Arguably the stars of the Barcelona music scene, the multi-cultural Brit Pop inspired MOOD are looking to make a more global impact with impressive debut album ‘Electric Overdose’. Wallowing in what they call ‘sentimental drama’, the band take their cues from Muse and Queen, as well as Blur and Queens of the Stone Age, and are all set to tour Europe and South America in 2013. With a strong emphasis on live performance, the three piece could easily be the outstanding act of YouBloom 2013. Here’s what they had to say about life on the road so far:
Will this be your first trip to Ireland? What are you hoping to do and see?
Stefan: yes, this is our first trip to Ireland, both as band and personally. To me it means a lot to go to Ireland, especially Dublin as I have a lot of Irish friends in my home town in Germany, even a football team called “the Irish bastards” which I tried to convince to come over to see our show, unfortunately to no avail. I hope to see real Irish life in their famous pubs and of course a cheering Irish crowd during our show.
All: There is something very mystic about Ireland, the culture, the poetry, the traditions…the direct and open way of the Irish people we’ve met around the world almost always created an instant connection with us, and left in our memory funny anecdotes.
Timo: and Italians feel very close to Irish somehow…we like to sing, to dream, and to fight ahahah, joking, no violence!
What attracted you to YouBloom, and what are you hoping to take from the experience?
Timo: Well many things, starting from the fact that it is a very interesting opportunity for us as a band to meet people that work in the industry; also we have the chance to see Irish and international bands performing, and of course we are thrilled to rock the Irish public!!!!
Tell me about the Barcelona rock scene. Who should we know about, and what’s it like to make and play music there?
Pepe: Rock music in Barcelona is slightly different to what we do, we do not have so many Spanish influences due to the formation of Mood and we do not really identify ourselves with bands from Barcelona, which makes it also more interesting playing in Barcelona.
You’re well known for your live performances. What should an Irish audience expect from you?
Stefan: one hell of a live performance!!!
The music industry can be a fairly fickle place. If you had just one track to promote yourself, which one would you put forward?
Timo: Electric overdose because it’s what we are and it’s what we will give you!!!
All: It is also the oldest single of ours, the only old song of the album, we remixed it for this Special Edition, but it was composed in 2009 and everybody who knows MOOD associates this song with us.
Do you find it more difficult to promote English language music in Catalunya?
Stefan: somehow yes. fact is that people won´t easily understand what you sing about. you could literally sing that you hate Spain without anybody noticing, which we don´t do, of course, as Spain is really nice!
Timo: This was a joke, let’s say that not everybody understands everything we sing, but usually everybody sings with us when we perform and this is a very powerful, intense feeling! It’s amazing. Even if some times they don’t fully get the meaning, they catch the soul of it, with us!
Of course if you talk to a Label, at first they prefer to support national music in Spanish and leave the Anglophone scenario to take care of Anglophone bands, and this is what we feel in Italy too…but I can say this situation is slowly getting better in our favour. With internet for example, cultural boundaries are getting thinner…and this is great for music and art in general.
How do you feel about the reaction to Electric Overdose?
Timo: we are happy about the public’s response to the album, specially in live gigs. we can say it was a success in all the countries we visited till now…We are grateful. Now we are ready for Ireland!!!!!
You’re a hugely international band. How do the various Spanish, German and English influences fuse into your music?
Stefan: don´t do what the German says!!!! hahaha, No, being serious; our nationality is basically human being. Timo writes the songs and as a band we work on a song till we have to perfect composition and if it comes to differences in taste, there is no question in fully trusting in Timo´s decision and last word.
The MOOD Whispers is an interesting project. Are you promoting the toned down aspect of the band as something totally separate to the main act? What bought it about?
Timo: we are definitely promoting MOOD through The MOOD Whispers and of course being an acoustic project it is softer. The good thing about it is that it is easier to get gigs as we can play in almost any kind of environment!
In The MOOD Whisper project we enjoy playing covers, and to perform different versions of the our latest songs, something totally new for us, doing unplugged rock, or softer songs with acoustic guitar and piano but with the rock mood is interesting, sometimes a challenge, and of course helps to make the distance with the public smaller, and meet many different kinds of audiences. The intimate space is something as magic as the big crowd. And it’s fun to try both.
Why MOOD? Is it simply a reflection of the self-expressive aspects of your music?
Timo: I think we could say so. Our music reflects the different kinds of moods we all experience in everyday life; we then put them into songs!!!
Do the band have a position on Catalunyan independence? Has the economic crisis in Spain effected the vibe amongst your audience, and the musical styles that prevail?
Stefan: we have nothing to do with politics. We know only about music and our love exercising it and entertain people and make them forget everything but joy during our concert or simply listening to our CD.
Timo: We respect independence feelings of the Catalunian as we respect different cultures, even if we don’t want to get deep in the matter, we are aware that they’ve passed through an awful period during the Franco Dictatorship oppressing their expression and culture, and language. But still, it is not easy to solve such a situation and there are so many different points of view about it, probably all of them, true and real. The good thing is that the movement is specific and the dialogue is open and continuous.
You’ve toured a lot internationally. What have been your favorite international experiences?
Pepe: the food!!!!!
MOOD play The Workman’s Club, Dublin at 10.30 on Saturday June the 29th 2013, as part of YouBloom@Dublin.