4 July: In one part of the world, actually in that very part of the world where this brother and sister were born, today is a day to celebrate independence. The mighty 4th of July. Instead of barbequing by a midwestern lake or watching fireworks from the top of a city building, we are fast at work on music, fuelled on by the beautiful power of the Swedish cinnamon bun flushed down with the magical elixir known as deep dark Swedish coffee. Ah yes, the sun is bright in the sky and music is pumping back through our Dag för Dag veins. As little baby Evert celebrates his 2-month birthday next Friday, we two are busying ourselves with rehearsals for summer festivals, mixing and mastering new material for a 4-song EP release in October, and writing new songs to take out on the autumn road. We are padding the baby's carseat with plenty of soft and friendly toys for a fall full of road time, bouncing from gig to gig across the many-landscaped paths of Europe. From Norway to Spain, we plan on filling your stages with our sounds. In the meantime enjoy your summers, whether they be filled with dark contemplation or bright laziness. love sarah
2 June: Considering that Dag för Dag truly is a family affair, the month of May honoured us with a most precious addition to our set-up. Sarah gave birth to Evert Jake Malmros on 14 May. At a wee 18 days old, we are yet to experience if he's got drummer potential within him, but we can happily say that he is the most beautiful perfect magical member of the band yet. We are spending the month of June in the land of poopy diapers and bloated boobs, but music is not far from our fingertips. From July we will be on the road to play a few festivals and are gearing up for a September, October and November absolutely cram-packed with live shows. Coincidentally (or not), Evert loves riding in Gertie, our touring van, being lulled into the deepest of sleeps through her movement. Looks like we've got another natural road dog amongst us! We wish you all a sun-soaked, happiness-imbued June and cannot wait to meet you on the road later this summer and autumn.
22 April: Happy Earth Day, one and all! Here in Dag för Dag land, we most recently completed an incredible feat...playing a gig 10 days before Sarah is due to have her first baby. We played in Stockholm in front of 600 wonderful people, and a truly magical experience passed between us. Beautiful...thank you to those who were there with us. So now we wait for baby, who is predicted to be a drummer by the age of 4 - no pressure whatsover! Not that we aren't happy with Chucky B, but what band couldn't use two drummers, eh? When one doesn't make it to the gig, you've got another on hand. Anyhow, while the band is taking a birth-breather, things are still rolling forwards. We are finishing up an EP release for early September, we'll be playing summer festivals, and big plans are underway for September, October, November touring across Europe. Get ready baby for a rock 'n' roll start to your wee little life.
2 April: Happy spring one and all! The weak April sun is working its very hardest to melt the remaining Stockholm snow, and I sit every morning at the kitchen window visually measuring how much less there is left to go. We are hungry for warmer days, our Californian blood dangerously too cold for much more survival. So in the meantime, we have been keeping ourselves as busy as can be. I waddled my way (that's what one does at 36 weeks pregnant) to a deep dark cellar strung with lights and scattered with gold glitter to meet my brother and the infamous Chucky B last week, where the magnificent Ted Malmros filmed us playing 'Animal'. He's working his magic on it now to produce another video masterpiece. On the musical front, that same brother and I have been remixing some B-sides for impending release. They sound quite pretty, if I do say so myself, and they go by the names of Time of the Roses, Beggar Boy, Racing to Racine and Two by Two, so keep your ears on the alert. And one last very exciting and incredible piece of news. Our dearest friends Shout Out Louds asked us what we thought about playing with them at their sold-out Kägelbanan gig in Stockholm on 18 April, 10 days before the baby in my belly's delivery date. So we sat down in a quiet room and thought about it. We didn't know what to say. So we asked the baby, and on receiving two kicks in return, we took that as a YES! We're on! Unless a tornado swoops Kägelbanan up into the blue Swedish sky or baby makes an appearance early, we will be rocking it as hard as pregnancy allows us. For those of you not able to see us then, do not despair. We are packing our summer full of as many festivals as will have us play. Come on summer (OK, I'll settle for spring first). Much love and sunlight, Sarah.
18 March: First of all, we have an offering for all of you who have loved and believed in us since our teeny-weeny beginning and also for you who have just discovered us - a free download! Two fine chaps, who call themselves Coma, have graced our stereos with a magnificent remix of 'Hands and Knees', which we guarantee shall have you dancing round your living room and jumping on your bed in your underwear until the wee hours. At least that's the effect it's had on us! Collect it here: www.dagfordag.com/handsandknees And if you haven't yet watched the mind-blowing video for the original version of the song, master-minded by Ted and Crille, you can view it on that very same site. So get clicking!
