You all come from different bands, can you tell us about your background? Mike: Yes, we all have been playing in many different bands and styles over the years: rockabilly, indie-pop, ska, surf, punk… Mike Bell & The Belltones , The Hypnomen , The Fanatic IV , Valkyrians , Kevin , The Toxics , Them Bird Things and many others. I thought it would be cool to write some garage songs and put on a band, if only to make some recordings. I asked all the guys that I knew who would probably want to play in a garage band and luckily that was just enough to form The Mike Bell Cartel . I’ve been playing with Pekka and Samuel before so I knew for sure they’d be up for it. How did you discover the kind of music you play ? Did you play a lot of gigs under the name Mike Belle Cartel? Ville: The release of the Nuggets box set in 1998 had a huge impact for all of us. Mike: Nuggets is definitely the key: there’s so many different styles and sounds and feelings, it’s raw and it’s poppy, there’s EVE