Sahara Hotnights. The name makes me snicker, but the music is pretty damn good!

[the_future_modernes]

* Maria Andersson (born December 4, 1981, Umeå, Sweden) – Lead vocals, guitar
* Jennie Asplund (born November 24, 1979, Robertsfors, Sweden) – Backing vocals, guitar
* Johanna Asplund (born September 21, 1981, Umeå, Sweden) – Backing vocals, bass
* Josephine Forsman (born May 20, 1981, Umeå, Sweden) – Drums


are Swedish band Sahara Hotnights.



Sahara Hotnights - With or without control

splendid > features > sahara hotnights

It occurs to me that almost every rock star interview is, in at least one way, like Pee Wee's Playhouse, in that there is a word or phrase that sets all hellfire loose. In the case of Sahara Hotnights, an awesome neo-punk quartet from Sweden who just happen to be all female, that phrase is "girl band". It was, unfortunately, in my second question, and it was not something that otherwise lovely and friendly Josephine Forsman (aka "The Blonde One"), the Hotnights' drummer and co-songwriter, wanted to talk about.

I'm pretty sure we got over it, but the going was a little rocky for a while. So take my advice. Go see Sahara Hotnights. Plug into the Ramones-level energy of an intensive live act. Wither under the arena-queen-caliber sneer of lead singer Maria Andersson. Rock back from the Buzzcocks-intense onslaught of Jennie Bomb's Jennie Asplund. Shake your body to Josephine's murderous drumming. And, yes, you may find yourself noticing that they're all young and pretty. But don't say anything about "girl bands". I warned you.


Splendid: Well, how do you feel about being labeled a girl band? Does that bother you?

Josephine Forsman: Yeah, it does. I mean, when we started the band ten years ago, of course, we didn't think of that --

Splendid: Was that a common thing? You were 11, 12 years old and you decided to start a band. Were all your friends doing it, too?

Josephine Forsman: Yeah. I would say so. MORE

AWESOME pics of drummer Josephine Forsman from Wireimage

Sahara Hotnights - Cheek to cheek

2002 interview with lead singer Maria Anderson by Alexander Laurence

AL: How old were you when you started the band?

Maria: We were eleven or twelve. I don't know why we did. We weren't a manufactured band. Nobody told us we should play. When we released our first EP in 1997, we were like fifteen of sixteen at the time. I don't know if people see us as kids or they see us as a band. We thought we were a band like other bands. We never thought about how young we were.

AL: Do you still play stuff from the earlier EP and first record?

Maria: We don't play the EP, but we play three songs from the first album. The first album has similar songs to the new one. It's sounds different. Jennie Bomb is a better produced album. It sounds like what we sound like as a live band.

AL: When do you know it's time to go into the studio to make an album?

Maria: We always have precisely enough songs to make an album when we go into the studio. We take thirteen songs into the studio and hope that they all turn out good. We use them all. Most bands that I know go into the studio with forty songs. We only write songs that would be good enough to be on an album.MORE

Website

Youtube: Australian Interview Part 1, Part Two,

Sahara Hotnights - In Private live i Äntligen Morgon

Sahara Hotnights - In Private

Comments

[all_adream]

I like them. I got a little puzzled at the last video, which was a combination of intriguing, with them and instruments floating down, but then there seemed to be a man, or two, plopping from the sky, and then maybe women-who-weren't-them, and I thought maybe the sky might drop a partner for each woman, whether man or woman or whatever, but it didn't seem to work out like that. Decent song, though: such a strong eurodisco rhythm--

[all_adream]

And yeah, supergoofy name! ahahaha!