INTERVIEW: ANDREI HATEGAN (THE AMSTERDAMS)

It’s not often that Romanian bands get noticed abroad. With their portfolio, The Amsterdams are quite a rarity. Even as newcomers, they created a fuzz and, after playing Romania in 2007, The Dandy Warhols called them the best band on the Romania alternative scene. In the meantime, the boys didn’t just pat themselves on the back. With two self-produced albums already, Adolessons and this year’s Electromagnetica, they’ve opened for acts like The Cranberries, Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs and toured abroad in countries like France, Spain and the UK.

Recently, we’ve had a chat with Andrei Hategan, their lead singer, guitarist and keyboardist.  He told us a few things about their sophomore, about having pasta with Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs and about a certain goose. 

You’ve recently released Electromagnetica, your second studio album. What makes it different from the first one?

It’s, I don’t know, maybe not more complex, I guess more diverse. The first one was more guitar orientated, more garage in a way. We would come up with the idea and leave it like that, didn’t think that much about it. We added some electronic elements this time. See, in the meantime, I got a synth and I felt the need to use it. And we also got a drum machine. As for the lyrics, I spent more time on them as well. The lyrics for the first album were a bit more visceral, so to say. I had no problems with repeating a line or the same word.

One of the things we’ve noticed about the new album is that the themes are more varied. And we were wondering where it came from, especially Coalmine and Kids In The Garden, that are quite particular, as in about Romania.

We actually wanted a local touch. Look at Petrolize All Mice. When I wrote the lyrics, I was with this friend of mine, a journalist who writes about petrol and he told me about what he was writing. We had the instrumental, but I had no idea what lyrics to write for it. And he gave me the idea. It was pretty much the same with Coalmine, I got the idea from the same friend, just that he wasn’t in the room with me this time. It was this story he told me a while ago, about his uncle, how this miners beat him in the street because he had a beard and looked like an intellectual. I thought it would make a good song. But it’s rather hidden, I don’t like writing lyrics that are straight forward. December 1989, 5000 dead, no. I like metaphors. 

And Kids In The Garden?

This one’s about the heavy flooding we had a few years ago. I don’t know any details, I didn’t check. Just imagined what would the story be like in a setup with kids and families and the like.  It’s just the story of a village that is destroyed by a flooding. But again, very metaphorical.  

Yeah, and this local touch, you’ve had concerts abroad.

Yeah, I thought it might be interesting for foreigners.

And how does this work? Because after all we’re a marginal culture and people don’t really know much about us.

Yeah, I did think about this as well and I sometimes say things like ‘this is about the miner strikes in our country’ during concerts. I thought people might find it interesting and I just wanted to tell them something about us. Though it’s all hidden. Had I wanted to make a statement, I would’ve said something like “5000 dead people”. But I don’t thing such a line works well with music.

What about Three Is A Crowd? It’s really interesting both lyrically and sound-wise, like the pistol.

Yeah, we thought that would be an interesting effect. Bejan, out guitarist did it. He found several sounds on the internet and tried them. And then there’s the piano bit that sounds like a mistake during the ‘piano down your stairs’ line. As for the lines, it’s all an imagined story, don’t think any of it is true. All the songs basically have a starting point, like this one’s about death, Island Of Love is about summer and so on.

Desert islands, girls in leafs skirts.

Yeah, I don’t know where that came from. I guess the music influences the lyrics, you know. If the music is a bit cheerful, it automatically makes you think of bikinis and the like.

How did you get Dan Boeckner from Wolf Parade to feature on This Burial Ground’s For Two?

We had some shows with Handsome Furs and we became friends. And then, I don’t know, we had some pasta together and we suggested a featuring sometimes in the future, maybe he wants to play guitar on one of our songs. And he hung around here for another week and recorded the guitar. That’s when he asked us to tour with Wolf Parade. But the guitar thing was a matter of a day.

Now, as we’ve said before, you had concerts abroad, in the UK actually. How did it go?

The concerts in London were great. A lot of people. We were the headliners there in a way, in the clubs where we had shows. We were the last band, it was quite interesting. Insane. In Scotland, on the other hand, few people came. But it was fun. We didn’t sign a contract with some big label or anything. There was this guy though who wanted to film a video for us. But nothing happened yet.

How does the fact that you don’t have a drummer influence your live shows?

I guess people in London and other places where we’ve played thought it was interesting. I know there are so many bands abroad that have a drum machine, but they were very excited. Drummers from other bands would come to us and be like ‘man, what a sound!’. They were so enthused about it. As for the actual influence, I don’t know, I guess the music is more exact. We’re a bit more stressed because we can’t afford to miss a chord. And it sometimes happens that we screw something up.

Did you have to readapt any song?

Yeah, almost all. We just did Taking Care of Anna with a drum machine and I feel it has a new vibe. We were so bored with that song and now, I don’t know, it feels really great, we also added some electronic elements.

So, you sort of re-wrote it.

Yeah. I mean, my drum machine can’t do what a drummer does and some songs need to be re-written. And people are sort of divided about it. I realize those who know us for a while now might find it a bit weird.

Now, you guys had a street concert when you launched the video for Apple. Would you like to do it again? A street concert.

Yeah, it would be awesome. We wanted to play on top of a block, film something a bit grander. But we didn’t have an authorization and it was a bit difficult without one. We really liked the feeling after we played in the street, people staying after for a beer, so yeah, we’d love to do it again

What about the songs you perform live, but haven’t recorded yet. Do you plan on releasing them on a studio material?

Yeah, at a certain point, but I don’t know when. Now we were thinking about doing something unplugged and, of course, promoting the new album.

 Abroad?

Yeah, I mean we’re promoting right now in the UK. Paid PR and all. Yesterday, for instance, we gave an interview for a radio in Edinburgh. And people in London are writing reviews. The campaign’s centred on the UK, but who knows, maybe something else will show up.

And the best for last. The goose on the cover, man!

That’s a trinket we have in our studio and a friend took some photos one day and we thought it should be on the cover. It’s the randomness we always had as a band.

The mascot!

Yeah!

You can download Electromagnetica for free and take a look at the goose here. 

*Photo credits: http://thegig.ro/