Some people have waited years to get Mew to play in South Korea’s capital city Seoul. On November 13th the wait is over. Tickets are on sale next week (September 13th).

Here’s the question: will there be more shows to Asia this year? Right now the schedule looks like this:

November 13th, 2010 – AX-Korea, Seoul, South Korea
November 15th, 2010 – Namba Hatch, Osaka, Japan (w/ The Flaming Lips)
November 17th, 2010 – Zepp Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (w/ The Flaming Lips)
November 18th, 2010 – Zepp Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (w/ The Flaming Lips)

Albani Bryggeriet (double headlining show w/ Kashmir) – Odense, Denmark (September 4th, 2010)

Two and a half months ago I saw a Mew show that didn’t please me much. The show at Provinssirock (Seinäjoki, Finland) suffered from bad sound, terrible weather and a slot too early in the day. This time – in Denmark – everything worked…

Compared with other bigger Danish cities, Mew have not played in Odense (on the island of Fyn) that much. With a population of almost 200,000 (geographically located inbetween Copenhagen and Aarhus) and being the third largest city in Denmark, it’s perhaps quite surprising. Last Saturday saw an outdoor event that kicked off with a local band called Gunn. Very interesting newcomer with a very Danish pop rock sound. They might become something in the future, I tell you. The gates opened at 4:30 pm, an hour before Gunn. People came in early, and by 7:15 pm there were a lot of people. That was when Mew started playing, and backdrops were not used due to sunlight.

Mew opened with some of their biggest hits in their homeland. Special, followed by The Zookeeper’s Boy got an enthusiastic response. I was surprised that they started the show with these tracks, lately the hit-duo has often been played later in the set. Bo Madsen played the intro for the aforementioned track on this “catwalk” and later Jonas Bjerre stepped on that part of the stage as well. They actually had a similar stage at Skive Festival earlier this year, but didn’t take advantage of the platform back then. They looked very happy and relaxed overall. Jonas even headed the microphone towards the audience and let us sing a little bit. Not because he needed a break from singing (that’s how it usually goes with other bands), his voice was perfect throughout the show. From the new album, only Hawaii was played during the first half of the show. This seemed to please the Danish crowd, cause somehow the older songs work better in Denmark.

Rico Coker is a dance teacher and choreographer in Denmark. Recently he has joined Mew as the sixth live member and he sure has got the moves. Here… Mew are an oddity in the pop rock world once again. How many real bands actually have a dancer on stage as well? Rico is a visual effect and it works great. It’s an interesting addition, especially when backdrops are not used. The lack of backdrops also increase the amount of smoke effects. At least in Odense, the stage was quite misty from time to time. Rico jumped on stage right from the beginning (well, mid-way Special) and was seen during the most danceable Mew tracks.

After the combinations of Am I Wry? No with 156 and Apocalypso with Saviours of Jazz Ballet, they were supposed to play Bamse (according to the setlist seen on the stage floor), but they skipped that entirely. That was a smart choice due to not having backdrops. If there’s one song that really demands the background visuals, it’s that one. Crowd-pleaser Snow Brigade was followed by Repeaterbeater, which finally woke up even the calmer spectators with that brutal guitar intro. This resulted in the most energetic performance from the new tracks. One guy in the audience desperately tried to balance between dancing and taking pictures with a professional camera – I had to ask him for some photos (scroll down to know more).

The setlist was carefully constructed. The following three tracks were all ballads (if you will). On the setlist White Lips Kissed was written as ‘White lips/Jap.‘ and that got me curious. What if they originally planned to sing it in Japanese? Usually the setlist says either White Lips or Japanese, I’ve never seen it written like that before. Misleading, or just wishful thinking…? Jonas has never sung that song in Japanese outside Japan, but it would be nice to hear it that way someday. Hell, some of us would even know the lyrics (at least our own interpretations of them).

Silas the Magic Car and Sometimes Life Isn’t Easy were the next slower songs, and Beach made people dance before the encores. After a very short break, we saw Jonas picking up a guitar and that’s a good hint of what to expect. It’s always so great to hear Circuitry of the Wolf and Chinaberry Tree live. It’s not like they play these two songs on every show. Well, they’re not rare live songs either, but it feels like it sometimes. Usually the time is limited and adding something takes something else away. Can you believe it that Introducing Palace Players was not played at all?

