The Big Stage

The Big Stage

Christian Karlsson and Linus Eklöw may not be household names, but if you’ve been anywhere near the main stage of an EDM festival in the past four years, chances are good that one of their undeniable earworms has caught your attention.

But their success in this realm is no accident because, even if the names Eklöw and Karlsson may not seem so familiar at first glance, they’ve been belles of the ball on radio and at clubs all the way back to the early 2000s.

Karlsson first made waves in the pop world in the early 2000s via his productions with fellow Swede Pontus Winnberg under the moniker Bloodshy & Avant. The pair’s list of productions reads like a who’s who of pop royalty, including Madonna, Sky Ferreira, Kylie Minogue, and Britney Spears (with whom they won a Grammy Award in the Best Dance Recording category for 2003’s “Toxic”). Leaving no musical stone unturned, he and Winnberg also comprise two-thirds of the popular alt-band Miike Snow, which includes vocalist Andrew Wyatt.

On the other hand, Eklöw (aka Style of Eye) had been a clubland staple for a decade courtesy of squelching tech-house staples like “Girls” and “Puss.” That being said, most came to know him thanks to his work on the bombastic, inescapable 2012 smash “I Love It” by Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX, becoming a bona fide production superstar in the span of just a few months.

Considering their body of work, one that most artists would only dream of achieving in a lifetime, it’s astounding how much the boys have managed to accomplish since forming Galantis in 2013. Their debut, “Smile,” proved to be a cataclysmic, paradigm-shifting single would come to define the group’s signature blend pop sensibility with stadium-sized progressive-house beats.

After embracing their half-fox, half-jellyfish Seafox mascot, the success and hits quickly cascaded from there, with the release of follow-up single “You” and an accompanying eponymous EP coming in short order, both of which proved to be even larger smashes than “Smile.” The Galantis live show was finally debuted at Coachella 2014, solidifying the group as one of the hottest acts both in and out of the dance-music sphere.

With the momentum of two years of skyrocketing to the top of the pack behind them, the boys unleashed their first full-length effort Pharmacy in 2015, with singles “Runaway (U & I)” tearing up the festival circuit, while “Peanut Butter Jelly” took boogying glitter-tinged disco stylings to radio waves across the world.

Now, the boys stand on the verge of a new phase in their careers. With the pressure of the pair’s debut LP out of the way and a fanbase established, they seem intent on pushing the Galantis project further creatively, while maintaining the unique magic that’s differentiated them from the seas of DJs hitting play.

This outlook has manifested itself by seeing the duo keeping the hyper-melodic Galantis approach to songwriting intact, while taking things in a lighter emotional direction with 2016 releases “Love On Me” and “No Money,” as well as their latest single “Rich Boy.”

We caught up with Eklöw, 37, and Karlsson, 40, via telephone ahead of their returns to Coachella, Ultra Music Festival and several other mainstages in 2017, a time that might become known as “Year of the Seafox.” DJ Times: How did you two first get acquainted?

Christian Karlsson: We were in the same circles in Sweden, but we didn’t know each other. I was a big fan of Style of Eye and, at the moment, I was just starting my new project Miike Snow. I reached out to Linus to see if he was up for remixing the first single “Animal” from the Miike Snow album. He was, and somewhere [in that] we met in the studio and we felt that we have the same creative flow, high-energy vibe in the studio. I think the birth of Galantis was right there even though it took a while before we continued exploring that and collaborating. We knew from then that we were going to work together.

DJ Times: The Swedish EDM scene obviously seems a bit close-knit. Is it as small as it seems like it is?

Galantis: (from left) Linus Eklöw & Christian Karlsson

Karlsson: We don’t have much to compare it to. There’s a few areas in Stockholm. [There are] so many studios in one area; it’s ridiculous and it’s really cool. Everyone is friends, and if you’re not, you pretty much know each other. As you know, the dance scene has so many big acts [from Sweden]. We keep on meeting each other on tour and at festivals, so there’s a thing. Normally, you get really surprised if there’s someone along the line that you haven’t met before.

DJ Times: Music seems to be a high-quality export of Sweden. Why does so much talent come from there? Is it the weather that forces you to stay in the studio?

