Enjoy my full exchange with Jonas Bjerre (vocals & guitar) below.
1. What are your three most cherished albums of 2009?
I was so excited to finally hear a ‘new’ Prefab Sprout album and though it was recorded back in ‘92 (I believe) right after Jordan: the comeback, it was not released until 2009, so that’s definitely one of my three faves this year. The new Animal Collective (Merriweather Post Pavilion) is great, I think. And finally I would say our fellow Danes, Oh No Ono’s album Eggs.
2. Mew recently performed a few gigs with NIN. How’d they go?
They went really well, the audience was great and we had an amazing time on the tour, everyone treated us so well! We had heard about Trent taking an interest in what we do a while back but we were still working on the album. Luckily a tour became possible for which I am very thankful.
Read the remainder of this interview AFTER THE JUMP…
3. I’m wondering if there’s any one facet of American culture that you thoroughly enjoy and/or makes you giggle endlessly.
I think what strikes me as most different from Europe, or at least Scandinavia where I’m from, is how people talk to strangers in the US. One time I sat on the subway headed for Brooklyn and this elderly gentleman sitting next to me said ‘great game last night, huh?’. When I admitted to him that I knew nothing about baseball, he proceeded to explain to me the rules in great detail and even added stories of his childhood and how his father used to take him to the games. It was just really nice. An otherwise boring, uneventful and hung-over train ride became a little experience, a story, something that I remember. In my country, if you talk to a stranger on the train like that, they think that you’re a lunatic.
4. How does No More Stories differ from Mew’s previous albums?
It has more of a funky element than the previous albums. Although by ‘funky’ I don’t mean funky like Bootsy Collins or anything like that, it’s our own brand of funk. But I don’t wanna sound like it’s a funk album ’cause it’s not. It just has a hint of that stuff in there. It has more color and warmth than our last record, which was quite dark sounding. Lyrically, this album is a little less self-involved. Its themes are less about the significant other and more about the ideas of human relationships, parenthood, the idea of being someone’s child. It’s also about taking responsibility for the ‘tribe’ that you are in, accepting life, death & magical stuff.
5. Is No More Stories Mew’s most optimistic LP to date?
I suppose so. Its highs are definitely high. But it does contain a certain stream of melancholy as well, I would say. There’s usually that contrast in our music, like a happy sounding theme/melody alongside dark lyrics or vice versa. I don’t really know why that is.
6. What are your current musical obsessions?
Geinoh Yamashirogumi, Delia Derbyshire, Kate Bush (the old stuff), Prefab Sprout, Ron Hubbard’s theme for Commando, a Commodore 64 game from ‘85 & Neil Brennan’s game over theme for The Way Of The Exploding Fist.
7. Are there any Danish acts that we should keep an eye out for?
That band Oh No Ono that I mentioned earlier & there’s a band called Spleen United that’s made two great albums. They have this primal thing about them as well as a great deal of melancholy. Also Choir Of Young Believers who are actually touring with us now in the UK. Great songs, beautiful stuff.
8. Are there any misconceptions that you’d like to clear up?
I can’t think of any just now. If I look on the internet, there are a bunch of them but none that really bother me.
Be sure to catch Mew on their North American trek.
Watch ‘Repeater Beater’ here.
Visit Mew on MySpace.
Nice job on the questions!