The real surprise came as the last track. I have often said that Cartoons and Macramé Wounds would be a perfect finale. Right up there with Comforting Sounds and Louise, Louisa. It was. It’s a massively epic ending, and a beautiful one. Please, do this more often (especially if the overall sound is as good as it was in Odense)! Although, you could sense that the audience were still waiting for another encore (being Comforting Sounds). All them silent gasps…

If you bought anything worth over 156 DKK from their merchandise stall, you got the free water ball (the snow ball without the snow). It was not difficult, cause all the regular t-shirts cost 200 in Danish currency anyway. This same offer applied to everyone who attended the show in Stavanger, Norway the night before.

After Mew, another big Danish act Kashmir took the stage at approximately 9:15 pm. They benefited from darkness, even though they have no backdrops, just three huge arrows in the background. I thought it would’ve been better if Mew played after Kashmir, but that already happened at Beatday Festival a few years ago. So, maybe it was fair this way. Kashmir is a huge band in Denmark, and the audience were more into them than they were into Mew. That partly pissed me off. On the other hand, it was a fun performance. I recognised Rocket Brothers, The Aftermath and a few other songs. And I don’t even listen to them.

You can’t really complain about the atmosphere at this venue. Danes are good-looking, easy-going people who love their cold over-priced beer (40 DKK for a rather small plastic cup). Albani Bryggeriet (=brewery) had to have beer for sale, you know. The weather was a bit chilly later in the evening (still nice), but I didn’t care for the smell of ‘pølse med brød’ (Danish equivalent to hot dog).

Albani Bryggeriet setlist:

Special / The Zookeeper’s Boy / Hawaii / Am I Wry? No / 156 / Apocalypso / Saviours of Jazz Ballet / Snow Brigade / Repeaterbeater / White Lips Kissed / Silas the Magic Car / Sometimes Life Isn’t Easy / Beach —– Circuitry of the Wolf / Chinaberry Tree / Cartoons and Macramé Wounds

Tero Heikkinen
Photos by Kim Vermeer

Photo Gallery

As mentioned before… what do you get when you dance and take pictures at the same time? You get the pictures by Philip Bo Pedersen. His photo gallery (with some audience shots as well) can be found here.

Many have wondered about the timetable for next Saturday’s show in Odense (Mew + Kashmir). Here is the planned schedule:

16:30 (doors open)
17:30 Gunn
19:15 Mew
21:15 Kashmir

Gunn is a new young band from Odense, listen to them on their official MySpace-page.

We have closed the contest to win free tickets to this show. The winners have been notified personally by email, congratulations Amanda B. and Anders J. If you didn’t get a ticket from us (kindly arranged by Mew’s management), you should buy one here. There should be enough tickets to be sold at the gate as well, but you never know…

A year ago we learned that Jonas Bjerre has written a song called Spilling to a small independent movie called Lovely, Still. Helmed by a young talented director whom Jonas met accidentally a few years earlier. I (Tero from MewX.info) exchanged emails with Jonas and director Nik Fackler.

“I first met Nik back in 2006. We had done a show in LA, I think it was at the Troubadour, and afterwards we had an after party at the hotel. There were a lot of people there, friends of friends. Nik was there. I’m not sure who he knew, and how he had ended up there. We struck up a conversation about animation and immediately hit it off. Despite his young age, Nik had already done a bunch of music videos and even played in several bands and it was clear to me he was a hard working and extremely creative guy. We stayed in touch, and later on he came to see a show of ours in Lincoln, Nebraska (relatively close to Omaha where he is from) and that’s when he first told me about Lovely, Still. He sent me the script a few weeks after that, and I found it very inspiring, so we agreed I should write and record a song for the film, which resulted in the song Spilling. The lyrical content and the mood of the song are both inspired by the script, but I didn’t want it to be too much on-the-nose, so I didn’t use any names from the film or anything like that.”

Nik Fackler wrote Lovely, Still when he was only 17. He directed the movie at 23 and it stars Academy Award-winning actors Martin Landau (Crimes and Misdemeanors, Ed Wood) and Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist, Requiem for a Dream). A love story about two senior citizens was shot three years ago, but is finally getting released in North America next month. Release dates and locations are listed here. And before you read any further, watch the trailer. Nik’s persistence and confidence got him where he is now. Right?

“I never went to film school. There is something to be said with just doing it. I worked very hard putting together a package that felt strong to me. Every time an interesting person entered my life, be it an actor or a musician, I would tell them about my film and send them the script. A lot of time great support would come from that. The more people were supporting the film, the more likely it would get made. And it did. I just stayed confident and true to what I wanted.”

