interview Archives - Page 10 of 16 - Sofia Talvik - Americana / Folk with Swedish Roots

October 21, 2011October 21, 2011

Interview with Badmouth

We caught a few moments with Chris LeMon from Badmouth to hear what his thoughts about their new EP “T – Part Three of H.A.T.E” are. “T – Part Three of H.A.T.E” will be released November 1st and you can pre-listen and pre-order it here!

Hi Badmouth! You’re making “T – Part Three of H.A.T.E” would you start by telling us a little bit about your music and your band?
Badmouth started 4 years ago, we released our debut album in 2008 and our second album this summer, which is produced by Chips Kiesbye. When we got the offer to do this EP we just couldn’t resist, such a cool thing to be part of, so even though we just released the album we called Chips and he was up for it … Badmouth is rock’n’roll, its about having a good time, we are having a great time and we want the crowd to smile as they see us live, its all about the love for music …

You’re usually writing your own songs, so what did you think was the hardest part of making Sofia’s songs feel like your own?
Actually nothing was hard … haha … It’s great songs! The hardest one was “To watch the bridges burn” we had a different version going first but it was just strange … haha … but then we tried the way it is now and it sounds great! So it has only been a lot of fun!

Which one are you most happy with and why?
I guess it depends who you ask in the band, for me personally I would say Jonestown, I think the arrangement turned out great and it is truly a great song, but I also think Bridges turned out great in a different way, to me its a radio hit! I think it’s cool that all four songs turned out so different from each other so I would say I am really happy about all four ...

Rumor has it you’re on tour with Gilby Clarke from Guns & Roses, how did that come about?
Totally true, actually sitting in the tour bus right now on our way to the last show, it’s been a great tour, 8 shows in Sweden … Well, I also work as a booking agent and I booked this tour and Gilby needed a band and it wasn’t hard for me to suggest the best band to him 😉

Chris LeMon and Vinnie Sharp from Badmouth with Gilby Clarke

What’s your all time favorite tour memory?
There’s a lot, and some things that shouldn’t be mentioned here 😉 But right now I would say this tour, to be on a stage with Gilby Clarke is truly a dream come true!

Making rock music out of singer/songwriter tunes isn’t something bands do every day. What did you think about the experience and would you do it again?
I would love to do it again, this shows that good songs are good songs no matter which category you place them in … We actually said that if this EP becomes a hit we will have Sofia write our next album! 😉

What’s your recipe for success?
Be yourself and love what you do!

What’s in store for you this fall?
Well, the release of the EP is the next thing and we have a release party for it in Stockholm on November 4th at RoQ. As soon as we are back from the road we will start planning the next tour, the main goal is to play live as much as possible and get out the word of BADMOUTH!

Thanks for chatting with us, can you tell us your three favorite songs right now?
Thank you! Wow that’s difficult but right now I would say “Jonestown”, “Heavy Metal Parking Lot” (Badmouth) and “Tijuana Jail” (Gilby Clarke)

October 14, 2011October 14, 2011

Me – a K-mate?

I haven’t made it as a play-mate yet, but I’m not sorry because I’d much rather be a K-mate!

I’ve done many interviews in my day, answering questions about my music and stuff like that. This time the interview was quite different. How would you react if someone asked you how often you pick your nose for example. Would you be offended? I wasn’t because my friend Scott usually says way worse things than that to me. I think he was even restraining himself when he did the interview with me for his new issue of K Composite magazine that’s available FOR FREE in the app store (for iPad).

Now if I’d be the only one who was interviewed the magazine would be very thin, (something Scott also realized) so he made an effort and interviewed a whole bunch of other people too. You see the thing with the K Composite magazine is that it’s just a lot of interviews with ordinary – or maybe I should say extraordinary – people. You won’t find celebrities but you will find a bunch of weird questions and answers.

K Composite launched in 1991 as a fanzine and this is the first issue for the iPad. As I’m a designer myself I can tell you that Scott has made a pretty awesome job with the design, playing with different fonts and adding graphics and 3D pictures.

So go download your copy today. It’s for free goddammit!

