"It
feels like we’ve
been able to cut all the wires to our references, the sound is
just us..."
Read an interview with Per-Henrik
Petersson
written by J Andersson
in May 2005.
#Band members usually add something special to the band, take
responsibility of something in the creative work. What about
you, what do you add to KTV, what’s your speciality?
- “Back in the nineties I usually worked in pair with
Jörgen. He often came up with ideas, lyrics or a refrain. Then
we completed the songs together. If he came up with a refrain, I
wrote the bridge and so on. Back then I felt that it was really
hard to compose a complete song m self. I had a lot of ideas,
but I really couldn’t get it out. Jörgen often supported me, and
when we wrote songs together it worked very well. I’ve never
been a great songwriter in terms of spitting out a lot of songs
all the time. I can only write when the inspiration comes to me,
and the lyrics have never been a job for me. During the years
I’ve maybe written a handful of songs by myself, Off the wall
for example – Jesper wrote the brilliant lyrics that time. I
work a lot better together with Jörgen or Jesper. My speciality
is maybe to take an idea to the next level, putting ideas
together to complete songs and then taking the responsibility
for the production. But in the past years I have grown to be a
better songwriter. On the forthcoming album I hopefully will
contribute with more own songs compared to the earlier
releases”.
#What about Depeche Mode. Have they influenced you, the band?
- “Of course they have been a huge influence. In the early
days some of ours songs were really bad copies of DM songs. When
you look back it’s hard to see why we tried to copy their sound.
But they were kind of heroes – at least for me, maybe not for
all in the band. It’s maybe natural to become influenced the way
I did considering that I listened to DM songs almost every day
when I was about 15-16 years old. But after a couple of years
with KTV we found our own sound. And now I think we’re have a
unique expression, something own and very special. Especially
the forthcoming album is more of our self’s than ever. More
personal, close and honest”.
#How will you describe the sound of the new album?
- “It feels like we’ve been able to cut all the wires to our
references, the sound is just us – coming directly from our
minds and hearts. We’re not trying to sound like someone else,
we’re just free in our creativity and the sound and the
production just coming together in small pieces, bit by bit.
It’s difficult to describe the sound – maybe people outside the
band will say that it sounds like typical KTV, but we say the
new album will sound different. The new album sounds less
electronic than earlier releases. Even if we use a lot of
synthesizers and electronic instruments – the feeling is more
acoustic, organic. We have worked a lot with samplings of
acoustic drums, and built the sound on top of that with
synthesizers, guitars and percussion”.
#What inspired the band during the songwriting period?
-“Well, I think we all have been inspired differently. When
I wrote my own stuff, the inspiration came from the fact that
we’re all growing up, getting older, wiser, more fragile, and
more dependant. When growing older I feel that excitement of
getting to know my self better for each year and I’m looking
forward to what life can be - as well as some kind of nostalgia
that the best years have passed. It’s the totally different
feelings about growing older that create the energy and the
inspiration to write. And I have always felt that we can write
better songs than the ones released on Three Empty Words and
Opium – but we were not capable of that before. Now we are. Of
course everything in life gives you inspiration, the small
things that happens every day as well as what happens in the
world. I think the new songs are more emotional, built on things
we need to express. Songwriting is all about dealing with things
in your life – even if it sounds corny it’s some kind of
therapy”.
#When you work with the production and the arrangements, which
electronic instruments do you use?
- “We’re old fashion really. Most of our synthesizers are
kind of old, but the good thing about it is that we know the
stuff inside and out. For example we use: Roland JV 1080,
Novation Bass Station, Emu Proteus 2000, Korg MS-20, Waldorf
Microwave, Novation V-Station, CS Deep Bass Nine, Korg
Wavestation, Oberheim OB-SX and so on. We also work a lot with
our old fashion samplers Emu ESI-32, Akai S1000 and the Emu
Emax. When you sample things with the Emax it adds that special
touch to the sound – we can’t live without that old sampler,
it’s really great. Of course we also work with software modules
– but you loose some of the feeling when the instruments aren’t
physical. Earlier we used the Emu Darwin recording system, but
now we’re using a PC computer with recording software”.
#Can you live on your music, or do you have a regular job?
- “Today we all need to work to get things going; we have
regular jobs like everyone else. Back in early days we managed
to focus on the music and the band, but today some of us have
families and naturally it means that you have to take a lot of
responsibility, you need a steady income. I’m working in the
advertising business; it’s really great when you have a job that
stimulates your creativity. The fact that we have regular jobs
affect the amount of time we can spend working with the new
album, but it’s unavoidable. But we have no hurry, the main
thing is that the new album is growing in to the concept we aim
for”.
#How do you define a typical KTV song?
- “A typical KTV song always has a melancholic touch. The
songs are often based on a darker concept, but can be expressed
in an up-tempo and catchy style. You can always recognise a KTV
song; the difficult chord change, the brilliant chorus, that
special melody, the mix of real dark and brighter expressions.
The sound is often KTV characteristic; drums, arpeggio and bass
driven structures, strings, percussion and guitars in a special
mix of synthesizers, more organic sounds and samples.
#Can we expect that typical KTV songs on the forthcoming album?
- “ There will be no radical changes in melodies I think. We
are who we are – and we don’t change our style because someone
else tells us to. But the sound is different compared to the
earlier releases, now the sound and the melodies fits better
together and bringing the best out of the songs. We’re just
creating music right now that we like, we don’t care what’s
happening on the music scene, and we don’t care if the songs
make it on the charts. We’re creating because we need to,
because we like writing music. We’re really making the new album
on our own conditions, we’re not writing for someone else but
our selves. But hopefully there are people out there that are
interested in our forthcoming album. People who will listen to
the new songs on their own conditions – who interprets what they
find important. We’re not trying to send any messages. We’re
just trying to create the best KTV album so far – and we hope
for a release in the late autumn this year”.
Interview by J Andersson for Kiethevez.com