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Tags: shop

Let's start things off by telling us the brief history of your band and your members. Only Mikael and Tomas knew each other in the beginning. It was a late night in May 2003 the “first ef” met under quite human circumstances at a bar. Some promises were made, and those promises were held. One week later ef first distorted the instruments together. It was a hot summer night, in a underground shelter with bad air condition. Some kind of slow melodic hardcore music was made. Soon they understood that dynamics, emotions and explosions was much more fun. The last four years – four guitar players have been changed. The foundation: Mikael, Tomas and Niklas is still going strong. And the train is till rolling.

How would you define Ef...? What does "Ef" mean for you? ef is our emotions. It reflects our feelings from our everyday life, our surrounding. ef means everything to us. Without it I don’t have a clue about what we would be doing. I think it have saved us from a lot of trouble and pain. ef is a huge part of our lives, and we sacrifice so much for it. It’s more of a relationship than a hobby.

How do you describe your music to people? We rather not describe it. We tell people to listen instead and describe it themselves. Most of them can’t. That’s something positive. But I guess you’ll find us under the post rock-category in the record store.

Who are your musical influences? I can’t deny that we all listen a lot to Sigur Rós, Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed… etc etc. But we all have such different music taste that goes everything from classical via indie rock to metal. But I think we are more inspired by our individual moods for the day. When we create we always “feels” a lot and criticize everything we do. Example: during cold and dark winter time the songs tend to end up more dark and heavy, during summer more melodic and happy. When someone is sad we always end up jamming some slow and “sad” melodies over and over again. It’s strange, but the truth.

Why do you want to record and release your own music? It’s because we want to have total control of what happens with everything all the time. We want to be able to create and to release whatever we like, whenever we like. But we never thought so much would happen so fast. We haven’t really been able to figure everything out and learn all the paper work and stuff like that, but we’re learning by doing. Maybe ef will become “too big” for And the Sound Records, and then we’ll have to find someone else to do it for us.

How does it feel to collaborate with 9.12 Records in Canada ? What did you heard about 9.12 ? It feels great to come out with “Give me beauty… Or give me death!” and the Canadian market. All of us are really excited about it and we hope this collaboration will lead to something greater than expected. To be honest we haven’t heard that much. We’ve been in contact Temjin and the If and they both says they are delighted, so… I guess ef will as well.

What is the first thing that come in your head when you think about Canada ? Post rock, ice hockey and mountains.

What do you think about downloading music online via iTunes and the others?We haven’t bothered to put out “Give me beauty…” via any of those download sites. And I don’t think any of the members of ef are using any of those sites personally for buying music. But I guess it’s not as popular in Sweden that it might be in the US and in Asia. It’s probably good, but no real opinions about it. Boring answer – I know… ;)

What's your outlook on the record industry today? It goes worse and worse for the major labels, better and better for the independent ones. Absolutely fabulous!!! If you’re fan enough of a band, then you buy the music – even if you have chosen to download it a few months earlier. If not for the music (that you probably have as mp3s already) then do it for the artwork and for supporting the musicians that are tearing their hearts out to get it through to you.

You guys are just coming back from a European tour, how was the experience ? Our 5th European tour… It was great, as always. A lot of car driving, to little sleep, to much drinking, a lot of sweaty gigs, meeting a lot of nice people, experience a lot of wonderful places (Slovenia and Switzerland – GOSH!!!!) and selling tons of merchandise. It’s life… Something that I personally could do everyday - all year long. It’s always bad when you come home, back to work. Your body and mind is pretty fucked. You don’t sleep properly for weeks, and you always get sick. But 5 months later you’re out there on the road again. Touring is also the best way to promote yourself and the music.

If you had one song to propose to someone who would like to discover your music, which one will you choose from "Give me beauty… Or give me death!"?I think we all would choose “Hello Scotland” or “Tomorrow my friend…”. Those are the only songs we still play live from the album. “Tomorrow my friend…” was one of the first songs ef ever created back in 2004 or something.

In which sense the next album will be different from "Give me beauty… Or give me death!"? I think it will be more focused; all songs really feel more like a “unit” and forms a really solid album. “Give me beauty…” was more of a compilation with songs we’ve created together during 3 years of time. The new one is more focused, darker and more bombastic. We won’t rush this time and we’ve a bigger recording budget. But it’s still the “second hard album”… and I hope it will be accepted by our fans.

When do you plan to release it?We’ve said winter 07/08. Maybe earlier, maybe later.

Is it in your short term plan to release a live album?No. I rather want people to experience us with both eyes and ears – instead of just ears. ef isn’t trying to be the same band in the studio as on stage.

