EfterKlang Interview: SXSW 2010

Hailing from Copenhagen, Efterklang has been treating the world to its unique brand of rock 'n' roll since 2000. After two successful studio releases, Efterklang is currently touring North America in support of its recently-released third album, "Magic Chairs." Spinner caught up with Rasmus Stolberg, guitarist/bassist of Efterklang, to discuss the four showcases the band will play in Austin during SXSW 2010.

How did you come up with your band name?

In Danish, "efterklang" means "reverberation." We also use it in Danish to mean "remembrance." It has this double meaning. There's no good story about how we came to the name. After a long quest into our minds, the Internet, and various ideas, we came across this word and we thought it resonated with what we'd been doing. It's actually nice to have a Danish name, because it sends a strong signal that we're not from Brooklyn, and we're not from London. It is hard for people to say our name on the radio. And when people hear our name, they might not know how to spell it or it might not stick. But even though it makes things a little harder for us, I'm so happy about our band name being Danish.

How did Efterklang form?

We were all childhood friends and we moved to Copenhagen together when we were 18 to become rock stars. We came from the countryside, and we had a passionate dream about doing music. And it seemed like if we wanted to make that happen we should move to Copenhagen. Now we've been playing together for almost ten years and still working on the rock star thing.

Efterklang didn't officially emerge until 2003 because we spent the first two and half years just rehearsing, writing songs and experimenting to figure out what type of music we should do. We all had this desire to try and come up with a sound that we could call Efterklang. Something that was our sound, our way of making music. So we spent a few years experimenting with that and then we played our first concert as Efterklang in March 2003.

How would you describe your sound in your own words?

I hate that question (laughing). I would say it's something like experiential and orchestra. Weird pop maybe. Calling it ambient wouldn't work at all except maybe for our first album in 2004. It's much closer to rock music than it is to ambient.

What are your musical influences?

What I really like about our band is that we get inspired from a lot of things. Not only music, but also a lot of different cultural outputs. I think we're good at getting inspired from all over the place. Over the years, it's been many different things: the German krautrock scene, Japanese folk music, the electronic scene. Really so many different artists that we like and listen to. So it changes all the time. We play music because that's what we've always been doing, and that's what we like doing. It's not because we got inspired by another musician to do it.

You're playing four dates in Austin SXSW to close out your North American tour. What's in your festival survival kit?

Drink lots of water and enjoy the music.

Do you prefer touring in America or Europe?

It's two very different things. In Europe it's a little easier for us, because we're more established there. In the U.S. it's a battle to make it work. We come all the way over and try to make the best out of it, but it's very costly. I think having a balance is the best thing because we can battle in the U.S. and try to make it, and then we can go to Europe where we've already made it. Also, the crowds inside Europe are very different. You can play in one city, and then drive an hour and a half and the crowd is completely changed, because you entered into a new country.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

I think this goes for everyone in the band: We really like Phil Collins. He's not that bad. But if you look at the kind of music we do, it's kind of bad.

The Beatles or Stones?

The Beatles. The Beatles are the first band I ever listened to. They are a band that existed for ten years, and their musical output and message is so diverse and incredible. Then you look at the Rolling Stones, they've been going for 40 years, making really great records. But overall, it's rock 'n' roll. And I just prefer it the other way.


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