Att Festivalrykten blir med Göteborgsklubb är en himla fin nyhet bara det, och när de dessutom bokar Chad Valley till sin premiärkväll kan man väl inte bli så mycket mindre än asglad? Hugo Manuel, som han egentligen heter, spelade i stan under Stay Out West 2011 och nu är det då äntligen dags igen. Rumours heter klubben, Jazzhuset heter lokalen och texten nedanför den här bilden, brukar kallas intervju.
Foto: Press.
Hi Hugo, what are you up to right now?
– I’m just in my studio, making some music. It’s crazy hot here, so I’m hiding from the sun.
Yeah, I’ve heard that it’s really, really hot in England right now, I can imagine you’re not handling it too well?
– No, we’re really not. Everyone’s pretty much losing their mind. It’s not good, I don’t like it.
You’ll get cooled down in Sweden during the weekend. But let’s get going with the questions. If there’s anyone out there who doesn’t know who you are, how’d you introduce yourself?
– I would say I write popmusic. I like nice, happy sounding music and I like to make people dance. That’s about it, really. I think I’d be better off letting the music do the talking.
How do you want your audience to feel right after you’ve finished your gig at Jazzhuset?
– I’d like to think they’re stunned, amazed, shocked and gobsmacked. Haha. But seriously, I just want people to smile and to let loose and forget where they are, that’s what I like when I go to a gig. That feeling when you forget that you’re in a dark room with a bunch of strangers . But as long as people are enjoying the music I’m happy. As long as they just get down.
So how do you usually feel after being on stage?
– I get really exhausted. I’m not in very good shape, and playing gigs is the most exercise I do. So after a gig I’m out of breath and hyperventilating and sweating somewhere in a corner. But you also get that euphoric adrenaline that people always talk about. You can’t really relax. You can’t go from being on stage, to just sitting back and relaxing.
"So when I first heard Tough Alliance I thought ”these guys really know how to write a great pop song, and they do it with coolness”"
I read that bands like, Tough Alliance, Studio and Air France inspired you a lot when you first started making music as Chad Valley. How did you come about that entire scene?
– I don’t really know, at the time it was pretty big on a small worldwide stage. I listened a lot to Tough Alliance and El Perro Del Mar, and I took a lot from that when I first started out with Chad Valley. I didn’t know anyone who liked popmusic and really appreciated it, and who did it in a cool way. So when I first heard Tough Alliance I thought ”these guys really know how to write a great pop song, and they do it with coolness”. That was really eye opening for me, and it made me feel like I wasn’t alone
Who do you think are the best within your genre right now?
– I don’t really listen to anything that sounds like me that much, I tend to avoid music that people associate with me. 80% of the music I listen to isn’t current. I feel like a lot of people forget the music that was made in the past. I appreciate that people are trying to discover that cool new thing, but there’s such a well of interesting music from the past. That music inspires me.
Apart from writing songs on your own, you're also in a band called Jonquil. Do you feel like you need both Chad Valley and the band to be able to use all of your musical ideas? I mean, they're not very similar musically.
– Yeah, absolutely, I got a lot of ideas, and wanna be able to do as much as possible. See, the thing is that I’m really bad at sticking to one thing, and instead I’ll just start a load of new things all the time. Chad Valley first started out when I was making Jonquil songs, that sounded too different from what we were doing. Plus, there’s five of us in the band, we write everything together. It’s not like Chad Valley and Jonquil are two sides of me, more like Chad Valley is what happens when I write songs on my own.
"Some people like to call me Toys ’r’ Us instead."
How’d you choose your stage name? I know that it’s an area in Birmingham, but also some kind of brand for low quality toys..?
– I wouldn’t say they’re low quality, but they are pretty cheap toys… I just thought the name sounded cool, and I like that it sounds like a person’s name. A lot of people imagine that it’s some american dude, which is funny. I also think it is really funny that it’s the toy company’s name. A lot of people ask why on earth I choose the name, because they completely associate it with the toys. Some people like to call me Toys ’r’ Us instead.
That’d be a horrible name, don’t change it to that! You’ve got quite a few amazing guest artists on your album, but who’d be your absolute dream collaboration? Dead or alive!
– Does it have to be just the one or can I choose a few?
I’m not very strict, choose as many as you want!
– Okay, then I’d go with Freddy Mercury or Björk, and maybe Annie Lennox. These are voices that I love, it’s not about their music. Like Annie Lennox, I don’t really like her music, but her voice is just amazing. And maybe… Madonna in the mid 80’s. Yeah, Madonna in ’85, during her In to groove-period.
So, apart from coming to Gothenburg this weekend, what are your plans for the summer?
– I’m playing a festival in Norway on Saturday, and then just a few other festivals during the summer. But that’s in the weekends, during the week I’m just avoiding the sun and making music. I’m kind of working on my second album, I’ve got lots of songs and really need to work out what sound I want, and how to go ahead with it.
Karin Londré
