INTERVIEW

Dungen - exlusive interview with Gustav Ejestes

(photo by Karl Max)

The sound on your fourth album 4 seems to have moved from the heavy psychedelia of the last two albums towards mellower , almost cinematic, soundscapes. Can you tell us something about this transition? Dungen's music has a strong visual element able to create images in the listener's mind. where does it come from?

Gustav: I never have any intentions to make any particular type of/or genre of music. I hope the song writing has improved and because of my love of music and musicianship; I hope that I have improved technically as well. After the making of "Tio Bitar" I was sick of it all. I moved to my house in the south of Sweden to mainly concentrate on turntable exercises. For the last 4 years scratch has become an art form and inspiration for me that is just as important as the Swedish fiddle tune tradition. So I did only that for a couple of months. I took a job as a housepainter and cleaner of stairs for a living. Then I got a piano from my grandmother, which is an amazing instrument. I played a lot during my breaks from scratch exercises. I found my own melodies and suddenly I had a bunch of tunes but did not record them once, as I have always done in the past, starting with drums and overdubbing and so on. I played the songs myself for several weeks before I showed them to Reine and Johan in the studio in Stockholm. This was a new way to work for me.

How would you describe the current music scene in Sweden? Is there a strong tradition of psychedelic bands in Sweden? Do you feel part of it? Have you got any memories that you are particularly fond of regarding music in Sweden,( like gigs. albums or meetings with people that were an inspiration for you)?

Gustav: I’m totally hopeless as a follower of new music as I have always spent most of the time by myself. So unfortunately I have never felt as a part of any scene or movement. But I know there is so much good music around in the Nordic countries and in the rest of the world. I’m not a member of any particular genre or scene.

Gustav-Dungen (photo by Jeaneen Lund)

What is Dungen's aim? Are you interested in building a following in the UK, Europe, the States and the world? How do you imagine Dungen in 15 years?

Gustav: I have no intentions to please anyone, or anything, but myself.

In your music is possible to hear the musical Influence of the east. Is this a conscious process or something that just happens unconsciously when you write?

Gustav: This is something listeners could hear or not. I listen to so many different types and genres of music so my music is a mishmash of all that.

Sweden has a great epic and medieval tradition, and a taste for dreamy atmospheres evident in both in music and literature. Would you count this amongst your influences?

Gustav: I have nothing to say about however Swedish music tradition is separated from the rest of the world. I grew up in the countryside with two TV channels and a lot of space so I think my creativity springs from that.

You are all outstanding musicians, what is your background and what musical studies have you undertaken in the past?

Gustav: Both my parents are musicians and some how gave me the courage to claim musical ideas as my own. My elder brother discovered a late night radio show in Sweden called Soul Corner, hosted by Mats Nileskar, who played new black music. So we discovered Hip Hop and the first record I bought was Public Enemy’s “Brothers gonna work it out” on a vinyl 7". We tried to do our own Hip Hop and started to sample stuff, this turned out to be more interesting than to listen to our Hip Hop, so I had to learn how to make Mitch Mitchell/Bomb squad drums and jazz/folk music melodies. I have also studied the violin.

Thanks Ernesto!

Gustav Ejstes “Dungen”

Interview by Ernesto De Pascale

Photos by Karl Max and Jeaneen Lund