Mesh

It's been three years since you played here. How does it feel to be back? Do you guys like the Arvikafestivalen?
Neil: - "Yes, very much. We enjoy coming here and we enjoy coming to Scandinavia in general. It's never been a good weekend and a good time to go over here. We have tried a few times, but it never worked out. So we have some to catch up now I think. It's nice to finally be here and it's exiting to be the last act on the big stage. That was a bit of a surprise for us!"
Mark: - "We have not been to Scandinavia for about three years, so it came as quite a shock."

How would you in your own words say how Mesh is different from the huge amount of electro pop bands?
Neil: - "I think we're perhaps a little less traditional. Allot of bands that are here have allot of respect for the big and original kind of hit bands. I think we have taken it a step further and using guitars. Kind of intelligent pop music. We don't try to be kind of an electro band at all."
Mark: - "This may sound a little bit disrespectful but we don't write just so we can use keyboards and I think that may be the difference. I now allot of bands are interested in the keyboards, the sound of the keyboard and technology. The vocals and the lyrics are something that they think about later on. We try to make the whole song work and hope that someone enjoys it."

Tell us a little bit more about your latest release 'Fragment 2'.
Neil: - "'Fragment 2' is kind of a compilation of all those various singles, b-sides and all the kind of rare mixes. It's out now Scandinavia as far as I know, it's kind of confusing for us because it's on our old record label and it's hard to keep track. 'Fragment 2' was an idea from the record companies, especially when the first Fragment-album was quite successful. It's good from our point of view as well because it's a good way to introduce us at a festival like this one when the kids see the concert and can buy the album with tracks from all the different albums. And of course the singles get deleted over time and this is a way of package all together and for a good price as well for a double-album."
Mark: - "It's allot of B-sides on it and we spent allot of time on the B-sides and its nice some kind of collection with those on when the singles get deleted."

How has it gone for your album 'Who watches over me?'? Have it been more successful than you first thought it would be? Is it your favourite album?
Mark: - "Yeah I think so. We have put allot of effort on the album and we had the opportunity to remix it in a really expensive studio which is the first we've done anything outside our own studio. And the reviews have all been good for it and we are really pleased. We've hoped for a little more distribution in these territories, but these things happen. We love the album and it's probably our best work."
Neil: - "We had allot of success with it especially in Germany and in strange places like Russia and it's really the first album that actually have reached the main charts. The bad thing about labels is that they give you allot of promotion in some countries and give it no promotion in other countries. When we were on the smaller Swedish label before and on small German label you could buy it everywhere. The album didn't go amazingly well, but it was still available. And that's the problem with big labels."

Any plans for a new release with brand new songs?
Neil: - "Yeah, that's what we are working on right now. Writing the songs and record it. I think realistic would be to say it will be released during the next year. And at that point will be a tour to support it and we hope that we that we defiantly go to Scandinavia because it's been a long holiday from here!"

I've read that you had Depeche Mode as a big influence in the old days. How about now?
Neil: - "I think we found our way. I think that they were an influence, but one of many influences. We were listening to other bands like Yazoo and Front 242. So we listened to many other bands in the same scene. But we never tried to sound like somebody else because it's no satisfaction in that so we always tried to do our own thing. Mix electronics with guitars and things like that."
Mark: - "You come to a point when you know what you sound like but it takes a few years. Obviously people get in to music because they like other music and the think "I really like that" and they start to play the guitar or the keyboard."
Rich: - "Nowadays we read reviews and they write that the band sounds quite like Mesh, so that's kind of cool."

How about the lyrics? The lyrics are kind of sad and are it all from personal experiences or is it sometimes fiction?
Mark: - "It has to be some of both I think. You write about what you know but at the same time you see allot of things and hear allot of things and you write about all the things that bothers you and you get them out of your system and then you move on to new things."

Will there ever be any happy party songs from Mesh and how would it sound like?
Neil: - "Probably something like that! (Pointing to the scene were Håkan Hellström played at that moment), so we don't!"

This interview was made 2003 and initially published on Neurozine.com