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An Interview with Anders Hagstrom and Yaz Uhlin of Ashbury Heights
Posted: Sunday, May 25, 2008
By: Carl Jenkinson

Inspired by the famous hippie neighborhood in San Francisco but actually hailing from Gothenberg, Sweden, Anders Hagström and Yasmine "Yaz" Uhlin are Ashbury Heights, whose debut album, Three Cheers for the Newlydeads, released towards the end of 2007, marks them as one of the most exciting synthpop acts to emerge in years, with an accessible yet muscular delivery that you won't soon forget. While the release of their first demo in December 2005 went largely unnoticed, the band admits, Hagström and Uhlin quickly caught the eye of the excellent Out of Line Music label, with whom they released the single, Cry Havoc, which scraped into the DAC charts and which saw the first fruits of their contact with famous producer John Fryer (best known for his work with such acts as Nine Inch Nails and HIM). They made further friends on the Out of Line tour—which was unfortunately cut short by the exploits of British customs—and now they're here to stay.

You've just released your debut CD, Three Cheers for the Newlydeads, on Out of Line, as well as having a great time with your label-mates on the Out of Line tour. You must be looking back on 2007 with a great deal of satisfaction.

Uhlin: I do look back, and I try my best to take in as much of the things I've come to understand, learn and expect. 2007 was a bittersweet year in many ways. We worked long and hard on the album, we both started school again, and then of course there are the personal issues that have a tendency of appearing during hectic times. I feel that it's important for me to reflect on those things so that I can be well-prepared for the future. Of course there's satisfaction involved, but one must be able to look at it from a variety of different perspectives. I don't want to be caught up in a loop of constant happiness while there may be serious things and situations that need to be dealt with.

Hagström: 2007 was not the end of our beginning, but it was most certainly the end of our wait. It feels very good to have finally gotten this show properly on the road. Your question implies nostalgia, however, and we would never waste time on looking back when the only way to go is forward. And we are very much looking forward to whatever 2008 may bring with great anticipation.

The album is one of the best of 2007, full of killer tunes, tons of spunk and glamor, and an attitude the likes of which is rare in electronic music, but on a purely musical level, what prompted you to divide the tracks into three subdivisions? Is there some sort of concept or theme running through the album?

Hagström: I'm actually surprised no one has asked us this question before. The suggestion of a conceptual song cycle is quite clearly printed on the back of the album. The answer is yes, Newlydeads is a concept album of sorts. When we picked out songs for the album, we had more than 40 to choose from, and it was hard making that selection. There are a lot of tracks that didn't get on the album not because they were bad—indeed, I'd say there were a few songs among the ones that didn't make the album that count among our finest work ever—but because of time constraints and technical issues. Ashbury Heights is all about development and pushing the boundaries, and some of the songs simply pushed our technical limitations overboard and were impossible to finish with the resources available. I have since come up with new methods of tackling the impossible, and a few of those songs will appear on our next album. Another issue was that the label had a lot of ideas about which songs needed to be on the album, and me and Yaz weren't really in agreement, either. In the end, the final track list became a rather odd mix of desires: mine, Yaz's, and the label's. To try and get the album to make sense, we spent a lot of time creating a track list with a natural flow. During our time working on the record, a lot of people were telling us that we shouldn't expect any success; they didn't want us to get disappointed when it didn't go well, because these days most bands do not. We felt like we were down for the count before even getting up in the ring, so we christened the record Three Cheers for the Newlydeads, like cheering for a newlywed couple but always thinking 'They're not gonna make it. How stupid they are to try; everyone knows no one ever makes it.' The title turned out to be of huge significance when we created the track list. It dawned on us that the songs on the album could be divided into three basic groups: present, past and future tense. One disheartened cheer for all the pointless things we did, one for all the utterly meaningless stuff we do, and one for all the insignificant actions of our future selves. That idea made the songs come together into a whole; it's incredible to me that we managed to get that mixed pile of demo tracks turned into a proper album.

Uhlin: I never felt that we were held back by the somewhat depressing words of others. Instead I wanted to prove them wrong. The 'cheers' do stand for the past, present and the future, but I would not say that it has anything to do with 'futile' attempts toward success. I always knew that our album would be appreciated, because I believed in our work, our art. What else would an artist do? Like we've said before, Ashbury Heights is all about pushing the envelope and development, but you can't evolve or develop something without a past, a present and a future to aim for. For me, those divisions were put there to remind me of what we were, what we are and what we want to be. I need to be reminded of past events in order to create something for the future. I guess it's as simple as that.

