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POP QUIZ: NINA PERSSON OF THE CARDIGANS - Aidin Vaziri, May 16, 2004, San Francisco Chronicle
By the time the soundtrack to a lousy Leonardo DiCaprio movie made stars out of the Cardigans, they were already over it. They dyed their hair black, started playing noisy metal riffs and eventually split off to make sulky solo albums. "Long Gone Before Daylight" is the Swedish band's first new release in five years, and the warm, earthy songs are poles apart from the icy pop of their biggest hit, "Lovefool" (from the 1996 film "Romeo + Juliet"). The Cardigans play Saturday at Popscene, 330 Ritch St. in San Francisco. We spoke with lead singer Nina Persson after her band won album of the year and rock group of the year at the Swedish Grammy Awards..
Q: You totally cleaned up this year at the Swedish Grammys.
A: Yeah, we kind of did. That was really nice.
Q: Was the competition stiff?
A: Oof! I don't think it's anyone you would know. The rest of the nominees were strictly Swedish artists. Do you know any Swedish bands?
Q: Do polar bears count?
A: No. These people aren't operating internationally, but they gave us good competition.
Q: How were the afterparties?
A: Oh man, I was out until 7 in the morning.
Q: That's impressive, considering you're married and older than 25.
A: You think so? Yeah, I think that's one of the fields where I'm still scoring points.
Q: They should have given you an award for best party woman.
A: I love never-ending drinking binges and just hanging out and listening to music and talking to people. Though I don't always make it up that late. It's getting harder and harder every year, but that was a good cause. And we lost the Grammys.
Q: Wait -- you lost your awards?
A: Yeah. We got them, and then we all went out to celebrate. The next morning we were asking each other who had them, and nobody did. I'm hoping somebody saw us coming and took them and saved them for us.
Q: Would you say winning a Swedish Grammy is better than being named the sexiest woman in rock by a British music magazine a few years ago?
A: The Grammys are 10 times heavier than that. The Grammys I worked hard for. The other thing is just a weird phenomenon. It's not something I take pride in. Also, keep in mind that was six years ago. I'm almost 30 now and people start to sag.
Q: I heard your mom thinks you look like Marilyn Manson.
A: Exactly. But that look is over, and now that I'm back to my natural hair color she's happier than ever.
Q: Do you still feel sexy?
A: Actually, I feel better than ever. I would deserve that award more now than I did then.
Q: What were you rebelling against when you dyed your hair black?
A: I was subconsciously probably rebelling against something, but nothing that I really thought of.
Q: That's a good answer, even though it doesn't make any sense.
A: I think it was more about me being fed up with being blond.
Q: Maybe you were just tired of being Swedish because you thought the other guys in the band were a bunch of jerks. On the last tour I thought you were going to kill each other onstage.
A: It makes me sad to hear that you saw it because we did hate it, but I don't think it ever led to us hating each other. We were really fed up and we didn't see the point in anything. But now we feel really enthusiastic. It's exciting for us to do America again, especially in May. We're Swedes, so we soak up every bit of sun we can get.
POP QUIZ: NINA PERSSON OF THE CARDIGANS - Aidin Vaziri, May 16, 2004, San Francisco Chronicle
By the time the soundtrack to a lousy Leonardo DiCaprio movie made stars out of the Cardigans, they were already over it. They dyed their hair black, started playing noisy metal riffs and eventually split off to make sulky solo albums. "Long Gone Before Daylight" is the Swedish band's first new release in five years, and the warm, earthy songs are poles apart from the icy pop of their biggest hit, "Lovefool" (from the 1996 film "Romeo + Juliet"). The Cardigans play Saturday at Popscene, 330 Ritch St. in San Francisco. We spoke with lead singer Nina Persson after her band won album of the year and rock group of the year at the Swedish Grammy Awards..
Q: You totally cleaned up this year at the Swedish Grammys.
A: Yeah, we kind of did. That was really nice.
Q: Was the competition stiff?
A: Oof! I don't think it's anyone you would know. The rest of the nominees were strictly Swedish artists. Do you know any Swedish bands?
Q: Do polar bears count?
A: No. These people aren't operating internationally, but they gave us good competition.
Q: How were the afterparties?
A: Oh man, I was out until 7 in the morning.
Q: That's impressive, considering you're married and older than 25.
A: You think so? Yeah, I think that's one of the fields where I'm still scoring points.
Q: They should have given you an award for best party woman.
A: I love never-ending drinking binges and just hanging out and listening to music and talking to people. Though I don't always make it up that late. It's getting harder and harder every year, but that was a good cause. And we lost the Grammys.
Q: Wait -- you lost your awards?
A: Yeah. We got them, and then we all went out to celebrate. The next morning we were asking each other who had them, and nobody did. I'm hoping somebody saw us coming and took them and saved them for us.
Q: Would you say winning a Swedish Grammy is better than being named the sexiest woman in rock by a British music magazine a few years ago?
A: The Grammys are 10 times heavier than that. The Grammys I worked hard for. The other thing is just a weird phenomenon. It's not something I take pride in. Also, keep in mind that was six years ago. I'm almost 30 now and people start to sag.
Q: I heard your mom thinks you look like Marilyn Manson.
A: Exactly. But that look is over, and now that I'm back to my natural hair color she's happier than ever.
Q: Do you still feel sexy?
A: Actually, I feel better than ever. I would deserve that award more now than I did then.
Q: What were you rebelling against when you dyed your hair black?
A: I was subconsciously probably rebelling against something, but nothing that I really thought of.
Q: That's a good answer, even though it doesn't make any sense.
A: I think it was more about me being fed up with being blond.
Q: Maybe you were just tired of being Swedish because you thought the other guys in the band were a bunch of jerks. On the last tour I thought you were going to kill each other onstage.
A: It makes me sad to hear that you saw it because we did hate it, but I don't think it ever led to us hating each other. We were really fed up and we didn't see the point in anything. But now we feel really enthusiastic. It's exciting for us to do America again, especially in May. We're Swedes, so we soak up every bit of sun we can get.
