Getting to Know Sweden's Caesars

By: Graham Gutzmer

Wednesday July 23, 2008

Strawberry Weed Forever
Swedish alternative rockers the Caesars are once again spreading their infectious garage-pop dance rock melodies across the Atlantic with their upcoming album, Strawberry Weed. The new album, the band’s sixth, was released in Europe in March and will be available in the U.S. on August 19.

An epic 24-track double album, Strawberry Weed looks to expand on the Caesars already solid pop sensibilities. With two tracks already available on iTunes, Strawberry Weed’s title track hints toward a maturation and an expansion of the band’s already wide sonic reach. Another song, “All Behind Music,” sounds like a throw back to a different era, where the listener can simply imagine a young band rocking happily in the garage. With 22 more tracks forthcoming, it seems the Caesars have reached their goal of making “great pop-tunes for people in any walk of life.” Here’s to more great pop-tunes to come.

Garage rock and psychedelic groups have both been cited as influences for the band, while your sound has teetered on the line between pop-like dance rock, and more straight-forward guitar-led rock. How do you define your own music? Is it difficult to maintain a mix and not lend too much of yourselves to one particular sound?

Our music isn’t really psychedelic. More dreamy and absent minded. I think you can tell right away if it is a Caesars song you are hearing. We have a very distinct sound without sounding exactly the same all the time.

If I'm not mistaken, you are still recording with your original label, Dolores. After so much commercial success, have you ever considered signing with another label?

Ha ha, we are still waiting for some fancy offer. No, we love Dolores and Ismael who runs it, but if we weren’t lazy old buggers we would start our own label and make more money. But we have less important things to do instead.

Are there any European bands that have successfully crossed over into the U.S. market that you admire, or perhaps model yourselves after? Is increased U.S. success a goal for the band, or would you be content with continued success in Sweden and the U.K.?

Being successful all over the world would of course be very nice. Who doesn’t want success in life? But to be honest we don’t give the business side of things very much thought. This might sound a bit fluffy or even dishonest, but if we wanted to just make money we would go into the stock market and deal with guns and ammo. But we’d rather make nice pop-tunes instead.

Your native Borlänge, Sweden has been home to numerous musical groups including Mando Diao, Sugarplum Fairy, Dozer, and others. Has your small town background helped the band find its own sound? Are your influences primarily local, or are they from the U.S. and U.K.? International? Who are they?

We are not from Borlänge. Wikipedia is not to be trusted. We are from Stockholm City. Our early influences were a mix of American Indierock like Pavement , Sonic Youth, 60s Punkrock and –77 Punkrock. Nowadays we find inspiration in ourselves and in life in general.

In the U.S., your song "Jerk It Out" is largely identified with the popular iTunes commercial. Was it a tough decision to agree to let Apple use the song? Do you think the commercial has in any way changed the way the band is perceived?

I guess a lot of people might think of us as some silly one hit wonders who sold out cheap, but it got our music out there and it did put some clothes on our children’s’ backs.

In reference to the synthesized organ sound used on "Jerk It Out," is there a reason you haven't used that sound on many other songs? Can listeners of your music ever expect more of that distinctive sound?

I think you can hear that sound more when we are playing live. We have been joking around about making some kind of silly 60s-like follow up song like the Seeds who made several “Pushing to Hard” to follow up the success. “Jerky de Beuf” or “Jerk it Down” but perhaps not, after all.

Your cover of the Blue Oyster Cult song, "Don't Fear the Reaper," appeared in the HBO series, Six Feet Under. How did covering that song come about for you? The cowbell is such an identifiable element to that song. Did you purposefully refrain from the use of the cowbell in your version of the song? If so, why?

It was actually a nice coincidence that we where asked to do that. I don’t think the song appeared in the actual show. They just put it on some SFU-collection they made. I remember seeing that particular show on TV when they played the BOC-version and I thought “what a great song.” The next day we talked about it in the band and it was a personal hit for us for a long time. Then we got the question.

It seems over time the group's sound has become less raw, and more of a polished sound. Is this a sign of maturity and growth, or is there a deliberate focus on evolving the band's sound?

To make mindpiercing noise is great but sweet melodies are even better.

In your most recent album, Strawberry Weed, Joakim and Nino sing along with César. What is the main reasoning behind this change?

To make the soundscape richer and more interesting.

Strawberry Weed was released in Europe in March, but will not be released in the U.S. until August 19. What can U.S. fans expect from the new album?

Nice snippets and glimpses from another, perhaps better, world. In other words: great pop-tunes for people in any walk of life. Thank you for taking interest in Pojkfittorna I the Caesars. Have a great life.