In other news Sarah is starting a band baby blog, where she will invite you to join us in these months when the band is off the road growing the band's latest member (only 41 days to go!), giving you a glimpse of the music we're making in this time, the B-sides we're mastering, the videos we're filming, the Swedish cinnamon buns we're eating. So stay tuned...it's coming soon.
10 March 2010: Baby baby no wanna play play - March touring cancelled.
Hello dear wonderful people
This past Thursday night, we played a show on our way to the UK for our tour. During the show, I fell on stage. More than physically damaging me, the fall really really shook me up emotionally. Over the past few weeks the wee little baby in my belly has turned into a moose (at least what feels and looks like a moose) and my sense of balance has dissipated into thin air. After 48 hours of sleepless contemplation, we came to the conclusion that my safety and the safety of mini-me must come first. So we sadly cancel our shows.
Now that I'm back home in Stockholm with my belly and no guitar, I am obviously very sad. Playing our songs for you is what I live to do. So I beg you, please don't forget about us in this short time period. Come June, if you still want us on stage before you, we will be there...and baby will be with us as its own little person and not just a moose in my belly. Thank you for all of your kind messages. I send you much love and compassion in the meantime.
18 February 2010: Boo hoo. Seriously boo hoo. With tears in eyes and chins pointed downwards, we sadly canceled our German and Italian shows this month and next. An act of God (well, just music industry nonsense) blew our way and encouraged us to do so. But quicker than we could say BOO, we dried our eyes and upped our chins and looked onwards to the future. If you are to really understand and connect with our music, you must see us in front of you on stage! And so we shall make this all up to you, starting with a show in Berlin on 21 March and an Italian summer tour in the planning. Please bring us close in the meantime with the real BOO, the album, our pride and joy.
10 February 2010: Today our much-anticipated debut album (well, much-anticipated on our parts) BOO is released across Scandinavia. This is the biggest thing to happen to us since the invention of sliced bread, which coincidentally neither of us eat much of any more. Oh shut up Sarah and get to the point! So BOO is out today up in the northern reaches of the European continent, out Friday in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and will be released 22 February in the UK and the rest of Europe and digitally worldwide. Amazing! Thank you everyone who has listened to us live and listened to us in the privacy of their headphones, car stereos, boomboxes and through their silly computer speakers. We have felt your adoration and you have driven us forwards, despite all the boulders standing in our way on this treacherous industry path. Much love to all of you.
8 February 2010: Hands and Knees is one of NME's 10 ten songs this week
7 January 2010: A new decade and are we ever ready to GO! While Jacob makes the 30-hour airplane journey east back to Stockholm (can you guess where he's spent his holidays), Sarah readies Gertie the touring van for a busy few months. That's right - from Norway to Italy, we'll be hitting stages up until the tail end of March, when under doctor's orders Sarah puts her feet up in preparation for the 28 April arrival of the band's first baby. Such magic and wonder befalls us this year... an album release (BOO in February), a baby release (Evert or Elsa in April) and the living live sound of music release on stage (January to March, June to December). We have been receiving some incredible attention from the most tip-top of Britain's radio DJs, with our first UK single 'Animal' played by Steve Lamacq, Marc Riley and Gideon Coe on 6 Music, Huw Stephens on Radio 1, and John Kennedy on XFM. We are ecstatic. And we would be ever-so honoured to see you at one of our shows this year. Here's to the year of releases...let's go!
10 December 2009: What a wonderful tour! We were graced with the gentlemanly company of Olli, Jono and Jay from A Place To Bury Strangers, three unexpectedly lovely lads hailing from Brooklyn. They filled our days with laughter and our nights with excellent aural overload. If you don't know of them, you must! We also spent three days in the teeny-weeny town of Haldern, Germany, where we caught of with the fine folks of Haldern Pop Records - our new home. We spent two days in a studio there with Klaus and Mattias, recording four new tracks. But hold on one simple moment, kids - first things first. Today across Scandinavia, the first single from our much-awaited debut album BOO is released. Hands and Knees. Awesome. The album will be out in February throughout Europe and the British Isles. We have waited and waited and waited for this moment and now we see it up ahead. But before 2009 is through, we intend to alight the stage of our hometown Stockholm one last time. This Saturday night, 12 December, please join us at Debaser Slussen. For those of you not residing in this fine city, we recommend you use all your powers to transport yourselves here, for we will be joined on stage by the utterly magnificent Chuck Bukowski on drums and a visit from the Vegetarian Wolf. And wouldn't you just love to see what surprises he has in store for you...
