TLOBF Interview :: First Aid Kit

02 November 2009, 07:58

After several false starts involving faulty alarms, work commitments, and me spewing my guts for the best part of 3 days, I finally got some time with Klara and Johanna, also known as First Aid Kit.

So where are you guys today?
We’re at home, finally!

When did your first start singing together?
Well being sisters, we’ve always sung together. But properly for about 2 years.

Where are you off to next?
We’re doing a Scandanavian tour. Then supporting Port O’Brian on a European tour.

You recently supported Slow Club and Fanfarlo – did you have fun?
Slow Club were lots of fun, they’re great. And so are Fanfarlo.

I saw you in Southampton…
Oh yeah, that was a great show, everyone was so quiet!

So you’re from Sweden, but your influences are mainly American – where does this strong affection come from?
There’s not a lot of folk music in Sweden, we don’t have the county roots. It’s hard to say why we’re attracted to it. There’s stories and story-telling, and the fact that they’re sometimes sad stories. We like sad stories. And we like the vocals and the harmonies.

You sing about themes such as marriage, being a housewive etc, where do you get the inspiration from?
Books… everything. Just because we’re young, we don’t have to write about school and partying. Every song a song writer writes isn’t autobiographical. We think about bigger things in life too.

Speaking of which… how hard is it to keep up with school?
Well we’re hoping we don’t have to come back to it!

So is music something you want to do for the foreseeable future?
We wand to this for the rest of our lives! But there’s lots of other stuff too, like write books, make movies. But right now I can’t see myself doing anything else.

You’ve done a lot of travelling recently, what’s been your favourite place?
Norway was amazing because they have money! We get lots of food, they treat us like real stars! Better than in the UK where it’s just water and beer! There’s a buffet, personal servants. And the audiences are great too. We really liked Glasgow in the UK though, it was beautiful. (It may be important to note that Glasgow is the only place in Scotland First Aid Kit went to.)

You guys ask your fan for requests and then perform them, why did you decide to start doing that?
We like to have a connection. We wanted people to be a part of it, and give something back and do more. We’d love to be able to spend more time on all of them, like the Fleet Foxes cover we filmed in the forest. That was amazing.

What’s the strangest request you’ve had so far?
Britney Spears! I mean I used to listen to her, but come on. We said no to that one!

What are you listening to at the moment?
I’m actually only listening to one song at the moment, by Nick Drake. But also the Monsters of Folk album is great, thank goodness. And Alela Diane. We love her.

Finally, when’s the album coming out?
January next year. We’re finished. Done. Over. It’s always hard to let go of something, but it feels good that these songs will be out there and we’re not carrying them around anymore.