I’ve been a big fan of WeePOP! Records since the release of Let’s Whisper‘s wonderful Make Me Smile EP in the summer of 2008, which was my introduction to the lovely pop sounds of Colin Clary (whose other band the Smittens became a big favourite of mine soon after). Since then WeePOP! have went on to release some fantastic EPs by some of my favourite artists such as a split 7″ featuring the Smittens and the Just Joans (as mentioned in my interview with David Pope last month) and the stonking classic Allo Darlin’ single Henry Rollins Don’t Dance. The appeal of WeePOP! doesn’t lie solely with the music, either. Each release comes in beautiful hand-crafted packages with a certificate of authenticity stating your record’s number. The attention to detail puts many other record labels out there to shame. There’s nothing I like more than to come home to find a package from WeePOP!, complete with sweets and a sweet handwritten note by label boss Camila.

WeePOP! have been quiet the last few months but they have some fantastic new releases from Stars Of Aviation and the Just Joans on the horizon. And not least a new EP by the 1959 Hat Co. which broke WeePOP!’s 6 month silence at the start of June. The 1959 Hat Co. produce a hazy, summery kind of pop, with a nice ’60s baroque vibe crossed with classic ’80s indiepop not too far removed from Postcard-era Orange Juice. At 9 minutes, Awesome Sneakers is a compact, breezy good time perfect for this time of year.

Snap it up from WeePOP! here before it’s too late!

Recently I was very curious to know what my beloved Just Joans were up to so when I went on Myspace to message them, I decided to ask them to do a wee interview instead. If you require an introduction to the Just Joans, I recommend you listen to their song Friday Afternoons from the album Last Tango In Motherwell. Besides being an absolutely perfect sad pop song, it nicely sums up their incredible talent for capturing that feeling of desperation for something better.

Hi David! We’re all very excited about the Just Joans return to Indietracks this summer. What does the festival mean to you?

“I’m not a huge festival fan. I had a bad experience with a T In The Park portaloo when I was 17 and never fully recovered. The horror. Saying that, we all love Indietracks. We played in 2008 and it was probably the first time we all felt like we were in an actual real life band. We went back last year as punters and again had a really lovely weekend. We will be eternally grateful to Stuart and the rest of the Indietracks team for having us.”

What bands are you looking forward to catching there this year?

“So many good bands playing again this year – Allo, Darlin’, Mexican Kids At Home, The Felt Tips, The Specific Heats and of course The Smittens, although one of the best things about Indietracks is just pottering about and seeing bands you’ve never heard of before.”

The name Coia crops up in a couple of your songs (Coia’s Empty and What Do We Do Now). Is he a real life person?

“Coia was one of my best friends when I was 16-18. I remember getting drunk for the first time with him, going to one of my first gigs (Oasis – Newcastle, 1997) with him and forming my first band with him. However, shortly after leaving school we completely lost touch and I haven’t seen him for over ten years. I guess a lot of our songs are quite nostalgic or concerned with the passing of time and lost youth. I think he’s become a character who represents all that stuff. Jesus, that sounds pretentious.”

Your last release was a split single with the Smittens which came out on WeePOP! Records last summer. How did this collaboration come about?

“We first met the Smittens just before Indietracks in 2008 and immediately fell in love with them musically and socially, and sexually! They are literally the nicest people you will ever meet. Fortunately they seemed to like us too and since we’re on the same label – the sublime WeePOP! Records, it seemed quite natural to do a wee EP together. We’re looking forward to catching up with them musically and socially, and sexually again this summer. Not really sexually.”

What’s next for the Just Joans?

“We’re surprisingly busy at the moment. We’re finishing off a new EP called Your Pain Is A Joke Next To Mines which we should be releasing on WeePOP! in time for Indietracks. We’re also looking towards a christmas EP – Teardrops ‘Neath Mistletoe, and possibly a ‘best of’ album early next year. ‘Best Of’ probably isn’t the best description. It’ll be more of a scrapbook of ineptitude entitled For Those About To Weep….”

Thank you, David!

This weekend sees the return of the Spanish band Zipper, in the form of a new EP on Bubblegum Records entitled Last Chance For Friday’s Badge. This band first caught my attention at the first London Popfest. Perfect punky indiepop in the vain of Talulah Gosh, Fat Tulips and Free Loan Investments. It’s their first all new release since their debut album in 2008 – 11, which is very welcome indeed. And it doesn’t end there! They have new singles coming out on Cloudberry and Elefant in the upcoming months!

Buy the new EP at Bubblegum Records here.

Since Amelia Fletcher’s current band Tender Trap resurfaced early last year after a lengthy hiatus, they have been a very exciting proposition indeed. The addition of Katrina Dixon on drums (stand-up, in true c86 style) and Elizabeth Morris (of the ever wonderful Allo, Darlin’) appears to have given them a real shot in the arm, judging by their recent live shows. To further this notion, Tender Trap MK2 have released two wonderful singles in the last year – the fizzy Fireworks (backed by the even better Grand National) and Girls With Guns, which you can download for free from FortunaPOP! here. In my opinion, the new songs trump everything they’ve done before and are closer to the sound of Talulah Gosh and Heavenly.

The 3rd Tender Trap album, entitled Dansette Dansette, will be landing soon. Be sure to check out it’s wonderful Chris Summerlin-designed artwork here.

The first ever Words And Smiles interview! And with one of my all-time pop heroes, no less! For those who don’t know, Roger Gunnarsson was behind many amazing Swedish indiepop bands such as Free Loan Investments and the Garlands (who are playing the London Popfest next week!) as well as releasing solo material as Nixon. Onto the interview!

