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“We haven't been in search of perfection, we have been in search of honest and immediate expression.” - An Interview With Kashmir

In the end of January I met Keyboarder Henrik Lindstrand and singer/guitarist Kasper Eistrup of the Danish four piece Kashmir for the FastForward Magazine - read the German interview on:

http://fastforward-magazine.de/?p=17761

Drummer Asger Techau and bassist Mads Tunebjerg stayed at home. They have just released their newest fabulous album "E.A.R.". We have talked about the beautiful Coverartwork by artist Mazzoni, what art is for, their long career, Buddhism wisdom, changes and everything in between.

We sat down in the café of the Ramones Museum in Berlin and while we were talking someone took this photo of us "working hard" (and I just took it off Kashmir's facebook page) - I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did.

To me it feels like I know you guys for ages, but at the same time it feels like I have just been late to the party. The first time I saw you was at Denmark @ Popkomm, in Berlin, in 2005 and it still feels like I am late to the party because you have been around for 21 years...

Kasper: Yes, true, '91 was the year when we started.

How is it to be still around?

Kasper: It's good, it's great, it's better than ever. We feel that we have become a much better band. Looking back on our 7 records I think that we have become much better at using all our resources that we have with four guys in the band and four very different characters. And even though we have been together for so many years and even though we feel like we are a family in many ways, we are still very different people. We are like a boy band with four different characters: there is the little thin one and there is the tall guy and there is media guy who is good looking and then there is the semi-fat guy who is dancing around. That's a joke but we all have a lot of very different musical influences and stuff that we do. On this album I feel it's the first time we managed to gather all that, gather all the different information and put it together in one approach, in one expression. A lot of bands as they get older they tend to fall in that pit of being too concerned about making a living, making albums in order to go on tour, in order to be on radio...

...in order to sell them and at some point they just sound the same...

Kasper: Yes, and in order to make a living for themselves and their families and to pay the interests and to pay the car and stuff like that. With pride I can say that this was not the starting point for this album at all. It was a matter of us saying to ourselves: "Does the world need another Kashmir album or would it just be for the sake of making another Kashmir album?”. And the world needed another Kashmir album...at least that's what we think but history will show. It's about making music, it's about making art not for the sake of art but for the sake of creating something that can affect our own nerves and give us goosebumps.

Why did stop working with American producers? Why did you change that?

Henrik: I think the time had come for us to go back to the same approach that we used 2003 with the album "City Lights". That was the first point where we got our own studio in Copenhagen and we decided to produce the album ourselves. "E.A.R." has in many ways a similarity to... the working process had a lot in common with that album but we have taken in a bit further and we are a bit older now so we have learned of some of the mistakes of that album. The way of abandoning using the big producer was important to get closer to the initial idea. It was a way of staying more true to the immediate way of making music: the idea of coming up with an idea, record it even the same day and then keep it like that, not being afraid of having things that might not be perfect...

Is it difficult to just leave the song like it is and not going back a week later and say we're going to change this and that?

Henrik: It's always difficult because today it is so easy to just click on the computer and you'll have the song again and you can start adding stuff again. When you are in the music yourself you might have difficulties to find out when the time has come to stop but we have really tried hard to stay true to the initial idea. A lot of the stuff from the album is the first or second take which has been recorded, maybe one hour after it was written. We hadn't been afraid of letting some small mistakes or some... We haven't been in search of perfection, we have been in search of honest and immediate expression.

That's what is sometimes missing these days when the albums are too polished, I think. Then it just sound too perfect.

Kasper: And that's because the modern means of technology allows you to go in and fuck around with it for ages until you get the perfect expression or the perfect sound. It just proofs that it is not about the right tool, it's about what you have to say because people get affected when there is a scratch in the lack. You don't get the goosebumps from perfection.

For me it's the emotion rather than the perfection that gets the goosebumps...

Kasper: Yes, exactly, because it's human and it's special. The mistakes are what makes art special. I think there is like a Buddhist saying about this that you should leave at least three flaws in every art piece because if you strive for perfection, you strive for indifference and that is very true. It also goes for the visual arts. That's why I think it's important to work fast sometimes, not spend too much, don't think too much, let your heart and your goosebumps lead the way, let the music lead the way.

And even though we spend a year recording this album, some of the songs were done in a relatively short space of time. There was for instance this one song called "This Love, This Love" which was an idea that Henrik and I worked with together. We met up in the morning in our studio and recorded this idea that I brought with me, and Henrik came up with some ideas for the chorus. We just decided to throw down a sketch so we could play it to the other guys the day after. We did everything very fast and, I think, I did a couple of takes on the vocal and I thought it sounded horrible. I was like "oh, this is not good" and Henrik kept saying that "No, no, it's good for now, let's leave as it is". The next day the guys came out to the studio and listened to it. They kind of liked what we have done, but we decided to do the proper version so to speak. So, we all went in again together and we recorded the song with proper drumming and proper vocals and we tried to post the chords so it fitted my vocals better, in a better range for my vocals. But it just took all the life out of it and we ended up using the initial version of it. I had a very hard time with it because I said "this vocals... oh, I can hardly hear it because I am out of pitch here and there" but the guys persuaded me to just keep it and let it be and now I have grown fond of it.

