RatatoskOnline had an interview with Christer Lundberg from the Swedish synthpop band Universal Poplab. Questions by Martijn Riemersma and Gerjan van der Kamp.

First could you tell something about yourself, and what is your role in Universal Poplab?

- My name is Christer Lundberg and I’m the lead singer and songwriter of Universal Poplab.

Universal Poplab is quite young; in 2004 the debut album was released. How long have you known eachother and how did it all get started? Did the band evolve in the last years?

- Paul Lachenardière and I started Universal Poplab in the fall of 2002. I’d been writing songs for a long time and Paul was, by that time, producing instrumental electronic music that I really liked. The idea of blending our talents sounded very interesting in my head. Taking it further, I contacted Paul and we arranged to meet. The music that came out of our first experimental session in the studio was better than I could ever have hoped for and our very first demo recording earned us a record deal. Hans Olsson (the technical mastermind and third member of Universal Poplab) was in the audience at one of our first gigs. He approached Paul and me after the show and told us how he thought we could improve our sound. His ideas were too good to ignore and, over time, Hans’ involvement with the band grew until he became a fully-fledged band member in 2005.

What were the reactions in Sweden to the debut album?

- Overall, the debut album got very positive reactions, at least from people who know anything about synthpop. The singles “New baby boom” and our cover version of  Morrissey’s “We hate it when our friends become successful” were played a lot on the radio and we did a lot of gigs.

Is it hard to get noticed in Sweden?

- Since there is such an enormous amount of new music coming out every week, it’s tough to get noticed. But I wouldn’t say it’s harder or easier in Sweden than in any other country.   

The band sounds like Covenant, VNV Nation and a bit Depeche Mode, but then with it’s own style. Do those bands also inspire you? And are there other bands/artists you are inspired by?

- I really respect the work of all the bands mentioned above, but wouldn’t call them influences.
I grew up listening a lot to Soft Cell and the solo work of Marc Almond, Paul has his jazz and techno influences and Hans works as a technician and producer on everything from guitar pop to extreme electro. I’d say we take the best parts of each member’s influences and meld and process them till it's impossible to call the result anything other than Universal Poplab music.
We make the kind of music that we ourselves would be extremely happy to hear on the radio or at a party. (We are, of course, very pleased when others share our taste in music!)   
 
Is there a difference between the first album and Uprising?

- Early in the process of recording Uprising, we talked about making a more "pure" sounding album using fewer, but more intricately woven, sounds. But the main ingredients are the same as on the first album: great pop songs! As we cannot hope for high domestic record sales in this golden age of illegal downloading, we are hoping that our singles "I Could Say I'm Sorry", "Heart Apart" and “Fire” will receive the same attention on radio channels in the rest of the world as they've had on the Scandinavian ones.

A lot of lyrics have a social background, why? And is there a deeper meaning behind the lyrics?

- I often feel cheated when I listen to a catchy pop song and find the lyrics are copy-and-paste mixtures of cool phrases and tired clichés. I want Universal Poplab's music to be genuine. Hits, but with content. On Uprising I have focused on factual things or issues that are truly dear to me. Writing complicated lyrics isn’t hard. The challenge lies in trying to explain difficult themes or events in an understandable way.

The single Fire contains one live song, what can people expect from a Universal Poplab show?

- Unlike a lot of other electronic bands we really enjoy playing live. For us it's when our music meets a live audience that the true magic is born. I think people coming to a Universal Poplab concert can expect a very high dose of positive energy. For example, when we perform live, stage diving is not an unusual occurrence!

Is there a possibility that Universal Poplab is going to play in The Netherlands sometime?  

- That would be very nice. Just give us a call and we’ll be ready.

With what band/artist would you really like to work with in the future?

- A duet with Marc Almond would be fantastic.

What kind of music are you listening to these days?

- It's hard to pick out any specific artist since my taste of music covers everything from dub to hard electronica, but the Irishman Patrick Wolf has made a strong impression on me. I love his albums.

What can we expect in the future from Universal Poplab?

- Over the next two months, I'll be spending all my free time writing new UP songs. For the end of this summer/early autumn, we've decided to try a new way of recording. We're going to pack a minibus full of synthesizers and recording gear and drive out to a cabin in the countryside of Denmark. There we'll lock ourselves up for a couple of weeks and let the creativity flow. I think it’ll do us a lot of good to get out of the city and be able to focus a hundred percent on the music with no distractions except birds and trees. Hopefully, we'll come home with what will become our third album.

Maak kans op een prijzenpakket van Universal Poplab, klik hier voor meer informatie.

Lees hier ook de cd recensie van Uprising het nieuwe album van Universal Poplab.