Firstly, the band name? Whose idea was it and are we right in assuming the innuendoes?

It just rolled off the tongue, popped into my mind and it felt right. The innuendo thing is a coincidence, if you look on Urban Dictionary for more than a minute you realise that every word or phrase has some filth connection.

How did the band come together?

We’re all from Manchester and Manchester isn’t very big. We’ve all known each other for years, playing in different bands and hanging out.

What will set you apart from the hoard of other Mancunian bands that have descended from the north?

I don’t think that we sound typically Mancunian so it’s hard to say. Hopefully our songwriting will set us apart from some bands, and our lack of northern grit.

Who have been your main influences and inspiration when writing your record?

Probably each other and our friends and family. The theme of the album seems to be acknowledging mortality and embracing the short time we have.

You manage to relentlessly combine pop, dance, electro and indie to almost create a whole new sound. If you had to describe your overall sound, what would it be?

It’s hard to describe your own sound as you’re so involved with it, but from day one we have aimed to write the kind of songs that live with you forever, songs that make you feel something. Massive goal.

‘U Got The Power‘ is doing massive things throughout the country right now. Are you overwhelmed by how well it’s been received?

We have always had confidence in what we do but that song is a special one for us. When we wrote it, it felt like the first time we had totally nailed what we were doing.

You’re signed to a major now, so when can we expect the full length record?

We have finished recording our debut album and we’re really proud of it. We will be waiting a little longer to release it though as it’s still really early days for us. This year we hope to release 2 or 3 singles . Our debut single is out on August 10 and it’s called ‘Danz’. Expect the album in January!

If you could collaborate with any other musician, band or artist, either dead or alive, who would you want on a Swiss Lips track?

Kanye West, George Formby, Marilyn Monroe, Prince, Skip James, Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga.

What else can we expect from the ‘Lips’ for the rest of the year?

We wanna play as much as we can this year. In a few weeks we go to play Fuji Rock in Japan and in October we are going on our first UK tour with Bastille. We can’t wait to see you all.

Words: Shane Hawkins

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Who is Afrikan Boy? Describe his sound in five words.

Afrikan Boy is a second generation Nigerian immigrant living in London. His sound is: LOUD, BOLD, CHALLENGING, GRIME, LONDON.

How did you get into music making? How did the MIA “Hussle” collaboration come about?

I got into music because everyone in my ends was doing music at the time. Everyone that was considered “cool” done music! The collaboration with me and MIA came about after I made my song “LIDL”, I received a MySpace message from her saying she wanted me on her album. I said “Yes” and the rest is history! You can definitely expect to hear crazy, unexpected and some expected collaborators on the album – producer wise and artist wise, but I’m not going to spill the beans just yet ;-).

Who were your early musical influences? Who are you loving now?

Early influences were artists such as Kano, Wiley, Dizzee on the London grime side, and from Africa it has to be Fela Kuti, Sir Shina Peters and King Sunny Ade.

Are you still studying psychology? If so, what interests you about the subject?

No, I have graduated now. I find the study of the human mind very interesting. I try to understand my own behavior in my everyday life and whilst making music. I use what I learned and placed it in my music indirectly so I get the crowd how I want ’em, LOL.

What can we expect from the debut album? Any collaborations?

You can expect to hear my soul and heart in this album. It will be a record that makes you move your feet whether you like it or not! It will have a strong story and message behind the whole record as well. Something I feel artists are failing to execute well these days.

Finally, if you could swap lives with anyone for the day, who would it be?

I’d swap lives with Tinie Tempah for the day because he’s where I wanna be right now in terms of my career. He’s a good friend of mine we started making music the same time.

Words: Jack Mills

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Describe your music in five words…
Sis-Boom-Bop-Bip-Pow

Your second full length album is also your first as a self released full-length album – how are you finding the process of being fully in charge of your music?
It’s nice to have control, not that we didn’t have creative control while with Touch & Go, but there were a lot of other people involved and sometimes that made things confusing. When you’re funding it yourself (and you have a credit card!) you can spend recklessly and make things that a label might not be willing to. You can also do hand made things on a smaller scale, like the Bonus Package thing we made that comes with clear vinyl, a whole extra 10″ EP, a metal lapel pin, CD’s and a tote bag…

How has your sound developed since your last release?
We’ve always experimented a lot with our writing so it’s sometimes hard to tell what’s changed from one release to the next. It’s all just building a bigger picture of what our sound is and can be. I know we reclaimed some of the space that was on our first EP, but with a lot more focus on melody, especially when it came to the vocals. This was the first record where I really had the opportunity to spend the time that I wanted to on singing. I think also we allowed things to be a bit more intimate on this record.