You also worked with the well-respected producer John Fryer. How did his expertise give the album the finishing touch?

Uhlin: There's no doubt that he contributed in many ways on the album. Of course, there were some disturbances in the beginning, but that is to be expected while working with someone you've never worked with before. It takes some time to get to know the music and what to do with it, but in the end, he did a hell of a good job. We're very satisfied with the outcome, and I'm positive toward working with him again in the future.

Hagström: John was very careful initially; he didn't really do that much with the songs, and we got kind of pissed. I wrote him about our concerns, and he told me people usually didn't want him 'messing with their songs.' I thought that was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. If you have the benefit of working with John Fryer, you'd be stupid not to take advantage of all his talents. We told him we wanted him to do whatever he felt like doing, and things went really well after that. John both mixed and arranged as he saw fit, and the creative changes he made really gave that finishing touch. He came at our music from a completely different perspective, and that made everything sound much more dynamic.

To make a quick description of the album, it's a mix of '80s-inspired synthpop with harder EBM elements. Is this what you set out to achieve when you started recording the album?

Uhlin: We never aimed for replication or preservation. We never decided how we wanted to sound, either. Of course we had our sources of inspiration, but in the end it's all us.

Hagström: Ashbury Heights is essentially a synthpop band; what sets us apart from most other acts in the genre is that we are a modern synthpop group. We do not try to emulate past heroes of the scene, nor do we view the '80s as some holy period that can't be messed with. We make synthpop for the 21st century; there is no nostalgia involved. We are both too young to have 'grown up' with the music, and thus we do not feel any obligation to preserve the style. The whole point with synth was the evolution of music, and it's really sad to see all the groups today that try to keep the genre locked inside a time capsule. We play modern synthpop; we will continue developing the style beginning from where we feel the old greats left off.

A video for 'Derrick Is a Strange Machine' was played by NMETV. How did you manage to get someone like NME interested in your music? They usually seem to only be interested in indie guitar-type stuff.

Uhlin: I'm just as surprised as you are, and of course very happy. It's an honor to be noticed by NMETV's guitar-loving old geezers, and what's even more ego-boosting, they actually liked something from the electronic scene, and it happened to be our music! I'd like to think of this as proof of our originality and our desire to reach out to a bigger crowd.

Hagström: The 'video,' as you call it, is just the song with a few old band pictures. I suppose a fan made it; there are several ones similar to it on the Net. I had no idea that NMETV had played it, but that's great news! We don't make music exclusively for the gloomy underground, and if indie kids like our stuff, that's wonderful.

You've actually produced videos for a couple of tracks, including 'Corsair.' How did you go about transforming the messages and thoughts behind the songs into the visual medium?

Uhlin: We're not the ones responsible for the 'videos' on YouTube. We have our fans to thank for that. I'm sure we'll come around to produce one of our own in the near future, perhaps during the production of our next album. It'll be interesting to create imagery suitable for the music!

Hagström: We haven't done any videos; it's just a few fans that have put up some stuff on YouTube. The 'Corsair' video is the only one we've seen that actually looks like a real video, and we love it. I remember when the guy first linked it to us, we were completely awestruck. It's wonderful that a person with so much talent would inconvenience himself on our behalf like that. We hope we'll be able to do a real official video soon, but that's really up to the label. Perhaps in a year I can tell you what we did to express our music visually.

How did Ashbury Heights first get started? Sweden has, it seems, a strong and lively electronic music scene, so was it a shared love of synthesizers and the like that originally brought you together?

Uhlin: We joined as a team because we saw each other's potential. We come from a town with little taste for electronic, and I guess we found that challenging. Apart from that, we're both artists with ambitions, and we decided to combine them. I've never played in another band, though I've written songs and performed on stage before Ashbury Heights was born. I've been busy painting and designing all my life.

