THE RADIO DEPT

Radio Dept is a dream pop band from Sweden.

RADIO DEPT: "We’re not like a drug band really."

 [interview.aldy kusumah / photo.st jadoon / from ripple #60]

So what’s your position in the piracy situation and digital music trends?

I think you have to do something about it. In rainbows has given people the options to donate moneys, so you can appreciate the band. you can choose to pay or not.  Radiohead is a huge band, they’re rich if you know what I mean, so it’s easy for them to give away stuffs, for small bands like us or others, we need the income and our living depends on selling records or downloads. But probably music should be cheaper I think, and maybe not always.. I don’t know I’m too tired man..

How did you guys ended up in Marie Antoinette soundtrack? Did Sofia Copolla contact you personally? No, but Brian Reitzell did. We get an email, he said that we were really hard to reach and he has been trying for months. It’s quite easy for us that we didn’t need to make a new song because they’ve already choose the older stuff that we already finished so it’s no work for really. We created a song called “It’s Personal” specially for marie antoinette but they thought it was too modern or too urban..

So did you like the movie? I thought it was a chick-flick.. Yeah yeah.. very much. I loved the movie. maybe for you, but for me it’s not a chick-flick, I like Kirsten Dunst. But I think she doesn’t like me [laughs]. Jason Schwartzman was also a really really good actor. I think it was a very good movie and it’s not a chick movie. I mean it’s a coming of age tale, about growing up as a teenager. She’s in a place where she shouldn’t be, it’s too much responsibility for a 14 year old girl like Marie Antoinette. It’s superficial and very beautiful tale. The movie is like a historical piece that translate and was built for…. Hey, let’s talk about our band now! [laughs]

Ok then, less Marie Antoinette more Radio Dept then. Yeah man, we didn’t even get a free ticket or invitation to the premiere [laughs]

How’s Labrador records treating you lately? Lately they’ve been good [laughs]. But we have a couple of fights, I mean they’re great as long as you don’t discuss bussiness. Umm we have problems with our contract, brcause it said even though we recorded everything at home they own everything we do and they don’t pay anything for it, because usually you get money for recording at the studio but we do it at home and after we are hard-working on the album for 6 months or a year then you just give it away and they own it and get the master.

Why do you like the home recording process? ‘Cause we can do as we please and it doesn’t cost a lot of money. We like the idea abut D.I.Y. ‘cause it’s more interesting. You do everything  at home and all that..

Is it comforting for you that the media puts you into the laptop-shoegazer genre? Even I haven’t heard of that [laughs]. i have a hard time relating to labels. I mean we’re definetly a pop group. We’re not a shoegaze band in anyway although we loved shoegaze as well as many other types of music. We never try to do just one thing and always exploring.

In “Pet Grief” the atmosphere is a step-up from your previous release (Lesser Matters). Thank you. Both of them is equally personal I think, it’s just where we were at the moment where we recorded when we did Lesser Matters it’s exactly the record that we want to do at that time.it’s just that at that time we are not professional enough to make it sound the way we want it.

Are drugs involved in the creative process? Yes and no [laughs]. yes I like to smoke marijuana but I don’t think it’s effected the music so much. We’re not like a drug band really [laughs].

So what’s the song “The Worst Taste In Music” about? It’s about when you broke up with your girlfriend and she meets a new guy, and you hate this new guy, so the only comfort that you have is that he have the the worst taste in music. You don’t have the girl, the love, but at least you try to manage and cope with it ‘cause the new guy don’t have a good taste in music like you do.

I can relate to that! Anyway, Who have the worst taste in music in your band? Everyone has the worst taste in music in this band! We used to like crappy bands like Pearl Jam. Grunge Is too macho, we listen to sad music not because it’s too feminine. I’m a big guy, I don’t have to prove myself by listening to loud bands. I have a penis, I don’t have to wave it around. I think it’s all about feelings man. I listen to Pavement, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr. and Pixies.