Moon Safari is one of the more popular symphonic prog bands from Sweden right now. They have released three albums. I got in touch with Johan Westerlund for their story.

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When,where and by whom was your band born ? Did any of you have anyexperience from any other bands before forming Moon Safari ? Why didyou choose that name and what does this name means to you ?

Thename was just a name that appeared at the end of a MTV video back in2000, I had no idea what the band Air was all about, and I don'tthink any of us did when Petter and I decided on the name, we justliked the sound of it, it has a dreamy feel that we probably feltwould go well with the style of music we were contemplating. But tobe honest the name came about before we were even a band, we did'ntget together with Simon, Anthon and Tobias until 2003, when werecorded the first demo that Tomas Bodin mixed. That was when theband really started to come alive, before that it was just an idea.When we first got together Simon sang in a progressive metal actcalled Kharma Cosmic,with Anthon and Tobias, and Petter sang in aband with quite similar style called Questionmarket. I played in aTool-inspired grunge act called Stones in Bloom. But in all honesty,when we started making Moon Safari music I think we all felt likethat was what we were meant to do, and the constellation of peopleseemed to work better than what we were used to, so it was a winningrecipe. The combination of Petter and Simon as the main writers alsobrough a new level to both their songs, they have a kind ofAnderson/Wakeman relationship that make songs just appear out ofnowhere, some kind of magic that I don't think they knew before MoonSafari.

Howwas the music scene in your local area when you started ?

Itwas not really in existance. Besides the exception of a huge summerfestival called Trästockfestivalen that's really amazing there's notreally much happening in terms of live music, there's not really anystages that attracts any crowds in the winter anyway, so I supposeyou could say we started as a studio project. To date we've just done5 gigs in our hometown, and an equal amount in the U.S, that kind ofputs things in perspective, I think. We actually did our first gigafterwe had recorded our first album, and even then, the gig was in aneighbouring town. But to be fair Skellefteå only has a poplulationof 35000 people, most of which just follows the local hockeyteam.People with an interest in music or arts in general tend to move tobigger cities to study or to try their craft for real, somethingthat's probably typical for a small town.

Overto your three albums. Your debut album was A Doorway To Summer from2005. Please tell us more about this album.

Thecollaboration with Tomas Bodin of The Flower Kings is something thatcertainly marks that period in the bands existance, he gave us theconfidence to just go for it and try our wings. None of us had reallymade an album before and none of us had recorded anything with thatscope in terms of complexity and also minutes, so it was really alearning experience for us all. I believe it was Tomas first ventureinto the world of producing as well so we were all out on thin ice,but in the end, especially in retrospect, we all love the album andit truly serves as a time machine that brings back alot of greatmemories when we listen to it. Musically, we did have the core soundof Moon Safari already in place, and I don't think those five songsare any better or worse than those we've recored since, but they wereour first songs and that fact probably made us struggle with thefinal arrangements and perhaps overdo certain things in a way that wedon't do now.

Also,we may at certain points throughout the album have misplaced thebasic groove in the songs and gone to far in to structuring detailsat the top of the sound images. But, we stayed within the lines and Ithink we all feel it's still a very strong album, the songs areinterconnected in our typical way and the entire thing certainlyfeels like a whole when you play it from start to finish. Childhoodand Enthusiasm are two words that I feel captures our experience withA Doorway to Summer.

Yoursecond album was [Blomljud] from 2008. Please tell us more about thisalbum.

Thiswas an album with an even greater scope than "Doorway", andthis was our first experience doing everything on our own from startto finish. This meant that we could'nt really sit back and justrepeat what we did on the last recording, once again everything wasnew and exciting and the ice was still thin. I can remember timeswhen we probably wondered if the album would feel scattered andbroken up because of the amount of songs and the length of it, butonce we got further into the structuring and we realised that: "Oh,that moment in that song is better than what we've done before"or "These lyrics actually make sense all the way through",than we sort of realised that the band had grown up and then we justrested in that feeling and went all out in every aspect.

