Baronen & Satan
Unrated: How did you two meet?
Baronen & Satan: We met through similar friends 4 years ago and we havent been separated since.
Unrated: In your bio you said you music is Garagedeath. Can you explain more what “Garagedeath” is?
Well..for us it means a darker side of garagemusic. Or like a chewing gum gone bad.
Unrated: I see you are from Gothenburg. How is the music scene there? How are the clubs?
Gothenburg is well known for its vibrant music scene. There’s a lot of ”under the radar” venues and clubs where you can play shows, and that means a lot of bands! Sadly, the garage scene isn’t that big, but we’re creating our own little world here and reach out elsewhere.
Unrated: How did you pick Jim Diamond (White Stripes) to produce your album?
We put out the word on our FB page that we wanted help with recording. Somehow he got the message and said that he wanted to do it. At first we though that it was a joke, but it turned out Jim really liked our music and had ideas on how our sound should be shaped. We see him as somewhat of a 5th member. We really cant imagine anyone else working with us.
Unrated: What made and model of instruments do you play?
Phil plays a Fender Jazzmaster. But on our latest recording he used an old Teisco guitar from the 60s. It’s a shitty, but cool sounding guitar with a lot of the old fender tone to it. Marie has owned a no-name fender copy bass for the last 10 years that she bought for like 100 bucks. It sounds amazing! Linda used a old Magnus Chord Organ though a Yamaha TA30 amp on Buttermilk Sky. Everything you play on that sounds dark and weird. And lastly, Stefan has a pearl drumset with broken cymbals.
Unrated: I have been listening, “Why Does The Blood Never Stick To Your Teeth? + Satan Is A Lady” and I just simply love it. Elisa drawn me into the pure raw sounds. It had the feel of Jack White blended with Siouxsie and the Banshees. How did you come up with that sound? It is really catchy?
Oh, thank you! We put a lot of work into our music, so it means a lot when we get that kind of feedback. I guess the mix of Phil’s music tastes together with Linda’s is what makes up our music. It’s just what happens when we write together. We see it as every song has to have it’s own unique touch to it and usually nothing really becomes what we imagined in the beginning. Phil’s standpoint is usually something really raw and Linda’s is something really melodic and weird..if that makes any sense. Then if you can dance to it, it’s a big plus.
Unrated: Why did you decide to record a song about Elisa Lam? (The body of Elisa Lam, also known by her Cantonese name, Lam Ho Yi, a Canadian student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, was recovered from a water tank atop the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles on February 19, 2013).
Well..we had been working on this song for a while and couldn’t really decide on the direction with it. Linda wanted it to have a haunting feeling with an elevator. And when searching for inspiration she found this story about Elisa Lam and everything fell into place. We usually write songs from a standpoint of a feeling or a story to tell, and the music comes from that.
Unrated: Do you believe in ghosts?
Sometimes we do. But you should never talk about it.
Unrated: I watched the video Buttermilk Sky and has a great 60s feel to it. What made you decide to do that video and who did you put it together?
We looove music from the 60s through to the 80s and with this song we wanted to celebrate the feel and psychedelic touch of 60s garage. It’s a different kind of song for us. Even maybe a bit too upbeat. And we all love to dance right? So we rented a place and created our own little world inside. We’re all very artistic in the band, so everything came naturally. Marie made BIG flowers and we created psychedelic projections and Linda made a hypnotic backdrop. Its all very DIY and we did it all by ourselves. We’re really happy with the result! It has this Alice in Wonderland meets trash and decadence feel to it.
Unrated: You put a lot of power into your show. I watched Baronen & Satan – Full set live (first gig) 2015.05.16 @ Röda Sten, Göteborg and it was only 19 min. I hope they are a lot longer now. And was that really your first gig?
Haha..yes. That really was our first show. Even Linda’s first ever show (at least as a singer). We hope to always give the crowd some mixed emotions and a feeling of ”what was that”. So we do play longer than 19 minutes now..its 25 😉
Unrated: How would you explain your live performances?
It’s 50% sheer terror and 50% joy. We really can’t try and be something else than we are, so what you see is what you get; 4 weirdos with a lot of passion. And people that see us will see just that. It brings a lot of tension and nerve to the show. People can’t decide if they want us for dinner or dessert.
Unrated: Have you looking into touring outside of Sweden?
We have a few ideas up in the air for the future, but nothing is confirmed yet, so we don’t want to jinx it 😉
Unrated: Who have you open up for?
We have played with this American band called Tomorrow Tulips and they we’re real sweethearts! We also just recently played together with one of Sweden most interesting bands right now; Sista Bossen. Somehow they opened up for us, but they are a band to look into more!
Unrated: If someone was going to listening to you for the first time, what 3 videos would you tell them to look at and why?
Our video we did for Lady Creature before we got signed. Why? Because it was one of the first songs we ever did and it’s still one of our best. Look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K04hA0JPU1c
Our new one of course! Buttermilk Sky is a joy to look at and hopefully makes people a bit warm inside from all the colors and beautiful people. AND put on their dancing shoes! Look Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA6ti0wpbAI
Lastly our video for Elisa. Why? Well..together with the other two, it shows where we’re going in the future. We have a lot of music in us. And it shows a more weird side of us. Look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwSERMMQPiE
Unrated: How do you see your band in the next 5 years?
In 5 years we are even better of course! We have a lot of music in us and in 5 years we have put out at least 2 more albums and toured countries we’ve never been. We love to experiment with sounds so the future see us changing things up and never looking back. And of course that people in this little genre called garage-rock knows about us and love us.
Unrated: Any guilty pleasures your fans would be surprise you listen to?
Hmmm, well,you cant really called it guilty pleasure cause we have soo wide tastes in music and there’s is no shame about it. Linda loves Björk. And Stefans favorite band is another Gothenburg band called Broder Daniel. Everyone else in the band jokes about it because it’s so detached from what we do..but hey, everything goes J
Unrated: What is on your phone for music now?
Night Beats is number one. Also a lot from a french band called Magnetix. The Mamas and the Papas, Shannon and the clamps, Blondie, LA Witch, The Doors, Converge, Canned Heat, Ghost wolves, The Cramps, Coachwhip and the list can go on for ever.
Unrated: Anything in closing you would like to say?
Even the smallest girl can make you shiver.
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