outtake of interview in café october issue 2007

The Swedish lifestyle magazine Café
claims to have done the only extensive interview with kent in regards of the release of the new album Tillbaka till samtiden:

The Swedish music journalist Jan Gradvall was exclusively invited to follow kent to Allaire Studios outside New York and watch the band finish up the work on the new album Tillbaka till samtiden. The 12 page long and very open hearted interview with kent along with photographer Henrik Halvarsson's fantastic fashion shots of the band will be published in the Café October issue hitting the stores September 25th. Read the outtakes of the interview here.

About Harri Mäntys defection:
Background: Since the last album kent has gone through their biggest crisis of this decade. Guitarist Harri Mänt left the band. The news was first declared in January 200 but the decision was made as early as October 2006.

Martin: His defection was not expected that's for sure,
Jocke: He is our friend. In that way it was strenuous as hell
Sami: I was chocked that it was even possible to quit this band. It was brave of him to find the guts to take that step.
Jocke: Harri came to the band later and from another musical background. The rest of us like the same things. It gets weird when you notice that someone in the band doesn't like the music in the same way, It spreads uncertainty that gets in the way. A bit like a door stop. In that way it was a relief when the decision finally came. It was not a sudden decision either but the result of a series of discussions.
Sami: I don't think that Harri him elf knew what he wanted from the beginning. It was something we figured out together.
Jocke: It has always been us four. It was a drag that Harri left, but it's us four who has recorded all the albums. We four are the core.

What happens if any of you four defects?

Jocke: That would break us up. In that case we would split

About the new sound on Tillbaka till samtiden:
Background: The sound on the new alum is hard electronica, with intricate synthesiser loops pumping back and forth. It all sounds like the four kent members has made the music on their laptops instead of with ordinary instruments which in pats are true. This time guitarist Sami Sirviö worked with laptops and synths in the same extent as with his usual instrument.

Martin: It began this fall when we were talking on the phone bout how we wanted the album to sound. It turned out that we all had the same plan.
Jocke: We were both equally tired of the whole retro wave. That's why we wanted to go somewhere and start over. It was such a long time since we wrote together.
Martin: So we went to Paris. Totally anxiety free. We drank nice French wine, ate cheese and had a really nice time. We rented a suite and a standard room. In the suite we recorded.
Sami: I have grown tired of guitars. It's partly a reaction to the last album. It was so fucking many guitars. But I think its sound when you start to despite your instrument a bit. It makes you find new entries to the music.
Markus: For a long time the entire band has listened to electronic music. Plasticman, Aphex Twins, Anthony Rother.

About how parenthood has affected the work with music:
Background: Both Martin and Sami became dads last year, parallel with Jocke getting his second child. Jocke and Martin wrote big parts of the new album during the intense working trip to Paris.

Jocke: Is the new parent effectiveness. If we had gone there before we got our children it would have ended in us just drinking. We had probably gotten one song together. Now we wrote half the album. We just sat in the room all the time, that was the most fun bit. At the end we felt forced to go out the last night. "We can't go home and say we never hit the nightlife in Paris.... "
Martin: But we have seen all clubs in the whole fucking world. In this room it really didn't matter where we were. We went to Costes, had a few drinks, and just stood there. But I couldn't help but thinking "I know this by know." I have done it so many times. Its much more interesting - fuck, i'm gonna sound really old now - to socialize with people, just to sit and talk. Or to work. To watch things emerge.
Jocke: it's almost a party feeling the times you get together to work.
Martin: I have never, during any part of my life, had so little time to work as I have now. But I have never gotten this much done.