Mùm
November 17thOslo (Norway) Jonh Dee
by Babes in Boyland/OvaryAction




A 'they are very shy! i can try but I don't know whether they'll be ok with it. They don't usually do interviews, you see' announced, directly from the mouth of mum's manager, a disappointing and expected 'no'. The guy never asked the girls although we had insisted on the fact that it would be very short and informal, and that it was for small alternative media. We did (who needs a manager anyway), though, and succeeded in having some few miraculous words and a glass of red wine with Kristin, the main vocalist and one of the multi-instrumentist of múm. We sat altogether after the concert, still high from the performance .

BiB/Oa: Can you please introduce yourself and say what instruments you play
Kristin: Well, jeg heter, I mean my name is Kristin and I play in mum. Tonight, I played one string on a bass guitar, and an accordion, and a small Casio keyboard, and glockenspiel and I sang a bit and I played another keyboard and then I hit somebody's cymbal with a glockenspiel stick.


BiB/Oa: How and when do you decide about who's going to play what on a song? Do you each come up with a sound? Do you talk about it or do you just jam?
Kristin: We used to try thing sand maybe someone would bring up a suggestion and we would listen and think what we should do next. Now it's a bit more unconscious, 'cause we are more people playing and now we have a guy that plays the drums and a girl who plays the cello. We used to mix it all around more.


BiB/Oa: So is múm the motherly figure that the English language refers to? does it mean
something in Icelandic?
Kristin: no, mum (she pronounces moom) was just a little thing we invented, it was not supposed to have any meaning. It was supposed to be a sound and a visual word, like a little picture. It didn't mean anything. It doesn't mean anything in Icelandic. We didn't think at the time it actually meant something in this English language that so many people speak.

BiB/Oa: How did you start the band, then? Did you know these guys before? Were you
friends? Tell us how it all began.
Kristin: It used to be just the 2 of them about 4 years ago. They just started playing together and they were supposed to do the music for a school play, in my twin sister's school. We were in the group that played the music in this theatre group and we started to like... we never left their bathroom so we started to make things together, so it used to be just the four of us., but my sister is not on this tour, so we got three other people to play. And the drummer also joined like a year ago.



BiB/Oa: So your twin sister left the band, then?
Kristin: yes, she left the band . She wanted to go t school and do a lot of work their and maybe try and se if she wants to go in another direction in music and other things. And then the band moved to Berlin, so things are a bit different. I kind of not really know where I'm living at the moment. I have been on tour, a bit in Island and a bit in Berlin... And this tour is different from the one we had this Summer: my sister isn't there and it's a lot more people that come with all their human passions and problems. We all sleep in the bus, and it's sometimes very funny having to deal with some strange situation. It's going great, though, I think

Bib/Oa:What can you say, right here, right now, is the best track you ever heard? The track you always listen to when you're sad or when you're really happy? The track that gets you there, you know?
Kristin: This is one very good melody from an Icelandic song called Waltz Number One.... (and then she starts to sing the song that leaves us astonished and speechless.... sorry, you're going to have to picture it.... or ask us for the recording...)
But if I'm supposed to pick a song , that's a happy song but that now makes me cry because it's too full of memories would be this Smiths song (she sings again): 'take me out tonight', just 'cause he played it on the sound check and I started to cry, but it usually makes me dance.

Bib/Oa : And this is how we let the little fairy go backstage to join her crowd of magicians.
Thanks for the dreams, smiles and tears



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