Katzen Kapell Interview 2008
1. Please tell us how two of you started to play music. Please also refer to major influences (artists, works, etc.)
Magnus:
We had a piano at home when I was a kid, and I used to play around with it and compose short pieces. I was 6 or 7. I also used to sing out loud in my bed before going to sleep. Then I started to take lessons on flute and that became my main instrument for 10 years. After high school I wanted to improvise and learn more about jazz.
When I was 13 I bought my first LP with my own money. It was Frank Zappa – Overnite Sensation. I loved the music and from then on I started to listen to records in a different way.
Before this it was the usual kid stuff – The Djunglebook, The Beatles, Mozart, but also Deep Purple (Made in Japan of course) and Nina Simone. But after discovering Zappa there was
Miles Davis, Mahavishnu, Weather Report, Keith Jarrett , Jan Garbarek and so on. Around 20
I also got interested in Stravinsky, Bartok and Varese. Other influences are surrealism and dadaism, my family, Nino Rota, Egberto Gismonti, Burt Bacharach, Bernard Hermann, Hermeto Pascoal to name a few.
Catharina:
I started to play the piano when I was six years old, enjoying to perform the music of Beethoven, Bach and Bartok. The need to explore my own ideas of music led me into improvisation and jazz. Led Zeppelin, Thelonius Monk, Astor Piazolla, Nino Rota, Gustaf Mahler, swedish folk music-especially the music of violinist Gössa-Anders and folk singer Lena Willemark, contemporary composer György Ligeti, oriental and north african dance music and Pakistani qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn is a few of many strong influences on my music through the years.
2. Catharina now mainly plays the accordion, but I've heard that when you started playing the instrument, you didn't like it very much. How did you start to concentrate upon the accordion?
Catharina:
My first professional job as composer and musician was with swedish variety group Variété Vauduvill. Touring around sweden in a small circus tent with snake charmers, magicians and fire eaters I was responsible for the music to the show. But there was one major condition; I had to be able to play the accordion to get the job. I wasn´t very fond of the instrument at that time, and didn´t like traditional swedish accordion music at all. But I bought an old instrument and started to practice. At the same time I heard the music of Astor Piazolla for the first time and realized that there is so much beautiful accordion music in the world. And so the accordion became my voice in a way that the piano never did. But I still prefere the old ones, that often have a more bandoneon-like sound. The one that I use now is almost eighty years old.
3. How did Catharina and Magnus meet? Please also tell us how you two came to form KATZEN KAPELL.
Magnus:
In 1982 we met at Skurups Folkhögskola, a school in the south of Sweden that had a unique
two-year jazzprogram. (It still has a good reputation.)During this period we also met and played with guitarist Lutte Berg and bassist Peter Adolfsson.
Back in Stockholm in 1985-86, the four of us and different drummers used to rehearse on a regular basis. We also worked at various theatres as musicians and composers.
Catharina had written some tango stuff because she just picked up the accordion.
She also played electric piano and myself mostly on flute. As Catharina moved over more and more to her new instrument, I took over the piano. Drummer Lasse Lundbom joined us and in the fall of 1986 we formed Katzen Kapell. About a year later, Lutte Berg moved to Italy so we
continued as a quartet for three years.
4. Why did you choose this bandname?
Catharina:
We wanted to call the band Katzenjammer Kids, like the old american cartoon with the same name. (Katzenjammer is a yiddisch/american word and can mean noise or hangover or even anxiety! The german word Katze also means cat in english.) We soon found out that the name was occupied by a Danish group. So we said `well…hm…let´s call the band Katzen Kapell instead!
Magnus:
And Kapell in swedish means a small band/orchestra.
Our bandname often leads to a misunderstanding that we only play klezmer!
5. Early members of KATZEN KAPELL were Eva Lindal from classical scene, Kjell Norderson with the jazz background, and Gustaf Hielm who had been a member of a shash metal band, MESHUGGAH, in addition to you. And they seem to be quite diverse. How did you come to know them and choose them as members of the band?
Magnus:
In the late eighties we, especially Peter, talked about expanding the quartet. We didn´t want the guitar back, but maybe cello, violin and percussion. Peter had seen violinist Eva Lindal at a performance where she both played classical and improvised. She liked our music and immediately connected to Catharinas way of playing. She has been in the band since 1990.
