Last Days Of April return to the UK to support the Ataris. On the first night of the tour we caught up with the boys from Sweden for a chat at the Wedgewood Rooms.

R13: Can you start of by introducing yourselves and telling our readers what you play in the band?
Karl: I'm Karl I play guitar and sing.
Kristian: I'm Kristian, I play bass.
Carl: I'm Carl, but you can call me Siffran, I'm on drums.

R13: You have a new album out 'Might As Well Live' what can you tell us about it?
K: It's good.
R13: What's the inspiration behind it?
K: I dunno, just everyday life, nothing special it doesn't have a topic.
R13: What sounds will we hear on it?
K: It's very guitar based music, very pop rock, very classic.

R13: How does it differ from previous albums?
K: I don't know if it is that different, it's just a bit better and that's it.
R13: Is it more mature?
K: No, it's probably the opposite, not as mature, it is more playful.

R13: Do you enjoy the writing and recording process?
K: Yeah, yeah I do, this time was sweet, but tougher than previous ones. Everything took longer. The recording process was fast, it was just everything before that took longer.
Kr: I wasn't in the process, I'm the new guy.
R13: So how are you finding being the new guy?
Kr: It's fine, they treat me like shit and fuck me about (laughs) I was a fan for many years before I joined the band.
R13: Were you in other bands before you played in this one?
Kr: Yeah, I was in Eskju Divine, a Swedish pop trio.

R13: How important is Last Days Of April to you?
K: The band is very important, it's pretty much everything, I don't really know what I would do without it.
Kr: It has become a lot more important
C: At the moment it is my life, it's what I like to do and what I am doing.

R13: How important are you to them?
K: We are very important, without us there wouldn't be a band.
R13: Is this line up here to stay then?
K: There have been a lot of line up changes over the years, but this feels like a strong line up so if anything changed now it would be devastating.

R13: Karl, don't you have a solo project as well as the band?
K: Me and Carl recorded an album about two years ago and we took it on tour that was that.
R13: Is that work quite different to LDOA?
K: It's not very different, I don't think it was as thought through as Last Days Of April.
C: It was spontaneous.
R13: Was it something you planned to do or did it just happen?
K: We planned to do it but it didn't take as long as the band. Last Days Of April has been going on for years.

R13: You guys have been together for over ten years, but people think you're a new band, why do you think that is?
K: People do over here, we have toured Germany nearly every year since 99 so there they wouldn't. They wouldn't suggest we were new.

R13: I hear you're doing your first US tour this year.
K: I hope, I hope, it should be this fall.
R13: That must be exciting.
K: It will be very exciting if it happens, we don't dare to say too much right now.
R13: When are you hoping to go out there?
K: We're going to go to Canada in June so we'll be in North America. Then we will go back home to Sweden then go out to the States.
R13: So would you say it'll be October time?
K: Yeah, something like that if it happens.

R13: Are you playing any festivals this summer?
K: We'll be at a Swedish festival and a Finnish one. We're going to meet our European booker in a week to see what he can hook us up with.

R13: Do you prefer to play festivals or small venues?
K: I like both, but I think festivals can be a coin flip. It depends whether or not the sound works for you. If an audience is great sound doesn't matter anyway.

R13: Would you like to go on something like Warped tour?
K: I would like to tour as much as possible.
C: We take whatever we can get.

R13: How does touring the UK compare to touring Sweden?
K: You don't get any food here. There is no catering. You don't get a place to sleep, but apart from that the crowds are the same.

R13: How did you get involved on The Ataris tour?
K: They asked us if we wanted to come along.
R13: Were you friends with them before?
K: No, no never met them.
R13: So it was just totally out the blue?
K: Yeah, yeah, yeah we were on tour anyway, we were in England about a week ago then we went back to Europe now we're back here.

R13: Are you enjoying being back in the UK?
K: Yeah.
C: Sure
R13: Last year you were supporting Fightstar on their headlining tour, how was that?
K: It was alright, they were really sweet.
R13: Did you find the fans on that tour were a lot younger?
K: They were yeah.
C: They were young, very young, they made us feel old.
R13: How old are you guys?
Kr: I'm only 22, I'm the youngest.
C: 25
K: I'm 28, Kristian thinks I'm very old, I dunno, how old are you?
R13: 20, it's my 21st in a couple of weeks.
K: That's cool... Maybe I am old then!

R13: Do you get sick of being labelled as emo?
K: Yeah, but I don't think there are that many bands that would call themselves Emo, that's something for the media. I don't really care, but I wouldn't describe the band as Emo.
R13: Would you rather be described as Emo or Soft Rock?
K: I would rather be described as Metal but that won't happen. I've never heard of soft rock, I like it though. It's very soothing... Soft Rock I like that.

R13: What's your view on scene sluts?
K: I haven't met any so I wouldn't know. I think they are probably just a stereotype from movies. I think they were big in the eighties at hard core shows, there aren't any at our shows.
R13: If there were would you want anything to do with them?
K: I would talk to her but I wouldn't do anything else, I don't see the point in that at all.
C: I wouldn't know if a girl was one.

R13: What would you say your achievements to date are?
K: Getting to travel the world, we don't really see in that way. We don't check things off a list, we just take it as it comes.

R13: What do you still have left to achieve?
K: Very much.
Kr: US and A.
C: We have to get those picks, the green ones, the pick of destiny.
K: Yeah that's one thing and the US and A.
C: And get three symbols.
K: Lots, the list is very long.

R13: Thanks for your time and good luck with the tour.