Introducing: No and The Maybes

Ja Ja Ja continues to gather pace. The club night that celebrates Nordic music returns on Thursday 20th May at The Lexington on London’s Pentonville Road. This time around the curator is Stuart Clarke from Music Week, who has chosen No and The Maybes from Denmark, Snorri Helgason from Iceland and Manna from Finland to play live at the show. For full details visit the Ja Ja Ja website.

No and the Maybes‘ eponymous debut album was released in Denmark on the reputed A:larm Music (The Raveonettes, Mew, Efterklang, The Dø to name but a few) towards the end of last year and led to the band hitting No.1 in the Alternative Radio charts, being nominated at the Danish Music Awards, performing on national television and being lauded across the press and media.

For people out there that have never heard of you. Give us three reasons why they should?
Well, No and the Maybes is really about wrapping a bit of catchy music into a thought evoking overcoat. Catchy and Artsy don’t fight in No and the Maybes – they seem to be attracted to each other. And that’s really the only reason why someone should listen to No and the Maybes. But it’s a damn good reason.

Tell us a little about where you’re from. Do your surroundings affect the music that you create?
We are from Denmark. The tiny little country squeezed in between Sweden and Germany, known recently for causing a bit of turbulence due to some cartoon drawings. We’re indeed affected by our surroundings but not geographically. More in an auditive sense. We hear a lot of music, some good but mostly bad. In No and the Maybes we work therapeutically through all the bad listening experiences in order to create new music.

If you could have played on or written any song, what would it be?
Aaah. Tough! It would have to be a song that sounded good in a No and the Maybes setup with our way of singing, performing etc. That narrows down the selection quite a bit. Some Shins material would have been nice to have written, but generally we are more interested in the process of composing and recording. It’s difficult to imagine an ownership of something you haven’t written yourself.

How did the band come in to being? And where did the name come from?
The constant questioning of our own and others’ music is something very dear to us. Sometimes also a bit too dear. We’ve never been a “hit and run” sort of band you know: rehearsing, recording and releasing within a year. We are a bit more meticulous in what we do and our band formula is to start out with a sceptic “NO” and end up with a “Maybe” if that gives you any idea about the etymology of the band name.

What is the most memorable gig you have played, and what can we expect of your live set at Ja Ja Ja?
Well, that’s hard to tell – should it be the worst or the best? One gig comes to mind. A couple of years ago we should play with I’m From Barcelona in Brussels. After driving for 12 hours we ended up in the Belgian rush hour and almost didn’t make it to the venue. We arrived 15 min. before getting on stage and managed to do a short sound check. But 5 minutes before show time there was still no audience at the venue. Rather sceptically we went backstage to dress up. However, when we entered the stage many hundreds of people was waiting in front of the stage and we played one of our best concerts – and we still don’t know where the audience had been hiding.

If you were asked to curate your own Ja Ja Ja night, which three acts would you choose and why?
Hmm. We don’t get to hear much new music but this might make a nice and easygoing night… My Little Pony from Norway ’cause we like their cute voices and carefree sound. Murder from Denmark because they don’t sound like anybody else (even though their musical style is familiar). jj from Sweden because we don’t know them very well and they seem interesting.

We’d like you to make us a Nordic themed mix-tape. Which five tracks would you choose?
El Perro Del Mar: ‘Party’
Peter, Bjorn and John: ‘Young Folks’
Roxette: ‘Fading Like a Flower’
The Knife: ‘Heartbeats’
A Ha: ‘Take on Me’