Another act who will make their debut next week are STAIRS. Therefor I asked them a few questions so we all get to know them a little better.
First of all, who are you answering these question and what is your roll within the band?
My name is Mikael Jinneskog and I’m the singer and one of the guitar players in the band. I also write songs, and sometimes do interviews…
And who are STAIRS and what kind of music do you play?
Stairs are five young men living in Örebro, who has been playing together for about two years. I find it hard to tell what kind of music we play. I never think about it, since I would like to leave it to the listener to define. But when we started the band the idea was to play some kind of pop, simple songs with good melodies. This still counts, but with time the sound has changed into something less bright and more desperate than in the beginning.
However, the most important thing is to make it sound self made, sprung out of us.
Is it any particular purpose with why you play music, any ambitions?
If you ask me personally it’s basically for the pleasure of playing and writing. And for the excitement of exploring how far we can take it, both musically according to ourselves and as a band to other people. Further, I find it interesting to be in a band because of the opportunity to make up an own culture. For me it’s important with an open atmosphere within the band. I want the rehearsal studio to be like a second home. Even though our music sometimes can be melancholic and gloomy, I hope it can deliver a feeling of opportunities and something free.
If I say A West Side Fabrication, what pops up in your head?
All the good bands in the nineties – Wannadies, This perfect day, Fireside…But first of all Popsicle, their brilliant music – which was a kind of pop I hadn’t heard before – and their unforgettable speech of thanks at the Grammy award 1993, I think it was. I also like Bear quartet and more.
Last, do you have any heroes, models musically or other wise that you would like to mention?
When it comes to song writing I’m first of all driven by the lust of exploring things – a particular sound, a way of singing, a new instrument, or how to take care of spontaneity in a good way etc. I like the idea of listening to music far from our own genre, and then try to use it in some sublime way in our own music. For example, the instrumental parts of our single “Wont let the world break us” has taken some inspiration from classical dramatic music, like Rachmaninov and Prokofiev.
Then heroes… there’s a lot of them. I have always been fascinated by David Bowie, the Beatles and Depeche Mode etc. These are good examples of artists who seem to be driven by a lust of exploring; they don’t repeat themselves too much. But then again, I don’t think it’s wrong to do the same thing time after time if you can keep the feeling, and stay passionate about it.