—– STAY ALI INTERVIEW —–

TASHED: Ok so start by introducing yourselves. Name, height, weight, distinguishing features… that sort of thing.

STAY ALI: Johan Vati Graden (Height: 160 cm, Weight: 80 kg, Distinguishing features: A hat). Bård Ericson (Height: 180 cm, Weight: 65 kg, Distinguishing features: Often smells and looks german). Elias Smeds (Height: 187 cm, Weight: 62 kg, Distinguishing features: Perfect bonestructure)

TASHED: Any notable hobbies?

STAY ALI: We often fish and cook food together, sometimes even doing the dishes. Eating ice cream is a fun thing as well, and in wintertime we often build walls of snow to prevent car accidents. During rainy days we play video games and eat potato crisps, and as for the future, we intend to invent what we call “video crisps”. Trust me, it’s good…

TASHED: Enough nonsense… onto the music! How long have you guys been producing and how did each of you get started?

STAY ALI: We go way back as friends and one day in 2006 we got together and made a funny song. We continued making funny songs for some time, and eventually they started sounding okay. We still think our songs sound okay and sometimes pretty cool also! The three of us are great friends, and we hang out a lot when we don’t produce music. It’s a nice thing to do; making music and hanging out.

TASHED: How do you know each other? Do each of you bring something different to the table sound-wise?

STAY ALI:
Elias and Bård have known each other since they were born in 1991, and Johan Vati joined the gang in 2005. All three of us play different kinds of music outside the world of Stay Ali: Johan plays jazz piano, Bård plays classical double bass, and Elias sings in a choir. We get inspired by each other and everyone and everything around us. So we guess our sound is a combination of all this; classical, jazz, electronic music, life, kebab, and all sorts of lovely things.

TASHED: Lots of people have commented on how varied your output is… are you looking to find a style that suits you best or do you prefer to keep people guessing with each release?

STAY ALI: We think it’s a nice thing to not have a static sound that sounds the same from album to album. When we want to start on a new album or EP we sit down and talk, and ask ourselves “what do we want to do this time?”. And when we have decided, we just go nuts. Sometimes it turns out just as we had planned, and sometimes it becomes something completely different.

TASHED: How does this translate into a live setting? Talk us through a live show with Stay Ali.

STAY ALI: It depends on what the host wants us to do. If we play at an electro club we can do a DJ-set with nonstop dance music. Some of our shows are more like concerts, with different instruments, singing, dancing and happy times. We think we like that concept more, since you are more free to do whatever the hell you want! It’s awesome. Sometimes we invite friends that play different instruments and we just have a great time on stage with them, jammin and slammin the sounds of life.

TASHED: Where are you based in Sweden and how is the scene? Who throws the best parties in your part of the world?

STAY ALI:
We live in Stockholm and unfortunately there are not very many great electro parties and clubs here. It’s a fine city to live in though, except from maybe the electro scene, we love the people and the buildings and the cafés and everything in between.

TASHED: The response to your latest EP ‘Vat:Auhlau’ seems to have been very positive. How are you planning to build on that success, and what do you have lined-up next?

STAY ALI:
We get very happy when people enjoy listening to our music. We worked a lot on the Vat:Auhlau EP, to get a homogeneous and nice sound, and we are planning to do the same thing with our upcoming release (with a slightly different sound though. Maybe even more than slightly different). The plan is to make a full-length album as our next release. We have already started and have a couple of tunes ready. One of them is in the mix (Stay Ali – Time). It features acoustic guitar, double bass, singing and other strange samples that we recorded at Bårds house.

TASHED: Finally, what are YOU guys listening to at the moment? Whose productions are you liking best at the moment?

STAY ALI:

Bård:
I listen to almost every different genre, but of course I have some favourite artists and bands. Right now I listen a lot to Washed Out – I think that this guy has created a very unique and nice sound, and he’s definitely a big inspiration for me these days. I also listen a lot to Gorillaz latest album Plastic Beach – it’s ALMOST as good as Demon Days (which I consider being one of the top 3 albums ever made!).

Elias:
Right now I’m listening to what I would like to call “smart music”. Grizzly Bear, Department of Eagles, MGMT (I love their new album “Congratulations”), Fleet Foxes and many more. When I say “smart music” I don’t mean that the composers have an IQ above avarage, but that the compositions and productions are unique, interesting and smart!

Johan Vati:
I’ve been listening a lot to the works of Bob Machanna lately. I find his compositions both relaxing and powerful – a perfect mixture. I’m also very inspired by the great Henning Mankell.

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