How is when you perform the song live?

Kasper: We never did it. Not yet. [laughs]

Will you ever perform this song live?

Kasper: Probably not. Well, I think we will but we'll have to figure out a way to do that.

Is it something you consider when you are recording? How you can probably do it live or is it something far, far away in the future?

Henrik: No, but we have a four week rehearsing period coming up soon and we need to work so hard to find out how to play these songs live because we never give it any thought during the process. It's all about the album and the music and what comes to your mind that you want to record. Live is something that you have to deal with afterwards. Some of the songs may be performed in a completely new direction. So, I think, we are not taking it too seriously in terms of giving people the same version that they heard on the album. We allow ourselves to strip it down or to transpose it or do whatever. Yesterday we played at the TV Noir show and for the first time we performed three new songs only on piano and guitar. It's a different expression but still the same songs.

Some songs are meant to be played around with. It is quite boring when they are exactly like on the album or I find it quite boring.

Kasper: You don't want to go and you don't want to pay tickets to get into a show where you just see the album performed exactly the way it is, I think.

As far as I can tell from you live shows it's your personalities and your energy which play a big role in them as well. They are really good shows. Very energetic.

Kasper: We try to make it into a special experience for us and for the audience. We like to include the audience into the show and make them feel that they are participating. At least that is what we strive for these times. Not that we invite people on stage, it's not that. But, you know, to have this "This is a special moment" we gonna need you to take us through the evening and, if you help us, we will definitely help you and make it your money worth. And it's important that the live experience should be different from listening to the album. It goes without saying.

I have also heard that you play different instruments when you record. Have you ever ask the one who is playing it live if he can do it as well or is it just now you have to deal with what I did?

Kasper: Well, we are not so proud when it comes to that. Of course, Mads is a better Bass player than I am and Asger is a better drummer than Henrik is. It's more about the particular role that is being played. So, if there is a nice piece of phrasing in the bass then the bass player will pick the best phrase and if that's the phrase that carries the song it doesn't really matter who came up with it.

Henrik: Also, back to the initial idea and the way that recording stuff while it is fresh and if two guys have been in the studio without the drummer and the song calls for drums then you go in and give it a shot and then we can look at it later. "This love, this love", for instance, that Kasper mentioned before ended up with a drum track that I played. It wasn't intended to be that way but somehow it just had the right energy because it was so fresh and it has just finished the song. That day had some magical thing going on that we couldn't recreate afterwards. It doesn't matter who plays what - that's the basic thing. The other guys play a lot of keyboard stuff on the whole album and it doesn't matter.

Kasper: The idea is the crucial thing. If the idea is good and if the performance is ok then we'll go with it. And that is one of the things that is so wonderful about getting older that you don't have to be like "It's me! I'm the fucking guitar player! I'm gonna ...". You know, it doesn't really matter. You are part of it anyway, it's an album, and it's an band effort. We are together on this.

It's not like your are writing out who was playing what on which track...

Kasper: We decided to drop that. We talked about doing it but it would simply be too crazy with all kinds of....

I think Queen used to do it. They were writing out who wrote which song exactly and stuff like that...

Kasper: We will do that. We will credit who wrote what on the album....

Henrik: But not who played what. But you have to fill out these lists for the record label and no one will see that but you have to fill it out for each song. It was really difficult to do that for this album. I could see each track on the computer and thought “This Keyboard track who played this?”

Kasper [to Henrik]: Did you do that?

Henrik: Well, we had to...all albums need that. Asger and I did it. We helped each other doing that.

Kasper: I wouldn't like to see that. [laughs]

Henrik: I sang the lead vocal on each track...

Kasper: And I played only guitar... [laughter all around]

Henrik: No, I am pretty sure it is right.

The one song that immediately got stuck on me was "Peace In Our Time" because it is, at least to my ears, acoustically and it just has got this old political song, folk vibe being turned into Kashmir - it has this Dylan thing going on. I was wondering if he was some kind of inspiration to this because... Well, you have such songs but not...

Kasper: ...not a lot, no, but in my impression that song is related to other songs that we have done. It is a bit related to a song called "Danger Bear" from the last album and maybe "The New Gold" from "City Lights". You know, I am a huge John Lennon fan and I always envied John Lennon's way to put words to his anger and frustrations over how the world was put together in a very [troubles finding the right word]... I had something to say and what I wanted to say was that there is an imbalance in this world. I know, it is old to say that because, as I mentioned, John Lennon and a lot of other protest singers have been stating things like this for years but I just find interesting that we talk so much about democracy when democracy is really just a concept. So, that's why I say "It's funny how we believe that we all take part in democracy when decision are really made by a bunch of old morons".

I have made a connection to the Occupy movement and also a little bit of the Arab Spring when I heard it for the first time. And I actually don't think that there are enough songs because people haven't realized it so you can still use it even though it is an old topic, you can't...