24 November: On the road again. After a seemingly endless hiatus, where we've been home recording, writing and redressing all our ramparts, we are very ready to hit the road again. Which is where we now are! We finish this wonderful year of 2009 with a tour of Germany, Switzerland and one stop in France's capital city. So please please high-tail it to your nearest venue, which is hopefully one that we're playing. We have so much new incredible material, and plenty of special treats for you perfect people. Hurrah!
13 November: Being blessed by the magic video- and photography of Ted Malmros, Christian Haag and Aida Chehrehgosha, we present you with the almighty video for our new song, HANDS AND KNEES. Check it out under the video section of this page - spectacular! And our calendar is filling up with shows for later this month and into December. We are hitting that holy road!
4 November 2009: Check out a preview to our brand new single, to be released in the UK and Ireland on December 7th.
Something special coming for the rest of you on mainland Europe soon.
Read at Altsounds.com
28 September 2009: Autumn is upon us. As the days rapidly shorten up in these northern spheres, we spread next year's calendar before us and plan all the glorious touring we'll do in support of our forthcoming album release, BOO. We'll be trailing all over Europe, from Sweden to Spain, as well as flying over to the open landscapes of North America. What excitement! To share our joy, we offer you a sneak preview of our first album single, HANDS AND KNEES, a brand-new song that we just can't get enough of. As you tap your toes and pit-a-pat your pinkies along to this little track, we are filming the video to accompany it. Superb!
18 August 2009: We are overjoyed to share with you a beautiful band video, made by our dear dear friend and honorary Dag för Dag member, Ted Malmros, better known as the bassist of Shout Out Louds and videographer for the likes of Peter, Bjorn and John and Lykke Li. Feast your eyes on this
9 July 2009: Hello one and all! We salute you from the recording dungeon, where we've been held captive since last Monday in order to record the 7 remaining tracks for our full-length album. The master behind the mixing desk, Johannes, has been stirring up quite the magic, if you ask us. We are amazed at what he's extracting from our lungs, our fingertips, and our hearts and we can hardly wait to have it with you. Our dearest sorcerer behind the lens, Mister Ted, has been capturing some of the takes on film, so that you yourselves can witness the process oh so very soon. It's all such a journey, and as we climb down the dark stairs every morning, we go that much deeper into the music. That is where we shall stay, in one form or another, for the rest of this month. And so we shan't be making it to the UK for Latitude Festival, much to our own dismay. But best to pack away the tunes and save them up for the great unveiling, just round the corner. In the meantime, may you all be showered in sunlight and good times. We'll be back, oh yes we will...
1 June 2009: We are soaking in our salty post-tour blues. That is not to say that we had a terrible time over the past three weeks - no, quite the opposite. We fell much deeper in love with the road, the process, and you our beautiful audiences. Thank you for coming out, for cheering and smiling and coming up after the shows to say such incredible things about our music. And thank you Chucky B for drumming like a truly inspired maniac, and Tommy Laurinson for coddling and loving us each and every day, wherever we awoke and wherever we spoke. Although we'd love nothing more than to wash our clothes and head straight back out, we know we have some songs to lay down for the record, and so to the studio we go. We'll spend this time ekeing out every last drop of music in the recording land, with the help of endless Scandinavian daylight and dips in the crystal waters, so that come the autumn we will hit the road running, clutching copies of our first full-length album in our eager paws. We will be playing a few shows this summer, including Latitude Festival in the UK in July. So neither you nor we needn't feel too deprived of the joys of the live show. We love you all!
13 May 2009: Time has wings! Next thing we know it's spring, the trees heavy with green, even all the way up here in the Nordic hinterlands. Home for a few swift moments to pack our bags and rehearse the last few kinks out of our set, we ready ourselves for departure early tomorrow morning. British Isles, here we come. Having kissed and squeezed and shed many a tear on the shoulder of Dante - our touring drummer of 1 year - we let him go to tend to his thousands of other things. And welcome Erik, who joins us now, as our drummer on this musical road. Please join us on our trails if you're able. And if you're not, then get your pretty little hands on a copy of our very first official release, 'Shooting from the Shadows'. See you soon!