Karlsson: That is the No. 1 question we get from us being Swedish and in music since we’ve started in the industry. I don’t think there’s a real straight answer to that, but I do believe that the weather has something [to do with it]. When it’s so cold and dark, you tend to be inside. It’s not only music: video gaming or shit like that is huge. For me and Linus, we both grew up being in rehearsal spaces and playing guitar or drums. It was a place you went to every day after school. Music and trying to be creative was an outlet when it was cold and dark.

DJ Times: The Galantis project started with you two doing a collaborating with A-Trak, as well as releasing a single “Raveheart” that ended up sounding nothing like what your sound is today. How did “Smile” come to be and how did it set the base for what you’re doing?

Karlsson: We were exploring. At the time, we were loving the scene, and there was so much cool shit coming out. We were starting to explore different possibilities – beats and whatever. We instantly found there’s so much good in that vein [of beat driven EDM] already, so let’s use everything in our toolbox. We’ve been writing songs for very long, so let’s keep one foot right here with the beats for dance floor and one foot out of it where we can be open-minded and thinking back to more classic songwriting. The start of a song was always a piano or guitar with no beats because we felt like we already knew how to do those, so let’s focus on the songwriting first. “Smile” became the first one.

DJ Times: Is the way you start a song in the studio the same now as it was back then?

Karlsson: It might be more in pieces now. Before you have a band or project rolling, you’re only in the studio. You can be like, “We’re just going to focus on this song every day when we’re in the studio.” That changes. Now we’re always on tour, so everything happens more in pieces. There are all these puzzle pieces, and you try to go back and listen through to see what the strongest parts are and then build from there. It’s a little bit more split up now. We’ve also been off tour for a little bit [recently], so we’ve been in the studio, which is something we’d been missing.

DJ Times: When you first started Galantis, did you know you wanted to release an album? Or did it start as a string of singles and roll from there?

Karlsson: Always album. We felt really early we had too much material that we really liked, so let’s not wait too long. The EP is basically the first songs of Pharmacy.

DJ Times: When you were recording tracks like “You” and “Runaway (U & I),” did you expect them to be accepted by the EDM-festival circuit? Were you writing for yourselves or them?

Karlsson: We were writing for ourselves. When you’re so close to your own music, it’s very hard to put them in a scenario, especially at that point [in the process] like that: to imagine it would be something that other DJs would play. Our minds were never even there.

DJ Times: Did that kind of success add pressure or affect the creation of future tracks?

Karlsson: It adds a lot of pressure because from there on you always want to come out with something fresh and new that has the same impact. In the creative process, you don’t want to be thinking that, though, because then you’re not going to do it. It’s a little tricky of a situation: you don’t want to look back, but also you want to make sure you do something that’s as strong.

DJ Times: For Pharmacy, how long were you working and how did it take shape over time?

Linus Eklöw: Two, two and a half years if you count the EP as part of that process.

Karlsson: There were a lot of songs written.

DJ Times: What’s particularly notable is how little material is on both—the album was almost entirely new tracks. Did you encounter any resistance wanting to create an album from the label or managers that wanted you to tour consistently?

Karlsson: No, the album format is something that is really appealing to us because it tells the journey of Galantis, and we can show a much wider part. Everything doesn’t have to be the biggest drop or whatever. You can explore more and take people on a journey. I totally get it, and I don’t hate on any other way of releasing music. I can see upsides of only doing singles, but it’s very appealing with the album format. Also, we can remember where we came from and what was important when we were kids. It was all about albums.

DJ Times: Your latest singles have been particularly bright and sunny. What’s been inspiring you for the latest run of songs?

Karlsson: I think we had it from the beginning, but there was also a lot of emotional stuff. There was a mix. I think what’s been inspiring is just the feel-good vibe, and it’s a soulful thing that we’ve been on the train for a little bit. We also released “Pillow Fight” just to show our fans that we haven’t left any of the other parts of Galantis; you can play it next to “You,” and it’s kind of the same type of song.

DJ Times: “Rich Boy” just came out. How did that song come to be?

Karlsson: “No Money” is [sung by] a 10-year-old boy singing, right? “Rich Boy” is actually a 7-year-old girl singing! We started with that vocal and it was like… oh my God. Something in her performance was instantly catching out attention, and we took it from there and played around trying to figure out how to make it into a Galantis track, basically.

DJ Times: Is there a second album on the way? Both: Yes! DJ Times: How’s work on it coming along?