Hagström: We started because we wanted to. Everybody from the outside looking in always seems to think the Swedish electronic scene is strong and well-off, but that's bullshit. It's almost impossible getting any attention if you play electronic music in Sweden; the papers don't care, and commercial radio cares even less. There's hardly anyplace to play live, and 90 percent of the places we've got are so awful that you wouldn't want to, anyway. The Swedish electronic scene is a small underground movement that has more bands than fans, and it's really quite incredible that so many of these groups get to release records. But then again, maybe that is the reason; we have to fight so desperately to get attention here, so perhaps we fight harder than anyone else. Playing outside of Sweden is really the only way for Swedish electronic bands to get any good gigs, so that's why you always hear so much about the Swedes. We are legal aliens fleeing the Swedish rock and metal conformity. We got together because I wanted a female vocalist for my new project, and in the city we lived in, there was only one girl who gave a shit about electronic music. She was the perfect choice, and she was the only choice; I suppose that for her, the same could be said about me. I played in tons of bands before Ashbury Heights, but that's nothing I care to talk about. It's ancient history.

San Francisco must mean a lot to the two of you. What was it made this name so attractive to you both?

Hagström: Actually, the name was my idea. I saw a documentary about popular music and was very inspired by the scenes from the Haight in the '60s. I decided that my next band would be named in honor of that place. It only took a couple of months before it became a reality, when Ashbury Heights was formed. The Haight was a place of change and endless creativity. Ashbury Heights should be such a place, too, an ever-changing place of sound close to our hearts.

There are a number of well-respected Swedish labels that specialize in electronic music, but I signing to Out of Line must have been something particularly special, right?

Uhlin: We never hesitated to take on their offer when they called us. We saw it only fit to make a deal with them, since they could offer us just what we wanted, and they're currently the biggest label in the genre, so yeah, why not? You wouldn't believe our facial expressions when they contacted us just two days after we sent out the demo. It was truly a moment I'll remember for the rest of my life!

Hagström: We sent demos to a couple of those well-respected Swedish labels, as well, but when Out of Line, called all others were automatically rejected. We want to reach as big an audience as possible, and in the genre there is currently no greater label than Out of Line. We are very happy with our collaboration thus far, and hopefully we have many years of joint success ahead.

The band also has a strong visual and fashion element to it, yet it seems like this is something you find difficult to deal with at times.

Uhlin: Ashbury Heights is not only about the music and the sound, but also the visuals. There are too many electronic bands out there that don't really care how they look, and I think that's sad. It's not very interesting watching a band perform in 'everyday' clothing, and we wouldn't want our fans to think that about us. Of course, it's painful for the wallet, but it's all worth it in the end. 2008 will be a fantastic 'stage fashion' year!

Hagström: Actually, it's been a real pain lately; I'm so glad someone finally asked us this question. Yes, Ashbury heights is indeed a very visual and fashionable band at heart, but to be glamorous takes a lot of resources, and we haven't really had any money to spend on our looks lately. This, however, will soon change, so expect to see a devastatingly good-looking band on stage and screen in 2008!

What is 2008 likely to bring to the band? We've heard mention of an EP, but are there any more plans for gigs or even festival appearances?

Uhlin: We're booked for some festivals, and yes, there will be an EP released in time for spring. We've had some troubles on the way, but they're clearing up as we speak. There will be a mix of old and new tracks combined with refined sound and images! One of my top photographers will help us with the cover, and good old Fryer is the one responsible for the mixing. Newlydeads will have a companion in the shape of an album at the end of the year and we'll probably get started with that as soon as possible. I'm sure 2008 will be a wonderful year for Ashbury Heights and our adorable fans!

Hagström: We've had a lot of studio-related problems lately, so work on the EP has been slowed to a crawl. We still aim for a spring release, though, since it would be great to have some new material out before we do any more shows. We spent a long time working on our debut and even more time waiting for it to come out, so from our perspective it's a really old album. It would be fantastic to play something fresh and even more so to be able to offer the fans some new tunes. To answer your question: the EP will contain some unreleased stuff that didn't make the Newlydeads album, four brand new tracks and hopefully some wicked remixes. The four new songs aren't taken from our next album but rather a quartet of very special tracks that didn't quite fit into the concept of our forthcoming sophomore effort, yet were all much too good for us to just throw away. We sincerely hope to do a few live shows 2008 but we'll probably spend most of the year recording the follow-up to Newlydeads.