Hej Brittsommar!

Brittsommar är Wisconsinbaserade fast de bor i Berlin och kommer från Australien men har ett svenskt namn. Eller hur var det nu? Det enda man egentligen vet är att de spelar vacker musik (skivbolaget kallar det art-folk, men vem vet vad det betyder?) och att de gör det i Götahofs vackra lokaler på lördag. Vi passade på att ställa lite frågor till sångaren Sawyer L Gebauer, på fyra olika språk för säkerthets skull.

2013-04-05 12:40 2013-04-05 12:40
Publicerad Senast uppdaterad

Tell us about Brittsommar! How did it all start?

– I went to Sweden with no rhyme or reason really, didn´t even know what the swedish language was or what stockholm looked like. It was just something in the well of my subconscience that was crying to get out.

It was september 2010. I spent the summer building my guitar and flew across the ocean as soon as it was finished. Arriving in Sweden, I ended up working at a farm called Rosenhill out on an island called Ekerö. There, I met the basis of Brittsommar Johan and Evelin. We had our first show on a cold night in October in a hollowed barn with nothing but a candle chandelier to light the place, I think that was a pinnacle point with the project and my rhyme and reason for continuing my work in Sweden.

I returned home to Wisconsin to start recording Brittsommar´s first album "Day of Living Velvet" in an abandoned synagogue with some really great musicians and producer that I met upon my return. I was able to promote the album playing around the Midwest a bit with a duo of cello and viola.

I let the Spring take me to Sweden with a new song and story. We played around, putting on our own gigs in art venues or small clubs around town.

I´m somewhat confused … where are you all from? And where do you live?

– Eve and I moved to Berlin almost a year ago. Now, we play with a pretty international band. Our cello player is an Australian that use to build satellites for the German Space Agency and our drummer is a rock star from Israel. He´s toured all over the world playing in arenas for the biggest names but needed to get away from it all and I guess Brittsommar was the answer.

The name Brittsommar is really just a community where ever we go. People come and go, stay awhile or just pass through. Its a project of ramblers, know-it-alls, know nothings, thieves and angels. Dirty fingers and clean cut hair. Outlaws and lawmakers. Where ever we are, U.S., Sweden, Berlin- its always a different line up. It's a distraction or getaway for the people that show up at the stoop like a stray cat out of the woods …Thats what Brittsommar is.

What is the musical equivalent of brittsommar?

– People usually compare the music to Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, Dirty Three, Antony and the Johnsons, Tom Waits, Philip Glass, or some old crooners from back in the day. I like to write about how it is…Story telling- kind of like an old man at the end of the bar that nurses his beer the whole night and talks to whoever catches his eye at the other end. Some stories have no meaning at all, just a nice picture. And sometimes, there is something to be told. People always come up to us with their own interpretations, questions and conclusions, so I like to follow their visions. The songs are just sketches or outlines for someone to color in, get messy and draw outside the lines.

How will we feel after your gig on saturday?

– Depends on what your drinking. Pissed, happy, melancholy, horny, rude, angelic, conceded, self conscience- perhaps nothing at all…you tell me when its over.

Finaly, what is the perfect thing to do on a nice warm brittsommar-day?

– Nothing. Go to a tower and push over the ladder. Smoke cigarettes, drink and talk until the far side of the morning. But most importantly take in the night. Be a night watchmen- a guard.There is something special about the last warm wind of the night. It goes by too fast.

Woah! Looking forward to that brittsommar-day. Thanks!

Lisa Stevik

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