Here’s an interview with Magnus Zingmark and Oscar Simonsson from Koop, just a moment before their show in Jakarta Crossover Jazz Festival by Ryan Koesuma.
Hi there, how many additional players did you bring for the show in Jakarta?
We brought, um, 5 people, a vocalist, a bassist, a drummer, a trombonist/percussionist, and a vibraphone/marimba player.
Did Yukimi Nagano come along?
No, there is basically just the two of us in the band, and we use a lot of vocalists to fill in our songs, and they have their own bands.
What’s the impact on “Come to Me” to be put on an episode on Grey’s Anatomy?
Well, it’s really great, that episode airs four weeks after the record was out in the US. That’s how the music label works nowadays.
The song “Forces of Nature” reminds me of Benny Goodman’s “Sing Sing Sing” from the drum beats and clarinets; did you sample the song for it?
No, I mean a lot of musicians have used the same drum beats from that song. It’s inspired from Gene Krupa though.
The songs in your previous albums tend to be more eclectic than Koop Islands, do you have any special theme while you’re making it?
I can see your point; we tend to focus on songwriting nowadays. Koop Islands were inspired by Jazz music in the 30s.
What would be the perfect setting to hear your music?
The perfect setting? It’s just about like when you want to relax, you know, escape from everything.
What does the name KOOP came from?
Actually it’s a shortened form of a Swedish word that means “cooperation”.
Ok, thank you for your time
Thanks man, nice questions.
