Slaraffenland Interview: SXSW 2010

Denmark is a country not short of bands who specialise in the expansive, dynamic and atmospheric, and Slaraffenland are a group who fit that description almost perfectly. Formed in 2000, they have since released three full-length records and two EPs, their most recent release being 2009's We're on Your Side. They'll also be representing their country at SXSW in a special Danish showcase, with other notable Danes Efterklang and OhNoOno. Spinner caught up with band members Mike, Christian and Nicklas.

How did your band form?

Mike: The band started out in 2000 when Jeppe and Christian met each other at a festival in Copenhagen. They decided that they wanted to play together and then asked Bjorn and I if they wanted to join. Christian and I are twins and we have known Bjorn since kindergarten. At first we played as a quartet, but decided that we wanted more horns in the band.

Christian: In 2002 we added Jeppe's room mate Niklas to the band, and that was when we really started to form the band. Actually four of five of us used to live in the same house back then. Since Niklas joined we have been inseparable.

How did you come up with your band name?

Mike: It was actually a coincidence. When we had played together for about six months, we were going to play our first show, and therefore had to find a band name. As it usually is with band names, it was incredibly hard to agree on something. Then one evening after a band practice, someone from the band looked in a English-Danish dictionary, and there it was -- Cockaigne... Funny word -- sounds like cocaine... Maybe not cool. But the Danish translation: 'Slaraffeland' -- that was actually cool. We often translate the meaning of 'Slaraffenland' to 'The land of milk and honey', but to get the full meaning of what the word means in Danish, you could read the story 'The Tale of the Land of Cockaigne' by the German fairy tale writers Brothers Grimm. This story gives a more nuanced picture of a place where anything can happen.

Christian: At one point in the Pinocchio story -- Pinocchio goes to a toy land with all the street kids. That place is called Slaraffenland in Danish too. That place is very good all day and you play and get everything you want. But at night you grow donkey ears! That duality -- good/bad, light/dark, harmony/noise -- is something that we think a lot about when creating our music. So the duality in the name fits the music quite well!

Describe your band's sound.

Niklas: We have tried a lot of different stuff and have had a lot of different influences as a band. But I think one of our main goals with making music has always been to focus on what's around a melody and creating a universe where you get more that just a melody and some lyrics. Like mentioned before we really like contrasts, to take something beautiful and mess it up with something completely different.

Christian: Maybe this applies better to our music three to four years ago but back then we had kind of a motto "to feed people noise on a spoon". We often have people coming up to us and say things like "I never knew I liked this kind of music." That's exactly what we want people to feel. We try to make good melodies to get people to lower their guards and accept everything else in the music.

What are your biggest musical influences?

Niklas: We all like pretty different stuff but I think we all can agree on bands that always seems to surprise you like the Beatles, Radiohead, Beck and stuff like that

Christian: Actually the five of us used to have more similar taste. When we were in a record store together we would buy the same records. But now it seems like we are all listening to such different music.

What's your biggest vice?

Niklas: We're all pretty nice and easy going guys, we don't sell guns or steal stuff or something exciting like that but we might drink a little too much sometimes and get into really, really stupid arguments.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Niklas: I'm not sure about the others in the band but I'm not a big festival fan, at least not if it's one where you have to sleep in a tent and get dirty and so on. So my festival survival kit would include a nice hotel room, a good restaurant and lots of clean clothes.

Christian: Niklas is getting old. I still like the getting dirty part. Though I prefer not to sleep in a tent. I think number one in festivals is to have your charged cell phone with you. Can't remember how we used to do it without.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

Niklas: Listening to 'Last Christmas' 10 times in a row in the tour bus.

Christian: 'Last Christmas' is so good! I love '80s music. Sometimes I'm just in the mood, and sometimes that mood gets to me while in the tour bus. Then the others have to listen to me DJing '80s goldies for four to five hours. Yes! Favorites -- Talk Talk 'Life's What You Make It,' Simple Minds 'Don't You Forget About Me,' Level 42 'Running In The Family' and of course A-ha 'Take on Me.'

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

Niklas: I think one of the craziest or scariest things we have experienced on tour is driving in Poland. We where driving to Warsaw at night and the roads where really small and bad and there was a lot of heavy traffic. We thought we where going to die so many times that after a while we didn't even care any more.

Christian: We did a USA tour with our best friends Efterklang two years ago, and combined we could rent a real nightliner bus. A month in that thing was pretty crazy. Touring was a whole different experience. The bus actually used to belong to Aerosmith -- and we used the same driver! He had some funny stories. Every night when falling a sleep in my bunk I imagined that Liv Tyler had slept in that same bunk.