Rebecka Digervall and Sanna Kalla have loved music for as long as they can remember, meeting in school and going on to form The Magnettes. Bringing their unique sound to the UK later this month ahead of their single release in July, they look ready to take the music world by storm.
Female First got the opportunity to put some questions to Rebecka and Sanna about their passion for music, inspiration, music and more. After growing up in a very quiet and isolated town in Northern Sweden, the girls have a great story. Read on to find out what they had to say.
Tell us about how the two of you met and formed The Magnettes.
We're both from a small town called Pajala and we met when we started school. The single cover to our song 'Who We Are' is an actual yearbook photo. For some reason, our mothers dressed us in identical clothes that day. When we were 13 and angry, we started a punk band called Ulla Stava. Then we turned 15 and sad so we started playing pop music instead.
Has music always been a passion and love of yours?
Yes, music was always there for as long as we can remember. Rebecka's father was in a band that sort of became local heroes in Pajala, so the idea of being at the front of the stage, singing and playing your heart out seemed very natural to us as we grew up.
When did you decide that this was a career path you wanted to go down?
Pretty much from the start. As soon as people told us it was impossible we just went for it. We probably thought it would go much faster when we were 15 and naïve, we wanted the #1 singles and the whole pop star thing, but we always wanted to do this 24/7.
What would you say are some of your biggest goals or aspirations for your career?
Honestly, we still want the #1 singles and the whole pop star thing. We think the drive comes from being from a very small town in the north of Sweden where those kind of dreams are just simply too big, there's a lot of people that we'd like to prove wrong before we're done.
How best would you describe your sound for those who haven't heard your music yet?
It's basically new wave mixed with electronic pop. Lots of drum machine loops, 808 kicks, weird disco guitars, analogue synths and strings and then we sort of make raw pop songs on top of that.
If you could work with anybody going forward on new music, who would you choose and why?
Kathleen Hanna and Tina Weymouth. All-star bands tend to suck (like Superheavy), but that one could really work, couldn't it? Also, we'd like to marry both of them.
where do you draw influence and inspiration for your work?
At first it was bands like TLC, Talking Heads and Bratmobile, but right now we're mostly into the old-school Swedish punk scene and drag queens. So yeah, RuPaul and Unos Kanoner.
You've just finished a run of shows at SXSW - what was that experience like?
Intense, slightly chaotic but ultimately a lot of fun and very rewarding. We did about ten shows and met a lot of cool people, then afterwards we went to Nashville just to chill out, drink beer, sing karaoke on Broadway and write our new singles. It was a great trip!
Your new single 'Sore Feet and Heartbeats' is out in the UK this July - what should we expect from that track?
It's about the dance floor being a war zone and you're always losing that war. It's kind of buzzing, kind of awkward in a way. Sort of like how you feel when your dancing on your own. Like most of our songs, it's about getting laid or not getting laid, which is a topic that's very dear to us. We really hope everyone that hears it gets a good f**k some point in their life.
What will you be getting up to in the coming weeks and months?
We're going to Great Escape and then we're doing one or two shows in London in May. We've also got a lot of summer festival shows in Sweden, plus we're in the middle of recording our next few singles that will probably be released this autumn. It's the best stuff we've ever done so we're really excited about getting it out there.
The Magnettes are playing at The Great Escape on May 15 and again at Nambucca on May 16. Their single 'Sore Feet and Heartbeats' is released July 6.