Galantis

“Playing music live definitely inspires you to make more music...”

GALANTIS

Christian Karlsson and Linus Eklöw are Galantis. While successful in their solo work, they’ve put their creative minds together to give us euphoric electronic tracks and epic live shows. Heading to Australia for the first time as Galantis, we speak to the boys to find out more about the project that’s taking over the world.

Solo, you’re both immensely successful, so what drove you to form Galantis?

Galantis formed because of a matching energy between us. We clicked instantly in the studio. We started hanging out making music, but we had no idea at the time what it was going to become. It ended up becoming Galantis.

What does Galantis mean?

We actually have no idea where it came from – the name chose us!

Seafox has become a symbol of Galantis, on your album covers, in your videos and part of your live shows; what does she represent?

She represents Galantis. She is the face and the story of Galantis. She goes everywhere with us.

Tracks like ‘Runaway’ and ‘Peanut Butter Jelly’ are huge, euphoric festival anthems; what inspires such production from you?

We initially sensed a large gap in club music, a gap to fill with songs with more than just a line about ”lets move it, move it” – we are looking for a larger range of emotions in the studio. That inspired us to get into the studio at first. Aside from this, it’s hard to pinpoint one thing in daily life that inspires us. It’s not one specific thing – it’s life in general, everything around us. Playing music live definitely inspires you to make more music though. That’s for sure.

Your debut set at Coachella is one of the most talked about in festival history; what’s been the craziest moment as Galantis for you so far?

We actually always say Coachella was the craziest and biggest moment ever. It was our very first gig, and there’s that moment where you don’t know if anyone will show up, but we walked out to a full tent of fans singing all the words to our songs. We had only released the music two weeks before. It was amazing. A really defining moment for us that we will never forget.

You’ll be playing Stereosonic in Australia for the first time this November; can the crowd expect a similarly big production?

We’ve been looking forward to coming to Australia for a long time, and we are preparing something really special for the Stereosonic dates. We are bringing new gear, some new toys to make the performance bigger and better, and working on some brand new visual elements. And, of course, Seafox will be with us! We can’t wait!

What do you want the crowd to feel when listening to your music and watching you on the stage?

Emotion. Any kind of emotion is good. We want people to be affected. If we can help people stay in the moment and really feel something, it’s a great thing.

Is it your first time in Australia as Galantis? What will you be looking to get up to besides the shows?

We’ve both been to Australia before as Miike Snow and Style Of Eye, but this will be our first time as Galantis. We have lots of friends in Australia, so there will be some hanging out, but we’re also going to spend some time in the studio working on new music.

What other amazing destinations has touring taken you to this year? Too many places to mention… we have been all over the place. But, it’s the first time we are experiencing the world as Galantis and it’s like seeing the world through new eyes – it’s like a completely new experience. We are totally blown away by the fans all around the world – it’s amazing. And we are still exploring...

Where will you be seeing in the New Year? We are going to be in Dallas, Texas!

What have been your favourite tracks of 2015? Jack U – ‘To U’ Porter Robinson – ‘Flicker (Mat Zo remix)’ Disclosure – ‘Willing & Able’ Jamie xx – ‘Loud Places’ Netsky – ‘Rio’

By Charlotte Mellor