NOVEMBER, 2004: The new disc from Swedish garage pop masters THE MAHARAJAS is the second album of 2004 (after the retro-rock of the WITCHCRAFT album ) that has us wondering if we should don our velvet pants. So we thought it would be a good idea to get to know this band that has created this amazingly infectious piece of ear candy. Sure, it sounds like it was recorded in 1964. But all that aside, I wouldn't be surprised to see these boys make a few of our reviewers' top ten lists as we draw the year to a close. Below follows a delightful-but-brief conversation with guitarist/ vocalists Jens Lindberg and Mathias Lilja. Let's find out more...

Marchman: Before I forget, what is the best band on the "Nuggets" compilation, in your opinion?

Mathias Lilja: If the UNRELATED SEGMENTS are on the Nuggets compilation, I would say they are the best group. In fact, most of my personal gods from the sixties only made two or three songs worth listening to. One group that I'm really impressed of is the NEW DAWN. Their album from 1970 is one of my all time favorites.

Marchman: The sound of the album is very "pure" in it's style.

ML: We used to be more narrow-minded before in terms of influences and sound, but nowadays we put different things in there, just all the good rock’n’roll, from the 50’s till today.

Marchman: How do you feel about the massive influx of "garage" bands on the music scene today?

ML: I don’t know about that really. There are a lot of bands that are sort of semi-garage, in my opinion. I really don’t care about any “scene”. We’ve been doing this for some time now and as far as I know there’s no band that sound like we do. Most punk or garage type of bands today sounds really crappy.

Marchman: Are you guys playing out regularly? How's the response?

ML: Yeah, sort of. We try to play as much as we can but it’s not as much as other bands I guess. The thing is that, besides from me, the guys in MAHARAJAS are reeeaally old and they have families and jobs and things. So that takes up a lot of time for them. We’re actually pretty happy with how things are, at this moment we’re happy to be on a small label and to play as much as we have time to. And yes, we get good response every time we get up on a stage, because then it may have been a while since we did a gig so we never get tired of the songs or each other.

Marchman: What is the main age difference that you find? Do you sometimes feel like the "old men" of the scene?

Jens Lindberg: Well me, Anders and Ulf are in our late 30s. Next year I'll be 40. Woo-Hooo! Mathias, the little kid, is 27 years old. I think the main difference in playing and touring now, compared when I was 20 and played with groups like the CRIMSON SHADOWS and STOMACHMOUTHS, is that you need everything to be very organized. You have to be on time for rehearsals, don't drink to many beers after the show, etc. etc.. But I think we still are much as a wild live act than many other so-called garage-groups like MANDO DIAO and all the rest.

Marchman: Any production secrets for "Unrelated Statements"? Just a big concrete room and tube amps? Or anything special done to get that classic sound?

JL: We recorded all instruments live, and then added vocals, choirs, organ tambourines and other stuff. Most of the guitar solos are live, but some were made afterwards. The studio was small with tree-walls and our amps were really bad. When we recorded "I'm Fooled Again", Ulf (bass) had to sit in small closet, otherwise it would just had been feedback.

Marchman: How Sid Vicious of Ulf.

JL: But then all the music was fed in a computer music program called Pro-Tools, and our good friend Måns did the producing. So the album is a mix of sixties lo-fi recording technique and modern state-of- the- art computer mixing.

Marchman: How do you feel about a band like THE HIVES coming from the same country as you guys?

JL: W e don’t feel any connection with them at all really. But I’m happy for them, strange though, how big they have become. They’re nothing more than a little punk band from Fagersta.

Marchman: Any plans to come to the USA?

ML: Sure hope so. No plans at the moment, unfortunately.

Marchman: Any opinion on Little Steven?

ML: He, he, don’t know. I’ve heard his radio show, and he plays some good music sometimes, I think. I don’t know much about the guy, other than his being in the E-street band. Maybe you could give me some gossip about him…

Marchman : What is your favorite track on the album?

JL: My fave track on our album is "Dead". I think the production, lyrics and chord progression together with Mathias' organ is absolutely wonderful.

Marchman: I personally love "Another Turn". That is such a great song!

JL: "Another Turn" is also one of my faves. Ulf has turned into a helluva songwriter and the competition between him and me is little like Lennon-McCartney. Right now I would say he is outdoing me completely. Ulf wrote "Another Turn" as a comment to his relationship with the woman in his life. I think the lyrics great and the idea to put organ on that song made it even better.

Marchman: Are the Swedish Fish candies in Sweden actually soft or are they as hard as they are here in the USA?

ML: The ones in Sweden are soft most of the times, but we have the hard ones too.

Marchman: So, besides ABBA, what is Sweden's biggest musical export?

ML: I don’t know, CARDIGANS maybe. You have to ask our minister of foreign trade.

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/themaharajas