September 4, 2011September 4, 2011

Thoughts about booking a tour

I’ve just started booking my US tour, starting in Florida in December, and first of all I have to say how amazed I am by these quadrillion of music venues. It seems like every café, restaurant, library and music lover hosts concerts. I’m also amazed how many of them are folk venues, or at least host folk music as well as other genres.

In Sweden nobody even knows what folk music is, here it’s fiddles and Orsa spelmän (if you all want to know what happened to ABBA after the 80’s). (I guess I’m not being totally fair because people here have heard Fleet Foxes and mostly the folk genre is called singer/songwriter here though I don’t think it’s totally right.)

Once in an interview the reporter asked me how I would define my music, and I answered “americana/folk”. When I read the published interview my answer was American funk. That says something about Sweden and folk music. But in the US, folk music almost seems like a cult. And here I am ordering feather hair extensions tuning my Luna guitar. I will probably fit right in!

So anyways, coming from a country that may be small but is really big when it comes to music export (again with the ABBA) I must say that Sweden is a puny country when it comes to live music. I was wondering the other day how many people would actually be confident enough to host a house concert here in Sweden. To actually let musicians and other people into their homes.. I mean what would the neighbors say???

So it’s really uplifting to see how many venues there are to chose from in the US. Unfortunately I’m not alone with this knowledge and I’m competing with so many bands. I just have to pray that I stand out in the crowd and that all these people will find it in their hearts to invite me to their homes, their cafés, libraries, galleries and what not.

And if you live in the US and want to host a house concert with yours truly, get in touch here http://book.sofiatalvik.com!

August 9, 2011August 15, 2011

Interview with G.A.I.N

I met up with G.A.I.N who have recorded the second part of the H.A.T.E saga, ‘A – Part Two of H.A.T.E’. Here’s their thoughts about the project.

Hi G.A.I.N! You guys are doing “A – part two of H.A.T.E” how is the EP coming along? 
It’s coming along very well. It’s all done and waiting to be released. Niklas Stålvind of Wolf produced and mixed. Mike Wead of King Diamond and bibelblack mastered. From the final result we can definitely say that it sounds kick-ass! We’re very proud of what we’ve done and we can’t wait until we can share the result with the world!

  Great! Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
 We’re just a couple of metalheads doing what we love. We all come from different places but our love for Metal brought us together. We all live in Stockholm and we like to go out and have a good old dirty time. It happens a little too often but that’s Metal for you! We live by the motto, Sex, Booze and Tattoos!   

What did you think of the original songs when you first heard them and did you think it was hard to interpret them into your own style or did you get ideas straight away? 
When we first heard the songs we wondered what the hell we’d gotten or self’s in to. It was a little hard to “connect” with the songs at first but after a few listening’s they grew on us and now we like them.  We decided early not to listen to the originals that much too ensure that our versions came more from us, so that they would sound like G.A.I.N.  Some songs we had ideas for right after the first listen but some came harder. The song that came easiest was probably “King of the Willow Tree” and one that we had to work a bit on was “Glow”.   

Which of the songs are you most pleased with and why? 
Our favorites are probably King of the Willow Tree and The War. We really like the raw drive of the riffs in both songs. They are really in our own style and don’t sound like covers at all. Your way of writing really fitted well into our kind of music. They came out just like our own songs.  

What’s your favorite gig memory? 
Three of us remember on gig in particular. Mr Bandiit was a little too excited and played a bit fast. This resulted in that Gus had to prioritize ether singing or breathing in the last song. He chose to sing…  He gave his last bit of energy in that song and as a result of that he ended up taking an ambulance ride to the hospital.   

Can you tell us a little bit about the recording sessions and what was most fun with being a part of this project? 
We recorded everything in Viper Studios. From this experience we learned that we will never record four songs in two days again. It’s borderline impossible and we don’t recommend it. We finished all the rhythm guitars and the drums in one day and thought we were doing very well. Only lead guitar, bass and vocals left right? The lead guitar and the bass were done at about 8 o’clock the next night. The vocals took another 7-8 hours and would have taken longer if it weren’t for the excellent vocal coaching Niklas Stålvind of Wolf provided. We’re forever grateful for that.  But on the whole it has been a lot of fun to be part of this project. We’ve learned a lot and would like to thank you for this opurtunity.  

