The Kissaway Trail Interview: SXSW 2010

Danish indie quintet the Kissaway Trail issued their second album, 'Sleep Mountain,' on Bella Union Records in Europe at the beginning of March and will follow up with a North American release in April. Based in the small town (pop. 150,000) of Odense, the Kissaway Trail numbers co-frontmen Søren Corneliussen and Thomas Fagerlund, who switch off on lead vocals, guitars and keyboards, Daniel Skjoldmose Hansen (lead guitar, mandolin, vocals), Hasse Mydtskov (drums, vocals) and Rune Pedersen (bass guitar, vocals), whose ages range from 23-32. The quintet returns to North America for a tour that includes a second round of appearances at SXSW. Drummer Hasse Mydtskov gave Spinner the lowdown on the band.

Describe your sound in your own words.

We have a very epic sound, very big -- this wall of sound kind of thing, but at the same time it's very intimate. It's a mix between these epic parts and these quiet parts, but epic would be the best word.

How did your band form?

We just kind of ran into each by coincidence about five or six years ago. Some of us knew each other. I ran into Thomas during a night out and we talked. Then we got together with the other guys a couple of days later and worked out what to do. That was in 2005. We all played in other bands before that, but not anything serious. We had been in different bands to educate us and we've ended up with what we have now. It's the first band that any of us has been in that actually gets to do something, gets to go places.

What are your musical influences?

It changes form person to person in the band. Personally, it would be something like Granddaddy, Broken Social Scene and Neil Young. Sonic Youth, of course. I think the rest of the band would agree, pretty much.

How did you come up with your band name?

We had to come up with a new name very quick. We were called Isles before.

Did somebody already have dibs on that name?

Exactly. We had to change it in a hurry. We came up with a lot of different names and the Kissaway Trail was the only one we could all agree on. That was in 2007. It was something we had to do quickly because we had our first album to release. So, we didn't get time to think about it, but we're still very happy about it. It's not because it means anything specifically. It's just the mixture of words; it creates some nice images. It has a warm comfortable sense to it. It also looks very good when you write it and that's very important. [Laughs.]

What's your biggest vice?

Vice? What is that?

Like a bad habit. What's your biggest bad habit?

I think our bad habit would be the same as any other rock band. We party way too much. None of us are doing any drugs, but we sure have a lot of fun. I can't say any more about that.

What's in your festival survival kit?

That's a good question, hmm. Loads of Cigarettes, definitely loads of cigarettes. And lots of money. Cigarettes and money, what else do you need?

Who was your first celebrity crush?

That would probably be Penélope Cruz. I'm still in love with her, actually. As a child I didn't watch movies, I played in the forest and stuff. So, it was probably pretty late when I saw 'Vanilla Sky' for the first time. She's very, very, extremely beautiful in that film. Actually, I had a small crush on Cameron Diaz too, just because of her bad attitude.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

Even though I'm supposed to be like a cool indie rocker all the time, if I'm driving around in the car, I still like drifting away to a ridiculously soft '80s song or something.

Any particular artist?

Yeah, I listen to 'Nothing Compares 2 U,' not the Prince version but the Sinead O'Connor. I was actually kind of touched. I'm serious -- it's a really good song, a really beautiful song.

So there you are driving along, blasting that song, tears trickling down your cheeks?

Yeah, pretty much.

Beatles or Stones?

Definitely Beatles. Not that I don't like the Stones, but probably because, first of all, I grew up with the Beatles. My dad's a huge Beatles fan. That's the main reason. But when it comes to the music, the Beatles, it's more easier to take in. A lot of things in Rolling Stones was about being someone, having a special personality. There's a lot of image to the Rolling Stones. The Beatles was just four guys in suits, it was more about the music. There was Mick Jagger, he was a badass.

But you're a rock 'n' roller, aren't you supposed to want to be a badass?

Yeah. I'm not saying I don't want to be a badass, I assure you.

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

Maybe it doesn't sound that crazy, but it was a very scary experience. Once, me and Daniel tried to climb a mountain in France. We succeeded, but we couldn't find our way down again. We were stuck up there for six or seven hours. It was very creepy, our phones wouldn't work. We eventually found our way down again, but I think both of us, maybe for an hour, thought we were going to get eaten by wolves or die of hunger. Other than that, once I spent half an hour chasing Thomas, who was running up the highway, running away from me. He was very, very drunk and he was running away from me. He thought I was going to hurt him, but I was just trying to calm him down. But nothing happened and we got back to the hotel and I put him to bed.

Why did he think you wanted to hurt him?

Because he was at some other place mentally ...

Absolutely wasted?

Exactly.