Interview #491: Alphabeat

Danish outfit Alphabeat’s first album, This Is Alphabeat, won a whole host of fans with its collection of instantly infectious, classic pop tunes. Now they’re back to finish what they started with sophomore effort The Beat Is…, with which they hope to complete their conquest of the nation’s hearts and dance-floors.

I Like Music spoke with Anders SG, one half of the group’s vocal duo, to find out how the new album fell together, what to expect from the new Alphabeat live show, life as a music fan outside Alphabeat, and living in a basement for six months.

"I Like Music because… it is magic.” Anders SG, Alphabeat

ILM: What can we expect from second album The Beat Is…?

Anders SG: It’s a bit different to the first one. We wanted to challenge ourselves a bit more this time round. We didn’t want to use the same recipe. With the first album we wrote songs on guitar or piano then rehearsed them and went into the studio and recorded them. This time we just got our own studio and produced and wrote the whole album in about eight months. We spent every day in this small studio and it was a really fun and new experience for us. It really created the sound of the record.

ILM: What direction have the new songs gone in?

Anders SG: Everything became a lot more synthetic pop music. There were a lot more programmed drums and stuff. We really wanted to make an album that was more stylish pop music than the first one. We’ve been influenced a lot by dance music in general. It’s something we’ve really fallen in love with since we came to the UK. Dance music isn’t something that’s really big in Denmark, so I don’t think we would have made such a dance influenced album if we hadn’t made it in the UK.

ILM: What's your studio space like?

Anders SG: It’s just like a little basement, nothing fancy. It was good for us though. We just put up all of our gear and messed around and did whatever we wanted. It wasn’t like all six of us got down there every day, but there were regularly two or three people there. When we’d been down there for the first half year, it started to get a bit tense. When you’re in a place like that for a long time it’s not easy to have mature conversations in some situations. That’s what it’s like when you’ve been living in a basement for six months!

ILM: How did that tense atmosphere affect the music making process?

Anders SG: Overall, the process of making it was really perfect for us. It was a really good way of doing it. Our label gave us a free hand to do things our way, and that distance was just what we wanted. There was so much freedom in it. I don’t like it when you have to go in the studio for a month or two with a producer and you have to finish an album in that time. It was really a massive freedom for us. If Stine or I didn’t feel like doing vocals one day, we could just go home and come back another day. We decided what we wanted to do and when we wanted to do it, without having some producer to oversee it.

ILM: How did you develop the programmed, studio tracks into live band, gig ready songs?

Anders SG: Because the tracks were programmed and weren’t recorded as band, we sort of had to learn to play them as a band after we’d made them! It was quite challenging. But the band are all good musicians, so it wasn’t a big deal. It was really interesting and fun. We just have to keep everything interesting for us, ‘cos if we don’t find it fun to do this then there’s really no reason to. Live, it’s a good mix now. Even though everything’s programmed on the new record we still play live drums and you get a mix of the feeling of the old record and the new one. It comes a bit more to life.

ILM: As well as all your headline shows you’re doing a couple of dates supporting Lady GaGa. What can we expect from the Alphabeat Lady GaGa partnership?

Anders SG: We were really happy to hear that we got the chance to support her! It’s very different. We’re really excited about it, but it’s not just fun and games. When every night you’re going out to an arena crowd who aren’t there to see you, you really have to convince people, you have to play your ass off! We’re really looking forward to that. Since we got to the UK two years ago we’ve played 250 of our own gigs and that’s always fun, but it’s interesting to do this kind of thing. We feel ready for it! I don’t think we would have been ready for jumping out into arena crowds when we first arrived.

ILM: You got offered the Spice Girls but didn’t do it. Was that because you didn’t feel ready then?

Anders SG: Exactly, that was just because that year we weren’t really ready for it. We were really looking forward to just getting here, playing in small venues, and letting everything evolve slowly. We feel like this is the natural development for us. We want do it now because we’re ready now.

ILM: That sounds very sensible. You don’t want to take on too much and then fail to deliver…

Anders SG: We’ve always done things the slow way. Nothing good comes out of getting ahead of yourself.

ILM: What other pieces of advice would you give to fledgling pop-stars?

Anders SG: It’s difficult! You really have to love what you do. It’s really not just fun and games. You have to have a lot of patience. Three years went by before we got our first record deal in Denmark. Before that we were rehearsing every day. So you can’t just think that something’s going to happen in a couple of weeks or months. Sometimes it does, but it’s usually not the best albums that come out of those kinds of situations.

ILM: What type of music have you been listening to recently?

Anders SG: I have a very broad taste in music. I like mainstream pop music like Cheryl Cole, then I could listen to some Bon Iver. I really like the new Hot Chip album, and all their others. That’s the good thing about music, there’s just so much of it! You can just pick whatever you want and change your playlist every day for whatever mood you’re in. If you’re a bit sad you can listen to some depressing indie, or if you just wanna be care-free you can put on some pop! I listen to just about everything.

ILM: There have been a couple of Alphabeat mixtapes of old-school house and disco, and you do DJ sets as well. How did that come about?

Anders SG: We’ve always done music that makes people dance, and we really got into the danceable music when we got to the UK. That’s when we started to DJ. Now our bass player, who’s the main DJ, is pretty good. For a band DJ! He makes some of the compilations; he’s quite good at that. But we all decide on what kind of songs to put on.

ILM: When you get a free moment do you like to go out and party?

Anders SG: We’re not really clubbing kinds of people. If we go out as a band we always go to a bar or a pub, or sit at home and drink white wine. We like to have fun, but it’s not often that we go out to a club and dance until six in the morning! Maybe that’ll come!

ILM: What are some of the best live shows you’ve been to as a fan?

Anders SG: Me and Anders B, our guitarist, saw Hot Chip at Oxegen Festival. It really blew me away. In our band we’re very outgoing, but Hot Chip are so introvert. It was really interesting that people were dancing their asses off, and on the stage this band were just staring at the floor and not really doing anything. I thought that was really intriguing. Sometimes it’s good to see a band that are really into what they do and don’t care that much about standing there with their hands over their heads, like us! It was just a good change to see a band that didn’t do exactly what we did.

ILM: The Beat Is… is out now, plus you have an extensive tour planned, but what’s the bigger picture? Is there a third album in the pipeline?

Anders SG: We don’t really talk too much about the future! We just keep on doing what we’re doing and live in the present. We don’t sit down and say “now we’re gonna do some songs for the next album.” We’re all always working on new stuff all the time, sitting round with our laptops and trying to do songs. It’s going to be interesting when we decide to start working on a new album. We’re all going to open up our laptops and start to play songs to each other, we can just see if there’s a direction to pull everything in. I really hope that we’re gonna do more, but it’s difficult as well. We’re from Denmark and we’ve all got girlfriends or boyfriends and family there. You really have to want it to say no to all that stuff. It’s sad, it’s been some years since we’ve played Denmark. You start to miss those things as well.

ILM: As you say, you have to be very passionate to juggle that personal life with being in a band…

Anders SG: Exactly. I think there’s gonna be more of that this year, but everyone is really up for it. We have a really good vibe in the band right now. We’ve always landed on our feet, and I guess we will be making another album after this.