Interview // "Tjeck" - August 2004

The Danish magazine Tjeck has just published a 4 pages long interview with Saybia and in this honest interview the guys talk about their ups and downs during the last 11 years.
Back in 1993 they met on a school of music in Nyborg and Søren tells us how they started their great journey: “In the beginning we took all the jobs we could and we drove around in our first Volkswagen van and played for a case of beers.”
But in 2000 the guys decided to move to Copenhagen and began making lots of demos, which awakened EMI’s interest and as foreign record companies began to show interest in the boys too, EMI decided to sign them in the spring of 2001. After this, success came quickly and after the EP was released Saybia went to the studio and when they returned 5 weeks later they had their first hit; “The Day After Tomorrow”. This is how Søren experienced the new success; “There were no pictures of us on our EP and on the posters were only silhouettes. Therefore no one knew who we were when we were playing on Musikcaféen in Århus. We stood outside and smoked cigarettes and took pictures of the queue, while we laughed of it all. We were actually so anonymous that we were told to get back in line when we were going in to play.”
Being recognized on the streets has been a two-sided experience for them; on one hand Søren describes it as flattering and a self-confidence boost, but Søren also worries; “Because of all those reality shows focus has been on the persons instead of what it is all about – the music.” and continues “Some want to talk to us because our music has moved them considerably. For others it is just “Hey, are you famous? Then I would like to talk to you. And I don’t like that.”
Søren explains that he would like people to listen to the music in order to get to know the people behind the melodies and lyrics and that they have grown a lot since TSYS and that they now have an opinion about the world and who they are.
On a question about the great success that came with the first album, Jess says “It is one of the most surrealistic things I have ever tried in my life…. Our life was flipped upside down. I actually think we were a bit frightened. “ Søren mentions the way everybody looked different at them although they were just doing what they always had been doing; “But we were as morning ugly as always, though we had sold a lot of albums.” and the guys did sell a lot of albums, they went from happiness by selling three demos at a concert to selling 50.000 on five weeks and they began to realize the greatness of this when they stood in front of 10.000 in Forum and that is when they say they lost contact with reality.
The wave of success also reached over the borders of Denmark, and Holland was the first country to get a chance to listen to the Danish band and many has followed since, Jess says “The fun part is that it is actually continuing, because right now we are really hot in Indonesia, where we have just sold gold!”.
But the long tour of 2002 made the guys forget who they are. All the time they heard what other people thought of them and they couldn’t find themselves anymore. The contact between the band members was reduced and Søren explains “We had changed and were running around separately in an attempt to find ourselves.”
What did they do? “Made a record – returned to the starting point! After 250 concerts, where we had played the same songs and tried to convince the audience that we had cool energy, there was nothing left in the end. No more room in the songs. We needed something to gather about, so we ended up buying a house in Køge and a new band car. We needed a base.” was the solution described by Jess.
Saybia also got advice from a guy who has tried this himself, Tim Christensen, who was a member of the former band Dizzy Mizz Lizzy. Søren says that the members of Saybia are about 6 years older than the three members of DML were when they had their crisis and that might be what made Saybia go on. “We decided to fight for it, so the history of the band really stepped into character.”
The making of the new album took place on a Swedish island, where they stayed for two months. They started with 23 songs (!) and the 11 which ended up on the forthcoming album are songs all members can relate to and here is Søren’s description of the making: “Our universe was pretty gloomy when we wrote the songs. Everything was black and white, but mostly black! I was dark in my mind, when I woke up and I had to work my way out of it through the day. It has become an incredibly honest album without filter… It is much deeper than the first.” and continues “The record company has not had any influence on the big decisions, so the album is more pure in the expression.”
The first album was, as Søren says, “a greatest demo songs” with old songs, whereas the new songs are all “split seconds in our lives in a hard time.” and very marked by the mood the members were in that day.
Søren on his writing: “My lyrics has been criticized for being too naïve, romantic, and simple. And I have been told that I have a poor vocabulary. But I am a simple man and very romantic in my view of the world, so what I write is completely reel. You can be a man and a sensitive person (“feel-ass” is Søren’s exact words) at the same time.”
According to Søren and Jess it takes a lot of courage and naivety to stand on the stage and be so honest and naked, you have to believe you are doing something good for someone.
Søren tend to be in focus, because of his role as lead singer, but “we are a band and everyone is equally important. People recognize me because I am fat and long-haired, but when the band is together I am just one of the assholes.”
Throughout this interview you might have noticed that only Jess and Søren have said something, but Søren explains this too: “The ones who feel like talking, talk. Others are more quiet and it is connected to out personality. There is not much affectation in it. It just works better this way, and I just cannot stop talking.”
And to all the fans Søren says “ It is great to meet people, who has a affiliation to our music. We are proud of that and of course we want the respect. It is incredible to stand in front of a Saybia fan. We value that more and more.
Despite all these ups and downs Saybia still have the same dreams: “To get out and play our music and give people some good experiences".