Interview: Andreas Jabrell of Astro-Lloyd
Interview: Andreas Jabrell of Astro-Lloyd
Astro-Lloyd, answers by Andreas Jabrell (Vocals + guitar)
What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?
What got me and most of the members in Astro-Lloyd into music must have been Kiss, especially Ace Frehley for me, then discovering Blink-182 soon after that. Music is what we do in all our spare time, all have normal jobs outside of the band, so if I had no gotten into music I would have a lot of free time 😊
What do you like to do when your not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?
When we’re not playing music we do everything else we can to push the band forward, finding a lot of influences in pop culture. We do as much as possible ourselves, enjoying making our own music videos. So watching a movie or TV-show can influence the creativity a lot. Most of our lyrics have pop culture references hidden in them so the more we watch/read/listen to the more material we get for future music.
How long has your band been around?
We’ve been around since 2011, have had a couple of changes in members but always kept on pushing.
Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?
We are based in Malmo, Sweden and we have a couple of great bands coming from our area which have been big influences, bands like Royal Republic and Deville. It’s a lot easier to get more into it, see that bands that you have met and talked to got out there and made a name for themselves.
How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you.
The band Astro-Lloyd came from our old drummer who wanted to name his first child Lloyd and singer/guitarist Andreas who worked at a golf course and couldn’t get the name for fake grass out of his head (astro turf). We just put them together and it stuck.
Tell me about the best and worst shows you have played.
The best show we’ve played must have been one of the shows we played in Mainz, a lot of people (for us) who really gave their all, seemed like they were into the music, jumping around and having a great time. Worst show was a couple of days before, two thirds of the band we were playing with watched, the rest + sound engineer were out smoking. Mondays are not the best days for rock shows… But we had fun, gave it our best.
Tell me about your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you haven't already?
Favourite venue to play here in Malmo is a place called Kulturbolaget or KB for short. We have played there twice as part of music competition Emergenza Festival. Places we want to play is Vega in Copenhagen, beautiful venue!
If you could play any show with any lineup who would be on the ticket?
Foo Fighters of course, could be a hard now considering what happened a few weeks ago. Other than that, opening for the following bands would be pretty cool, Blink-182, Biffy Clyro, The Hives, Royal Republic and many more.
What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band?
Our advice would be learn how to compromise, talk things through. If something is bothering you, don’t keep it inside. It is like all other relationships in life.
If you could go back in time and give yourselves advice, what would it be?
Start singing right away, take it more seriously. A lot of fooling around in the beginning. It was fun, but would probably been just as fun even if we would have put a little more effort into it right away.
Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?
The songs that mean most to me (Andreas, vocals/guitar) is ‘Aim for the bushes’ from our first EP ‘Planet Unknown’, a song written in like five minutes, still as fun to play today as it was then. Punk rock song which we try to include in all live shows. Another favourite is ‘You Me Them’ upcoming single, first song we wrote together with the current lineup, a lot of energy and really fun to play live.
Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?
May personal favorite song to play live is ‘Searchlights’, just a fun punkrock song to play. The song that have been requested a couple of times is ‘Speedracer’ and ‘Milhouse’. The last one is one of our oldest songs and we don’t play it to often unfortunately. Getting harder to choose what songs to play now that we’re about to release our second album.
What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?
We all write music all the time, show what we’ve come up with other every time we meet and just finish the songs together. Everything inspire all the time, hard to find just one thing that does it. But watching other bands play is a huge inspiration, just to get on the stage and do your thing.
What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?
On our first record the lyrics were a lot about relationships, how to make things work and then what could happen when it doesn’t work. For our upcoming second album a lot of lyrics are about accepting yourself and trying to find a way that works for you in the world around you.
Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?
Talk it through, everybody gets to talk and say their thing then try to find the easiest way forward, compromise.
What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that's coming up?
Our second album is getting mixed and mastered at the moment, to be released early summer. A couple of singles have been released already, ‘Sphere Believer’ and ‘Antlers’. Can be found on your favorite streaming service. To get all upcoming news, follow us on Instagram and Facebook, easiest and best way to stay updated.