Interview: Sahara Hotnights
By Sabine Schenk
Sep. 24th, UC Riverside, CA
Sahara Hotnights are probably my all time favourite girl band. They have strong melodies and witty lyrics which is always a killer combination. Their new record Kiss & Tell is probably the best record of the year (this one and the long expected Sex, Love and Rock’n’Roll by Social Distortion). I was really happy that we got the chance to do an interview with them a few hours before their show at the UC Riverside. Josephine and Jennie were really nice and the interview turned out great. Just have a read.
Please introduce yourselves.
Jo: I’m Josephine and I play the drums in Sahara Hotnights.
Jen: And I’m Jennie and I play the guitar.
Isn’t it nice that you are in sunny California right now when all your friends are back home in cold Sweden.
Jo: Yeah, it’s hard to imagine how cold it is in Sweden right now.
Is that the reason why you chose to go on tour here right now?
Jo: We actually thought it was going to be a little bit colder here than it is. We haven’t had any cold days on this tour so far.
Have you done any of the typical Californian outdoor activities like surfing so far?
Jen: Actually we just came to California this morning. We went to Las Vegas yesterday. But we didn’t play there. We just hung out and gambled a bit.
I reviewed Kiss&Tell for coolgrrrls.com and I really, really liked it. Your songwriting has definitely evolved since Jenny Bomb and your sound changed a lot, too. Jenny Bomb is a great record, too, but it is very ramonish and the new record is a lot poppier. What happened?
Jo: I think we just wanted to poppy and yeah, it’s just like you say. It’s more melodies. We focused more on that.
Jen: We toured a lot on the Jenny Bomb album and I think we just wanted to do something else. During the rehearsals and everything it just turned into the direction of being more pop. We like it. This is the kind of music we are mostly listening to.
What bands inspired you?
Jen: Pretenders, the Cars and Rick Springfield.
Jo: A lot of 80ies bands.
Who had the idea for the name of the record?
Jen: A bunch of friends of ours had a band in high school. Well, it wasn’t really a band. And I guess, we just stole the name from them. Kind of a tribute to them maybe?!
My favourite song on this record is probably the Difference Between Love and Hell. Is this a real sort of tragic love story or is it all made up?
Jo: Yeah, I mean, all songs are very personal and Maria, the singer, writes the lyrics. And they are about her.
Jen: It’s my favourite song, too.
We just had lunch with Texas Terri and she said that she was in your video for Alright, Alright, which is very cool. How did you get in touch with the Jackass guys?
Jo: I have no idea.
Jen: We were on the soundtack of Jackass the movie with Alright, Alright. And then we needed a video. And they were really interested in doing one. And Jeff Tremaine was easy to work with. He had a lot of ideas. And I think the video turned out pretty good.
Did one of you hit this Jackass guy or only Terri? I haven’t seen the video yet.
Jo: She did but we didn’t.
Jen: And she stole our name afterwards. Because now she is Texas Terri Bomb. But that’s cool. I don’t care.
Well, my band was called the Cherrybombs. So I guess this bomb thing is just very popular. Do you think that Jackass the movie opened the US marked for you? Or were you already pretty popular in the States before that?
Jo: I think we had a sold a fair amount of records before that in the US. But I guess it helped in some way.
You just went on tour with the Hives. How was that?
Jo: Oh, they are good friends of ours. We had a good time and they are very popular guys. So, it was a very good tour.
Did the crowd appreciate what you did on stage?
Jo: It was super good actually.
Jen: Yeah, they really liked it because we sound different and it was a good mix for the audience.
Is there a big difference of touring the US and Europe or Scandinavia for you?
Jo: It was a long time ago that we toured in Europe actually. We mostly been touring here. I don’t know. It’s a good country for touring. It’s big.
Jen: We didn’t really have time to go back to Europe because we went on tour in Japan and Australia. And after that we didn’t really have the time and the energy to keep touring. We just wanted to make a new record.
Jo: Well, I don’t think it’s a big difference. I mean, it’s a big difference between touring Italy and America but touring in like Sweden and America is pretty much the same. The same crowd.
Where are the hottest guys?
Jo: Hmmm.... well, not in England that’s for sure... hmmmm... I don’t know...
Jen: It depends on what kind of mentality you like. Italian guys are good looking but they are kind of..
Jo: .. too much!
Jen: ... too straight forward. Hmm... I don’t know...
(Jenny screams something in Swedish to Maria and Johanna who are sitting a bit further away on another table.)
Jen: Italy. Johanna said it so it must be.
Jo: Norway! Norway is good. Norway is good, too!
What do you think about the fans in Japan?
Jo: Interesting but I think every band who went on tour in Japan says the same. I mean, they are very polite and dedicated.
Jen: They always want you to play forever. Like you have to pull out every song you have to make them satisfied. You have to play at least an hour or more and we tend to not play any longer than 45 minutes.
Jo: You just have to play another song and another song...
Have you ever thought about putting out a live record with the Japanese fans in the background like Cheap Trick?
Jo: Yeah, absolutely. We have to do that. We haven’t done that yet and I don’t know why really but it will come.
Are you working on new songs right now?
Jo: No, we’re not that kind of band that works on songs while touring. We just find that very hard. I don’t know, I just think that we found that kind of sound that we really like. I don’t think we’ll go back to that punk sound.
Well, it wasn’t that punky anyway.
Jo: No, there was already a lot of pop in the first record and in Jenny Bomb, too. I think we have always been a pop band.
We just had lunch with Nicke and Dregen of the Backyard Babies and they mentioned you in the interview.
Both: They did?! Cool! Where are they?
They just played one show at the Troubadour in LA and then they had to fly back to Sweden. They just played a showcase here for Stockholm Syndrome. Whatever. What are your plans for the near future?
Jo: We’re on tour here for two more weeks than we will go back to Sweden. Then we have six days off and then we go on a Swedish tour.
I think that was pretty much it. Anything you want to add? Shoutouts to friends?
Jo: Hmm.... no.
No? No friends?
Jo (laughing): Yeah, we have no friends.
Jen: I hope the Hellacopters will do well in America. They really deserve it.
Jo: They are good guys.
Thank you for your time.
-Sabine Schenk
Visit Sahara Hotnights on the web at: www.saharahotnights.com
photos by frank
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