apart directly. Nobody will take you seriously.

Back to the roots: «BANG» is a stripped-down guitar album. It's the second release in the current lineup of Mando Diao.

Indiespect: I also thought about the status you had during that time. It must be hard to step back again as a band, when you’re used to the really big stages.

Patrik: That doesn’t really matter to me, at all. I’m happy that we can do this as a full-time job. We do the thing we love and we have the best friends traveling around with us. The crew, the band, you know. As long as I can do what I want to do and pay my rent, I’m not complaining. Of course, I would like to have 50 million dollars on my account. But that’s not what’s important the other day. I’m really happy for the moment.

Carl-Johan: Status, fame and money are things that come along, if you’re successful. Music is what makes you successful. But you won’t be successful unless you love what you’re doing. The love for the music has always been the most important thing for us. And it’s always going to be the most important thing. That’s exactly what you said. As long as we can pay the rent and do what we love…

Patrik: And buy a BMW.

Carl-Johan: A vintage one. Used. 1997.

Indiespect: Really? That’s your dream?

Patrik: Nah.

Carl-Johan: ‘98.

Back on top: Mando Diao play a sold out show in Zurich.

Indiespect: You played two sold out nights in Dalhalla in Sweden with The Hives and The Sounds. You already announced two more shows at the same place with the same bill, next year. May you tell me some more about this place?

Patrik: It’s an old mine.

Carl-Johan: It was a limestone mine, I think.

Patrik: It’s a big hole in the ground, it’s like an amphitheater. It has really good acoustics. Some dude came up with the great idea to build a stage there. It’s built in the middle of the lake and I think it fits 6000 people. It’s a really special place.

Carl-Johan: We had the audience record, last summer. Most people ever been to Dalhalla, 6000.

Indiespect: There aren’t more people allowed?

Carl-Johan: I think, that was on the fucking limit on what it can take. We’re gonna do the same thing in Helsingborg, as well.

Patrik: In a big castle.

Indiespect: But you don’t plan to bring it to other special places as well?

Patrik: Not yet. Maybe in the future.

Carl-Johan: Yes, we do plan doing it in different places. But there’s nothing set, yet. It would be a wonderful thing. We have been playing on the same scenes since 2001 or 2002. The Sounds started the same year as us, The Hives were one or two years earlier with their debut record, I think. It’s really nice to be around these people because we’ve known each other. We’ve been through the same stuff together, we’ve been to the same festivals. It’s really fun. We should do like a Swedish rock invasion.

Indiespect: You played at the Rock am See in Konstanz back in 2009 where The Hives and The Sounds played as well. Oasis were supposed to be headlining the festival but they split up just days before. Do you have any memory of that day? I know that Patrik only joined Mando Diao in 2011. But what about you CJ?

Carl-Johan: I remember it.

Indiepect: Did it mean something to you that Oasis split up or nothing at all? 

Carl-Johan: I don’t care at all about them.

Patrik: (laughs) They have great songs. That’s about it.

Carl-Johan: Yeah. I mean, they’re just grown-up kids. I saw the documentary about them. I just thought that they are a pretty lame bunch of people, actually.