26 April 2009: We love touring. We really do. And the past few weeks on the road have been no exception to the rule for us. Joined in the beginning by our North American compadres Alexei and Dan of Handsome Furs, we played some incredible shows, at least for us. A special merci beaucoup to Paris, who absolutely exploded with energy as we sang our songs and fixed our broken bass before you all. And yes, Ferrara, grazie mille for showering us with the most unexpected hospitality ever. Also a big thank you to Flavie, Zaida, Anke, Sebastian, Lena and Anna. Back in the Stockholm archipelago, adjusting our eyes to the last drip-drops of a Scandinavian winter, we prepare ourselves for a busy May...with much joy! With our first-ever official release coming out on 4 May across Europe, we couldn't be ready for more music. So join us, pretty pretty please.
26 March 2009: SXSW in Austin was amazing, overwhelming and sun-drenched. And dad was there, so we were grinning from ear to ringing ear. We burned our noses in the direct sunlight, drank Lone Star beer, and poured our hearts straight onto three Texan stages. Now we are back in ever-so-cold Stockholm, where the snow is still falling. That's OK though, for we still have this crazy love affair with our adopted homeland, and are happily preparing ourselves for spring touring. Best of all, our first official release - Shooting from the Shadows - a 6-song EP filled with magic and dust, will be available for one and all (well, those in Europe and the UK) from 4 May. Yippee!!! Join us at a venue somewhere in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Austria, Holland, France, Italy or England in April and May.
3 March 2009: We are tired of winter. How about all of you? So it is with great excitement that we anticipate our trip to the Texan sunshine, to join the many musicians in Austin for South by Southwest in a couple weeks' time. We return to European shores to embark on a hefty April and May touring schedule, both on our own and with the electrifying Handsome Furs. And we are very very happy to announce our first official release, a 6-song EP titled 'Shooting from the Shadows' on May first. Keep your eyes peeled and your pretty mouths open, spreading the Dag för Dag word!
21 January: A new year, a new US president and a whole set of new horizons here at Dag för Dag headquarters. Boo, our debut album, is all mixed, mastered and ready for you, glorious people. We make the final preparations and fill in our 2009 tour schedule, trudging our way through the Nordic winter, singing a new song or two. Keep coming back to see how we're doing in these positively changing times.
15 December: This year has taken us on the most magnificently magical musical journey. From Germany in January to Oregon in September to England in December, we can hardly catch our breath long enough to say THANK YOU EVERYONE for all your kind words, your support, your enthusiasm, and your beautiful eardrums. Personal thanks to Dante, our incredible live drummer who feels more like one of us than we could have ever imagined possible. Thanks to Lykke Li and her touring team for four fun gigs in December. And our hearts bleed with gratitude for Spencer, Dan, Arlen, Dante, Todd, Sharon and JC, the Wolf Parade wonders who treated us with utmost care, love and liquor on our recent tour with them...we miss them more than is healthy, we reckon.
Our debut album BOO is in the final stages of fine-tuning, and all guns are on deck to have it out early next year. And we are booking booking booking our days up with shows, starting at Eurosonic in January and looking to head over to the US for our first tour of our original homeland some time next year. We wish all of you peace and rest over the holidays.
Much love, Sarah and Jacob
6 November: Before saying adieu to 2008, we decided it would be best to hit the road and electrify our amplifiers with the tones of our new tunes. So here we go. We are totally honoured to be playing with these amazing acts - Wolf Parade, The Faint and Lykke Li. Zig-zagging our way from Stockholm to Stuttgart, with a stint in the UK, we hope to see you rocking out in the crowd. A few dates may still be added before we toast in 2009, so check back often. Hip hip hoorah hoorah hoorah hoorah!
20 October: We miss Oregon! No one told us that recording an album could be as fantastic as we found ours to be. The fine folks in the precious town of Cottage Grove ensured that we lived three wonderful weeks while putting sound to tape. And we are happier than we could've dreamed with the outcome. As Mister Swift mixes the magic, we set out booking our autumn full of live dates. Keep checking in for updates...we hope to be gigging somewhere near you very soon, with final album preparations underway!
1 September: We are winging it westwards, folks. With 17 songs packed into our suitcase and plenty of excitement to go round, we are heading to record our first full-length album. What better way to spend the first autumnal moments than in the studio with Richard Swift. See you soon!
