The Sounds Interview

Swedish band The Sounds blend New Wave and indie rock into a killer combo that will make even wallflowers want to dance. They’ve recently released their fifth studio album, weekend, a listen of which will bring on that same exciting feeling you get on a Friday afternoon. Their latest record is all about capturing what they do best, which is putting on a live show (and having played together since 1999, the live aspect is something they’ve well and truly mastered).

An interview with The Sounds keyboardist Jesper Anderberg

By Ingrid Kesa

Where did you grow up?

We all grew up in a city called Helsingborg in the southern part of Sweden.

How did you all meet each other?

We met when we were in high school. Maja and Felix were in the same art class, and Fredrik and Johan were neighbours. I met Felix and Johan at a music festival. They destroyed my tent so I had to move into theirs even though I didn’t know them. But we became really good friends after that, and then I joined the band.

Do you remember the first album that you bought?

I don’t remember the first album I bought, but the first album that I owned was The Final Countdown by Europe. I was 6-years-old, and my sister bought it for me on cassette. I actually still have it.

If you had to listen to a song on repeat for 24 hours, what would it be?

Ugh, that’s a tough question and it sounds like torture! Probably a classical piece, because they are so long and have a lot of different elements and variations. I’ll go with ‘Raindrop Prelude’ by Chopin.

If your music was the soundtrack to a film, what film would it be?

A road movie perhaps, or at least that’s what I hope. Like Easy Rider but maybe a bit more modern.

Your new album is called Weekend. Describe what your ultimate weekend would be...

I think the ultimate weekend is a combination of both heavy partying and the day after. You kind of want both and need both.

How would you sum up the music scene in Sweden?

It’s up and down I think. We’ve always had great songwriters and artists coming out of Sweden. At the moment, though, I feel like every band sounds about the same. It’s unfortunate. It’s mainly radio friendly pop music with one-three band members and a few laptops. We have great DJs that are huge around the world who do their thing and that’s cool, but the whole idea of forming a band is about the chemistry between band members and what happens when they learn how to play together; the connection and emotions between them. It shouldn’t sound good in the beginning when you form a band — you’re supposed to suck and it should sound horrible! But with all the laptops and backtracks nowadays, I feel that a lot of the bands don’t focus on actually learning how to play together. When five members really connect live, it’s magic.

Listen to The Sounds here.