Peter Bjorn And John Interview!

As it tends to happen nowadays, Swedish-based pop-rockers Peter Bjorn and John became the Next Big Band of 2007 virtually overnight. In 2005 they put out a self-released record and distributed it here and there, but suddenly 2006 rolled around and they had a hit ("Young Folks") a record deal (with v2) and worldwide distribution (including Japan). Then it became 2007 and "Young Folks" was playing on Grey's Anatomy. Unless you've been living under a rock, you've surely heard the catchy whistle intro and adorable boy-girl duet featuring Victoria Bergsman of The Concretes. I recently chatted with frontman Peter Moren from his home in Stockholm about PB&J's rapid rise to fame, the markedly personal content of his lyrics, what it's like being defined by a single song and where the band wants to go next -- the answer might surprise you.

NY Doll: Writer's Block was a pretty huge break-out hit for you guys. What came before that and how did it lead to this gem of an album?

Peter Moren: We did another album that I still love. I think it's almost as good as the new one and even better in some ways. That album actually came out in the states in 2005, and nowhere else. It was just Sweden and America and we didn't go on tour in America or anything. It was released on a small label and nothing much happened. We've had to jump labels for each new record and record everything by ourselves so we never had any budget or anything. Every penny that we earned went into the next record. In the summer of 2005 we started to work on [Writer's Block] by ourselves and then we started to play a couple of songs for V2 in Sweden and they were interested.

From there we licensed it to Whichitaw Richards' label and that was why it was released all over Europe and it started to pick up in August 2006. Everyone else came afterwards. It was released in Japan in December so it's kind of been progressing. I guess it makes a big difference to have the proper distribution and the chance to get it across different countries, which is something that we always really wanted but never really worked hard to get. And now it's happened. And of course we have a hit, which makes it easier -- it opens the audience's ears.

NYD: Were you expecting anything like the attention you're now getting?

PM: I don't think we expected this amount of success. We definitely didn't, actually, because we kind of learned to expect nothing. There are such a lot of great bands all over the world that never make anything happen. They just put out great records and then have day jobs and then keep on doing great music. There's nothing that says that just because you have great music you can have success. It's just not like that. There's a lot of coincidences and just being in the right place at the right time. Maybe musically we are in the right time now. I feel like it fits in with contemporary things. It's nothing that we planned though.

NYD: Being that this was the first time that all three of you participated in the songwriting, is this album more personal? Were you finally comfortable with each other?

PM: I would say that all three records have been very personal, it's all very personal stuff, really, but the difference this time around was that John had written a couple of songs and he hadn't on the first two. It was just myself and Bjorn originally, so it was three writers for the first time. But we haven't really collaborated on all songs. Most of them are written separately and then we arrange them together. So everybody has a say in the arrangements and the songs can develop quite a lot from the first initial sketch or demo to the finished song. I mean, if one member would be missing it would sound totally different so each of us was very important. Recording was a bit different. We had different rules set out before hand -- for instance to make the drums more specific in drum patterns that almost have a hook in them. So you play like the same drum pattern throughout the song instead of just playing what you feel like. It was a bit more arranged then before. That's what I would say is the difference.

NYD: I love John's drumming style too. You were fabulous live. How were your New York shows? How do you think the audiences out here reacted, as compared to those in L.A.?

PM: L.A. felt a bit more jungle -- like jungle kids. Whereas in New York it felt a bit more like my own age, a bit more serious. But still, we weren't expecting anything so it was a great reception. Of course you always have a couple of people who have only heard "Young Folks" and nothing more. Then it becomes hard to take in everything because that song is really not very representative of the other stuff going on.

NYD: Your music is at once so personal, but then at the same time also speaks to an entire generation.

PM: You have to keep things quite open. Even though the lyrics are personal down to the details and the feelings, they're situations that everyone has gone through. But it still can get a bit weird when you've written something like "Details On My Affection," which is very personal for me, to then get mail from fans saying "Yeah I can totally relate to that." Well, it's nothing strange but I still feel a bit like "Wow, that's cool." You always write for yourself! It's not like you think "Oh, maybe people will relate to this," but it's great when they do.

NYD: Sweden is so supportive of musicians, and there are so many Swedish bands that come over here and do very well. Do you see yourself as part of some kind of Swedish rock movement?

PM: I definitely think that there are a lot of great bands in Sweden. And I think that maybe because it's easier to record and you can record at home and also get it out on the net easier, of course it's easier for people than it was 10 years ago to get it across to a wider audience around the world. It has changed a bit. But I would say that the bands sound quite different from one another. Its not like you have a lot of bands sounding the same. But where we live in Stockholm it's pretty friendly. You know some other bands and you hang out and you can join in on each other's projects and play with other people. It's not competitive, but it's more creative, so that's good.

NYD: Where do you want to go from here? Are you working on a new album?

PM: We are going to Australia and then Japan. And then we're going to do a couple more European gigs and then the States. And then there's the summer and a lot of festivals. So, I mean, we're going to try to go into the studio sometime in the spring and record. I hope it'll happen but I'm not sure. We're going to try to do an instrumental album. Maybe there will be some slight vocals somewhere, but definitely more of an instrumental album. Not a follow up to Writers Block, but something else.

NYD: A "side project?"

PM: Yeah, but still under the name of Peter Bjorn & John. And then I guess we're going to do another pop album in autumn or something. We would like to do it not too far away, because why wait? We have a lot of songs.

NYD: What do you think of New York? What do you want to do when you guys come back?

PM: I really love New York. I just want to go to some areas I still haven't seen. I haven't seen a lot of Brooklyn and I haven't been up to Harlem. I've covered most parts of Lower Manhattan, and the Upper West and East, but I still have some territories left. It's a good city to explore because you can actually walk quite far and go through different areas without getting too tired. It's not totally hard to find your way. I'm kind of old timey, I like walking around, thinking I'm some old folk singer looking for book shops.