Interview with Jojo, July and Ori from Made In Sweden.
Over the past two Music Crowns posts we have written about M I S’s music and what they have been working on for the past few months. In this third and last supplement of One-Two-Three we will dig a bit deeper and get to know these three unconventional artists a bit better.
First things first, which one of you is Swedish?
July: Well..
Ori: Non of us!
Jojo: We get asked that question in every interview, in every meeting and at every club we go to.
Ori: A reasonable question at the end of the day, but we get tired of answering it on a daily basis.
July: We are called Made In Sweden or M I S for several reasons. First of all we..
Ori: Love Ikea!!
July: NO. Zip it shrimpy! We’re called Made In Sweden because we feel that our music, our brand is very European in a sense. Our music is very clean yet meticulously thought out and complicated. It’s positive in a way, though most of it is written in minor scales. When we think of Europe, of Sweden we think of summer, massive clubs, dancing, good times and most of all we think about FUN.
Ori: Having it, not the band..
Jojo: We want our audience to be at a Made In Sweden show and be uplifted, be it by the sounds, the lyrics, the movements, the entire concert will take you on a ride to a better place.
Ori: It’s like watching TV for your soul. When I get home I plunk down in front of the Telly and zone out for an hour and think about nothing but the program in front of me. That’s what we want from the audience to do at our shows, zone out.
July: Yeah! Come on in and leave your troubles at the nearest tube station.
Okay so none of you are Swedish, that’s fine, weird but fine. Why do you call yourselves a DIY band and what makes you different from other DIY acts?
Ori: So most acts nowadays (at are stage at least) book their own shows, email the press and blogs themselves, manage their own Facebook accounts, record their own music and “mix” it on their laptops at home and that’s great!
Why are you hand quoting when you say mix?
July: Lets not get in to it..
Jojo: We’ll just say that we have been in a few A&R meetings and have seen other bands hand in demos that sound, sonicly, like they were mixed on their Iphone. I mean we are no Calvin Harris..
July: YET!
Jojo: But we have a very high standard when it comes to sonics. We ain’t putting out any bad mixes out there and calling them demos! That being said there is a place for sharing with fans some unfinished work etc.
Ori: Oi, I was talking you two! Before you both went on your rant I was explaining to the nice man about our DIY approach thank you very much! As I was saying, everyone does what is needed to succeed in today’s music industry, but I truly think that what we do sets us apart because we know it needs to be done and we love it!
Examples?
July: I can give you a few.
Ori: But I like talking about this part! Fine we’ll both do some examples..
Jojo: Ladies first! When we were shooting the ‘Loved You’ music video we had about 4 different directors and a few other D.O.Ps coming in and out of the project at one point. Between scheduling issues and lack of funds we had to produce the entire thing. We were more than happy to do the music and let the professionals do their job when it came to the video, but we quickly found out that if you want a job to be done right..
July: Or at all..
Jojo: You have to do it yourself. Create the music, record it, mix it, distribute it, find people that like what you do but most importantly create opportunities ALL THE TIME.
Ori: Speaking about the video, do you remember that we were asked to spend 100 pounds per day on a steady cam rig? And that we ended up building it from wood we found on the street! That was the funniest day. Showing up at 6:00 am and handing our D.O.P this makeshift rig we build last night and said- Lets go! We’re loosing light.
July: The entire crew dropped their jaws and started laughing.
Ori: And that rig can fit on it any camera with a standard screw and even an Iphone too. I think our EPK really explains it the best. From the Casting Day show, our mini X-factor YouTube reality series, to the Good Times EP we do it all ourselves. I mean who does that?! Who sets out to find a new lead singer for it’s unknown band and ends up with a short reality show, with close to 100,000 views on YouTube from real fans and a clear vision towards world domination? Who?
So world domination is the end game for you lot?
Jojo: Well Ori is a bit of a drama queen sometimes..
Ori: Well I never…
Jojo: What my eager band mate meant is, that we are hard workers and we have a clear vision for our music and an even clearer trajectory for our act. Upwards! Our new live show has it all. Great music, dancers, two dudes and a dudette giving their hearts and souls on stage. I mean what more can you ask for. Electronic music, meets live instruments, meets cabaret meets dance music.
