Photograph: Salma Kaplanoglue/ Edited by: Joakim Rosenlund
Releasing their memorable track ‘California’ and premiering the video via Muze FM last week, band Joe & The Anchor are on a roll with a forthcoming album on the way.’California’ is warm indie anthem that can leave one feeling rather nostalgic for days you had less responsibility and could just roam as you please. Consisting of childhood friends Joakim Rosenlund, Robin Zhang, Viktor Edsjö, Ruben Sonesson from Sweden, the band have always been drawn to writing music with substance. They produce all of their graphic designs, music videos as an independent unit. Enduring the loss of a loved one over the months, the band express their thoughts about grief and regret in their latest offerings.
We chatted with the band and got their thoughts about their vision as a group.
Please describe your sound for us.
Warm guitar driven indie pop with energetic drums. Heartfelt vocals and lyrics about love, and the ups and downs of everyday life.
How did it all start for you?
We’re childhood friends and have known each other for over 20 years. So we basically started playing together as kids in different consultations. That evolved into us creating a band as teens and then Joe & The Anchor took form.
Which three artists would you say made you want to create your own music?
There’s a lot of them, but mainly Maggie Rogers, The1975 and LANY!
What is your go-to gear/equipment when creating?
You can never go wrong with an acoustic guitar or just singing in the shower!
What are some of your key influences in your music? Whether it be the sound created by others, imagery, films or any kind of art form.
It’s all about visuals for us. We have two graphic designers in the band, and our singer and main songwriter Joakim has this thing where he wants to create a visual storyboard of a landscape for the songs we’re about to write. Just so that we all know what kind of feeling, tone, sound and vibe we’re going for!
What is one sub-genre you think doesn’t get the attention it deserves?
Indie pop for sure!
Any new or upcoming artists on your radar?
Our friends in Mad Kai, LouisPax, Sunstroke Rain and Junodef.
What single night out has been the most memorable for you? As a performer? As an attendee?
As a performer it’s when we opened for Swedish rock act Mando Diao, hands down. We played at a sold out venue and the crowd was amazing. Man, there’s been many. Also when we performed at the Inmusic festival in Zagreb or when we played at TedX! All of our shows are memorable in their own way, we love to play live haha.
As an attendee for me (Ruben) it has to be when I saw Prince live, I’ve loved that man and his sound since birth and I even have a prince tattoo, so it was an amazing experience.
For me it’s definitely when I went to see Maggie Rogers and The 1975 in Copenhagen. Both of those shows were absolutely perfect! How about you Viktor?
Hmm, I’m not quite sure, but maybe one or two Devin Townsend concerts hehe. Yes, I’m the metalhead in the band.
What can we expect from you in the near future? Any upcoming projects in the pipeline that you would like to tell us about?
We’re releasing our debut album Coming Of Age next year and we just dropped the first single from the record called ‘California’. The Music video dropped on the 14th of October and the next single will be out in November. It’s a big thing for us being able to release our first album and to do it our way. The sound is more genuine than ever and just 100% us, and we can’t wait to show it to you guys!
Famous last words?
One time we trashed a hotel room (meaning we had a pillow fight for about 5 minutes and then cleaned everything up afterwards).
‘California’ features on the Spotify playlist POP_GROUND.fm
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