In 1992 we had known Kjell Nordeson for some years. I had recorded and played with him in Agamon (see question 8). We shared the same rehearsal room and we knew he liked our music. It was a natural step to rearrange the songs for marimba and vibraphone. He also brought along a lot of percussion. As you may know Kjell is otherwise mostly hired as a jazzdrummer.
In the year 2000 Peter Adolfsson left the band. Just to keep the band going, we rehearsed for a while without bass. Eventually we had an audition with four bassists in 2002.They were all very good but Gustaf was (of course) special. The chemistry with the band was right. He was still a member of Meshuggah at the time so rehearsals were sparse the first year.
6. I think the music of KATZEN KAPELL is very unique, as having such diverse elements as jazz, classical, folk music (tango) and even Frank Zappa. What kind of music does the band really want to create?
Magnus:
I don´t know…What comes out comes out… Our sound is definitely unique. Combinations with accordion,violin,marimba and organ and having two composers in the same band is not that common.
I think music should be personal. For example, it´s no challenge for us to play ordinary jazz
or let´s say a cover of a Piazzolla tune. We like the unexpected. To work with small details
in the arrangements. To be serious but also have comedy.To use old clicheés, like a cheap chord or a silly rythm or a walking bass. Now, walking bass is really the jazz cliché, so why don´t use it and have fun with it? Maybe add a timpani? It´s like taking things out of its context. You can be inspired by Burt Bacharach and Bach in the same song. That´s why we mix different genres. For us it creates freedom. It´s also important to have a natural flow in the music, we don´t want to get academic. We really want to reach the audience.
And the band contributes a great deal to the arrangements even though most of the parts is written out.
7. Tell us about behind-the-scene stories about the production of your debut album. How was domestic and international responses to the album?
Catharina:
We signed 1993 for independent label Twin Music, but recorded and produced the album ourselves. Former bassist, composer and co-founder of the group Peter Adolfsson, had his studio in an old hospital in Stockholm, called Roslagstull. We started to do the recordings in the summer of 1994, one of the hottest in Sweden that decade. Peter had two small rooms well isolated and custom made into a professional sound studio, but there was no room big enough where the whole group could play together. The solution was to use different kinds of rooms in the hospital to the different instruments which gave an interesting sound all together. The technique of recording digitally direct into hard drive was quite new at that time. Peter had some pretty good microphones and a nice vision of how the band could sound.
Eva Lindal was unfortunately ill at the time, suffering from an aching arm and couldn´t make it for the recording. Another classical violinist -Nils Erik Sparf- was hired for the job . He came to the studio with his Stradivarius and put the violin part in place in one day! Lots of additional and new arrangements were written during the sessions, and we experimented a lot with the sound.
The response of the album was very good. It went directly up to number six on the World Music Chart. The reviews in swedish papers were overwhelmingly positive and the album was played a lot in France, Finland, Spain and Sweden (and in Japan as well, though we didn´t know about it!).
A curious detail; famous for it´s sound quality the Katzen Kapell album has been used a lot as reference listening among hi-fi professionals.
8. Between the first and second, "Alla Hatar Min Man," there was four years interval, then between the second and the third, Si Tu Veux," nine years, which are rather long. How did you decide the timings for producing these albums? Please also tell us about your side projects, other activities, and album participations that we should listen to.
Magnus:
Ok, let´s start with our second album which is out of print. It was recorded in the spring 1997 but preproduction and budget was ready in the fall 1996. So it was pretty close to the first album. Anyway, I think we did a big mistake about that recording. Every single note is overdubbed! It took a long time. And we didn´t use clicktrack either….Then the mix was delayed almost a year and when Peter finally started he worked for months. This long process took the energy out from the band.( The record is good though.)
A couple of years later Twin Music terminated as an active record label, meaning we didn´t have a record company behind us. And no bassplayer… ( see question 5)
When Gustaf joined we got the energy back. We still wanted to play! And all the time we composed new songs.Drummer Lasse left the band in 2004 for living in New Zealand so Erik came in. This was sort of a comeback for Katzen Kapell because finally we felt like a band again. We decided to start our own label Ragadang Records in 2006 so the music could be released.
