So if you don’t know, Axwell is part of the Swedish House Mafia. He’s also been working on a great new album which is shaping up to be mega and I for one am totally loving the fantastic new track “Nothing But Love” which has an equally mega video to go along with it. I caught up with Axwell to talk about “Nothing But Love”, working with Pharrell as part of Swedish House Mafia and the expectations he sets upon himself when making records – enjoy.
EQ: Hello Axwell – How are you feeling about “Nothing But Love” being out there now. It’s a great track, I love it – very positive energy about it…
Axwell: Well it feels great because it’s been something that I’ve been working on for a long time. I’ve been working on the album as a whole and kind of kept everything back for awhile, but it feels good to be pushing out the first single finally and keep them coming so to speak!
I have to tell you, I watched the video three times and got three different messages as to what the video means. I was hoping you could elaborate as to what the “Nothing But Love” video is all about – there definitely is a “bromance” theme going on there…
There’s always a bromance going on – in many ways! The main idea behind the video was like a take on Jesus – how would he be if he was just a normal guy among us. Because he was a normal guy among people but obviously not really that normal. That’s the idea.
Then the second time I watched the video – I was like “oh it’s really about Christ dying for our sins…”
With dance videos you often get people coming back to you with treatments like “yeah – blah blah blah” y’know. It’s very common you get back a boring shitty video idea. But when I got this Jesus idea back – I was like of course – it fits the track perfectly and it’s interesting so let’s do it!
Well Jesus partying and dancing in the club is definitely an interesting way to look at it…
Well if was living in these days, that might be one of the things he would be doing. He wouldn’t be walking around in a robe, with bare feet in the desert. That was the idea…
What can you tell me about the album?
I think it might be a little bit all over the place. Because I kinda like to change all the time. I get bored with the same music very easily. I think it might feel different all the time – different tracks, different vocalists, different sounds. But there will be something that holds it together throughout so that you know it’s Axwell. Lots of vocals – I want to make people feel something – that’s why I make music. I want to feel the goosebumps when I make the tracks. I need to feel the goosebumps too – that’s the main ingredient – goosebumps.
You must be thrilled that “One” with Swedish House Mafia has done so well – did you anticipate that?
No – it’s been doing extremely well. You cannot tell when you make a track how well it’s going to do because it’s all about timing and coincidence. Just then, it was right for people. People were ready for that sound – you can say. Obviously we liked what we did, but you can never say a track is gonna be massive. But I’m just so surprised at how crazy the crowd goes to the at track – I’ve never seen anything like it.
What was it like collaborating with Pharrell on that one?
Massive – a dream come true. He’s been on the top of my list for a very long time. The fact that we managed to get him to sing on this track – that was like if things weren’t already great – they got better! I don’t even believe that we have Pharrell on the track – I still can’t believe it.
Are you still pinching yourself?
Yeah it’s just such an unexpected thing. I’ve never heard him on a good house track before. I’ve heard him singing vaguely on some tracks. I was a little afraid that he would say “ahhh this house thing sucks” y’know. I hope that we proved to him that he should continue to sing on house tracks.
As someone coming from the DJ world, are you happy that house and 90s music is making a comeback right now?
Yeah because it’s fun to be a part of that wave. It’s like music goes in circles and right now we are a part of something that is current and something that people enjoy so we are just enjoying it and happy that we get to experience this “high” interest and excitement right now.
Love Swedish House Mafia as much as we do? Then you’re in luck because there is a MOVIE being made about them and their worldwide domination – It’s called “Take One” and you can check out the trailer right here.