Hi Roger! The Garlands have a new split single out on Atomic Beat Records. Please tell us about it and how it came to be.

“Well, the Garlands routine is usually that I start writing a melody line and a lyric draft, and then me and Christin [Garlands vocalist] put the pieces together into a song. The two songs on the Atomic Beat split 7” are the newest ones we have, and I hope they give the direction of what the Garlands will sound like on stage and on the next release (whatever that might be). I’m really proud of those songs and the dynamic sound we managed to capture despite the recording being made on my home computer.”

At the London Popfest next month, the Garlands are playing their second ever show. Please tell us a little about what we can expect and who will make up the band.

“London will be the Garlands second gig ever. The first gig ever will be a few days before in Sweden, so the live version of the Garlands is really new. Personally i’m not really interested in playing live anymore, so Christin put together a live band with a bunch of fantastic friends from other bands, such as Strawberry Fair, Kissing Mirrors, The Happy Birthdays, Action Biker and so on. At the moment I haven’t really heard them play live (they are rehearsing without me), but i’m sure it will be fantastic.”

Do you listen to much current indiepop music? Do you have any favourites or recommendations?

“I think my indiepop peak was when I was 25 (about 10 years ago that is) and since then I never really lost my love for it, but kind of lost my old sense of finding new bands. Christin gives me a lot of good tips and at the moment i’m listening a lot to Tim Ten Yen and Northern Portrait.”

Your project – Nixon, has been a solo venture for about a decade now. Can we expect any more solo material from you in the future, under the Nixon banner or otherwise?

“Yes, it’s my intention to someday soon record another Nixon album. I’ve been saying that for 6-7 years though, so maybe that soon shouldn’t be there. The thing is that when I started to do the Nixon albums in the early ’00s, I did them all by myself. Then I met Amanda and started Free Loan Investments, and then I discovered the joy of not hearing my own voice singing my songs.

And since then i’ve just been postponing my solo efforts, because I like it so much more to have someone else to sing. But then again, I get a lot of fantastic feedback from people on a bunch of really obscure records I did long ago, so I should really do something new under the Nixon banner. This interview made it a little closer to happen.”

Do you have a preference between making music solo or with a band?

“What I like the most is to write songs. I’ve always been too impatient when it comes to studio work, and i’ve never been fond of rehearsing or playing live. I would probably like those things more if i’d been a better musician, but i’m really grateful that i’ve had the chance to mainly work as a songwriter in the bands i’ve been in. So regarding your question I think the ‘band’ answer suits me quite well, because I could stay in the background and write the songs.”

Besides Nixon and your bands Free Loan Investments, The Happy Birthdays and The Garlands, please tell us about the other music projects you have been involved with.

“A few years ago europop act Sally Shapiro did a cover version of the old Nixon song – Anorak Christmas, which kind of led me into more electronic music. The Nixon sound was always based on drum machines and synthesizers, so it wasn’t that much of a change. But in 2004 me and my friend Matilda started to make music under the moniker Cloetta Paris, which is some kind of twee-europop I guess. Blog-disco, some might say.

Even though the sound of it differs a bit from my previous indiepop bands, I still write the songs the same way. I think that would happen even if you put me in a nu metal band or something. I can’t really think of any other way to do a song. Whatever music i’ve liked in my life, it’s always been melodic pop. My record collection is full of obscure and unknown records, but they’re all very pop and not very odd musically, and the same goes for my own music I think.”

Your old band Free Loan Investments are one my absolute favourites. Do you think you will ever work together again?

“The main reason for FLI splitting up was that we were getting busy with other things, like work and studying, so instead of feeling bad from saying no to gigs and making records, we decided to quit, and I think all of us felt that as a relief. Me and Amanda [FLI vocalist] still see each other every now and then, and make new songs, and maybe that is a sign of FLI still existing in a way, but I don’t think there will be any more live gigs with us.”

There is an online group (on Last.fm) dedicated to you entitled Roger Gunnarsson is a fucking hero. How do you feel about such adulation?

“Well, that is crazy in so many ways. Just the fact that some people know who I am in faraway places is weird enough, and even more so when they come together in some kind of movement on the internet. Of course i’m really, really flattered.

I’ve always liked to be anonymous. Standing in the back row of all photos in school, never had my photo on records, using a band name for my solo project and so on. I think that might be a part of why people bother to put all my stuff together like that. It’s a jungle of obscure releases in various countries, different pseudonyms, one-off releases and that kind of triggers some people to find it all. So when I first heard about the Last.fm group I got kind of worried that it was some kind of discussion group with my name on it, but it’s pure love and sometimes I go there to see if someone new has joined, haha.”

Besides music, what else do you enjoy?

“What I like the most is being at home, I think, because that’s where all the fun things happen. I recently moved from an apartment to a house, and right now I spend a lot of time taking care of that. Not that i’m a handy man or anything, more that I love to sort my record and film collection. I have a whole basement for that now. I also enjoy housework a lot. Mostly cooking, but also classic boring stuff like tidying. I would be a perfect housewife, I think. When it comes to outdoor activities I avoid city life the best I can, and love to have it as quiet as possible.

My interests don’t go very well with my interest in making music i’ve realised. Most people doing music also like being part of the scene, but i’ve never really felt like a part of that. And sometimes I feel really bad about letting people down with never doing any live gigs (or never even going to see other bands’ gigs), so I think it’s fantastic that Garlands are starting up a live band without me now. That will leave me to the thing I love the most – writing songs.”

Thank you for taking the time to chat, and for being my first ever interviewee!

“Thank you, Tim!”