SXSW Interview: Summer Heart

10509694_693348810719408_4167534257621635946_nAnother day, another SXSW interview to bring your way.  Today I’ve got one from Sweden based electronic pop group Summer Heart.  Now we’ve been told that this is the groups very first trip to play in the states so we’re excited to welcome them to our sweet city with open arms.  Follow the jump for responses.

ATH: There was a lot of hubbub last year concerning corporate sponsors and pay to play and what not at SXSW.  As a band, what’s your reason for coming to play at the festival? What do you hope to get out of it?

We’ve never played in the U.S before so being invited by SXSW is a huge thing for us.  But yeah, I totally understand the concerns. Music is art but to get somewhere you often need a lot of luck and often some money behind you unfortunately. Pay to play is a pretty fucked up thing. I heard about some festival selling a couple of the spots on Ebay. That’s pretty fucked, but at the same time it might be that they actually need that extra money to be able to arrange the festival.   

 

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

 

There is no plan really. Just to go on stage have fun and do our thing. We try not to over think our live performances too much. It can be cool when other bands have these cool, but obviously planned, stage performances, but yeah that is not really what we do. But there is definitely a set-list in mind.

 

ATH: The festival caters to music fans, but food and booze are an important aspect of the fans and the bands.  What’s your band’s food and beverage of choice?

 

Our rider is completely vegan but other than that it is pretty free for interpretation, which means every day is a surprise! When it comes to beverage we like to drink local beer and wine. It is always nice to see what every region has to offer when it comes to alcoholic beverages. 

 

ATH: There are tons of bands coming into town.  Who would you ideally like to play with of the 1000s of bands gracing our city? Make your own optimal line-up.

 

Alvvays, HUMANS, Juan Wauters, Kero Kero Bonito, of Montreal, Hinds, Yumi Zouma, ODESZA and Kate Tempest are some of the great acts from this year’s line-up we would love to play with!

 

ATH: Let’s 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 drunk and angry at the world.  How would your band deal with such a situation?

 

Heh. Actually, it has kind of happened to us already. A couple of years ago we played at this one-day festival thing with a really really mixed line-up. We just did our thing and it felt like people really hated us. We left pretty quickly afterwards.

 

ATH: What’s your favorite album to come out in the last year?  What’s playing in the tour 

 

bus? 

 

There were a couple of really good albums released last year. One of my favourites is my good friends’ Death in the Afternoon’s album Kino. That album is definitely being played in the tour bus. Other than that it is really mixed. Right now I want to hear Real Estate and The Byrds before noon, and after noon I tend to want to hear Foals’ album Antidotes and The Raveonettes first and best album Whip It On. For night drives The Knife’s Silent Shout is perfect! But that is if I get to decide…

 

ATH: Day parties have replaced showcases for music discovery?  Is the conference really completely upside-down?

Day parties are probably a great way to discover music so why not! By the way, isn’t the whole world pretty much upside-down in many aspects?

 

ATH: Band catch phrase in 5 words or less.

 

Summer nostalgia in you heart.

Thank again!  

Check out music from Summer Heart on their bandcamp page.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *