FROM SWEDEN WITH LOVE

KENT

At the Roxy

February 6

Kent is Sweden's most popular band, but they're hardly heard of outside the land of the midnight sun. Their sudden American success can be attributed only to Jungian synchronicity. While on vacation in Iceland, DJ Bean of L.A.'s station KROQ heard Kent's single, "If You Were Here," on the local radio station. Bean liked it so much that he bought a copy and put it on heavy rotation as soon as he returned to the US. BMG rush-released their album Isola to the US in September, and Kent has been garnering rave reviews ever since. When Kent opened at the Roxy for their better-known Swedish compatriots, The Cardigans, The Crimson had the chance to traverse the language barrier with lead guitarist Sami Sirvio and drummer Markus Mustonen.

THC: You're from the town of Ekilstuna, right?

Sami: If you say Ekilstuna, it means "the ugly town." [Laughs.] You have to put an "s" in it--"Eskilstuna."

Markus: It's a one and a half hour's drive from Stockholm. We all moved to Stockholm five years ago. We quit our jobs and took the chance. After one year, we got a contract.

THC: Did you have a lot of support from home?

Markus: We won a music competition that they have every year. So in the early years we had our little fan base back in our home town: a couple of guys standing in front of the stage.

Sami: They hate us today, because we sound totally different.

THC: How did you sound before?

Sami: Real crap. [Laughs.]

Markus: Really crappy.

THC: How does your song-writing process work?

Markus: Joakim [Joakim Berg, the singer/songwriter] writes most of the material. He always does it with an acoustic guitar. They're almost always really slow songs. He comes with the songs to rehearsal, and we try to arrange them, pull up the tempo a bit. "If You were Here" was originally a ballad, really cheesy.

THC: What was it like making a transition from Swedish to English lyrics?

Markus: It was actually an English album from the beginning, and Joakim translated into Swedish.

Sami: The Swedish language is very hard to sing in, very hard words.

THC: Many of your love songs are complex and fairly dark. Was that an intentional theme?

Markus: That's how love is, basically. It isn't easy.

Sami: Especially if you think about our hometown. It's a very dark, industrial town. Nothing really happens.

Markus: You can do two things. You can do sports or play music. Or drink beer. There's not much to do.

Sami: It's the most violent town in Sweden.

THC: What's your connection with The Cardigans?

Markus: We met them in '93, when they had just signed a contract. We played together in a small club. Martin, our bass player, had worked with them, because he used to work in a record company. We've only played a few gigs with them before, but not a whole tour. It's a lot of fun--they're really nice guys.

THC: Do you feel any competition with The Cardigans back in Sweden?

Sami: Absolutely not. Joakim worked on a side project with them in Sweden.

Markus: Actually, in Sweden we've sold more records than The Cardigans.

THC: Are you surprised with your overseas popularity?

Sami: I don't know anything, actually, about what's happening here.

Markus: We're totally isolated. We don't know if we're selling records or not. I often ask our manager, "How's our band doing?" We don't really care what people think. We just play.

THC: How did you choose the name "Kent"?

Markus: When we moved to Stockholm, we wanted to have a different name. We just wrote down lots of names.

Sami: Kent is the name of a guy, a loser guy from the '70s. It's a Swedish first name, like Kent Johanasson. It was always that guy who drove a moped and was the coolest guy in school and had a jean jacket with patches, but nowadays he's just a loser, a junkie.

THC: On Isola, many of the songs make allusions to Elvis and "The Graduate," among others. How did they work their way in?

Markus: Joakim writes the lyrics, and he always wants people to think hard about them.

Sami: He doesn't want to write politician music, like, "Think this or think that." He wants you to have your own free thoughts.

Markus: He almost never tells us what the lyrics mean.

THC: How do you think Swedes are perceived overseas? Are the stereotypes accurate?

Markus: Scandinavian people are shyer.

Sami: It depends on how much you drink.

THC: Do Scandinavians drink more than most?

Sami: In New York, they make the strongest drinks I've ever tasted. Nowhere in Scandinavia can you find bars that make such strong drinks. I think New Yorkers are heavier drinkers.

THC: Do you have any advice for graduating seniors going into the real world?

Markus: Yeah, don't trust anybody. [Laughs.]

Sami: The real world, what's that? All we see are hotels, stages and tour buses.

Markus: We used to have jobs like real people. All my advice is, pay your bills.