You spent time in rural Mexico to work on the album – how did your surroundings inspire the music?
The surroundings were incredibly beautiful, but I’m not sure that they directly influenced the music. There’s an attitude in Mexico and a very layed-back approach to living (best described in the introduction to William S. Burroughs’ Queer) that’s unmistakable after you spend some time there. I think we may have been most inspired by that approach and applied it to the writing/recording process later on in the production.

What other inspirations did you feed in to the album?
A lot of personal experience and stories from people around me…

You worked with Jack Endino this time, who also worked with Nirvana on their debut album – has Nirvana been an inspiration for Crystal Antlers?
Not really until recently. I was never really a Nirvana fan because it was so overplayed when I was a kid, but now I can appreciate it more. Kurt Cobain was honest and wrote beautifully simple songs that everyone could relate to, even if they couldn’t understand the words. That’s hard to do, and there hasn’t really been anyone like him since…Jack Endino is one of my favorite people that I’ve had the opportunity to work with. He’s very straightforward, down to earth & probably one of the hardest working producer/mixers out there -really funny too.

Where did the album title, “Two-Way Mirror”, come from?
It was the title of one of the last songs we recorded for the record, and the themes and tone of the song just seemed to sum it all up. It’s about self-reflection through isolation where everyone can see in.

What do you see when you look in a mirror?
Looks like I could use a shave and a haircut. What do you see?

The video for your track, “Summer Solstice,” has flashes of penetrative sex – are you trying to get your fans to shag via
subliminal message?
Yes, the director Michael Reich is strange. I’m not sure where that came from exactly, he explained something similar to me while we were brainstorming about the video, but the concept was originally going to be far more NSFW…I think even the description would be a little much to share in an interview.Yes all fans should shag, but use protection.

Beyond Barry White, what’s the best music for getting down to?
Well apparently Summer Solstice, but otherwise I guess it usually depends on the situation. I like Tangerine Dream, soundtracks & on occasion even some cheesy Led Zeppelin…..

Interview by Adam Welch

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Thomas Moen Hermansen is disciplined. He has to be. When he’s not in his studio – producing, remixing and running record label Full Pupp/Internasjonal – the 33-year-old father-of-two DJs all around the world as Prins Thomas. “I have a strong work ethic,” he insists. “If I didn’t, I’d have ended up just a grumpy local DJ in Oslo. I really don’t believe in sitting around and waiting for inspiration. You have to go into the studio and record and record and record.”

Hermansen’s studio sessions are often free-form affairs that give him the opportunity to play with conventions. “I was doing some work on a track for Justus Köhncke, a producer on the Cologne label Kompact, and I wanted a string quartet on the record but I didn’t want it to sound very good so I got my younger brother and some friends in to play it.” Even his two sons (Edvard, 13 and Olav, 4) have ended up on a Prins Thomas record. “I was playing drums and they were banging around on some cymbals in the background,” he explains. “They’re not exactly /talented/ but they enjoy music.”

His own childhood in Hamar – a town on the shores of Norway’s largest lake – was infused with every musical influence imaginable. Aged ten, Hermansen combined cello lessons with mixing his own hip-hop at home on two mismatched turntables and a tape deck. His stepfather played him Iggy Pop and Bach. As a teenager, he taught himself guitar, bass and drums, and in 1992 he started playing in bands, the “coolest” of which was a punk group called Kefir Killers.

“The best parties are where people come to have fun and dance and not just check out what the DJ is doing,” reckons Hermansen, who began his own DJ career playing techno and The Thompson Twins at a friend’s club. “It’s always been that way in Norway, where it’s about catering for all kinds of people, of differing ages. I guess some of the diversity in my music comes from this.” He’s tried the same open-minded policy on foreign dance-floors – with varying degrees of success. “Once I was playing in New York to a crowd of 4000 people… I put on T Rex’s Get It On and cleared the entire place.”

It was one such off-kilter selection that initiated his first meeting with Hans-Peter Lindstrøm, his disco partner-in-crime. “I was DJing in an Oslo club in 2001,” he recalls, “and he came up to compliment me on playing Wham!’s Club Tropicana.” Since 2004, the duo has released a crate load of singles and remixes together, as well as their self-titled debut album in 2005. They are currently working on material for a follow-up album, II.

