Can’t we all just get along?

Tomas Juto, aka Barba. Photo: Christopher Anderzon.

I’ve always been fascinated by music scenes.
Seattle and grunge, New York and hiphop, L.A. and 80’s rock, Laurel canyon and singer/songwriters, San Fransisco and the flower power scene and so on.
Those are all American of course. But England had Bristol and trip hop, Norway had black metal and Swedens Umeå had the hardcore scene in the 90’s with Refused and similar bands. I’ve never been a part of a scene like that. I think I would love it. I get super inspired when people I know get a break and make it big or make a super obscure but amazing album that gets good reviews in underground blogs or whatever. It pushes me to try harder at whatever I’m doing at the moment.

But these days it’s really hard to reach through the noice with your music. And whenever people manage to carve out a spot in the limelight for themselves they don’t want to share the space.

I can understand that ’cause I know how much work it takes to get ahead. I can see why people tend to be a bit defencive of their spot. But it’s still a drag. I’m not saying I’m not a part of the problem. I’m probably just the same as any other musician. I just wish that I could somehow change the attitude in the business to a more collective kind of focus. Let’s make something really cool, together. Even though we’re not in the same band or whatever.
Let’s do a tour, a collaboration on a track, cameos in videos. Not because it’s a career move or looks good on the CV. Let’s do it ’cause we all love this thing. It’s fun!
Maybe by writing this I can remind myself to be more open to it. And at least that’s a start, ey?

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Love, love, love

Oskar Hovell, aka Orren. Photo: Christopher Anderzon.

Billy Momo did a show yesterday, at a small bar in Nynäshamn, near Stockholm, the day after the terrible attack in Stockholm. We had an odd feeling about it. Every gig is a sort of a party for us, a celebration of a sort. And it didn’t feel quite like the time for celebration. Still, letting an act like that stop people from gathering and having a good time together seemed out of the question.

So we went and we thought we’d do the best with what we got. It seemed quite possible that few people would even show, concidering everything. But we also knew we would probably have people coming in that would have traveled for hours to get there, which is not only a great responsibility but also, it gives us a lot of inspiration. And thinking about that, there’s a lot of love there, isn’t it?

I’ve talked about it before, how much we admire our fans and fans in general. The way they take our music to heart, the way they seem to stop to nothing in order to support us and the way they keep looking for new exciting acts to support. Now, Marvin Gaye is not the only dude who’s said it: only love can conquer hate. It might sound cheesy, but it’s true. Somebody went ahead and killed four innocent people for very vague reasons to say the least. Shit like that tends to fill your head with dark thoughts. It is what it’s designed for, I guess. Anger that should be directed to one guilty man often widening it’s aim somehow, pointing out all kinds of people that often need everything but more hate and accusations. In the long run, some of those people might even turn into the enemy that our anger tried so hard to make them. And that’s when we’re in really deep shit.

Billy Momo, Live in Nynäshamn – April 8.

Now, Billy Momo didn’t save the world yesterday. It was actually more me being saved. The reception we got from that audience was overwhealming. It blew all dark thoughts right out of me. See, the problem is, even though you know Marvin and all the others were right, it’s so hard not to give in. That devil inside you can’t be beaten down without an emotional reminder.

Today, I went to a manifestation for love in central Stockholm. Tens of thousands of people gathered just to feel unity, solidarity and love. Because it makes us better people and that makes it a better world. So, the message is the same, fifty years later. All you need is love. (Oskar Hovell, aka ‘Orren’)