July: Tell him about the APP (says July in a low whispering almost secretive voice).
What was that about an App?
Ori: O I’m glad you asked. I think this is the best example of what we do to push it in the industry.
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mis-app/id690610218?mt=8
A few months a go we were thinking about how to publicise, promote and distribute our debute EP- Good Times. Like a stroke of lightening Julz said I’ll build an App for it! Jo and I looked at him and said OK sure go ahead. A few weeks later I get a call from him telling me he’d almost finished the M I S App and that he just needs my help with a few last bits to tie it all together. Needless to say that I was over the moon when I got to his house and he showed me what he was up to. In a few weeks he firkin build an Iphone App with out ever doing it before and with no knowledge in writing programs or writing Apps.
Jojo: Bless..
Impressive, so what is the App for?
Ori: Julz you wanna take this one..?
July: Well it has all of the M I S goodies in it. But first and foremost you have the entire EP on your phone for free. When I say on your phone I mean no need for an internet connection to listen to it and you don’t even need to be in the App once it is playing. Aham Aham YouTube App.. Besides the music you have all our social links at the tip of your fingers, as well as, links to our videos, EPK and bio.
Ori: And if you want to get in touch with us privately and not use our Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, SoundCloud, Tumblr or Instagram you can send us an email through the App and we’ll get back to you faster than you can spell Antidisestablishmentarianism.
So the App is a one-stop shop for M I S fans, cool. How are the labels reacting to your methods?
Jojo: As to be expected. They love us and dig what we do but that never seems to be enough.
Good music, check.
A good enough social following, check.
Video content, check.
Blog, check.
Technical abilities, check
A kick ass new way to distribute our music, check.
But that never seems to be enough. I mean do we need a space ship and a solar system named after us before we are allowed to take it to the next level?
So what is the next level for you? And do you have to be signed to a major in order to achieve it?
Ori: The next levels for M I S and I say levels because we don’t know how to do just one thing at a time. Over the next year we plan on taking the club scene, gay and straight alike by storm. Our live show is reason enough to get to know us! Simultaneously we are always writing new tracks and constantly evolving as a group as an act.
July: I think that is the best thing about today’s music industry (and there isn’t much) since new acts are expected to explode by their first single, no more time to develop an artist or nurture him, we have the freedom to change from each song or EP. Since we are a melting pot of creativity and musical influences we enjoy making different kinds of music everyday. Break beat, dub, dance, soul, rock its all great and we love changing it up every few days.
So you have to have a major label supporting you in order to succeed then?
Ori: Yes and no. We give credit where credit is do. No need to go in to all the political, bitter criticism about the music industry and how and who destroyed what part of I and why. It is what it is and we just want to work in it the best we can.
July: In it but not for it!
Ori: True. Say what you want about the major 3 but when they want to they can make beautiful things happen. Every so often they get it right. When they use their power for good and not evil, then my lord does that produce some good music!!
July: The majors are like Autotune for Celion Dions or Sam Smiths. They can take something great, something that has great abilities on it’s own and make it even better. I mean Sam is an incredible singer, hands down. But I’m sure he uses a bit of polish on his vocal tracks, just to round off the edges here and there.
Ori: Yeah, it’s like buffing a red Ferrari, I mean it’s already a Ferrari, but if you hand wash that baby it will sparkle like the sun!
Jojo: The majors can take any solid band, a band of hardworking musician and push them even further. And I’m not talking only about us. We are no different than any hard working individual that shows up for work every day. Eventually it will pay off and if he or she have the proper backing then you’re set.
Where do you see yourself in three years time?
July: Talking to you from our studio.
Ori: Via skype obviously cause we’ll be in our space ship flying around the Made In Sweden solar system.
So there you have it, the third instalment of One-Two-Three with Made In Sweden. A very interesting band, act, group, what ever you want to call them. They seem to have their head defiantly screwed, but screwed right.
