Q&A: The Royal Concept on digital music, Manila festival

MANILA, Philippines – One of the bands playing at this year’s Wanderland Music and Arts Festival 2014 is a Swedish group called The Royal Concept.

David Larson (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Filip Bekic (guitar), Robert Magnus (bass), and Frans Povel (drums), play a pulse-pounding, finger-snapping mix of dance-pop and rock. It’s music that blasts out of a room, getting you in the mood for the possibility of a fun, laughter-filled evening. Often compared to Phoenix, The Killers and The Strokes, The Royal Concept released one full-length album that spawned popular singles that include On Our Way, D-D-Dance, Goldrushe and Gimme Twice. 

Rappler caught up with Larson who talked about how the band was formed, their thoughts on digital music distribution, and crazy fan encounters. Excerpts:  

PJ Caña: Okay. Could you tell me briefly how The Royal Concept got together? 

David Larson: Well, Philip and I attended a school of jazz in high school. That’s where we met. We were just friends but never really started playing together until we were like 17 or 18. I guess that’s when it started. 

PJC: You guys sing songs in English. Do you have Swedish songs? 

DL: No, only English. Ever since [the band] started it has always been English. Growing up, everyone sang in English. But I do write songs in Swedish, sometimes.

PJC: I was wondering what you guys think of how music is distributed these days, with digital downloading and all that. Do you think that’s a good or bad thing, especially for artists like yourself?

DL: I think it’s a positive thing that music has become so accessible to more people. The world can hear and experience more music. As a band, I don’t think we can expect to make money now from just selling records. We just want to make enough so we can tour. I think people are free to download music as they wish, and if they want to support the band by buying our album then that’s great, too. 

PJC: You’ve been touring a lot over the world. What’s the most memorable show you’ve played so far? 

DL: I think every show is memorable. I remember almost all of the shows we’ve played. But I guess…when we played in Tokyo for the first time, that was great, because we got to experience a new part of the world. Also when we played our first show in America. That was pretty special. 

PJC: How do you make each show different? 

DL: We do a lot of improvising on our shows so it’ll be different each night. It’s also all about [the] interactions with the audience. 

PJC: A lot of people have compared you to artists like Phoenix and The Killers. Are you comfortable with these comparisons? 

DL: It’s all good. We don’t mind people comparing us to this and that artist. But I just tell them that they should come see our live shows because then they’ll know we’re our own band and we have our own sound. We’re comfortable about ourselves and our sound. Actually, Thomas Mars [of Phoenix] told me once that her sister called him up one time when she heard a song on the radio and she thought it was Phoenix. It turned out it was one of our songs! [Laughs]. 

PJC: Any crazy fan encounters? 

DL: We get a lot of crazy things happening all the time. When people try to get up onstage during the shows, I see that they try to get past the guards, but you know the guards are always very strict. It’s funny. Sometimes it’s good to have them up onstage, it makes the show more fun. 

PJC: Are you a fan yourself of other artists? What are you listening to these days? 

DL: Right now I am very much into Haim. I think they have a great sound. I’m also a huge fan of Vampire Weekend.  

PJC: You’re playing in Manila for the Wanderland Music and Arts Festival. Anything you know about the Philippines? 

DL: Actually, one of my best friends was born in the Philippines. It’s such a beautiful country. I know there’s a very famous volcano there that I would really like to see…

PJC: Mayon Volcano? 

Yes, yes, I think that’s it. We’re very excited to finally come to your country and play our music. I think it’s fantastic that we get to go there. We couldn’t be more excited.  

Wanderland Music and Arts Festival 2014 is presented by Karpos Multimedia Inc. and it happens May 17, 2014 at the Globe Circuit Events grounds. For more information and updates about Wanderland 2014, visit the official website: Wanderland.ph and check out the following social media sites: Facebook/Wanderlandfest, Facebook/KarposMultimedia, Twitter/wanderlandfest, Instagram/wanderlandfest, Twitter/karposmm, Instagram/karposmm – Rappler.com

 Paul John Caña is the managing editor of Lifestyle Asia magazine and is a live music geek. Email him at pjcana@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @pauljohncana