| Subject: An interview with Ebbot |
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Dean
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Date Posted: 16:20:46 01/10/03 Fri
SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES POST-OASIS
Tuesday September 10, 2002 @ 04:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff
When I talk to Ebbot Lundberg, the singer for Swedish pop merchants The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, there's one point that I want to get across — the final album by his first band, Union Carbide Productions, was not the disaster they thought it was.
You see kiddies, The Mouth is not wearing the title of "Senior Writer" here at ChartAttack just because he's getting a little grey around the temples. I've been writing for this mag since 1991 and one of the first records I ever reviewed was the final UCP release, Swing. At the time of its creation, the band had really begun to fall apart and coming to America to do the album with Steve Albini (who was not yet the vaunted producer he later came to be) was one of the final straws that broke the camel's back.
Despite the turmoil surrounding the record, it really stands out as the best one the old band did. It still maintainins the punk energy of their earlier releases while also opening the door to the better songwriting and catchy hooks that would fill the music of The Soundtrack Of Our Lives.
"If you listen to the first EP that Soundtrack did [Homo Habilis Blues], there's a definite connection between Swing and songs like 'Galaxy Gramophone,'" says Lundberg. "When a band breaks up you try to do the best you can, but its hard when no one is really interested in doing it. Now I can listen to Swing and realize that it is good."
Yes, I'm happy to report, it appears that time can heal all wounds. So much so that Lundberg is actually planning on putting out a complete box set of all the Union Carbide recordings.
"That's what I've been working on since I came back from the [Oasis] tour, discussing the idea of releasing all the Carbide stuff and making sure it gets a proper release now," he says. "It will have lots of bonus tracks since there are songs from the Swing era, and even earlier, that were never even mixed, as well as some live tracks."
Having expressed my praise for the final days of UCP, the conversation now moves towards the present and what we can expect next from The Soundtrack Of Our Lives. Certainly the band has gotten the biggest exposure of their lives since completing a worldwide tour with Oasis.
"It took a little time, but now I think we're now famous enough here in Sweden," says Lundberg. "We're not huge but probably as big as we can be with what we do. I think if we sang in Swedish it would be much bigger, but things are slowly getting more, shall we say, international."
What about North America? "I don't really know," he confesses, "I don't live there. But I think it's getting better."
Chances are that things will pick up over the next few months as the band will be back in North America in late October or November to do their own headlining tour in support of their disc, Behind The Music.
"We're going to take September off, but probably Oasis will call and say 'Ya wanna do a show in Manchester?,' but we're just kind of tired and want to take a month off," he says, adopting a hilarious mock Liam Gallagher accent. About the battling Gallagher brothers, I ask Lundberg if he saw any of the infamous fighting between the two siblings. Negative. "No, I didn't see them fighting but Liam did knock down the singer from Starsailor [also on the tour] because he didn't like their band. He's a punk, full of guff," he says with a slight chortle.
"I look forward to coming back," says Lundberg, "Since we did some small shows in about four cites after our opening spot with Oasis."
Toronto got to see one of those shows at the Horseshoe Tavern. It ended up being a bit of Catch 22 situation, though, as most of the local media focused on the Gallaghers watching in the audience and ignored the powerful set that saw Soundtrack pound through their new album as well as some older tunes including the aforementioned "Galaxy Grammaphone."
Lundberg, however, takes it all in stride. "That's just the way it is. They're big media personalities and people seem to think that's the most interesting thing. It's like, the band was good, but the Queen or the King were there."
—The Mouth
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