Kasper: You can't say it too much. True. But it is difficult to go into that world, for me it is difficult to go into that world because in my lyrics I have been focusing more on the poetry, on the loss of love, the meeting with love, the loss of friendships or the frustrations in friendships or relations in a lot of different ways. So, this a whole different step to go out and say "I actually have a message to the world here" because you tend to get scrutinized by a lot of people about what it is what you want to say and how much you know about this. And that's something you shouldn't be too afraid of because as an artist you can do whatever you want and you can say whatever you want.

You're one of the few.

Kasper: And that's how it should be. That's one of the most important things about art and that is the actual answer to why art is important because it can be out of time, it can be out of reason, it can be just commenting whatever is in the mind of the person who expresses it. That little country of freedom can inspire the rest of the assholes to do things in a different way.

Why did you chose Marco Mazzoni for the artwork of the album?

Kasper: For many years I have been very involved with the visual side of doing our artwork, drawings and putting everything together. It came by chance. I was just browsing around on the internet looking for different galleries and artists that I like. I like to do that a lot when I am bored. And then I just came across this artist called Marco Mazzoni and immediately when I saw his work I just felt that this was the very embodiment of our music, that this was the visual embodiment of our sound on this album. And I just thought "oh, this is amazing”. It would be great to use one of his images on the front cover of this album and I showed it to the guys in the band and they said "Wow!". They absolutely loved it and they totally agreed.

Henrik: Yeah, it was almost scary how linked it was to the expression...

What do you think is linking your music and his art?

Henrik: I think it is very romantic, yet dark and melancholic. I mean it has a lot of layers in it. The way the feminine face with all those things attached to her. It's very... as with our music it has a lot of layers in it and I don't get tired of looking at it. I can look at it and can find new things and that is really interesting. A lot of small details which I also think our music embodies.

Kasper: And then it was wonderful for me to just let go of it and say “OK, somebody else takes care of it”.

Is it like pressure going away from you?

Kasper: Yes, because it is always... it's one of my favourite parts of making albums because when you get to the end of a recording process I have always considered this being a playground where you put a face to your music. You find the right typeface, the right font to write everything with in and put everything together. I just love that part of it. And I would have loved to draw something for our cover but I felt that it was... It was just I saw this and that was it. And we asked him if he would do something and he said yes. It was very hard to get hold of him. I send him a long e-mail and it ended in his spam filter. So, we couldn't get in touch with him for a long time but all of a sudden he got back to us and he made this cover especially for us. He was listening to the music while he was doing it.

I like his other art as well.

Kasper: You checked out his other stuff?

Yes, I did. I saw on his Facebook page where he posted a photo of this notebook with the bird study and stuff. I want to steal his notebook for me, just to have it for myself.

Kasper: He does this Moleskin books and he opens them up and puts them in a frame, so it is like a book that is open on a random page and it's in a frame. And he is starting to get really big in the states actually. He's been selling quite a lot recently and his prices are going up.

You have been lucky then.

Kasper: We have been very lucky and I am so puzzled that no one ever used him for cover artwork because it is so obvious.

Maybe sometimes bands are afraid of using this kind of art because it is drawn but I don't know. I can imagine yours to be on a vinyl and something.

Kasper: But you have to make some music that lives up to that, you know. You couldn't just put that cover on anything.

Is it important for you when you look at other people's music and art like booklets for the CDs and if it works together?

Kasper: Yes, I think so, but what makes cover artwork so important, I think,is that it adds the visual face to the music. Most often you can put whatever artwork on the cover and it will work together because as a listener, as a viewer, as a consumer you accept whatever is on the cover but sometimes the wrong cover artwork can just pull it down, it can make the album not as good because it doesn't fulfil the full circle of everything.

Thank you for the interview, guys!

Last but not least - the band just release a video of making "E.A.R" made by Bemerk:

http://www.kashmir.nu/

http://marcomazzoni.tumblr.com/

http://www.bemerk.dk/

Upcoming tour dates:

April

03.04. Musikhuset Aarhus, Store sal EKSTRA KONCERT *

04.04. Musikhuset Aarhus, Store sal UDSOLGT *

05.04. Aalborg, Kongres og Kultur Center

09.04. Hamburg, Übel und Gefährlich

10.04. Doornroosje, Nijmegen

11.04. Melkweg, Amsterdam

13.04. Köln, Gebäude 9

14.04. Botanique, Brussels

15.04. Brotfabrik, Frankfurt

17.04. X-TRA, Zürich

18.04. München, Hansa 39

19.04. ((szene)), Wien

20.04. Berlin, Postbahnhof

May

02.05. John Dee, Oslo

03.05. Tavastia, Helsinki

04.05. Debaser, Stockholm

10.05. Kulturbolaget, Öresundsfestival, Malmø

Juni

08.06. Rock Under Broen, Middelfart

16.06. Northside Festival, Arhus

21.06. Southside Festival, Germany

23.06. Hurricane Festival, Germany

Thank you for reading,

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