Carli Löf and Måns Glaeser joined forces over a decade ago when they emerged as one of the most singular talents of the rock & roll era, adept in flawlessly tying together pop, funk, disco and hip-hop. Since then have shown remarkable stylistic integrity and musical diversity, constantly experimenting with different sounds, textures, and genres while always constructing a cohesive whole. The duo proves they do it all. They simultaneous run two projects, Staygold and Savage Skulls, continuously put out remix after remix and have partnered with Virgin EMI for a remix package of their disco vibed “Wallflower.” We had a chance to catch up with the duo to discuss everything from their musical recommendations down to their love of Jamie Lee Curtis. Check it out.
Earmilk: Do you come from musical backgrounds?
Staygold: I guess we do. Music was always in our lives. I went to music school and Carli’s mom was a dancer. Music was played constantly in our homes from an early age, so yeah.
EM: What kind of music did you listen to growing up? How has that impacted your sound today?
S: A lot of old Italian disco, Swedish techno, 80’s soul music, rap music, the list goes on and on. I think the whole album is a tribute to the music we listened to growing up, so it definitely had a major impact on our sound
EM: Can you tell us about the Savage Skulls project? When and why did you decide to cross over to Staygold?
S: Actually Staygold was the main project from the start and Savage Skulls was a moniker we took to be able to make music that didn’t have any rules. The Staygold album was taking a long time and we needed an outlet for all the other types of music we wanted to do.
EM: Where did the name Staygold come from?
S: Can’t remember. It just sounds really cool.
EM: In your own words how would you describe your sound?
S: Nostalgic.
EM: Rain On Our Parade was released back in 2012, can you tell us what the production and creative process was like for making the album?
S: It was a long stretched out process from 2004 to 2012. We made the first song “Justify” in 2002 I think, and the last song “Wallpaper” in 2010. All the vocals have been recorded in hotel rooms and apartments all over the world. We couldnt pay anyone to come record with us so we had to do it while people were on tour in Sweden and vice versa.
EM: Which was your favorite track to make?
S: I think “Justify.” The process was pretty brief and it’s still to this day our favorite songs on the album. I still don’t know how we managed to make something that good.
EM: Tell us about your relationship with Magnetron Music? How did this begin?
S: We booked Seymour Bits (Bas Bron) for a live show in Stockholm around 2005. We played him “Justify” and he really liked it and wanted to sign it to Magnetron, so we said yes of course and that was that. The whole Magnetron crew are good friends of ours. Shout outs to Lele and De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig.
EM: Congrats on your track “Wallpaper” seeing its fair share of buzz and radio time. I know the project was shelved for 2 years, why did you decide to bring it out of the vault?
S: It was Style of Eye that asked us if we had any vocals he could play around with. So we gave him the “Wallpaper” acapella, which was originally made with another beat that we weren’t really happy with. So he gave us this great sketch back and gave new life to the track.
EM: How did you link up with Style of Eye and Pow?
S: We met through mutual friends. Sweden is a small country and if you are involved in the music scene here then it’s an even smaller country. Most people who make similar music here know each other or know someone who does.
EM: I’m really digging the video for “Wallpaper.” How did the concept for it come about?
S: I’m assuming you mean the black and white one? I met Kalle Gustafsson (the director) randomly on a flight from New York to Stockholm. I told him we needed a new video for “Wallpaper” and I showed him a scene from an old movie called stormy weather with the Nicholas brothers. He liked the idea and emailed me back a scene from a Swedish jazz film from the 50s and said that he could make it look like we were in that clip by shooting us in the same grading as the old film. It took 4 hours to do the additional shooting. Very painless, at least for us.
EM: I know you have collaborated with Robyn, Spank Rock and Mapei, are there any other artists right now you would love to collaborate with?
S: A Swedish dude named Kendal Johansson. He is so awesome! There’s only one track released with him and it’s called “Blue Moon.” Everyone should hear this song. It’s a very sad and pretty song by an underrated artist.
EM: What about any records at the moment you think we should be checking out?
S: Check out “Killing Switch,” made by a Swedish band named Last Lynx. Nice music made by nice people.
EM: You guys are pretty under the radar and word is you have a bunch of music ready to be released. When can we expect to hear some new music? Any details on what we can expect sound and production wise?
S: We just released a Savage Skulls remix of Robyn and Snoop Dogg’s track “U Should Know Better.” Also making a bunch of new original Savage Skulls tracks so keep an eye out for those.
Quickie Questions