What’s next on the agenda for G.A.I.N this fall? 
Get out and play. The big damn show! This fall we will focus on getting out and bring our music to the masses. We haven’t played all summer so we’re really excited about getting out there again! We’ll just have to make sure that Gus gets to breath. Do you know where we can get a portable oxygen tank?

  Thanks for hanging out! We look forward to hearing the songs.

Listen and pre-order ‘A – Part Two of H.A.T.E’ here!

February 21, 2011

Pledging – from the fan’s view

I’m always trying out new ways to promote my music and interact with my fans, and as you know I had a pledge at pledgemusic.com for my new EP. So i figured I should ask some of the pledgers how they thought the pledge went and why they decided to participate. Here’s a little interview with Henrik Wannheden from Sweden and Dane Wachs from the USA who both decided to pledge.

Hi guys! You pledged for “L – part one of L.O.V.E”, how did you first hear about the project and what was your first reaction to it?

H – I’m subscribing to Sofia’s Twitter feed so when the proposition came up that I could participate I jumped on it. I think this is the whole point of social media; for me to be more involved in issues close to my heart, and for artists to connect to their fans. This was a golden opportunity.
D – I learned about the project through Sofia’s Facebook fan page, and it sounded interesting. My first reaction was check out her Pledge Music page to see how I might be able to get involved.

The idea of the pledge was to make the fans more updated and involved in the actual process of making the EP, did this make a difference to you as opposed to a regular release?

D – I think it made a huge difference. I watched the introduction video Sofia created and thought what she was doing for the pledges was awesome. I can’t think of too many songwriters, musicians, or artists that actually involve their fans into process of the project they are creating. The approach she took was very ambitious, and above and beyond anything I’ve ever seen — without a doubt she’s got some very lucky fans.

How do you feel that this is different from the way Sofia’s released albums before?

H – It’s much more personal, and I like the way I get to show really how much this music is worth for me. I get a continuous contact with Sofia during the process and in the end, I’ve received value far beyond a plastic disc.

Why did you decide to pledge, and did you think it was easy enough?
D – Sofias music should be heard, and I want to help. It was super simple to make a pledge.

Sofia is declaring the era of plastic discs over, and that her fans are now her record label, pr company and financiers. How do you feel about all the new responsibility?

H – I’m up for it! As a technocrat pouncing on every new technology I can get my paws on I feel that the music industry as a whole been at least ten years behind me. I’ve often been forced to piracy as the only way to enjoy the music I love, and it has not been by my design. And it sucks!
Sofia has always been very accessible in that regard, and now she takes another step closer to me and my way of consuming music. And I love it!
It really isn’t the piece of plastic I’m after, it’s the music printed on it I’m enjoying.

Knowing that just a small fraction of the money I spend on a regular music CD actually reaches the pockets of the artist I’m not very keen on spending my money that way anymore when there’s alternative ways for me to getting the music. It’m not being served by a long supply chain, so why pay for it? I’ve been looking for ways that seems better for me and the artist alike and a pure digital digital delivery method seems like the way to go. iTunes, Piratebay and Spotify is my cup of tea.
The problem with the latter two is that I don’t pay nearly as much as I’d like and It’s been very hard for med to make it right.
Sofia’s pledge fit my aching conscience perfectly! At last I get to show my appreciation. And I know that she got the message directly. Awesome!

In May “O – part two of L.O.V.E” is being released, what would you like to see on the next list of pledge items?

H – I’m looking forward to complete the whole series, so t-shirts and a posters are on my list. I’m not the artist so I’m just curious what Sofia may come up with. I’m sure it’ll be awesome whatever it is!

What items did you pledge for and did they meet your expectations?

D – Technically I pledged for the personalized Postcard, although my true intention was a pledge to/for Sofia. I would have pledged for nothing if it was an option. I would definitely do it again.

H – I pledged $70 for a signed EP, a poster and a t-shirt and the items more than lived up to my expectations. I’ve already got several compliments for the t-shirt and it felt very good to tell the story behind it. Now I’m looking forward to framing the poster, but I might wait until I get the O, V and E posters too 🙂