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!”

Released in 1988, A Bit Of The Other is a compilation of super lo-fi Pastels promo films. All of them (bar Crawl Babies) were directed by one-time member of the Television Personalities Mark Flunder. The Pastels are one of my all-time favourite bands and probably the one that had the most influence over the direction my music taste went in the last decade. A Bit Of The Other is a great insight into my favourite era of the band and features lots of wonderful songs such as Comin’ Through, Truck Train Tractor and Automatically Yours.

This weekend, my decidedly un-pop hometown of Belfast was graced by the man who arguably started it all. Of course, i’m talking about the great Edwyn Collins. With his seminal band Orange Juice and the label he co-founded – Postcard Records, Mr. Collins set the template for the subsequent indiepop/c86/twee/whatever movement. Besides all that, he wrote some amazing songs, many of which he sang brilliantly on Friday night in the Black Box. Now, it’s been hard to talk about Edwyn Collins from 2005 onwards and not mention the harrowing brain hemorrhages he suffered but rather than talk about that at any great length, I recommend you read the book written by his partner Grace Maxwell – Falling And Laughing: The Restoration Of Edwyn Collins, which I purchased on Friday night after a talk by Grace (prior to Edwyn’s show).

Accompanied by a 4 piece band – 3 acoustic guitars and keyboard, it was a stripped-down affair. After being introduced by the compère as “the man who invented indie” (hard to argue, really), opening proceedings was Orange Juice’s beloved debut single – Falling And Laughing, which sounded glorious with the acoustic back-up.

For the next 90 minutes or so, we were treated to many classics from the Orange Juice catalogue, including Dying Day, Poor Old Soul, What Presence?! and Consolation Prize. Even the funky Rip It Up and Edwyn’s huge ’90s solo hit A Girl Like You worked with the acoustic backing, the former well-recieved by the very appreciative audience (particularly the sax solo by the keyboard player). The most poignant moment of the show came when Edwyn sang Home Again from his last album which although written before his illness, took on special meaning afterwards (as mentioned by Grace Maxwell during her talk). The audience acknowledged this by applauding when Edwyn began singing it.

Despite needing a walking stick to get around, Edwyn even walked off and on the stage prior to the encore, showing he’s still every bit a showman. He finished the show with the Orange Juice favourite and indie classic (a Sarah Records band named themselves after it, for crying out loud!) – Blue Boy. A great end to a great show.

Just like 2006, Camera Obscura were very much my band of the year.

Let’s Get Out Of This Country – their previous album before this year’s My Maudlin Career, is one of my favourite pop albums of all-time and one that I have strong a sentimental attachment to. It came into my life at a transitional time full of new experiences and adventures. I’ll never forget the first time I heard Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken on late night MTV2 (bring back 120 Minutes dammit!), a few days before my first trip to Singapore in October 2006. Although I was already aware of Camera Obscura and owned their Underachievers, Please Try Harder album, I wasn’t particularly a fan until that night. Subsequently, I listened to Lloyd… many, many times on my trip and when I finally heard the album when I got home (I had no way of listening to CDs in Asia), I instantly loved it.

My Maudlin Career didn’t have the same immediate effect on me but when I eventually fell for it, I fell for it hard. It became the soundtrack to my summer, and I will always associate it with cycling in the evening sun.

For christmas, Camera Obscura released a new 7″ single which is a double A side of The Blizzard (a cover of a song by an old country singer called Jim Reeves, who got namedropped on the first Half Man Half Biscuit album) and Swans from the album. As a christmas gift, they’ve put The Blizzard up for free download here. Enjoy and I hope you all had a wonderful christmas!

Ahhh, the School… Most definitely my favourite pop discovery this year. Gorgeous, sparkly melancholy like thon Spector dude used to produce in the ’60s. After one listen to their wonderful Let It Slip EP (available from Elefant here) back in January, I was an instant fan. And after blinding sets at London Popfest in February and Indietracks in July, they became one of my biggest pop crushes. Their debut album, which should be landing on the 15th of February, will no doubt be my musical highlight of 2010.

For the second time, the School have released a special festive song for christmas (in December 2007, they released the lovely Kiss You In The Snow on an Elefant christmas EP). The new one is called Let Me Be The Fairy on Your Christmas Tree Tonight and it’s pure class, obviously. You can download it for free from Elefant’s web site here.

NB – The photo above was taken by me at Indietracks back in July. I wish the sun was shining right now like it was that day…