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Surplus People via email
We know, we know, it took us a while -some 5 months to be precise- between the Surplus People gigs in Oslo (at Sapsibar and at Barrikaden, for the Unconventional DIY Convention the very last week-end of May 2005) and the final interview you’re about to read. We have no excuse, really, and are sincerely sorry for the delay. We also would like to thank the Surplus People for coming to Oslo and having these incredible performances, for being such great people, for making such good music, for using a magaphone the way they do and… for answering these questions. Long Live Surplus People! Have a nice reading-ride.
Helena - bass
Magdalena - voice, trombone
Petra - organ
Ovary Action: Why and where and when "Surplus People"?
H: It was 2001 in Gothenburg, I was looking for people who want to play interesting, strange music and seriously try to play outside the rehearsal studio.
M: I think we got the idea to start a band came after we spent a holiday in Finland together. I had hardly met Helena before when I got that Impulsive Idea to join Petra and her on a crazy road trip in Finland. What I was looking for was to have a band with people that was really serious but willing to play music as open as possible without any fixed idea about how music should sound. Still with the same kind of feeling for the music and the same addiction to play as me. Not an easy thing to find. At that time I was living in Norway, Petra in Stockholm and Helena in Gothenburg. They wanted to start something new that sounded like something I was looking for.
O/A: Did you start as this line-up?
H: From the beginning Petra played the drums, then we found the Rhythm Ace, a fantastic old rythmbox, like the ones who are in old organs. It only got a few different beats, like waltz, mambo and rock n´ roll. And we were very pleased to finally have a drummer with a stop button.
M: In the beginning we just wanted to have a setting that was different than a ordinary rock-band.
To make sounds that inspired us and pushed us to try new things It took some time to find the sound we liked. We tried out all kinds of instrument. We even tried with a guitarist in the beginning. But I think we didn't found the real Surplus people sound until Petra got her Bergman organ and we decided to use Acetone.
P: Yes , We were changing instruments at first I played drums and guitar but when I Switched on the old Bergman organ, Things started to happen.
O/A: Did you play in bands before?
H: I had a rock band called In Zodiac.
P: Maggot, Mumrik, Goodmorning Sweden
M: I played in several bands before Surplus People, Ågrens, Jurassic Jesus, Maggot, Jet Lag, Goodmorning Sweden. The three last of these, I played together with Petra.
O/A: Who and why did you decide on the instrument you're using?
H: Nine years ago I sold my flute and bought a bass, because I wanted to play in a band. When I found my Gibson EB-0 from 1968 I realized that bass is the ultimate instrument for me.
M: As I remember It was decided that I was going to sing at the first time we decided to start this band. That is what I am best at, and none else wanted to do it. Still I am always trying to find different instruments, sound effects and noise for a complement to my song, even if I cant handle them properly. Trombone is the instrument a started my musical experience with long time ago and trumpet is not so far from a trombone. The sample pedal is perfect to use if you want to
do many different things in layer and to fill out the sound, without losing the live feeling.
O/A :Where and how do you pick your costumes?
P: We don't want to look like serious rockstars.
M: Costumes are very important for us and carefully selected. Everybody have to feel comfortable in them and It has the function to show that we are not private on stage and that surplus people could take any shape or form. For me Surplus People is not something I call my self or any one else. Surplus People is a Phenomenon that I want people to think about. In that context I think, that costumes has a meaning more than just make a fun show. The costumes is almost always found at second hand shops or in Petras big closet. But there is always allot of discussion before we all agree on what to wear. Its a very subtile feeling what feels right and wrong and kind of difficult to explain.
O/A: Do you write the songs together, generally?
H: It always began with the bass or the organ, then its hours of jamming and noise and %frrr&?#xxxx? Finally Mags write the lyrics.
P: yes , we jam and then we think we hear something nice or funny, We try to repeat it.
O/A: How did you come up with the penis on his head song?
M: The text is made from a dream I had. It was a long dream, almost like a story telling, and not of a sexual kind. And when I woke up I remembered everything like I almost knew this guy with a penis on his head and I still have the picture of
him in my head. I decided to wrote the story down, since it was such a bizarre dream, maybe I could use it for something. But it it didn't show up in a surplus song until maybe tree month later and than in a very short cut version.
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