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We're five young bastards with a lot of attitude and energetic, catchy songs no longer than three minutes each." That's brainy bombshell Maja Ivarsson describing the Sounds, the latest Swedish rock sensation. Their energetic update on New Wave rock has earned them fans such as Dave Grohl, who wears a Sounds T-shirt in the Foo Fighters' "Times Like These" video. "When he asked for a shirt, we told him he would have to pay for it," says Ivarsson. "We were poor."
The band comes from Helsingborg, a small city in southern Sweden, two and a half miles from Denmark. The nearest big city is Copenhagen; Stockholm is seven hours away, in what the Sounds jokingly dismiss as Sweden's desolate north. Ivarsson met guitarist Felix Rodriguez in a school music class when she impressed him by being the only one who knew the chords to the Smashing Pumpkins' "Soma." (Years later, former Pumpkin James Iha would sign the band to his Scratchie label.) The Sounds formed in 1998 and soon became famous in Sweden. Recently, when they played a show in a remote wooded location, twice as many fans showed up as expected, and the police and fire departments had to close the main streets.
The reason for that fame is their debut album, Living in America, a tasty confection reminiscent of Blondie and Missing Persons. The title song, with the chorus "We're not living in America," is not a political statement, Ivarsson says, but a comment on Sweden's obsession with the States. "People in Stockholm look really silly when they're driving around acting like Snoop," she says. Under the candy shell of "Seven Days a Week," however, is sadness -- the song is about a friend of Ivarsson's who overdosed and died.
The Sounds have studied American rock videos carefully and vow that they will never go onstage wearing sweat pants. "We have a name for bands like P.O.D. and Limp Bizkit," Ivarsson says. "We call them pizza rock. There's always one guy rapping, one fat guy and one guy wearing sweat pants."
Asked what her favorite thing is about Sweden, Ivarsson hesitates. "This is very shallow," she warns. "We're kind of spoiled here when it comes to good-looking people. I thought that was a myth, but now that we've traveled around the world, I can say it's true."
GAVIN EDWARDS
(May 6, 2003)