today we'll have an interview with the lovely agnes, from moofish catfish. this all girl band from sweden already appeared here on the blog with 2008 debut release 'on a sunbeam to your heart' and 'yours to share', released this year. both highly recommended with the last one already on my list of the best of music this year.
here's what she says to say...
ehm, you could say that it all began with me (agnes) sitting on my bed with my guitar writing stupid little popsongs some years ago. it was only me then, but i wanted to play many different instruments at the same time, but as its impossible i had to find some more bandmembers! so i did. first i found emilia, and then wågis and then wågis found kristina and then moofish catfish was born. this was in 2006.
the bandname was my idea so i guess i have to be the one explaining it. sadly though, i can't really. it came to me in some kind of fantasy and it doesn't really mean anything. i had a better explanation once but i forgot it. nowadays, it's just a name.
02. do you guys get to live of music or you have 'real jobs'?
we do have to have 'real jobs' as well to be able to pay the rent and other important things, it's very hard these days to make a living out of music, especially if your an indieband with a relatively narrow fanbase. i mean we cover our expenses but we do certainly not get rich doing this.
03. both of your albums are available to download for free. talk about that and your views on music distribution.
i think that its already to late to try to stop people from getting music for free. its out there wether you want it or not. i think, if your a band in our size you earn more if you let people have the music for free and then, if they want, they can buy the album for a quite small amount of money to support us if they really like us. i think, if you restrict your own distribution to much at this stage you risk not reaching people. for us its a way of getting people to listen to the music, and also it's an attempt to distribute music in a democratic way.
04. 'on a sunbeam to your heart' is slightly different from 'yours to share'. the first seems to be calmer while 'yours to share' has powerfull guitars and really danceable melodies. is this something you had in mind or it's an unconscious "variation"?
yes, you are right about that. they are quite different and it's both conscious and unconscius at the same time. for me it was a natural evolvement in my way of writing songs, you can't keep doing the same thing over and over again, it would be boring. i didn't sit down and plan that the second album should sound different in the way that it does. it was more of a natrual change for us. and the songs i'm writing on now will sound different from the ones on "yours to share" as well, so it's a neverending change i guess. and thats partly the fun of it.
05. are you working on something new? what can we expect?
yes we are! we are working like maniacs on new material. at the moment i can't say really when it will be released and in what form because we are discussing this a bit back and forth, but i can tell you that we have big plans and that its going to be awesome! so keep your ears and eyes open.
06. what about your inspirations... movies? cartoons? historycal figures?...
well, that's a tricky question because i get inspired by almost everything that i see and hear, but thats a boring answer. so far, most of my songs are based on things that has actually happened or people that do exist. but i always exadurate a lot to make the song better. but i also get ideas from listening to other peoples music. it could be a line in a text that get me thinking of something that i want to write a song about or maybe the arrangement of the song or a cool riff on the guitar. i just pic pieces from both myself and things around me, and when it comes to arrangement of the songs everyone in the band is working with it, and it finally ends up being songs.
07. name three songs you'd like to cover.
hmm, we don't really do covers. if a song is great you wouldn't want to ruin it. if it's bad you don't wanna play it. if i had to, i'd choose a song by ulf lundell. he's this old swedish guy singing about women and liquer.
08. if you could give a place and hour to hear your songs, what would they be?
probably in your headphones at 5 am in the morning, when your walking home through an empty town. you have just had the worst or the most fantastic night ever, you are crazy in love or recently dumped. desperate to die or to just fly away. kind of.
09. finally, recommend something you've been listening lately...
i usually listen to more old music than new music so it wont be the most up to date musicrecommendation. lately i've listened a lot to sonic youth and the modern lovers wich i truly recommend everyone to do. and also, i always listen to envelopes if i want to be in a good mood.
xx
agnes
myspace