Hermansen’s close alliance with Lindstrøm (“He’s on the other side of the wall!”) allows him to indulge his teenage passions. “I run around the room playing drums and bass while he concentrates on the melodies and chord changes,” he explains. “I always think of our music as the result of happy mistakes. And if our studio sessions produce less-than-happy results, we can always blame the other one.”

PRINS THOMAS’ TOP 5 PICKS:
1. Afro Punk Reggae Dub by Steel An’ Skin – “Really amazing reggae disco.”

2. Try To Find Me Vol. 1 by Unknown – “Just bought this and I know I’m going to be playing it a lot.”

3. Love Is On The Rocks by Lama – “High energy Italo-disco.”

4. Last Dear by Siriusmo – “It’s from earlier this year but I missed it the first time around.”

5. One Nation Under A Groove Remix by Timmy Regisford – “A really tacky house version.”

Hans-Peter Lindstrøm hasn’t made any new music for months. “I’ve been expanding my studio,” explains the 35-year-old sheepishly. “I needed more space because I have become obsessed with old 70s equipment: vintage synthesisers and reel-to-reel tape machines. Plus I’ve moved a whole new drum kit in here. I need to get organised.”

Lindstrøm likes to take his time. “Finishing music has always been hard for me to do,” he says. “I can write a track in one day but it can take months to get it to the mastering stage.” He is clearly not a man to be rushed: the title track on his second solo album – “Where You Go I Go Too,” released earlier this year – runs at a leisurely 28 minutes. Happily, though, since blazing a trail through the world of dance music with his laid-back synth-disco sound, Lindstrøm is now able to cherry-pick new projects. It’s a turn of events that still makes him smile: “I never expected to even make a living from music… it was just a hobby for 20 years.”

Like his friend and collaborator Hermansen, Lindstrøm spent his formative years exploring all that music had to offer. At ten he was a classically trained pianist and choirboy at the local Lutheran church in the mining town of Stavanger. In the early 80s he discovered a love for pop music through British acts like Nik Kershaw, Limahl and Japan. In the 90s he played piano in an Elvis-inspired gospel act; the Hammond organ for a Deep Purple cover band; and the guitar in a series of folk and country groups. Then in 1999, aged 26, he decided to take a sabbatical from music, sold his record collection and moved to Oslo to study literature. It didn’t last.

A friend lent him some 12-inch dance records, he started DJing, bought a sampler and got to work. “I had no idea what dance music was supposed to sound like,” laughs Lindstrøm. “I was more used to song-writing than arranging repeated bass lines. But I guess that’s why my music stands out.” His 2003 debut EP and his first 12-inch with Thomas in 2004 – both released on Lindstrøm’s own label Feedelity ¬– ushered in a new genre of expansive, slow tempo disco. His first live show, though, was a disaster. “I was in front of 16,000 people at a festival in Poland,” he squirms. “I was supposed to be playing on my laptop with a live drummer and bassist accompanying me. At the last minute the crappy laptop packed up so I had to play a CD on a portable machine and look like I was doing something on the laptop. But the CD suddenly started skipping.”

Miraculously Lindstrøm wasn’t permanently scarred and still relishes performing live. After giving up DJing four years ago, he has now decided to put remixing on hold – previous commissions include Franz Ferdinand and LCD Soundsystem – and focus on his own material. “Thomas is itching to get back to work on our new album,” he laughs. “He knocks on my door and says, ‘Can we record something yet?’ I’m /almost/ there.”

LINDSTRØM’S TOP 5 PICKS:
1. My Bloody Valentine – “I’m rediscovering them now because I spent the 90s listening to folk and country.”

2. Queen – “One of my favourite bands of all time… Every album they put out from the early 70s to the mid 80s is perfect.”

3. Bob Ezrin – “He produced Kiss’ Destroyer album and Alice Cooper’s The Nightmare. I love them both.”

4. They Don’t Know by Tracey Ullman – “It’s a great track but it has a very fuzzy 80s sound… I’d love to do a remix.”

5. The Evil Eye – “I listened to them at high school but I didn’t understand it then. Now I’m ready for their minimal sound.”

Words: Ben Cobb

A full version of this article first appeared in Wonderland #15, Oct/Nov 2008

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