The Russia Journal

The Cardigans formed in October 1992, when guitarist Peter Svensson and bassist Magnus Sveningsson decided to give up heavy metal and switch to something lighter. With the editions of Bengt Lagerberg (drums, flutes), Lars-Olaf Johansson (guitar and keyboards) and Nina Persson (vocals), the Cardigans developed naturally as their sales and positive exposure grew with each release.

The year 1997 brought something really unexpected for the band: Their single "Lovefool" was included in the soundtrack for "Romeo and Juliet" and topped the charts in both the United Kingdom and United States. In June 1998, after a long break, the band joined their long-time producer Tore Johansson at his studio, Country Hell, and recorded "Gran Turismo," which reached more than 2.5 million sales worldwide, and the single "My Favorite Game" hit No. 1 in charts around the world.

What do you think about the phenomenon of Swedish music?

Bengt: The phenomenon exists. But I don’t know what it is. Sometimes when I listen to it on the radio I can instantly tell if it’s a Swedish band playing, I don’t know why.

Svensson: [Referring to ABBA] Once you have a band that gains success worldwide, it will introduce your country to the world and will open many opportunities. It’s like ice hockey: When the first Russian hockey players came to the American hockey league, it opened the doors to many others.

Almost every band that comes here for suffers from Russian hospitality: They drink lots of vodka and complain about terrible hangovers. Do you think that will happen to you?

Bengt: I guess so. I think we’ll have a big party in Russia. I have been to Russia before, in the Soviet times, so for me it’s interesting to see what’s changed and it will also be interesting for the rest of our band to see Russia. Unfortunately, we won’t have free time in St. Petersburg, but we look forward to walking around Moscow.

Are you familiar with Russian music and do you know any Russian bands?

Bengt: Not really. Alla Pugacheva maybe… And of course I’ve heard of Tatu. I don’t really like them, personally, but I know that a lot of people here like them.

What music do you listen to?

Bengt: I like old music mostly. Bob Dylan and Neil Young, the Rolling Stones and stuff like that.

Persson: My favorite singer is Neil Young, and I would love to do something with him, but I don’t think he likes the Cardigans, so I can only dream about it.

What’s the Cardigans’ key to success?

Svensson: We weren’t really looking for success. In the beginning we were just a bunch of teenagers who wanted to play music together and we never really expected anything. And then suddenly we were a big band and that’s probably a part of the big success because we actually were just having fun and we all had a great passion for music, which our fans liked.

Where do you get inspiration?

Svensson: It can be anything, really. The band itself is a big influence. The members of the band, what you’ve done before and what you’re doing now. A good book that you read, or film, or song, or just an interesting conversation can also inspire you. It wouldn’t be fair to say that we were influenced by one thing. It can be Black Sabbath, or a great novel by Cornby, or a great ice hockey game!

Persson: People are the most inspiring thing for me, but inspiration can come from pretty mush anything from a good movie, or book or someone you meet... It was also very inspiring to work with my solo project. It brought new environment.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned?

Svensson: After recording and touring with our last album we all were so tired of working and traveling and sitting in the studio. Everybody felt the same, and instead of talking to each other, helping each other, leaning on each other, we just stopped communicating, which was the most stupid thing to do. And after coming back together again after this long break we realized that we should always talk if you feel bad, help and take care of each other.

Can you tell something exciting that happened to you during touring?

Svensson: Well, there was a really great moment when we were doing a lot of European festivals and we were going to Slovakia and our bus hit a wall and we got stuck for a while and we were six hours late for the show. But the people were so patient and they waited for us for six hours and they were happy to see us finally and it was a great moment, a very special one.

What’s the message the Cardigans have for their listeners?

Persson: Well, all our songs are pretty much about love. About difficulties and complexness and contradiction… About how hard it is to be a woman… But that’s more about the content of our songs, as for the message: We don’t really have any political message or something like that. It makes me feel really happy when people tell me our music changed their lives.

How would you describe your lifestyle?

Persson: Obviously my life is affected by my work. We travel all the time, so I’d say I’m like a comfortable gypsy. I have a lot of comfort in my life. I have a great husband, a beautiful house, friends, money and I don’t face social problems.

Is there anything you still dream of?

Persson: Definitely. Talking of material dreams: I can’t wait to have the house of my dreams. And my biggest dream is children. I want to make more records with the Cardigans. I feel like there are a lot of things for me to do.

What do you expect from your concerts in Russia?

Bengt: It’s hard to say. I guess there are people in Russia who know and like our music, including our old albums and I hope they will respond to both our new and old songs. We’ve played in a couple of countries of the former Eastern Bloc, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, etc. I think people in these countries are not spoiled by concerts of famous musicians, like people in London.

Svensson: I’ve never been to Russia, and I’m very exited. I don’t know how people will react to our music, if there are any fans of ours at all. The only thing I know about Russia is ice hockey. And Tatu.

Persson: Well, Russia is a huge country and I almost fainted when I saw how big it was on the map. I haven’t been there yet and I only know about Russia from what I see on TV and pictures. Right now, I’m reading "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoyevsky. I’ve always been driven toward the East, I was always fascinated by Eastern culture, and I have a romantic image of Russia.

Catch them Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. at DK Gorbunova in Moscow a day earlier in St. Petersburg on Dec. 3 at the Lenexpo Pavilion at 8 p.m.