JENS LINDBERG - LES MAHARAJAS AIMERAIENT JOUER EN FRANCE

 

A l'occasion de la sortie du nouveau single des Maharajas sur Rogue Records, nous avons demandé à Jens Lindberg de répondre à quelques questions. Toujours prompt à faire vivre la mémoire du Garage Rock, il a bien aimablement accepté. 

Why did you choose Rogue Records for your latest release?

Actually it was Jean-Marc Varlet who asked us in the first place back in April 2021. He made contact with me and told us that he would like to do a 7" on his label and as we were familliar with all the good work he had done earlier we were very happy to agree. However, we told him that he had to wait until we had finished the work with our album 'RnR Graduates. This meant that we could start with the recording first in January 2023.

You're also a Chaputa Rds band, what's the difference of work between both labels ?

Both Jean-Marc of Rogue Records and Esgar, Rui and Themoteo of Chaputa! Recods are extremely professional. I would say that the biggest difference is that when Chaputa always want covers made by Rui's artistic genius pencil Jean-Marc insists of cool, retro looking photos of the bands. Chaputa is also maybe more open to punk, powerpop and other styles that are not strictly garage whereas Rogue Records are more into neo-garage.

How did the deal for the 7" release go with Rogue Records?

It was easy to deal with Jean-Marc.

Were the tracks on the single specially produced for this  label? Or did they already exist?

The tracks was especially produced for Rogue Records. Ulf, who wrote (Let's) Play House had however made this song before we were approached by Jean-Marc but my song, Talkin' To The Man was made after we made the record deal.

Did you have a say in the choice of cover art?

Not really, we only gave Jean-Marc the best photo we could give him. A photo taken on the 5th of November 2022 after one of our shows at Bishops Arms here in Stockholm. We're in a pub and we're playing pub-rock!

Why choose a French label?

Again - Rogue Records choose us! And we're extremely happy with that. But we also think it's funny and a good idea to put out our music on various labels.

To date, Rogue Records has never released two albums by the same artist. Do you intend to release more with them?

If Jean-Marc asks us we would love to do that. The only problem now is that we have no new songs hehehe...

The single is currently sold for €10 + shipping on Bandcamp. What do you think of it?

I have really no idea. That question you have to ask Jean-Marc!

What do you think is the state of the garage music industry at the moment, and have you noticed any changes since then?

I don't know if the word 'industry' can be connected to the music style of garage hahahaha! But I think it's healthy and alive and still kicks ass. I'm happy to see bands like The Jackets, The Wylde Gooms, The Scenes, The Smoggers, Embrooks, etc etc - I could name a hundred - keep on playing live and releasing vinyl all over the globe. We need this as rockenroll is better than music.

Tell us about the way records are currently released. Do you have a contract for each release? Do you earn a percentage of sales? What about 2023?

Well I can only speak for The Maharajas but we always plan ahead depending on what we want to do with our songs - like if if we're up to make a 7", an EP or even an LP. We have never any written contracts, more verbal agreements with the label that we will make this for you and it's gonna be ready a certain date. There's absolutely NO money in this for us, to be honest we pay all studio costs and we get the usual 10% of the pressed records. So if you make 500 vinyl 7"s we get 50. To record 2 songs properly here in Sweden is very expensive...we don't get percentage of sales. I can tell you that we have a new project for making records but at this moment everything is VERY secret!

Do you have another release planned for the coming months?

There's one song of The Maharajas that will be out on a compilation in February/March 2024 if everything works out. That's gonna be a lot of fun but I can't give you any details yet as I want to be 100% sure that this launch will really take off.

Do you plan to tour in France?

As we haven't played in France yet (incredibly enough) it would be great if some manager/promoter could give us a deal so that we could meet all the good garage guys in France and at the same time enjoy some of the best wines and food there is. We're not expensive, just give us your best offer!!

Cheers, 

Jens.

Thanks a lot, Jens !