Interview with Badmouth

T - Part Three of H.A.T.E

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!

Badmouth
Badmouth, Photo by Michael Johansson

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!

T - Part Three of H.A.T.E
T - Part Three of H.A.T.E

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
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)

Update from Badmouth

Badmouth
Badmouth
Badmouth, Photo by Michael Johansson

I just got a little update from rockers Badmouth who are recording “T – Part Three of H.A.T.E”. Chips Kiesby is producing the EP and you can actually already listen to one of the songs and pre-order the EP here! This is going to be the party album of the year! Remember where you heard it first 😉

H.A.T.E is the mirror project of my L.O.V.E EP quartet released every 3 months during 2011. Four rock bands record my songs in their own manner.

Check out Badmouth’s website here!

New pledge for “E”

E - Part Four of L.O.V.E
E - Part Four of L.O.V.E
E - Part Four of L.O.V.E

I can’t believe we’re down to the last EP in the L.O.V.E saga. In just over a month “E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” will be released and today we’re starting up the pledge for the final EP. Last but not least my guitarist Marcus Högquist is making his debut as a producer. Marcus has played in my band since 2004 and know all there is to know about my music. He’s the most talented guitarist I ever met and I’m sure he’ll be just as talented when it comes to producing.

Another great piece of news is that I have written a duet for the EP. It’s called 7 miles wide and Swedish artist Pontus Borg will be singing the song with me on the EP. You might have heard Pontus sing in the Langely commercial which is running on Swedish TV right now. You can have a listen to his awesome song “Free” here!

And if that wasn’t enough you’ll get my demo version of the song for free when you pledge.

We have some great stuff to choose from this time.

  • Hand crafted CDs
  • T-Shirts
  • Posters
  • Signed Lyric Sheets

And if you missed out on any of the previous EPs you can also get a full download of all the previous EP’s in the L.O.V.E saga.

E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” is released November 1st!
Pre-order it here!

Thanks so much for helping me out with this project. I couldn’t have done it without you.

 

 

Thoughts about booking a tour

Sofia Talvik

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.

Sofia Talvik
My folky me in a backyard in San Francisco. Photo by Shelby Duncan

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!

Luna guitar
My folky guitar

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!

V – is released today!!

V by Sofia Talvik
V by Sofia Talvik
V by Sofia Talvik

Hurray! Today ‘V – Part Three of L.O.V.E‘ is finally released, and it’s all thanks to all of you pledgers who helped me fund this EP and encouraged me through the production.

This time my bass player Janne Manninen has transformed my songs into electronica pop – a totally new sound for me which I love and I hope you will too.

Last night I started printing all the posters and T-shirts that you have ordered so soon all the goodies will be in your mail box! It’s now just one more EP in the L.O.V.E saga to be made and I hope you will support me through that too. It’s time to pop the champagne my friends so start dancing to your very own copy of ‘V – Part Three of L.O.V.E’

And don’t forget to check out ‘A – Part Two of H.A.T.E‘ by Swedish metal band G.A.I.N which is also being released today!