The American movie business is all about money. Smaller movies often have to wait on dusty shelves or eventually just go straight-to-DVD. If the reviews on various film festivals are positive, a distributor just might pick it up. Lovely, Still seems to be one of those products that got through from one of those positive reviews. When you cast Burstyn and Landau, one would think that everything is easy after that…

“I didn’t want it to be this way. I was sure it would be coming out right away with all the great reviews and support it received. But I was wrong. Most distributors seemed interested, but ultimately turned us down. They all loved the film and thought it was great. But this is business. Capitalism. It became this repetitive concept that old people can’t fill seats. So in the end our film was really thrown away by everything. Eventually Monterey Media picked it up and is giving it a chance (three years later). We will see how it does.”

Fans of Mew may get to hear the song pretty soon (I’m telling you it’s a cute song, placed in the pivotal ‘first kiss’ -scene), seeing as they are currently talking about releasing the soundtrack via Saddle Creek -label. The original film score has been written by Bright Eyes. Nik Fackler is a musician himself and you may want to explore this webpage (at least, scroll down to Part 8). You know, the Telephono -project also includes Jonas, Nik and Damon Tutunjian. David Matysiak, a friend of Nik’s, launched this project.

“Telephono is a project my friend David started. The basic concept of it was that David would start with a basic idea for a melody, rhythm or song. Then he would send that to a friend, lets say, for example, me. Then I would take it, add to it, then send it to one of my friends. I sent mine to Jonas. And he sent his version to Damon. It was a really cool idea. And the whole box set of songs is really unique and incredible. It is definitely worth owning for music fans.”

Nik Fackler just turned 26 and looks to be extremely busy right now…

“I’m releasing my record (Dreama) on Team Love Records this January. I am hoping to maybe work on a split with Jonas sometime this year. My other band Flowers Forever is also releasing works over this year. Which means I’ll probably be touring a lot this year. I’m also preparing for Lovely, Still’s release next month. Then I have three other feature film projects. The first of which I plan to shoot this spring.”

Jonas, as we know, is currently composing the film score to the Danish movie Skyskraber, but he’s had his hands full with many other musical projects as well. Some of you may have heard the score he wrote to Martin de Thurah’s beautiful short film We Who Stayed Behind, and some may remember that he also collaborated a little (enough to be mentioned in the early credits) with a Finnish director Pekka Lehto on Game Over five years ago.

“I recently had the chance to work with Martin again, we were both in New York for a while and he needed some music for these films he made about Copenhagen which were shown at the World Expo 2010 in China. I made 4 (or 5?) pieces of music for these films. For Game Over it was only Mew songs and then I did some ambient piano and synth stuff as an experiment that they used in a few places. I knew Pekka Lehto from old times, because I did effects and post work on his film Tango Kabaret years before.”

I don’t know about you guys, but I would like to get a compilation-CD of all his film scores/songs. Something where all compositions (outside Mew) would be packed into one.

“I don’t have any plans to release a film score compilation, great as that would be, I foresee a nightmare with publishing rights/film rights clashes and the like… but maybe one day. I am considering, however, releasing the music I am making for Skyskraber as a soundtrack album. It would be a nice mix of instrumental music and scapes, as well as proper songs. But I will wait until everything is done and mixed, see where it takes me.”

Then what is Skyskraber about, Jonas?

“Well, I can’t reveal more about the plot than is already written someplace online. But I can tell you that the director is my close friend Rune Schjøtt, whom I first met many many years ago when he was the host of Danish Radio’s alternative programme Det Elektriske Barometer. I have previously written music for his short film Pandasyndromet, but this is his first full length as a director. I’ve been working on the music since the beginning of this year, whenever time permitted. There are numerous instrumental pieces, but also quite a few songs with lyrics and vocals. All the music is written specifically for the film, which called for a warm sound, so there is lots of dusty piano, acoustic guitars, percussive instruments, flutes, bass clarinets and choir. There’s a lot of music in the film, so it’s been a long process. As I am writing and recording I am running the film rough edit along, so that I can play as I am watching the screen, the characters, the dialogue. It’s been an interesting and different experience from what I am used to. I am excited to see and hear the finished result in a movie theater.”

Tero Heikkinen

Did you solve the puzzle posted a while ago? In that case you already saw the teaser website for this:

Poster artwork by Silas Graae.

These shows will be something special. There are only seated tickets to be sold and Mew have wanted to do shows like these for a long time. Now everybody has a chance to see the band in its full glory with all the visual aspects and state of the art sound in place. Operaen and Musikhuset are not ordinary venues, you know. Mew have played at Operaen only once before, in a charity event organised by Crown Prince of Denmark, Frederik.

You should definitely buy a ticket to Operaen (Copenhagen, November 28th) and/or Musikhuset (Aarhus, November 29th), seeing as it is quite possible that these will be the last European shows for Mew in a while. Tickets are on sale next Monday from the aforementioned links. As of now, there’s no scheduled American tour in sight.

