When Saints Go Machine: "I just like stuff that’s simple"

But this means that not much has happened in the world of When Saints Go Machine recently; the band has played the occasional concert in their home country but aside from that – nothing. All that will change come the middle of November when Vonsild and co bring their band to London for the Ja Ja Ja Festival, perhaps signalling the beginning of a more productive period for the Danes.

I’m speaking to Vonsild as he travels on a bus heading back to Copenhagen following a show with Cancer (“I’m a bit hungover, I must say!”) and I begin by asking if he’s looking forward to playing the Ja Ja Ja festival: “Yes, very much so!” he says, with great positivity for a hungover man. “For When Saints Go Machine it’s been a while since we played in London; it always feels good, especially when you have to kind of start all over again when you’re thinking about how to put the songs into a live situation. It’s all produced on computers, you know?”

Given that Nikolaj has spent much of 2014 focusing on Cancer, I’m interested to know if the When Saints show will feature much new material? “Well, we don’t have a lot of new songs,” begins Vonsild, “but I don’t know if we’ll be playing the stuff people know.” He goes on to admit that his band are a little picky when it comes to selecting songs for a live show: “There are a lot of songs we don’t want to play!” laughs Nikolaj. “There might be a song that someone would want to hear, but a lot of the times those are the songs we don’t want to play! Of course, it’s always sad when people come up to us after a concert and they ask why we haven’t played a particular song…but it’s usually because we haven’t rehearsed it, so that’s why we don’t play it. There are some songs we’re unable to play because we’re just not good enough! I think that’s a good argument.”

After two recent conversations with Vonsild, he really does strike me as someone who is always striving to be creative, so surely there must be a new When Saints Go Machine album coming soon…will we get one in 2015? “I dunno…you might, but I don’t know!” is his coy reply. “We don’t want a deadline or anything; we want to do something because it feels right, and not meet up because we have to, or we have to put out an album. That might sound boring, but after so many years playing together, six days a week for fourteen years, doing these other projects is good and it means we still hang out, talk about everything we’re doing – even if it’s not for When Saints Go Machine – and that’s the way to do it, and how we remain inspired.” Is it a case then that taking a break and working on other projects like Cancer will mean Vonsild and the rest of the band will come back refreshed with new eyes and ears? “We’re still playing concerts, we’re still hanging out,” begins the singer, “and that’s the weird thing! In all those years we’ve never just went to a bar together outside of playing a concert or whatever – we hadn’t done that in years and now we’re doing it all the time, and it feels great.”

On WSGM’s last album, Infinity Pool, the lush soundscapes of 2011’s Konkylie gave way to a streamlined, harder band, more electronic than before yet not straying far from what made the Danes so special in the first place. I ask Nikolaj if he’s had any thoughts about what the next record might sound like? “I have…but that might change!” he says. “Right now, I’d like to keep it simple – not that it’s easy to make or anything, but I just like stuff that’s simple. It might not be [to make], but it has to sound simple. That’s what I like right now, but in six months it could be the complete opposite. That’s what’s so wonderful about music: it changes what you’re into or what feels right to you…” I mention that there’s been a clear strand of rap and hip hop influences through Vonsild’s musical career, from hearing Outkast for the first time, to having Killer Mike as a guest on the last album, to raving about DJ Rashad on Cancer’s mixtape for Ja Ja Ja Berlin, so is that the sort of simplicity he’s aiming for? “That’s not particularly what I was thinking about,” says Nikolaj, “but of course that’s the type of music I grew up with, rap music breaks and stuff like that, taking a small part and just repeating it. You just take the strongest part for whatever you want to do, and when you get older and listen to the whole track…that’s when I realised you were able to do all kinds of stuff. It’s something I’ve maybe been trying to run from for a lot of years but as I’ve got older it’s something that’s so deep within me; it’s the first type of music I ever listened to and picked for myself!”

And so what of collaborations? A final question before I leave Nik with his hangover and bus journey – does he have any hook-ups he’d love to happen? “Yeah, of course…a lot!” he laughs. “Steve Albini maybe…I like what he has to say about music and how he produces music. I don’t know if anyone would say no to working with Rick Rubin…we were lucky to get Killer Mike on the last album, and I would like to go for something like that again. If we’re talking rap, I’d love to work with Slick Rick but I don’t know what he’s doing - or it’d be really nice to work with a UK rapper.” We end on a note of realism, perhaps: “But I also have a lot of friends who I love working with as well – and that seems a lot less far-fetched!”

The band play the Ja Ja Ja Festival this weekend - tickets still available here.