Janice Prix Talk About How Travel Has Inspired Their Music

Janice Prix Talk About How Travel Has Inspired Their Music. Janice Prix formed in the small industrial town of Trollhättan, Sweden. Despite their passion early on, the local music scene didn’t exactly embrace their creative difference with open arms: one day, the band arrived at the studio to find fake obituaries of each member’s name nailed to the front door. But from performing at Berlin Music Week and being active in the Swedish Club scene, Janice Prix have successfully established a place for their unique indie-pop within a town traditionally dominated by metal and punk.

Hey Janice Prix – welcome to BBM. What’s the most exciting thing that’s happened to each of you this year?

Richard: Thank you for having us! I visited beduin camps out in the deserts of southern Egypt a while ago. The starry sky with completely dark surroundings, that you never really experience in our part of the world, was amazing to see.

Viktor: I met a lovely girl and now we’re moving in together.

Victor: Can’t think of anything. It’s been rough. 

MK: Probably finally releasing our music. We’ve worked on it for so long and it’s lovely to see the reactions on it and see the music spread throughout the world. 

For those who haven’t heard your music yet, how would you best describe your sound?

MK: We like big choruses, so we often strive for that when writing music. I think that we also in general are drawn to a dark sound, so we try to reflect that in our music. We’re also influenced by a lot of electronic music and more artsy stuff, and synths are a big part of our lives. We will all probably end up getting way too many synths, move to Berlin and just play techno music in the end. Janice Prix Talk About How Travel Has Inspired Their Music.

Richard Henry: I’d describe our sound as big and cinematic. When writing a song the initial idea, whether it’s melody or words, has a certain feel to it. I try to stick to that feel and let it lead the way. The goal is to make a song that feels “real” and “solid” in which the words, melodies and sounds all work together. They all enhance each other. When done successfully I guess you can call the sound cinematic. But in short maybe one could describe the music as if Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode had a baby with Brandon Flowers from The Killers and raised it in an industrial town until the age of 15 to then send it to boarding school in Britain where Morrissey is headmaster. We’d be that baby.

 Can you tell us the message behind ‘Waking’?

MK: Waking is partly written from a fictional refugee’s point of view. We wanted to capture the darkness and turmoil we believe a refugee experiences fleeing to Europe. The public debate regarding this topic is very polarised and the language and tone of this debate is often very grandiose and alarmistic, which we wanted to reflect sound wise with using big horn and strings arrangement. 

How did the project ‘Janice Prix’ materialise?

Richard: Me and Viktor got to know each other in high school. We were both in to metal, like everyone else in Trollhättan, playing Judas Priest covers during recess. But we started to broaden our taste as we dug through our parents’ LP collections. We discovered Roxy Music, Prince, Depeche Mode, Bowie, Dire Straits and U2. That made us realise that if we would start a band, this is the direction we’re going.

We began to put ideas, melodies and beats together into strange songs and recorded them as simple demos. In time the songs got better and we really felt we were onto something. A few years later we got to know MK and Victor and that was when the puzzle fell into place and Janice Prix really became what it is today. You might think that four songwriters in the same band only means fighting over ideas, which happenes at times of course, but for us it’s a productive atmosphere. Almost competitive in some ways.

Where do you all tend to write your music, do you think it influences your style at all?

MK: Yeah totally. First and foremost, living in Sweden one has to accept that the weather is shit. It’s dark, rainy, snowy and cold for the better part of the year. This might come off as a very negative thing to most people (personally I like the winter most unlike a lot of people), but I think that the weather is a positive thing for creativity, since you have no urge to be outside most of the year. This sparks creativity, I think. I believe Röyksopp said in an interview once – I’m paraphrasing now – that Bergen, Norway, was such a good town to live in as a musician cause it’s so terribly boring. 

We write music in all kinds of places. We’re sometimes writing by ourselves and sending files back and forth online, or in our studio or in our favourite place which is Richard’s family’s cabin pretty close to the Norwegian border. It’s a very cosy place right by a lake and Richard’s family have owned it for many generations, but we have suggested to his relatives that it can be named “JP HQ” as of now. We’ll update you on the process further ahead. Janice Prix Talk About How Travel Has Inspired Their Music.

Victor: Personally, I do my best work at home by myself, in total disconnect from the rest of the world, and experimenting with synths and pianos. I mainly write that way. But in terms of songs, my ideas do not become songs until the rest of the guys tell their story in mine if you will and I think that’s the strength of our group. We add to each other, contributing with different ideas and flavours. The sum of our parts is greater. 

Richard: Different places can definitely inspire you to write in certain ways, about certain topics. For good and bad. For instance, I thought driving through Italy would be a source of inspiration for Janice Prix songs, but the traffic there just made me furious. I drank lots of Peroni to calm myself. (Not while driving.) Maybe if I’m involved in a death metal album in the future I’ll go there again. 

I often use the voice memo on my phone in bed right before I fall asleep. I often lay awake and think about improvements for the song I’m working on for the moment. 

Viktor: When starting out on a new song it’s usually at home alone, but the real magic happens when we get together and work on each other’s songs as a group.

When was the last time you guys had a proper holiday and where did you go?

Victor: One of our favourite cities is Budapest, Hungary. We spent a week on holiday all of us in Budapest, initially trying to work on some stuff, and so we did but it turned out to be an enjoyable and relaxing week. I think we needed that after spending a lot of time churning and trying to perfect our album for a long time. Also, we enjoy each other’s company so what better way to go on holiday right?

Who would be each of your dream collaborators – dead or alive?

Victor: Nigel Godrich would be a fantastic producer to work with, I’m a big fan of his work with Radiohead and as a member of Atoms for Peace. Seems like a fun fella too. 

Richard: I’d like to work with Martin Gore, just to watch and learn from his songwriting process. He has written amazing songs for such a long period of time and Depeche Mode just keeps going. He never let me down. 

Viktor: It would be cool to have Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein (Stranger Things soundtrack) produce our synthesizer sounds, their attention to detail is staggering.

MK: I’d love to work with Rich Costey. His work with Muse is amazing. Also, I like the Swedish producer Jonas Quants way of combining pop with darkness – he’d be a good fit for Janice Prix. Janice Prix Talk About How Travel Has Inspired Their Music.

Each of you, name a record you couldn’t live without!

Victor: Du och jag, döden – by Swedish band Kent. On a side note: This was Stefan Bomans (who produced our record) first full-length album together with Kent, so I was very excited to work with him and also record in the same room in which my favorite record was made. 

Richard: It must be Painkiller by Judas Priest. Great songs from start to finish and it reminds me of where it all started for me musically. 

Viktor: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming by M83. A truly epic 73 min long double album with some of the most grandiose songs.  

MK: Bon Iver – Bon Iver. My favorite album of all time. I’m a total fanboy of Justin Vernon. If I met him, I would probably not be able to speak properly. Also, I’ve had dreams about being best friends with him, only to wake up to the bitter reality of not knowing him at all. Justin, give me a call if you see this and we can write songs in a cabin together. Janice Prix Talk About How Travel Has Inspired Their Music.

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