Thething that probably stands out most with Blomljud from a bandperspective, is the fact that we had a new member, Pontus Åkesson,who came in to fill the void when Anthon Johansson left to join BlackBonzo. It was a natural move and both bands grew stronger when thathappened. I don't think BB's Sound of the Apocalypse of Blomljudwould have been as good if we had not made that change. Pontus is ahighly structured individual, much like his older brother, and now wehad a lead guitar and a lead keyboard that behaved and sounded likethey were family. Go figure! Also, me and Petter wrote more lyricstogether with eachother, something that we kind of had to do becuaseof the sheer mass of the compositions. That also helped strengthenthe record as a whole and it also made it more diverse and hopefullymore interesting for the listener. From a Prog standpoint Blomljud isstill as far as we've gone in that direction; it was adventurous andimposing in spirit and we all had alot of freedom when writing. Asalways we had a great time together. There was a lack of limitationspresent in all of us that for better or worse made the album what itis. Freedom and Love are two words that represent Blomljud nicely.

Yournew album is Lover's End from last year. Please tell us more aboutthis album.

Thiswas an album on which we could collect are thoughts; musically and inour real lives. We knew we wanted to make it sound like an end to thebeginning stages of the band, and now our three albums put togetherdo create a line of thought that's easy to follow. Together theyrepresent the beginning, the middle and the end of a relationship.This is true whether you think of the more obvious relationship like'boy meets girl', or something as abstract as a life cycle; there isthat move from nothing to something and then back to nothing that Ijust love about our whole catalogue.

Additionally,there is a cander on Lover's End that really only can come fromreally achieving knowledge about ones place in the world. From havinglistened, seen and been every side of story, from every side of thestory. I do believe it's important to step back and look at things inthe way that we did on Lover's End, take a breath and describe thepast, introvertedly. It certainly made us appreciate what we have asa band, and as friends, more than before. Musically it was once againa challange, but this time we knew what we were doing in a way thatmade us skip all the bumps in the road. We knew what short cuts totake without losing track of our goal, and this also made it easierto focus on the story side of the music. There was no battle to bewon before we knew where we were going. Everything just fell intoplace. Afterthough and Memory makses sense of Lover's Endbeautifully.

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Forthose of us unknown with your music; how would you describe you musicand which bands would you compare yourself with ?

Weonce got a review in a Swedish newspaper that simply states: Theymust have been brought up on mixtapes with Lasse Holm and The LittleMermaid"

Now,if you knew the music of Lasse Holm you'd know he was trying for aninsult, but he failed miserably, as we like both Lasse Holm and thetype of music that frequent the Disney soundtracks. But if we got tochoose maybe we'd say:" Equal parts Beatles, Springsteen,Hi-Los, Yes, Meatloaf, Steely Dan, Jellyfish, E.S.T, Tom Petty,England and many many more.

Youdid Rosfest 2011. How was your USA experience and are you going overto USA again ?

Wereally feel at home in the U.S. Both times we've been over we'vestayed with a wonderful family in Queens, New York who really helpedwith this feeling, they have taken care of us in the big apple, andwe've also played shows with two of the sons in the family, they havea band called And You And I (debut album is soon to be released,wink, wink). So we've always had a great start to our trips, and onceyou get to Rosfest you want for nothing, George Roldan and his crewand just amazing people. It's a wonderfully professional festival,and it always takes place in great venues. So the U.S is like oursecond home nowadays, and he will try to go back next year and tourproperly, hopefully on both coasts.

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Whatis your plans for this year and beyond ?

Weare releasing a live cd from the Rosfest gig before Christmas, it'sbeing prepared for mixing right now. Also, in the spring we'll focusour attention on a new album that we want to release in 2012, but thedate of course depends on the scope of the music, if the epics startto form again it might take a while. But there's brilliant materialwaiting to be turned into songs, so whatever the shape and size ofthe product our fans will be satisfied!

Towrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to thisinterview ?

Wereally enjoy progarchives.com and we hope our fans take us up on thatillusive "Top 100" list that you have got going. We'd liketo be at number 1 before we quit the genre!

Lotsof love to anyone who reads this and helps our band reach morepeople!

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Thank you to Johan for this interview

Their PA profile is here and their homepage's here