2013 has been an amazing year so far for London's very own Swedish export Mia Klose, as her modern take on 80s-inspired rock'n'roll continues to gain more and more momentum on the back of her debut album London. Room Thirteen caught up with Mia after her rollicking set at Bloodstock this year.
R13: So how's the festival been so far?
MK: Really, really good, definitely!
R13: How's it been playing Bloodstock for the first time?
MK: It is actually my second time playing Bloodstock. I've played here before but I was a backing vocalist for another band; some friends of mine who are actually here this year as well, a band called Neonfly who are also playing today. They're old friends of mine and they needed a backing vocalist for their gig they did here two years ago, so they asked me to do it and I said yes of course! Who would say no to playing Bloodstock? So I went on stage and did the set, then went off stage and went home so I didn't get to see much that year but it was fun!
R13: The crowd reaction to your set yesterday was really good!
MK: It was such a good gig! I was not prepared for that! I mean you know at a festival people are there to enjoy themselves, but I thought maybe there were just going to be four or five people standing at the front before we started, but there were loads of people there!
R13: Sometimes the Jagermeister stage attracts a few people wandering by on their way to other places, but you really had a good crowd yesterday!
MK: Yeah I was not prepared for that! I was hoping that people would start turning up towards the end of the set once they saw that someone was playing, but it was just amazing from the start! A really good crowd.
R13: So your album came out last year and it's called London; where did that title come from? (Apart from the fact you live in London of course!)
MK: Yeah I live in London, and it sums up the album quite well because there is no real thread. That's the only thing that can sum up the album for me, as it's all about different things and all the experiences I've had in London, the people I've met in London and so on.
R13: I grew up in London myself, and some of the gigs you've played in London over the past few months have been in pretty legendary venues like The Barfly, The Garage, The Borderline etc! How have the crowds been for you when you've played these venues?
MK: It's been really good, every time we play a gig things seem to be growing and more people turn up, and of course we then get better and better slots as well, so we're constantly moving up the ladder. So it's all been really, really good!
R13: You've played The Intrepid Fox as well; it's one of those great rock pubs that I always try and call in on when I go back to London.
MK: Yeah we've played there quite a few times, it's a good place to get to know people in London, and it's always good to play there if we need a warm-up gig.
R13: How did the band come about? How did you go about finding band members?
MK: I've hand-picked them. I've been playing with my bass player (C-Rexx) for many years now; we went to the same college and we played in another band before this one, and he's like my brother. They're all really really cool guys! They're my brothers and my security guards, but of course first of all they are my musicians. Jon I know from an old friend, Alex I found via Gumtree... so all hand-picked.
R13: In terms of influences, your sound is 80s-influenced but with a modern twist, and it has a real edge to it as well. Does everyone in the band have similar influences?
MK: Yeah they do, I mean they are hand-picked because they are really good musicians, but also because they love this stuff! You can play your instrument really well but if you don't enjoy the music then there is no point. We definitely all have a similar taste in music.
R13: Who writes your songs? Is it all your own personal stuff or do all members of the band contribute?
MK: I've been involved in all the writing, but the album was written with two guys (a producer and a songwriter) and we all wrote the songs together. But I've also been writing songs with Jon and Jonny, and it's been going really well. We played a new song yesterday (well it's six months old so not quite new!) that isn't on the album, and it seems like it's going down really well with the audience and it's got quite a strong hook, plus it's one of our favourites to play. The new material writing is going really well with Jon and Jonny, and we have around six new songs to start rehearsing. But we never seem to have time to get on with the new stuff because we always have so many gigs lined up! We played Sweden Rock recently so we had to rehearse for that as well.
R13: How did Sweden Rock go?
MK: It went really well! We didn't expect there to be that many people there, although it's twice the size of Bloodstock. The stage we were on was almost the size of Bloodstock's main stage (as it's a bigger festival) so we thought a few people might turn up to watch us, but in the end loads of people turned up!
R13: Excellent! You also played the Hard Rock Hell AOR festival recently; how did that go?
MK: That went really well as well! We've had a really good year and played three really big festivals! The Hard Rock Hell event was much colder(!) and the stage we were playing was absolutely freezing! It's got to be the only gig I've ever played without sweating on stage! It was great to catch up with the guys in H.E.A.T. as well as they were also playing, and they're old school friends of mine and I haven't seen them in years.
R13: So what's next for the rest of the year?
MK: Next up, we're releasing a single, doing a music video, then we'll have a few announcements that I can't reveal just yet (so keep your eyes peeled on our Facebook page)! We have a gig on September 6th with The Burning Crows at the Borderline, and another in November with the guys from Fatal Smile, so it's definitely going to be a busy autumn!
R13: That's good to hear! So you are you hanging around for the rest of the weekend?
MK: Yes we'll be here until Monday.
R13: Any other bands you're hoping to check out?
MK: Well Neonfly are on later today, and there's a few friends of mine in Sworn Sorrow who are also playing later today. Then there's Breed 77 on Sunday who are friends of ours, and also States of Panic who are friends of the band, so we're going to be checking all of them out. Then Slayer who are one of my favourite bands, so I'll definitely be checking them out!
R13: Thank you very much for your time Mia!
MK: Thank you!
Mia Klose's debut album London is out now on DMD Music Ltd.