• Interviews

• All
• Music
• Cinema
• TV
• Comic Books

Jan 11, 2016 By Mark Redfern Web Exclusive

For Under the Radar’s 13th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to 2015. We asked them about their favorite albums of the year and their thoughts on various notable 2015 news stories involving either the music industry or world events, as well as some quirkier personal questions.

Check out our upcoming Best of 2015 print and digital issues for answers from Arcade Fire’s Will Butler, Julien Baker, Blanck Mass, CHVRCHES, Dan Deacon, The Dears, Dutch Uncles, EL VY, Everything Everything, Father John Misty, Field Music, The Flaming Lips, How to Dress Well, Sondre Lerche, Low, Luna, Mew, NZCA Lines, Cullen Omori, Natalie Prass, Small Black, Surfer Blood, Tamaryn, Telekinesis, Vampire Weekend’s Chris Baio, The Walkmen, Youth Lagoon, and others.

Here are some answers from Johan Angergård, who is in a multitude of bands (including Club 8, The Legends, and Eternal Death, who all released new albums in 2015). The Swedish musician also heads up the great record label Labrador.

Top 10 Albums of 2015

1. Club 8: Pleasure—I love it.
2. The Legends: It’s Love—There might come a time when I hate this album because it’s so sentimental and emotional and autobiographical it could make me sick. But right now I love it.
3. Eternal Death: Eternal Death—Why more people didn’t understand the greatness of this album is beyond me.
4. Justin Bieber: Purpose— thought I had discovered a huge amount of great new music in 2015. But it turned out that it was all either old music or singles. So I guess Justin Bieber did the best “Non-Johan Angergård” album this year.
5. Boan: Mentiras*
6. Chromatics: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun*
7. Jeremih: Late Nights
8. Medio Mutante: Eadem Mutata Resurgo—I’m not sure if this was released in 2015. But iTunes and Spotify says 2015, so here you go…
9. The Weeknd: Beauty Behind the Madness
10. Jaakko Eino Kalevi: Jaakko Eino Kalevi
* Might not be considered a “real” album.

What was the highlight of 2015, for either you personally or for the band? What was the low point?

We released our best album ever by Club 8 in 2015. It was also the most productive and inspiring year ever for me when it comes to making music.

There’ve been a lot of ups and downs this year on a personal level. It’s all happened in my head though. The world around me has been a lot smoother.

What are your hopes and plans for 2016?

I hope and plan for happiness in 2016.

With the launch of TIDAL and Apple Music in 2015, there are more streaming music options, but the same issues of adequate artist compensation persist. What are your current thoughts on streaming and which service would you most like to have your music on?

It’s difficult to argue with the idea of having a large portion of all music in the world available anytime, anywhere. I want my music on all of them. I personally use Spotify because, well, I’m Swedish and we all use Spotify here. I can’t quite handle listening to streamed music, though. I become too restless. I don’t really listen to albums on Spotify. I guess that’s why I’ve bought more vinyl records than ever this year. It’s forcing me to give the albums proper listens. And it’s quite rewarding, I must say.

What are your thoughts on Friday being the new global release day for albums? Is it helping or hurting album sales?

I must admit I haven’t thought much about it. But it does make sense somehow, getting all that new music in time for the weekend, doesn’t it?

Mainstream pop music is increasingly embraced by indie rock musicians and listeners, as well as serious music critics. At this point, do you draw any distinctions between Top 40 pop and indie rock/pop? Are you comfortable with this shift?

I’m very comfortable with it, yes.

What are your thoughts on how the 2016 U.S. Presidential election is shaping up?

I’m Swedish, but still, even the slightest chance of Donald Trump having some sort of political power is pretty scary.

Ryan Adams covered Taylor Swift’s 1989 (and then Father John Misty covered Adams covering Swift). If you were to cover another artist’s album in its entirety, which would you pick and why?

Fancy: Maxi Hit - Collection, Vol 1. It is indeed very great. But it could be interesting to hear the tracks in slower, more melancholic versions.

Have you ever been fired from a job (be it a day job or musical one)? Why were you fired?

No. On the other hand, I haven’t had that many jobs.

What’s your earliest music-related childhood memory?

The strongest early music-related memory is crying for the break up of Vince Clarke’s band Yazoo. Besides that, it’s my father playing Elvis at home.

What outrageous request would you most like to put in your tour rider as a joke?

You can ask for things when you’re on tour?!

What’s the most disastrous date you’ve ever been on?

I usually skip the dating part.

Which Star Wars character are you most like?

Luke Skywalker.

Following the terrorist attack at the Eagles of Death Metal concert in Paris do you think that security at music venues should be improved and do you now worry about something similar happening at one of your shows?

No, even though the IS would happily destroy all live music culture in the world I don’t think it’s their main goal.

With Twin Peaks, The X-Files, Gilmore Girls, Full House, and other classic shows returning, what other TV show would you like to see come back with its original cast?

The Roy Rogers Show.

Taylor Swift has been celebrated by indie rock fans and mainstream pop fans alike. Is she truly this generation’s pop genius or is she a talented, if overrated, songwriter?

I haven’t heard her, but quite liked Ryan Adams’ album.

Which corporation would you never, under any circumstances, allow to use one of your songs in one of their ads?

Any meat company.

www.club-8.org

www.facebook.com/Eternaldeathmusic/

www.labrador.se/portfolio/the-legends/