9. Side projects/Other activities?
Catharina studied composition for 7 years between 1993-2000.
Since she graduated , she already composed three operas for children, chamber music,
music for big bands and small bands , choir and for orchestra. Today she has a comission from the Royal Opera in Stockholm for a 2-hour opera (about 40 musicians and 6 singers).
Magnus:
I work mainly as a sound designer and mixing engineer for films and once in a while I write filmmusic. I also record occasionally under the name Agamon.
We released an album in 1993 called ” Open up your eyes” on the Mellotronen label.
It features musicians from Katzen Kapell, Mats & Morgan, a stringquartet and some other people. The music is inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Prince and Zappa. It´s available on iTunes.
10. With the third album, "Si Tu Veux," the band sound seemed to change from aggressive performance to more silent, atmospheric one. I think it was a sort of turning point, but was such change in style more or less intentional?
Catharina:
The change between the albums was not so much intentional as it was a fruit of the circumstances: a couple of new musicians and some new songs. Jazz bassist Peter Jansons sound and way of playing the double bass made a big change to the music on the latest recordings. New drummer Erik Hammarström with his more fluently, jazzy way of playing also contributed to the change.
Magnus:
The earlier albums had three composers, now it´s two so the result is more coherent.
Also you develop over ten years, both as musicians, composers and humans.
11. The rhythm section was changed to Peter Janson and Erik Hammarström. Please tell us how they joined the band.
Magnus:
I´ve known Erik for ten years now and we played together before. (Actually it was Morgan Ågren that introduced me to him.) Kjell had played with him in Bolon X and Gustaf was an old schoolmate. So it felt naturally to have him in the band. He´s excellent. His playing is very dynamic and sensitive. And now after touring with Flower Kings, I can hear even more confidence in his drumming.
Unfortunately Gustaf got sick ( occupational fatigue) just before the Atlantis recording sessions in 2006. Kjell had played with Peter Janson in Aaly Trio and we thought that acoustic bass could be nice for a change. We rehearsed with him for 4-5 days and he was great! Actually he´s one of the leading bassplayers in Scandinavia and been around the jazzscene for 25 years.
12. In contrast with the long intervals for the past albums, the interval between the third and the fourth albums was just a year. What is the reason why the fourth album, "maximalism," was released at such a fast pace? As the recording dates of these two albums are the same, I think there were ideas enough for two albums, but why did you divide them into two albums? This is very interesting.
Catharina:
In the beginning of the CD-era, everyone thought that it was a great idea to load each CD with the 75 or 80 minutes that there is space for. To the contrary, we started to feel that many records are in fact too long. There is so much going on in every single Katzen Kapell tune that 40 minutes is just a perfect amount of time to spend with our music. And it´s always a good feeling to want more!
13. For the third and fourth albums, are there any individual background stories/concepts? If yes, please explain.
(See question 13)
14. Please tell us about interesting stories about production of these two albums (difficulties, how you pinched out ideas, fond memories, etc.)
Magnus:
The concept (if we have any) for Si Tu Veux and Maximalism is that it should sound like a band playing live. And we did play together in the studio. There are a few overdubs, only organ, vocals and some accordion. I mixed it in Pro Tools and in many songs there are lots of editing.
We didn´t have clicktrack so if you listen carefully you can hear the tempo shifting a little bit when different takes are used.
When we started recording we had no idea that it actually was 2 albums.
We just wanted to capture all the new songs and then pick and choose for an album.
15. Among the tracks on the album, please pick up a few that you think especially important and give us your comments on them.
Catharina:
Almost all songs with lyrics is important to me. The last one that I made; `När du insåg´ from the `Si Tu Veux´album is about when you suddenly realize that all the things you should have said and done is now too late and there is nothing in the world you can do to change it.
Magnus:
Bukarest (without the melody) was originally written to a documentary about the town.
I think the piece contains some typically Katzen ingredients. The harmonic progression with a driving marimba, the accordion-solo , the east-european touch and the grand finale.
Bellatores reminds me of medival times with knights, horses and princesses. Almost a tribute to Robin Hood! Some of the melodies were actually written for a childrens film.
The bass-solo in the middle was never intended to be a solo. I just asked Peter to play more than usual in this sequence. A little editing in the mix and voila!
