MONO STEREO

Photography by Werner Nystrand.

Swedish psychedelia with a sound where you can loose yourself into. Recorded by Kramer and released recently in the UK and US Mono Stereo talk with Hattie Carroll about what they've been up to and more important what will come their way!

Hattie: We know two of you are brothers (Jakub and Geggan and then there’s Kjelle and Gunnar), how did you all got together to start Mono Stereo, and more importantly why?

Mono Stereo: Jakub and Geggan were already playing together when Kjelle joined them on guitar. After a while Gunnar also joined and that was really the start of Mono Stereo. We all knew each other already and knew we would get along well, and that we also had a big love for a lot of the same music.

Hattie: What was it that you wanted from music that made you go for it?

Mono Stereo: We just love a big great sound to get lost into. At the same time there were not any good bands playing over here, or very rarely, so that's one good reason. One other thing is when we finish a new song and we all love it. Then we really know why we all love doing this. We all love music.

H.: What is Malmö like? How does the place you live affect your music?
M.S: Malmö is a good place to live in, but we don't believe that this town has inspired us that much, musically speaking.

H.: What non musical things influence you into creating music?
M.S: Our shitty jobs.

H.: You’ve been compared, thru different media, to musicians such as BJM, BRMC, Black Angels, My Bloody Valentine and the like, with what bands would you compare yourselves to? Which ones you could say you look up to or admire?
M.S.: Well we admire all those bands but there is so much more that we all listen to and hopefully you can hear that in our music. We don't wanna sound like another band , just be inspired by them. We don't want to repeat our self either. Maybe in the future we're going to sound like Bach.

Photography by Werner Nystrand.

H.: You’ve released so far 3 Eps ("Space Out", ‘On And On / A Matter Of Confusion’ and recently “Me And My Machine”); how was the process of recording & releasing them?

M.S.: We recorded all the songs for the “Space Out” EP and the “On And On / A Matter Of Confusion” single ourselves on our own equipment. We really like working like that because we can take all the time we need without having to think about anyone else. It was great releasing them too, especially the single which was released on vinyl in the US. “Me And My Machine” was recorded by Kramer, and the B-side to that one was recorded by a friend of ours the same night we wrote it. That one is coming out on November 8th.

H.: Do you produce yourselves entirely? Are there any labels supporting you?
M.S.: The "Space Out" EP came out on the 360 Degree Music label in the UK, and the "On And On" single came out on MPLS in the US, but the new single we're releasing ourselves.

H.: How was the “disappearing into the danish wilderness” with such a great mind like Kramer (Galaxie 500) worked out for you?
M.S.: We went to a summer house in Denmark in the middle of the winter. There was snow everywhere. We realized that recording a whole album in one week can be very tight. It was the first time we had ever done anything like that. Kramer loved our songs and mainly just recorded the ideas that we already had.

H.: I read the LP is gonna be released sometime at the beginning of 2011. What can you let us know so far?
M.S.: It's going to be amazing!!!

H.: You’ll be touring the UK soon. Tell us more about it.
M.S.: We'll do nine gigs in ten days, starting off in Manchester and the last one is in Leeds. We're going to play a couple of new songs too. It's gonna be great!

+INFO:

Mono Stereo Official

U.K Tour Dates:

5th November – Ducie Bridge, Manchester
6th November – Cedar Room, Barnsley
8th November – The Red House, Sheffield
9th November – New Hero, Brighton
10th November – Death Disco, Notting Hill Arts Club, London
11th November – Cut To The Chase (Iceland Airwaves Showcase), Hoxton Bar + Kitchen, London
12th November – The Watershed, Wimbledon, London
13th November – Lennons, Southampton
14th November – Northern Monkey, Leeds