IndieRec interview with Swedish WHISTLER, April, 2004
By David DiSanzo
http://www.indierec.com

" If you are a fan of solid pop songwriting and a sound that evokes the best of the early 80's new wave pop bands you owe it to yourself to check out Swedish WHISTLER. Bringing to mind Spider (the early 80's band on Dreamland that featured Holly Knight), Scandal (think "Love's Got a Line on You", not "Goodbye to You"), Pearl Harbor and the Explosions, a dash of Quarterflash, and pinch of late 80's Brit-poppers The Parachute Men, S.Whistler stand well on their own by bringing distinctive melodies, a guitar sound steeped in prog essence, and one hellova female lead vocalist together as one.

The bands influences, however, are in fact very diverse. They recently recorded a number of early Pink Floyd songs for some tribute compilations. They do a unique version of Vegetable Man, very over the top. Floyd's own version of the song, which has never been released officially (but every major Floyd fan doubtlessly has it anyway, bootlegs be praised) was extreme in and of itself, but SW topple the song with aggressive enthusiasm. They also do a polka version of Wined and Dined from Syd Barrett's second (and last) solo LP! SW have also covered "Footprints in the Snow" by Uriah Heep. They make it the perfect power ballad. Thought-provoking, spellbinding musicianship builds to a rocking, climactic conclusion.

SW's new single, Always, is a jangly, catchy pop marvel. You'll be helplessly humming it for weeks. It's peppy, but the rhythm guitar makes it rock out. One of the two b-sides, Smile, is a simple song of love. The lead guitar licks skillfully bounce off the lead vocals throughout the chorus (and they also end the song gracefully and quite tastefully as well). Reasons, the other b-side is another catchy rock tune eloquently mixed and produced with 80's AOR in mind. It sounds like you should know it already.....but you don't. Hopefully reading this will intrigue you enough to rectify that.

Anyway, please dig the following interview conducted with Patrik (Patrick) Arvidsson (gtr) and Sussi (Suzanne) Johansson (l.vox, bss) and check out their excellent site www.swedishwhistler.com

If you like Swedish pop bands such as Popsicle, HappyDeadMen, Beagle, This Perfect Day, The Cardigans, or Abba you really should check out this band now.

IR: Where in Sweden are you from?

SJ: We're from the south of Sweden, the southern west coast.

IR: How long have you been together?

SJ: The band started in 1994 but this line up has been together 1.5 years now.

IR: Explain Riverside Records....is it a Swedish indie?

PA: Yes, its a independent label.

IR: How many releases have you had so far?

PA: Two full length releases, one EP, and one single. We also participated in a few different compilation albums. The latest one was just released by Oggetti Volanti Non Identificati: Vegetable Man Vol 2 - Tribute to Syd Barrett. http://www.oggettivolanti.it

IR: There are so many lame Floyd tribute discs on the market these days, when I heard this one I was pleased as it was very inspired yet also fun. Could you describe the scene in Sweden at the moment?

SJ: In small towns there is almost no scene at all for bands like us playing original music, only cover bands. In bigger towns the situation is better with venues interested also in original bands.

IR: What are your plans to broaden your fan base outside of Sweden?

SJ: Getting radio airplay abroad at all kinds of stations, local, regional, national, international...all kinds. Also by playing abroad.

PA: And by web promotion, through the net we can find and reach listeners outside Sweden.

IR: That alone is a full time job. Your web presence is robust, I must say. How was playing at IPO in LA?

SJ: Great! It was the first time ever we played outside of Sweden.

PA: Yes, it was a very cool feeling to actually be in LA and playing there. We met some very nice people and the IPO gig went very well.

IR: As far as imaging, how much importance do you place on it and do you find any obstacles in getting your music heard or promoted due to imaging/timing constraints? Sometimes timing plays a big part.

PA: Yes, timing can probably determine every step forward and how successful it will be. Imaging is important - doing something new can attract the attention. To bad good ideas do not pop up every day!!

IR: Do you view your music as something that can be shared freely peer to peer and hope to raise funds through touring and selling other merchandise or do you feel that music should be sold legitimately, no exceptions (like I do!)?

PA: Music should be sold legitimately! From megastars to bands on an indie level. Musicians, but also the people behind a recording artist, need to make a living. Simple as that - otherwise we will not have any produced music in the future. To promote yourself you can let people download samples, it doesn't have to be complete songs. But I think there can certainly be exceptions, like tracks that for different reasons don't make it for a commercial release. You could offer these for free, like a bonus for the fans. The reason that there are leftovers is that they were not good enough in the first place anyway!!

IR: I agree - I was always pro-bootleg but anti-piracy. Not many know the difference these days. How much time is spent with S.Whistler? Full / Part time, etc.

SJ: Spare time, most of it!!!

PA: The same here!

IR: What stuff are you grooving to today?

PA: For the moment Scissor Sisters, Soft Machine's newly released BBC Recordings and Gammaray!

IR: What bands made you want to play music?

SJ: ABBA was my first musical inspiration

PA: In my early teenage years we had a substitute teacher for our ordinary music teacher. He was a hippie guy who played Van Halen and Pink Floyd on the turntable. When he put on the album "Wish You Were Here" he instructed us to keep our eyes closed and afterwards make drawings of the pictures we got from the music. I don't remember my drawing but the music really blew me away! And my music interest started from here.

IR: Nice story. My music teacher always just sang old show tunes at the piano. Pink Floyd have always been my favorite band so I can certainly appreciate that story though. What are your plans for the next year or so?

SJ: Releasing a second and third three-track CD together with Riverside. After that an album. In August we're going to Cambridge and the Rockinbeerfestival and hopefully this coming fall will be an interesting period with more gigs.