KENT

At the Roxy

February 6

Kent is Sweden's most popular band, but they're hardly heard of outside the land of the midnight sun. Their sudden American success can be attributed only to Jungian synchronicity. While on vacation in Iceland, DJ Bean of L.A.'s station KROQ heard Kent's single, "If You Were Here," on the local radio station. Bean liked it so much that he bought a copy and put it on heavy rotation as soon as he returned to the US. BMG rush-released their album Isola to the US in September, and Kent has been garnering rave reviews ever since. When Kent opened at the Roxy for their better-known Swedish compatriots, The Cardigans, The Crimson had the chance to traverse the language barrier with lead guitarist Sami Sirvio and drummer Markus Mustonen.

THC: You're from the town of Ekilstuna, right?

Sami: If you say Ekilstuna, it means "the ugly town." [Laughs.] You have to put an "s" in it--"Eskilstuna."

Markus: It's a one and a half hour's drive from Stockholm. We all moved to Stockholm five years ago. We quit our jobs and took the chance. After one year, we got a contract.

THC: Did you have a lot of support from home?

Markus: We won a music competition that they have every year. So in the early years we had our little fan base back in our home town: a couple of guys standing in front of the stage.

Sami: They hate us today, because we sound totally different.

THC: How did you sound before?

Sami: Real crap. [Laughs.]

Markus: Really crappy.

THC: How does your song-writing process work?

Markus: Joakim [Joakim Berg, the singer/songwriter] writes most of the material. He always does it with an acoustic guitar. They're almost always really slow songs. He comes with the songs to rehearsal, and we try to arrange them, pull up the tempo a bit. "If You were Here" was originally a ballad, really cheesy.