Karlsson: Great! We always feel like, “We’re done writing the songs – let’s focus on the production.” But we’re never done writing the songs! We can’t stop writing the songs. They keep on changing a bit. We’re not scared of that. Part of it is always precious to you because you spent so much time on a track, and obviously we can’t have 30 songs on the album. The hardest part is to choose what the journey of the album is going to be about and what it’s going to be like. But it’s been amazing, I’ve got to say.

DJ Times: How’s work on this one different than Pharmacy?

Karlsson: The biggest change is that when we did the first one, we weren’t on tour. We didn’t have a sound, really, and we didn’t have a fanbase and platform. We didn’t have anything, so you’re completely free and you have a shitload of time to just be in the studio. There’s something interesting about what we’re having now. It’s the opposite: we’re always on tour, we have a sound, we have the fans and the platform. It’s a different challenge, but it’s also great to know exactly what the project is about because in the beginning you don’t really know—you’re exploring. Also, you have to change and push things forward, so I guess that’s where we’ve been at.

DJ Times: We’re approaching the three-year anniversary of the launch of the Galantis live show at Coachella and you’re playing at Coachella again this year. What went into the creation of a live component for the project? Why did you decide to make it more than just a DJ set?

Karlsson: A couple of things. One, I think that’s just where we come from. We’re both from being in bands, and I think we like the energy and having a creative flow on stage and having a lot of options and alternatives—like how to change a set or do something a little bit different. We love DJing, though, so we didn’t want to leave that and be completely live. We wanted it to be one foot in and one foot in something else. Of course, we’re from the studio, so bringing a lot of things from the studio is important to us. We feel like that’s where we are from, and when and how we started this thing is that creative space. It’s trying to recreate that in a live scenario. I brought some tricks that I’ve been using in Miike Snow for the live show. Linus is a drummer, so that came natural to bring more drums.

DJ Times: What is the full setup for the Galantis live show? You’ve got Pioneer CDJs up there—what else?

Karlsson: The Roland SPD-SX [sampling percussion pads] are really important for us. We got crashes and big drums. It keeps on changing a little bit if we have synths and what synths—it’s more about filters and stuff, actually. We might do a little bit of synth work, it’s not a big portion at all. Triggering samples and treating samples [is a bigger part]. The way we trigger samples is with drum sticks—it’s just something that feels natural to us. We also like to be able to control the dynamic of the song: swooshes and uplifters and build-ups and stuff. In that way, we’re sending something out from the SPD that goes into the mixer, so sometimes one of us is triggering stuff and the other one is treating it. Sometimes if it’s a longer sample, you can trigger it and then move over and treat it yourself.

DJ Times: You mentioned having one foot in the door and one foot out when it comes to playing live and DJing. For a set like Coachella, how much is planned and how much can you improvise?

Karlsson: The whole thing isn’t improvised because, of course, we rehearse a lot. There are always moments where you’re like, “We don’t want to go here, we want to take it elsewhere!” We might have a couple of options—we’ve already rehearsed so we know we can take it somewhere else. The more touring you do, you have other moments that you’ve done previously and you can be, like, let’s go to that if it fits for that night—that we might do on the fly. If we’re doing big changes, like really spontaneous ones, we need to talk to each other so we know. That’s it! Otherwise we’re open.

DJ Times: You’ve got Coachella coming up. What’s it like to come back to the festival that launched the live show three years later after so much success has come your way?

Karlsson: It’s big. It was such a big moment for us. It was like two weeks after we released out first piece of music, basically, and Coachella is such a special festival. We felt it went amazing, so it feels really great to go back. We’re already starting to prep.

DJ Times: At the end of the day, Galantis is just one project of yours. How do you compartmentalize the Galantis success and creative process so it doesn’t bleed into Miike Snow or solo projects?

Karlsson: This is the focus. It’s fun to sometimes have other vehicles, but this takes up so much of our time—because of the success of Galantis there’s just so much to do. I think both me and Linus creatively, we don’t think about what we’re doing; we just do. If we do something, we may go, “This isn’t Galantis,” and either give it away to someone else or we have our other side projects. It’s just good to have options. I don’t think we’re thinking much about what exactly it is when we’re creating it.

DJ Times: What else do you have planned for the year? Is there more touring coming up? Is the album coming out this year?

Karlsson: There’s a lot of touring. We already announced some stuff, and we’re going to keep on announcing. It’s going to be our biggest year in terms of touring, and it’s definitely going to be our biggest year in terms of releasing stuff. We’re going to release more music than we’ve done previous years. It’s all happening in 2017!