*****

IMPORTANT!!! URGENT!!!

Do you live in Denmark or nearby, and want to see Mew and Kashmir for free this September? We will give a ticket to TWO lucky winners randomly selected from email replies. Just send an email with your full name on it to admin (at) mewx.info. Title the email as Odense Contest. As the show is already on September 4th, you don’t have much time. We will close the contest next Tuesday (August 31st) at noon Danish time (=12 o’clock CET).

We’ll be back in just a few hours with a brand new interview and exclusive photos. STAY TUNED!

We have talked to Jonas Bjerre about his upcoming film score to a Danish flick Skyskraber (directed by Rune Schjøtt). We will return to that shortly. We also discussed about Spilling, the song that he wrote to Nik Fackler’s directorial debut Lovely, Still. That article will also be published very soon. Now, this may seem like we’re just teasing about future posts, but we have something for you here (and this didn’t fit to anywhere else):

MewX: “People would love to get the lyrics for Bamse. Would that be too much to ask?”

Jonas: “Certainly not. Only problem is the lyrics have been changing on a daily basis. I decide what to sing just as we’re getting to that part. The words always involve the theme of trust, solace and friendship. Some nights I sing about the sun. Often I sing about sleeping safely in the arms of the bear.”

You must have noticed that Jonas has an official Tumblr-blog with cool photographs and artwork (like the one above). If not, check it out.

*****

You may also have noticed that Mew added a show in Norway, a day before the previously scheduled Danish co-headlining show with Kashmir. Click on the ad (on the sidebar) to buy tickets… The recently added Norwegian show takes place in the Southern town of Stavanger on September 3rd. Rått og Råde -festival shares many artists with another Norwegian festival up North. Døgnvillfestivalen (in Tromsø) may not get Mew, but it wouldn’t be a big surprise if they did. Compare the artists from the festival links.

*****

And… maybe you want to reverse this video…

Tygrys (the cat) is certain that the show in Cato… ahem… Katowice, Poland was great.

Yes, we know. We’re sorry for being away for so long. This website is not going anywhere, it’s just been very quiet out there. Now, here’s our review of the most recent Mew -show…

Truck Festival – Steventon, Oxfordshire, UK (July 24th, 2010)

The UK hasn’t always been that kind to Mew. From support slots with Elbow for the half-attention of tenth-full rooms, to technical malfunctions at V Festival through to heaving toilet venues back in 2005; reliably sold out, but at a peak, you felt.

Rolling up at Truck Festival then, to play a heavily-billed headline slot at a village fête masquerading as a festival (or vice versa – manufactured, sure, but in a nice way, I think) can only really be described as surreal. The cult is now a fieldful. Or maybe that’s a pretty good definition of a cult.

It’s not an easy task following 65daysofstatic, you know. 65 don’t PLAY bad shows. It’s just not an option. Tiger Girl in particular is dizzying. But Mew don’t swing that way; comparisons are pointless. Instead, with backdrops absent and the light show cranked up to obnoxious disco proportions to compensate, we get a jerky, raw Mew performance. It certainly doesn’t feel like a headline slot; it just lacks the necessary grandeur. In a way, that’s where they win. A club show out of doors.

I’m down the front and a few people are annoyed that you can’t really hear Jonas’s vocals properly save for the quiet bits (although there are a good few of those – dynamics, I think it’s called); for a second I’m more pissed off that you can’t hear Nick’s keyboard lines either, but then something lovely happens, like it did at Roskilde last summer. Analysing the mix is not what people, for the most part, are here to do. The songs are the songs and tonight they feel wistful without being nostalgic, stripped back (whether by PA accidents or by design) to the rawest forms without losing the necessary layers. Analysis? Go hang. This is a time for dancing. I’ve never seen a British crowd so involved in a Mew show, and that counts for more than a lot.

If anything needs the analysis, it’s the setlist, which is pretty much the same as at Shepherd’s Bush Empire nine months ago, and entirely lacking the new numbers doled out at other summer shows (Tricks of the Trade and Cartoons and Macramé Wounds aren’t here, which is beyond a shame). It’s mostly standard, unimaginative, save for the boldness of the opening Reprise which for the first time, for me, works unequivocally and finds its way over its own inherent corniness to be genuinely moving.

But when Snow Brigade is a mess of noise, the lights during Shelter (= Circuitry of the Wolf) are a stunning, jolting series of silhouettes, there’s a quiet couple in front of me singing quite literally every last word (including “Celebrate el sueño” during Sometimes Life Isn’t Easy – that was sort of a final test), and when Comforting Sounds is this deeply perfect… These are all GOOD things. We can all now get on with the serious business of missing them, now they’re back to being perenially not here.