31 August: Listen to us on Monday 1 September on Swedish national radio! We met the ever-so nice Sara Martinsson for a face to face on all things Dag för Dag for her radio show P3 Pop. She will be broadcasting between 10pm and midnight Swedish time (+1 hour GMT).
12 August: Life is anything but quiet on the Dag för Dag front. in three wee weeks, we'll be gypsing our way westward to the great state of Oregon, where we'll be recording our first full-length album. we will be graciously graced with the production and artistic assistance of the magnificent Richard Swift. and that is not all. in september, we are releasing a limited 7 inch on Germs of Youth, a Pure Groove label based in London. with Pirate Sea as the A side and two brand new B sides (one a raucous track and one a purely piano peace piece), it's anything but to be missed. oh, and we'll be heading to the UK fresh off the recording road in October. so catch us while you can... it's all wheels and rhythms for us these days.
25 June 08: Danke schön, Austria! We had a wonderful time in the lush green landscape, and were treated oh so very well by all we met along our way. Thank you to Justin, Andy, Mike and Erwin at the Weekender in Innsbruck for all your gracious hospitality. And thank you to Kerstin in Vienna, for making our brief trip east absolutely worth it... and difficult to leave! We shall be back!
With summer in full swing, we are getting the full-length album prepared. Extra sunlight up north equals extra music for us. Plenty of howling, plenty of pedalboarding, plenty of recording. We have a couple Stockholm shows in July, so if you're in the neighbourhood, please grace us with your ears and lovely faces.
2 June 08: Wow. That's how we feel after two whirlwind weeks in the United Kingdom. Thank you everyone who joined us on our musical evenings. We whittled our way through all parts of London, from the far north of Highgate to the southern shores of Brixton, weaving through Camden, Kings Cross, Hoxton and Soho along the way. We bumbled up north in our ever-so black touring mobile, playing for lovely people in Nottingham and Doncaster. And then we zoomed along the bank holiday motorway to the far west that is Bristol, to play the legendary Louisiana. What a trip! Thank you to all the wonderful people who opened their doors to us, providing us with clean sheets and eggs for breakfast, and their eardrums at our shows as well. What a lucky pair we are...
Now that we're over here in Scandinavia once again, we are ready to play the summer stages. We have the pleasure of joining Loney, Dear, Idiot Kid and other great bands this Saturday 7 June at Trädgården Festival in Stockholm. Magical times are up ahead.
12 May 08: The sun is doing its magnificent, 18-hour, Scandinavian dance for us here in Stockholm. We had a fantastic Friday night playing with Noah and the Whale, and thank all you who joined us. We are changing strings, packing cases and spilling out the last words of our newest tunes in preparation for our trip to the UK. We will be adding gigs across the British Isles, playing from 19 May until 31 May - keep tuned into our myspace for new times and places.
18 April 08: Happy spring, one and all! The blossoms are beginning to display their pretty faces up here in Scandinavia, and we are playing writing practicing in our underground bunker, readying ourselves for an exciting journey to the British Isles. The lovely Phoenix FM in the UK played us on The Mixtape last night, to ready all those English eardrums for our arrival. Before we sail westwards, we will be playing a very special show in Stockholm, on 9 May at Debaser with Noah and the Whale, where we will be guest DJing for the party after the live music. We can hardly wait!
9 April 08: Wow, have we been busy and the camera has been capturing a few angles of it! Check us out on Swedish SVT doing an acoustic version of "Racing to Racine". To see us talking about what it's like to be American siblings living in Stockholm, watch our interview on Dygnet Runt TV the day we played with The Kills.
We are also excited to announce that we will be playing in Austria in June during the European Football Championships. We will be the house band at the Weekender Club in Innsbruck, playing 3 shows. And we'll be zooming over to Vienna for a show there as well. More shows to be announced...
25 March 08: Ahoy ahoy, and raise your gentle eardrums to these rocky seas! We ducked underground last Tuesday and recorded PIRATE SEA, a song those of you who've seen us live have heard before. Listen to it on our myspace.
7 March 08: We are coming to the United Kingdom... hip hip hoorah! We will be opening for the fantastic Blitzen Trapper lads, as well as playing the Dot to Dot Festival. Check below for dates, and don't miss us for the world!
'Symmetry of Standing' now available at Pet Sounds - Skånegatan 53 - and Record Hunter - Sankt Eriksgatan 70 - in Stockholm.