MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO
Gothenburg's very own The Family Men are heading down to Monkey Week in Seville, Spain, on November 21-23. Their first time outside of Sweden and first ever festival show.
Monkey Week is an annual meeting point where artists, public and professionals from the Spanish independent music scene can interact with delegates and professionals from all over Europe, Latin America and other parts of the world. In short, it is the place to discover and make visible all those musical initiatives that will eventually become part of the new European cultural fabric and, by extension, of the increasingly thriving Latin American circuit.
Core members of The Family Men are Nils Lindgren, Vidar Nilsson and Gustav Danielsbacka along with Simon Sonander and Valdemar Löthman, who joins in for live performances. The band describe their sound as “Hi-NRG Mutant Sludge”, and are excited about playing for a new audience abroad.
– We hope the crowd will enjoy the music as much as we like performing it! says guitarist Vidar Nilsson.
Nervous about flying with so much gear, the band thinks Monkey Week seems like a cool festival.
– Some of us have played European gigs with a few different projects and the main thing would probably be the sound level.
The Family Men’s show preparations look a bit different, changing the setlist means that new backing tracks and visuals need to be created. Their rig moves around a lot depending on the songs played. ‘Greek Batteries’ and ‘Desert Storm’ are the two songs the band enjoys playing live the most, and the crowd seems to agree.
When asked if they will play some new material for the Monkey Week audience the band says:
– We will, and we think you'll like them!
The Family Men are currently writing songs for their second album. Touring is definitely also on the bucket list and getting to play more shows outside of Sweden. But before they go abroad again, after releasing their second album, The Family Men will play Viva Sounds on Friday the 29th, at Musikens Hus. It will, according to the band, be an;
– Assault on all senses, Vidar says.