Truck Festival setlist:

Reprise / Hawaii / Circuitry of the Wolf / Chinaberry Tree / Introducing Palace Players / Snow Brigade / Repeaterbeater / Beach / Apocalypso / Saviours of Jazz Ballet / Sometimes Life Isn’t Easy / Am I Wry? No / 156 / Comforting Sounds —– Special / The Zookeeper’s Boy

Ally Winford
Photos by Emi Wakatsuki

Photo Gallery

Mew are opening for The Flaming Lips in Japan this November. The three shows (in both Osaka and Tokyo) are going to be absolutely amazing, seeing as the Wayne Coyne’s group is one of the best live acts one could think of. You shouldn’t miss these shows…

November 15th – Namba Hatch (Osaka, Japan)
November 17th – Zepp Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan)
November 18th – Zepp Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan)

Provinssirock – Seinäjoki, Finland (June 18th, 2010)

In 2005, then relatively unknown Mew stole the hearts of Finnish festival audience at Provinssirock. Located in the town of Seinäjoki (some 400km north of Helsinki), this festival is one of Finland’s oldest and largest. The 32nd annual Provinssirock gathered approximately 20 000 people on its first day (June 18th) when the main attractions were 30 Seconds to Mars, Mew and Pendulum. Five years ago our beloved Danes performed here in a huge tent that was built this year as well. A lot has happened since then, and Mew have become too big for that venue, so they opened the main stage instead. British singer Paloma Faith had the honours of kicking off the festival (in that tent) and Mew were ready on the main stage just one hour later. Mew started playing at 7:45pm when it’s all daylight in Finland during summertime. Actually, it really doesn’t get dark at all in these latitudes. At 1am that night, the singer of 30 Seconds to Mars, Jared Leto thought it was crazy that the sun doesn’t set.

Let’s talk about the show. All in all, I must say that I was quite disappointed. The sound was absolutely awful in the first 20-30 meters from the stage. It was all bass and you couldn’t hear the vocals. Provinssirock had a new stage, ordered from Denmark, and I’m pretty sure it was the same as the one at Skive Festival just two weeks prior. Finland didn’t have a stage big enough (available) for Rammstein and their massive production. This stage was way too big for Mew in broad daylight, but it would’ve been amazing if they could have used the visuals. To get a better sound, I went further back and it was fine there. Although, the biggest problem at Provinssirock were the weather gods. It had rained heavily right before their show, so it was wet and cold (and muddy). Many fans in wet clothes just stood there, and that reflects back to artists, I’m sure. I was told that Mew looked happy enough on stage. Only, I couldn’t really tell. I had to rely on the video screen, more or less. The cold, the rain and the early slot resulted in a pretty bad turn-out. Looking at the crowd, one might have thought that you were in Sweden. Also, many fans were still queueing for their wristbands, cause the festival had big problems there. There’s an interesting 360 degree photo here. It’s also possible that Mew played so early due to their next show being in Aarhus (Denmark) on the following day.

On Friday it had rained before and after Mew. So, in the way, they were lucky (Saturday was nothing but rain) and the early slot turned out to be a good thing after all. Last time that Mew performed in Finland without the backdrops was in 2003 when they played at Ruisrock for the first time. One reporter from a Finnish tabloid-magazine said in a “news-article” (which was all lies, of course) that Mew’s manager had called the organisers upon arrival, and that he was pissed when he found out that some Finnish band is playing after them. Managers always know lineups before confirmations, no need for such calls. That particular Finnish band playing after Mew was called Lauri Tähkä ja Elonkerjuu and they are a very popular act in Seinäjoki (where they are also from). They are a terrible band, and had to play in the rain. So, in your face, Lauri Tähkä.

Paloma Faith went for a drink or two (or three) just after their own show, so they got to dance to Mew. This YouTube -video also proves that the sound was more than acceptable 200 meters away from the stage. Some fans in the front row had made a huge sheet that demanded Vaccine onto the setlist, I wonder if the band saw that. Mew had also brought the Bamse t-shirts for sale and that was a good thing (even though it’s pointless to play that track without visuals). Well… as you noticed, this is not much of a review. I refuse to review a show that I couldn’t really see, hear or feel… at least, properly.

Provinssirock setlist:

Introducing Palace Players / Snow Brigade / Am I Wry? No / 156 / Hawaii / White Lips Kissed / Sometimes Life Isn’t Easy / Beach / Repeaterbeater / Tricks of the Trade / Apocalypso / Saviours of Jazz Ballet / Comforting Sounds —– Special / The Zookeeper’s Boy

Tero Heikkinen
Photos by Pete Heikkilä