Ex-Britney Spears Producers Miike Snow Heat Up Indie-Dance Scene

You may not know the name Miike Snow, but you most likely have danced (guiltily or otherwise) to songs their members have made. That's because Swedes Pontus Winnberg and Christian Karlsson also work as Bloodshy & Avant, the production duo responsible for Britney Spears' Grammy-winning smash 'Toxic' and a host of other tracks for the likes of Kylie Minogue and Girls Aloud. (Their American lead singer Andrew Wyatt is best known from bands like Fires of Rome.)

"Before, we'd make music for other people and we'd love to push it, to make pop music cooler, but in the end it's [just] somebody that paid for a beat. It's different than being part of a whole scene that you love," Karlsson tells Spinner during a Toronto tour stop.

They have since assembled their own dance-pop act, boasting a melancholic, dense and accessible sound that resulted when "we threw all of our different things in a basket and mixed them up," says Karlsson. "We did what came naturally to us [because] we could do whatever we wanted to do."
But Karlsson says there were positive aspects to spending so much creative time on the work of others. "On that ride, we learned a few tricks and tools that were good for making a record. All the studio stuff, all the programming and just playing around with melodies all day long makes you really enjoy the art of working a melody."

The trio recently released a video for the single 'Black And Blue,' and Karlsson says they have remixes in the works for Kings of Leon and an unreleased song featuring MIA, Santigold and Amanda Blank.

Unlike some dance-pop acts, Miike Snow don't use backing tracks or computers during their live show, adding any anything-can-happen excitement. "I think it's more fun for the audience and it's more fun for us," he says. "Something goes wrong every night, almost. We have so much gear, so there's so much that can go wrong every minute. Last time we played L.A., we blew a fuse in the whole building."

Of course, playing live isn't the only unusual aspect to a Miike Snow concert -- both Karlsson and Winnberg often wear masks onstage.

"We look up to other bands who didn't put themselves out there, who let the music come first, like Kraftwerk. I wouldn't recognize them if they were walking down the street. It's not like we want to hide or anything, it's just cool when music is the first thing people can get into with a band," Karlsson says, adding sometimes they have no choice but to perform with their faces front and center.

"The audience steals the masks!"