SXSW Interview: Magic Potion

One of the hottest labels over the last several years has been PNKSLM, bringing us some of the best in Swedish rock n’ roll. We might even have a few of those bands popping up at Barracuda, say tomorrow, for free. But, for now, here’s Magic Potion…get to know them, then go see them!

Whats the name of the band/group? Where are you from?

Magic Potion. Were from different small towns spread out across Sweden originally, but currently live in Stockholm and Gothenburg.

Describe your groups sound.

People have described our music as lo-fi sometimes because we record to tape but we dont know about that. Its an overused word which definition no one seems to agree upon anyway. We like to think that we write pop songs thats a bit rough around the edges.

What was your most recent release? Any planned releases from 2019?

We released our second album Endless Graffiti quite recently and since then weve been touring the UK as well as playing some shows in Sweden. As for 2019 we will begin working towards a new record and hope to get to play some festivals in the anthropogenic summer of 2019.

For most SXSW sets, you get 30 minutes to leave a lasting impression. Whats your plan of attack? You have a set list mapped out yet?

We believe in performing our songs as honestly as possible and having a good time together both within the band and with the audience. With that said weve got a pretty clear picture of the set with some old mega dollar hitz mixed with slow burner jams and a bunch of hand-picked and specially selected gold nuggets from our recent album.

Lets say your band has been booked an official showcase at a pop up venue somewhere in the middle of 6th street. The lineup features thrash metal, hip-hop, spoken word, and you. The sound is horrible, the lineup is not your style, and the crowd seems angry at the world. How would your band deal with such a situation?

Who are we to judge? It might be a killer combo! We would at least approach it with open minds and see how the night pans out. And honestly, although we try to be a positive bunch of people, who could blame a crowd for being angry at the world in this day and age?

There are tons of bands coming into town. Of the 1000+ bands coming into town, who would you ideally like to play with. What band friends will be here?

Our label PNKSLM is flying in a whole bunch of label pals were excited to hang around with in the U.S. of A. 1000+ bands is sooooo many bands! Looking at the artist lineup right now it would be a fun experiment to split up the festival based on band names starting on the same letter. All the M bands would be playing a separate festival from all the A bands and so on and they would all happen simultaneously so people would have to choose which letter is most bang for the buck.

What has everyone in the band been listening to, or, what plays in the tour van/car/bus?

Liis Ring, Boys, Holy, Ivy, Cleaners from Venus, The Beta Band, The Field, Chris Weisman, the latest Yo La Tengo album, Marie Davidson, Adrianne Lenker

Describe your perfect festival, real or not? Whos headlining? Wheres it take place? Etc.

It would probably be somewhat of a humble affair as we in general prefer smaller shows over arena-type venues and are not much of festival-goers. Although if we allow ourselves to dream a little the festival ends with a spatial distortion on a starlit sky revealing a warp-gate from where The Velvet Underground of 1969 steps out to headline the festival by playing their hot off the press self-titled album from start to finish.

Whats on the bands rider? If were bringing you food and booze, what can we bring you?

Sandwiches without meat and not-so-strong beer (what we in Sweden refer to as folkl). Then we get really happy.

The band gets to create their own taco pop-up shop at SXSW? Whats the name, and what sort of tacos will you have? Any sides?

It would simply be called Taco but spelled out like a defined massive number of times. So basically the whole building is covered with tiny scribblings of the word Taco and for every taco we sell we cross over one and when all of them are crossed out we close the shop and never look back.

As sides we would serve grapefruit cut in funny shapes and a plethora of stuff marinated in the not-so-strong beer mentioned earlier.

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