Interview with the Caesars
One would think that having your band’s song featured on the ubiquitous iPod commercials would change your outlook on life just a tad – for those not prepared for stardom, it just might make you cocky.
But Joakim Ahlund, guitarist in the rocketing-up-the-charts band The Caesars, is taking it all in stride.
“Life hasn’t changed at all,” Ahlund stated when asked about the impact the commercial has had on The Caesars’ careers. However, over the last few months The Caesars (including lead singer Cesar Vidal, drummer Nino Keller, and bassist David Lindquist) have been conducting a highly successful European tour (including sold-out shows in Paris, London and Hamburg). The North American leg of the tour hasn’t kicked in just yet – so they haven’t yet seen the full impact the single “Jerk it Out” has made on the American commercial landscape.
“Jerk it Out” is featured on Paper Tigers, The Caesars’ newest release. The album mixes the best of 60’s British psychedelic rock with an undeniable punk/garage element. Ahlund did the majority of the production himself, in order to get the album “exactly the way [the band] wanted it.” He admitted that it takes “more energy to get someone else to do what you want,” so his heavy involvement with the album’s production is no surprise. The band is embraced the “do-it-yourself tradition of punk rock,” Ahlund says, in order to get Paper Tigers to sound just right.
Ahlund has high hopes for The Caesars’ North American tour. There won’t be “make-up or explosions” to carry the show, Ahlund states, “only the energy between the band and the audience.” The band is hoping for some crazy shows in the future – but after playing sold-out, intimate European venues, Ahlund realized that you can’t “decide to be chaotic – it’s something that just has to happen.”
American audiences, take note.
-- Jessica Netishen, 05/28/05
The Caesars come to Boston on 6/17, playing a WFNX show. Stay tuned to http://www.caesarsweb.com for further details. |