16. The illustration with a fox for the third album, and a gigantic flower above the skyscrapers for the fourth album. These artworks give a very strong impression. How did you come to create such cover art with a strong impact?
Catharina:
It is former Katzen Kapell drummer Lasse Lundbom who created the artwork for the albums. He works in a collage technique, often picking things referring to the song titles and uses them as details in a larger picture. The fox that you mentioned is from the song title `Rävspel´. `Räv´means fox in swedish. For me his illustrations show the `landscape´which Katzen Kapell is formed in and a part of: the big city with it´s special architechture, where people and traditions from all over the world meet and melt together.
17. The current drummer, Erik, is recognized as the so-called "progressive rock" musician as he has played with BRIGHTEYE BRISON and THE FLOWER KINGS. Do you know or have you heard their music? If yes, what kind of impression do you have on the progressive rock music? (KATZEN KAPELL is often categorized into the prog rock.) Is there any musician, band or artist you are in touch with or you want to play with? If yes, please explain.
Magnus:
I´m not familiar with The Flower Kings or that kind of community.( just heard one song on myspace – great guitar!) But I´m happy for Erik, getting to play concerts in the US and in Moscow.
Categories and genres are used to sell products. Doesn´t matter what we call Katzen Kapell, people still think it´s Klezmer because of the accordion and violin!
We tried to categorize ”Si Tu Veux” as jazz but the journalists and record stores called it world anyway.
Prog rock for me is Bo Hansson or perhaps early Zappa and Yes. I like Dungen but that´s neoprog uh? Ok, prog rock is often instrumental,symphonic, with odd time signatures, long compositions that never ends…Maybe it´s a good description of us? Talking about Dungen, it would be great to work with the guitarist Reine Fiske! (Actually, I know him.)
18. Please tell us about gigs of KATZEN KAPELL. Do you play live frequently? In what formation? Is there any live material (video/audio) available for future release?
Magnus:
Nowadays we´re always six persons on stage.There have been occasions in the past when we played as a trio and quartet (without drums and bass). We have also performed with magicians / jugglers and vaudeville artists.
Catharina is the front person and sometimes she introduces a song with a little story,often improvised.
I always try to record the concerts and maybe there´s material for a live album in the future.
There´s also lots of unreleased studiowork.
It would be wonderful to release a Live concert DVD some day!
19. What impression do you have on Japan? If you know any Japanese musician or music, please pick up a few and give us your comment on them.
Catharina:
I have the impression that all music in the world exists at the same time in Japan. There are extraordinary skillfull and talented musicians and composers in almost all genres there is. Japanese culture, especially popular culture has had a great influence on the western countries in the past 20 years. Except for the very well known and highly appreciated classical composer Toru Takemitsu, there is one japanese band that I like very much. They are called Salle Gaveau and have some things in common with Katzen Kapell. I heard about them just a month ago and enjoyed listening to them a lot!
Magnus:
Japan, for me, is so many fantastic things : Kurosawa movies, samurai, fascinating history, sushi, koto, sumo, hi-tech, tasteful design and also kitsch.
I think Japan is one of the most interesting countries in the world. I really want to go there!
I´m familiar with some of the jazzmusicians , Tiger Okoshi, Sadao Watanabe, Terumasa Hino and Ryo Kawasaki. And there´s beautiful soundtracks to Kurosawa films.
20. Please tell us about your future schedule. If you have any idea about the next album, please describe.
Magnus:
Next album will perhaps be more vocal oriented.
We have a couple of old songs with lyrics that could be rearranged.
And we definitely going to compose new things.
21. The albums of KATZEN KAPELL have been distributed in Japan, and the band's unique musical approach has highly been appreciated. Last but not the least, please give your devoted fans who are interested in and shows respect to your music a message.
Catharina and Magnus:
We think it is wonderful to know that we have friends in Japan that share our interest in and need for music beyond genres and traditions. We are very happy about it and deeply greatful to all of you. Our dream is that Katzen Kapell could perform live in your country, to meet you all and say hello!
Thank you very much!
Greetings from Sweden
Catharina Backman & Magnus Andersson Lagerqvist
Eva Lindal & Gustaf Hielm
from Katzen Kapell
November 2008