- THE NMO'S ARTIST OF THE WEEK -
THE RIVER PHOENIX
Even as this week’s mail-out lands with a firm thud in your inbox, The NMO is already half way to Oslo, enjoying a complimentary cup of airline tea, and flicking eagerly through the live music schedule for this year’s by:Larm Festival. One of the first bands we will be looking out for is our latest Artist of The Week, Denmark’s splendid The River Phoenix. With their glowing musical mixture echoing the likes of Band of Horses, Coheed & Cambria, and even Placebo, it’s clear that this is a band with fine taste while the recent support slots with The Stills, and Smashing Pumpkins suggests a group with the solid ambition to hit great heights. We won’t argue with that. We’ll be dragging as many people along to the gigs as possible. The debut album, ‘Ritual’, was recorded with Pelle Gunnerfeldt (The Hives, Logh) behind the desk and we are fortunate to feature a demo version of a brand new track here.
Quote: "....the kind of emotively charismatic rock that reminds you of just how potently engaging intelligent music can be! ” (Rock Sound, New Music First, UK)
meet the band
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the Super8
Q1: How did the band start? And where did the name come from? ”Me and some guys from school / Had a Band and we tried real hard / Jimmy quit / and Jody got married….” …We all moved to Copenhagen, Nikolaj joined on bass and we’ve been playing ever since. The band name is basically inspired by the movie ”Stand by me”, based on the novel by Stephen King.
Q2: For anyone who has never heard of you, give three reasons why they should? The main reason why people should check us out is for our good songs and the delivery of the melodies. Here’s a quote from a review of our debut album ”Ritual”: “...this Danish quintet pen the kind of emotively charismatic rock that reminds you of just how potently engaging intelligent music can be.” - Rock Sound, New Music First, Sept. 2008We’re a good strong live-band that write about relatable themes and care enough for music in general not to put out something that isn’t honest. We think we rock and have a lot to offer the listener both live and on a record.
Q3: Tell us a little about where you’re from and how your surroundings affect the music that you create. We’re all from a small island in the Baltic Sea called Bornholm. Growing up there was safe and supposedly quite different from anywhere else. Moving away in our late teens only wanting to write and play music has been a long and winding road. Growing up in isolated surroundings has had an affect on how we view the surroundings we find ourselves in now. We’ve lived in Copenhagen for quite some years now so it’s difficult to say exactly where we’re from these days. You want to cling on to the romance of your hometown and as time goes by you have a tendency to forget all the downsides it had. We’re originally from Bornholm but live and work out of Copenhagen. Hope it’s not the last step on the ladder though - The openness is still here.
Q4: Which other artists influence your work? Being engulfed in writing material for our next album it’s natural to search for new common ground between the members in the band. Trying to discover something in us all that hasn’t been out in the open yet in our music. We all want to do something different from what we did on our debut. In this process you’re bound to refer to other artists to point out bits and pieces to each other that you dig. Though these influences may not be heard in the final product we’ve been digging the likes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Explosions in the Sky to name some.
Q5: What has been your most memorable experience of being in the band? The first time we performed outside of Denmark was a big thing for us. It felt like progressing upwards from little league. Graduating in some way. It was memorable and big and in the great city of Dublin, Ireland. Every time we’re abroad is memorable, be it Germany, Sweden, England or in America it always gets the juices flowing.
Q6: If you could organize your own dream festival which three acts would you choose to headline and why? (in no particular order) Tom Waits! Live-album ”Glitter and Doom” says it all about why he should headline. Not a fan of live albums but this certainly conveys the magic of a TW show. The Flaming Lips. The Beatles.
Q7: What are your current plans and what are your main ambitions for the future? We want to start recording our new album soon. We have a strong idea of how the album should sound so we want to make arrangements with the right people to make it happen. Sound wise, label wise and promotion wise. We hope to record in the spring of 2010 and if all goes well, release the hounds sometime after summer. Honestly ambitions for the future are higher than ever. New album first.
Q8: Which other Nordic acts would you recommend to The NMO and its readers? Logh, Figurines, Green Pitch, Lack, Diefenbach,
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