GLASVEGAS NEW DRUMMER JONNA LÖFGREN - "I DIDN'T KNOW WHO THEY WERE"

GLASVEGAS have toured with U2, Kings of Leon and supported Oasis.

Three years ago they were winning universal critical acclaim for their debut album but over in Sweden, young drummer Jonna Löfgren, had never heard of them.
In fact she nearly missed the lecture that changed her life and catapulted her into one of Scotland’s most talked about bands of the last decade.




It may have been a joke, no-one really knows but when Rab Allan (guitarist and frontman James’ cousin), said he wanted a female Swedish drummer to replace original drummer Caroline McKay, Sony listened.

“I’m glad they took it seriously, otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” 23-year-old Jonna says.
She still not clear about Rab’s motives: “He likes Sweden, he likes Swedish girls and he likes girls. I think he just said it one day, I don’t know if he was really serious. When they tell me, they don’t know if he’s serious or not.”

Glasvegas play HMV Forum in Kentish Town on May 10. Expect to hear tracks from album Euphoric /// Heartbreak \\\ released last week.

Jonna has been in the band for just five months.
She was studying at music college in Sweden and had just signed a contract to drum for a musical production of Snow White for the next six months when everything changed.

She said: “We had a guest teacher for a day (at college) and I just had a fight with my ex-boyfriend. I didn’t want to go but we ended up going to the lecture. I think it was meant to be.”
She got talking to the speaker who mentioned Sony was looking for a Swedish female drummer.

So Jonna sent demos to Sony and Glasvegas’ management but it was a DVD recording of her drumming over the track Geraldine that clinched it.
“I was playing the song standing up like how they play it. I think that video was the thing that got them to like me. I think they felt my drumming was good enough so I didn’t have to audition for them.”

Jonna was invited to meet the band in London.
She said: “I was really nervous. I had a whisky on the plane down. Before I went I looked on Youtube for interviews with them speaking because I wanted to practice the accent, it’s so difficult. It didn’t work because I couldn’t understand them at all. Now it’s different because I’ve been hanging out with them so much. I really enjoy the accent.”

Jonna confesses she didn’t quite understand the enormity of being chosen to play for Glasvegas.
She said: “When I got the first phone call I didn’t know who they were. (The caller) was telling me on the phone how big this was. My hands started shaking when he was telling me. When I hung up the phone I Googled them. There was so much to read about them, how they’ve been touring with U2 and Kings of Leon, I was like Oh my God.”

Jonna showed early ambitions to be a drummer. At three she was banging pots and pans around in the kitchen, at six, she was telling her father just how much she wanted to be like a drummer on TV and at seven she got her first drum kit.

She said: “My dad said he was going to take me to buy some winter shoes and I was so happy because I have three siblings and he was only going to take me. I was like “yeah I’m going to get winter shoes”. So we went to this city and then it turned out we didn’t go to the shoe store. We went down to a basement and this guy opened the door and it was a drum kit. My dad asked me "Do you want this?" and I was like "Oh yes", I was so happy. So my first drum kit is my winter shoes.”

THE FEATURES - THANKS FOR THE HELP KINGS OF LEON BUT WE LIKE THE SMALL GIGS!

MATT Pelham’s thinking of coffee and cigarettes.
The lead singer of The Features – such a favourite of Kings of Leon that they’re the first to be signed to KoL’s label – is struggling to sound awake as they hit the final reaches of a six-week US tour.


He’s managed one interview this morning from his New Jersey hotel and he’s putting off his vices until after he speaks to me.
The Features, who recently played three dates in Camden Town, are returning this month to play the Barfly (April 19), before supporting KoL at Hyde Park on June 30.

But Matt’s not so interested in the Hyde Park gig. He said: “I prefer playing smaller, more intimate venues. Outdoor shows seem really impersonal and people are just kind of walking around – I’m sure it’ll be fun but I won’t be the most excited person there.

“I’ll be more excited about (playing Barfly). If there’s 100 people at that show I’ll be way more happy than playing in front of 65,000 at Hyde Park.”

A past experience playing in Memphis contributed to his dislike of outdoor gigs, but he said: “I hated them way before that. We played this outdoor show at a college and it was freezing outside. Our hands were frozen, the set was awful. Everything was compromised by the weather. It was probably the most stupid show we’ve ever played.”

Although the Press are repeatedly reminded of Kings of Leon’s decision to sign The Features to their Serpents and Snakes label, Matt’s not one to hype up the connection.

They may go for the odd drink if touring together, he said, but added: “It’s been really nice knowing these guys for a while. They’re fans of ours and wanted to help us out. We don’t really talk a lot. They’re gone a lot and doing their own thing.”

The Features spent a good week in Camden in February, where Matt managed a bit of detective work.

“I headed straight for the market,” he says. “A good friend of ours did a lot of T-shirt designing for Threadless and there was some booth there that had bootlegged two or three of his shirts. It was pretty funny. I’ve been meaning to tell him, I took a pic of it so we could show him.”

Matt's looking forward to returning home to his eight-year-old twin daughters, his wife, chickens and home just outside Nashville.

He said: “We’re going back down the east coast towards home which is nice. I really like playing live and touring but don’t like doing it for a really long stretch with no breaks and not being able to go home.”

And they’re not averse to playing the odd trick on bands they tour with, the most recent victim being the lead singer of Manchester Orchestra.

Matt said: “Our drummer has been taking these dried shrimp we got at a gas station, they look pretty gross and placing them where Andy, the singer will find them. He stuck a dried shrimp on his pillow. Then put a dried shrimp in a paper bag and had a girl in the front row hand him the dried shrimp in the middle of a show and he didn’t know what it was – it was pretty funny.”

RECORD OF THE WEEK - THE FEATURES, Some Kind of Salvation

THIS Tennessee band have been described as “one of the best undiscovered bands in the world” by the Kings of Leon. And they should know, having made The Features their first signing to their Serpents and Snakes label. Catchy but conventional Southern rock with a UK twist - personal favourite, Whatever Gets You By.