The conversation with the keyboard player and sound engineer Jens Andersson and the bass player Leari (Lars Ljungberg) from The Ark takes place in Ruisrock festival 2007, Turku, Finland just some hours before their performance on the main stage. This year they have been active not only with releasing their fourth album Prayer For The Weekend and touring around, but they also did something unusual as they call it themselves – The Ark represented Sweden in Eurovision Song contest 2007.
Agnija Kazuša: First of all, could you tell me about your summer activities?
Jens Andersson (J.A.): In summer we are touring across Scandinavia, mostly in Sweden, but also in Denmark, Norway and Finland. We have about 35 gigs during the summer, festivals around.
Do you have certain plans with your new album which has just been released?
J.A.: We released the album in April. And then we are gonna be touring in Europe: Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria.
Could you tell about the writing process of your last album?
J.A.: We started recording quite early. Last year in January we started to do the demo for the album. And then I and Ola recorded the first demos for the album, then the whole band got together and we did the songs with the band in our studio. After that we had songs as good as we could get. And then we went to the studio and recorded the whole songs again. It took quite a long time to do the album, but it was worth doing it.
Who does usually write the lyrics and music? Is it Ola?
J.A.: Yeah, Ola does the whole thing.
Now you have four albums released. Which of them does represent you the most?
J.A.: I don’t know. The first three albums are quite different from each other. The first one is quite playfull and there are a lot of different songs. The second one is darker, but about the third one: the production is much smaller, the sounds are smaller and everything is smaller and a little bit more electronic. So, the fourth one is kind of a mix between all three. So maybe the new album is the best one, it’s a mixture between all the three albums.
What is the thing that makes you original in your music?
J.A.: I think there are a lot of things, for example, the way we dress on a stage.
Is it important for you?
J.A.: Yes! Very important!
Why?
Leari (L.): I think if we have got a stage, why don’t we do something with it?
J.A.: Just to go up with T-shirt and jeans – it’s quite boring. So we do something spectacular with the show.
So, you are preparing for every gig.
J.A.: Yeah, we are preparing. We don’t have like new style every gig, but this tour we have a couple of different outfits that we change and for every new tour we try to have something new.
How did you get the idea to participate in Eurovision Song Contest this year?
L.: I think the whole idea was to do something unusual for us, just to do something that people didn’t expect us to do and then see what happens.
J.A.: We also had an invitation to participate, but first we said no, and then we had this song and we thought it would be good there and yeah!
Are you satisfied with the results?
J.A.: With the Swedish results, yeah. With the [European – A.K.] result - maybe not, but with the show and everything – we are satisfied. We are satisfied with what we performed.
What do you think about this competition?
L.: Actually in Sweden we have this history with ABBA. So in Sweden the Eurovision is quite big, but I don’t know about European.
J.A.: I think it could be a good thing for the new artists to be there and also it’s a good thing because so many people see you at the same time. I mean for us it’s another way how to get to people in Europe, because we have been working for 15 years and this is not the last time we meet people in Europe. It’s a good thing to be seen by people who hasn’t seen as before.
And maybe there are some other unusual things you are going to do?
J.A.: Yeah, we are trying to. (Laughing)
L: This was the most unusual thing and it’s one in the life time. And I think now we are gonna concentrate on doing our music, do rock again.
You said you have travelled all around. Maybe there’s some special country, some special audience you like a lot and which inspire you?
L.: I think the third album was a little inspired by New York, because Ola was there and he liked it.
J.A.: For now we haven’t been to Eastern Europe, but we would like to do that. And we would like to go back to Asia. We have been to Japan only once. And, of course, we want to go back to America; we have a lot of fans there, especially in New York and San Francisco also. We want to go over down and play.
You have never been to the Baltic States either.
J.A.: No, that would be really, really nice for us.
Actually we are going to have a big festival in Latvia (Positivus AB) and there was a forum discussion on festival’s website that people would like to see The Ark.
J.A.: Yah? I know we have quite a lot of fans that we get on MySpace…That’s nice!
When you go to other countries, is it just for music or do you also pay attention to the certain country?
J.A.: It depends on how much time we have. Usually when we are travelling in Europe, we play at night, then we have to go to the bus and go to the next city, but sometimes we have a day off and then we can take a walk around the town and try to see the thing.
What do you prefer – small clubs or big festivals?
J.A.: It also depends.
L.: There are two different things. It’s fun to do in small clubs and it’s fun to do in big festivals.
J.A.: I think I prefer clubs, because then it doesn’t matter if it’s raining. If it’s raining, it’s not boring, but you feel a bit sad for the people who have to stand in mud and rain. And in clubs it’s always dark insight, you can have a nice light show. I think I prefer playing at clubs, but also the festival can be magic, because there are so many people, like 15 - 20 000 people seeing it.
What is the most extreme place where you have played at?
J.A.: Once in Norway we played on a small stage just by the sea. So, the sea was here and it was raining and the wind was blowing. It was really, really wet and everyone was in mud. And the storm came in on the stage and it was raining into the stage as well. And it was really, really cold, so it was hard to play. And also one time we played in our hometown in Sweden where we grew up. We played in February out in a square. It was 17 degrees minus and it was really, really cold.
As you are not from Stockholm how does your hometown inspire you for music?
L.: Actually we don’t live in our hometown, now we live in Malmo.
J.A.: I think the fact that we grew up in a small town where was nothing else to do than play music or play football. And we played music.
L: I think that growing up in a small town is quite good, because the whole independent youth culture is all mixed.
J.A.: You can create your own style. For example, Stockholm, New York has their own style, but in a small town it never reaches you, you can create your own home style.
So, the same has happened to you.
J.A.: Yeah, definitely.
L.: And that’s special about us.
J.A.: And that we still work together and know each other for the whole life.
What do you listen yourselves today?
L: I think I listen to a lot of music, but what we listen together is mostly 60 - 70s music, glam rock, the whole hippy era.
J.A.: Some electronic, like Kraftwerk and German kraut music [krautrock – A.K.] is good as well.
Have you discovered some new bands lately?
J.A.: It’s difficult with the new bands, because there’s so much music from the old ones.
L.: Not a lot of new bands actually. I think it’s too much music nowadays.
What do you like to do when you are not playing music?
J.A.: I like to produce music. I produce music with other bands. I work in a studio and do that kind of work. But when we come home from the tour we feel tired and almost empty and then you just can’t do anything. You just walk around.
L.: You talk to friends, have dinner, meet up people.
J.A.: Yeah, when you come back it’s good to meet people you haven’t seen for so long.