If you will have the opportunity to play live in United States or Canada, which Festival would attract you the most?Ah, no clue. I guess its tons of festivals all over that continent. But I’ve only heard about the Lollapalooza tour and Woodstock. We’ll play anything!

Thanks Niklas for your time, this is a great opportunity for us and our fans to learn and share a little more about EF. Cheers to everyone!!

Tags: interview, Ef, sweden

Le groupe sherbrookois
The Banjo Consorsium
en nomination au GAMIQ (Gala de l’Alternative Musicale Indépendante du Québec)

Sherbrooke, le mercredi 18 juillet 2007 – Après un spectacle devant une salle comble lors du OFF Fête du Lac 2007, le groupe sherbrookois The Banjo Consorsium est très fier d’annoncer sa nomination au GAMIQ, le Gala de l’Alternative Musicale Indépendante du Québec, dans la prestigieuse catégorie « Meilleur album expérimental » pour son album A Turning One. Par cette nomination, le nom du Banjo Consorsium se retrouve aux côtés de groupes tels Arcade Fire, Malajube, Patrick Watson, Les Georges Leningrad et The Dears, également en nomination au GAMIQ.

Le GAMIQ est la cérémonie de prix officielle de la scène alternative musicale du Québec et récompense les meilleures productions indépendantes de l’année. Le GAMIQ et le Montreal International Music Initiative (MIMI) se sont récemment associés afin de créer l’Association de la Musique Indépendante du Québec (AMIQ). Le gala aura lieu le dimanche 16 septembre au Métropolis de Montréal.

The Banjo Consorsium est le seul groupe de la scène locale sherbrookoise en nomination au GAMIQ. Il s’agit d’un événement exceptionnel qui souligne la qualité de cette formation qui sera en spectacle ce jeudi 19 juillet au Divan Orange de Montréal et le mercredi 12 septembre au théâtre Centennial de Sherbrooke.

Quant à l’album A Turning One, il est disponible chez tous les bons disquaires de Sherbrooke (Musique Cité, Tourne-Livres, Renault-Bray et Archambault), ainsi que sur différents sites Internet de téléchargement. Il est possible d’en écouter quelques extraits sur ce site du Banjo Consorsium : www.myspace.com/thebanjoconsorsium.

Le public est invité à voter pour The Banjo Consorsium en allant sur le site du GAMIQ : www.gamiq.ca.

-30-

Pour plus d’informations, veuillez contacter Matthieu Petit :
matthieu_petit@hotmail.com
819-346-7113

Tags: gamiq, the banjo consorsium

Bonjour everyone,
2 Canadian artists have been working really hard over the past few months. Apjiw & Building Castles Out Of Matchsticks invested their heart and energy into their artistic creations. We're very proud to let you know that it's now possible for you to pre-order their albums Think Over & Smile Silly Face. If you pre-order both albums at the same time a 3$ donation will be made to War Child Canada to assist children affected by the war and help to raise awareness for children's rights everywhere. This is a important gesture of compassion which will help make a positive difference around us by impacting and helping kids. We'll will keep you posted.
Thanks for your support!

Smile, Silly Face teaser listen
Think Over teaser listen

30.01$CAD

Tags: pre-order, apjiw, building castles out of matchsticks, think over, smile, silly face, to be released, war child canada

A Turning One from The Banjo Consorsium as been reviewed by The Silent Ballet. 8/10...a great note for "A Turning One". You can read Greg Vipon article here. To buy the album click here. The Banjo Consorsium will be on stage July 13th with The Random Partition Occurs Through Nowhere at the Télephone Rouge downtown Sherbrooke. We hope to see you there!! The Banjo Consorsium on myspace.com/thebanjoconsorsium.

Tags: the silent ballet, review, Greg, 8/10, A Turning one, Japh

It's now official - Ef from Sweden is joining our label.
We are very proud of this new representation. Ef is one of Sweden's
fastest growing post-rock bands. The first time i ever heard Ef, their
passion & delicacy totally blew me away. Ef is the marriage of raw
power and delicate beauty, and they've definitely honed the formula
to high caliber impact for your listening pleasure. People often say
they have the melodies of "Explosions In the Sky", the heaviness from
Cult of Luna and the energy of Drive Like Jehu.

Their debut album "Give me beauty... or give me death" will be officially
available through our official catalog. You can now listen to Hello Scotland
on our myspace player... enjoy!! A interview with the band will be posted soon.
As always, we appreciate your comments and support at 9.12 Records!
Cheers everyone!
Jean-François

Tags: Ef, give me beauty...or give me Death, Debut album