In the years since their formation, WhoMadeWho have established themselves as one of the most important underground bands of their generation. The Danish group, consisting of Tomas Høffding, Tomas Barfod and Jeppe Kjellberg, has an exceptional sense of emotional depth, heartbreaking melodies and brilliant songwriting, boasting an expansive discography currently spanning a total of six albums and a plethora of EPs, singles and remixes released on labels such as Kompakt, Innervisions and Life & Death. On the road, they are internationally renowned for their professionalism and outstanding live performances and have become regular fixtures at some of the world’s most notable musical festivals, including Roskilde, Sonar, Melt! and Burning Man, to name just a few.
At the beginning of March, the band impressed with their stunning live performance for streaming giants Cercle in a breathtaking setting at the gates of the temples of Abu Simbel in Egypt. Now, the trio is heads back to their native west coast of Denmark for their mesmerising new single, Mermaids. We caught up with the guys to find out more…
WWD: Would you mind quickly introducing yourselves to our readers?
We are 3 guys from diverse musical backgrounds. Tomas Barfod is the producer / DJ who used to plays the drums. Jeppe Kjellberg, guitar player with a jazz background. Tomas Høffding, bass player with a singer/songwriter background. As soon as we met one rainy Copenhagen Monday night, it was all sparkles and fireworks, and it has been like that ever since. Obviously, we all approached each others musical backgrounds and we have inspired each other a lot over in all those years. Like Barfod learning to play disco-drums…and then realizing he would much rather do turntables…. Jeppe realizing he was also a great singer…. Høffding realizing disco-bass guitar is equally fun as trying to play the bass like Paul Mcartney. And so on.
WWD: You’ve just released your brand new single Mermaids, from your upcoming seventh studio album. What can you tell us about the record and the inspiration behind it?
The album is still in the making, so its too early to say exactly whats the deal, but we are aiming sky high at beauty, art, trip. Not aiming for radio charts but more for the hearts and souls of the people we play for and meet around the world.
WWD: We understand that your new album will be out early next year. Is there anything more you can tell us about the project at this stage?
The up-coming album differs from our previous album Synchronicity, which was very electronic and club-oriented. It has a different energy. It’s more intimate somehow. Synchronicity was also strictly based on collaborations with different artists. This is our own baby.
WWD: We loved your recent Cercle performance from Abu Simbel. Is there a reason why you chose Egypt as the location?
The Streaming was originally planned to be done on top of a shipreck in the Caribbean close to Bimini, but then life happened, and our plans changed. Luckily Cercle (the legendary French masters of streaming) had a good connection to the Egyptian Government, and offered us this unique opportunity. To play at the The Abu Simbel Tempel of King Ramses III and Nefertari, all alone with no audience. Super exciting. And a very intense place to express our music. Almost intimidating in terms of the history and the mythological power of the place. We are very grateful to the Tourist Minister of Egypt and Cercle for giving us this epic opportunity.
WWD: Can you describe your usual music making process? With three of you in the band, what specific roles do you each adopt in the studio?
The process is extremely diverse from track to track. One of our patterns is this: we do an instrumental demo. Then Høffding and Jeppe try and make the nicest songs ever on top of it.
Another pattern is to take the melody from one track, add build a new instrumental from that. We basically try to attack the songwriting process from as many angles as possible. We always have a lot of specific references and visions for each song, trying hard to follow those vision and to do very specific things in the productions, but we always “fail” to reproduce our references, and for what its worth, our music always ends up sounding like us.
WWD: Any special bits of gear / hardware that you’re particularly digging right now?
We are spending a lot of time money and energy on vintage synths these days. We want to do more outboard recordings. In general you can say that we are trying to move the production a bit out of the computer. Adding as many analog instruments to the mix as possible, like percussion pianos, glockenspiel, mellotron, bass, guitars, drums, etc…But of course, in the end, the computer and powerful software are still key.
WWD: How much has the pandemic changed your life over the past year? What it’s like to live in Denmark these days, without clubbing, concerts, festivals?
Honestly, Denmark shows its great system these days. A lot of businesses are going bankrupt obviously, but almost everyone gets to keep their houses and stuff, and we don’t go to bed hungry. Denmark is a safe country with a huge pile of money in the bank from the super high taxes we all pay. That said, WhoMadeWho has always been a non-stop touring band, so this year gave us a lot of time to make new music. More than ever before. Right now we have a feeling that it’s going to show in a positive way on the upcoming album. We got this unique chance to look inwards. It shook us up, and opened us up for emotional changes. Confronted us with feelings of restlessness, anger frustration on one side, and on the other side a general gratefulness about existence.
We’ve already been through the whole emotional palette. Although Danes are very privileged, as the rumor has it we are not necessarily super happy. It’s such a paradox…
WWD: What are your plans for the rest of 2021? Do you have any gigs booked over the summer / later in the year?
Our main plan is to be in the studio and work more on the album. Still it seams like shows are starting to come in frequently now. We will be traveling a lot more than expected. So far we have confirmed bookings in the United States, Mexico, Greece, Ibiza, Israel, Poland, Estonia, Belgium and some other places. It all comes in kind of sideways, yet we are very optimistic about the future in general.
WWD: Any final words for our When We Dip readers?
Can’t wait to come and play live for you somewhere in this amazing world…
WhoMadeWho – Mermaids is out now via Embassy One