Posted on April 13, 2009 - by Mark Zonda

Emil Johansson Can’t Lose

Parker Lewis is a young talent trom the Sweden Indie Pop scene. This bloke’s been around since few years, but he’s speeding talent and skills so fast that it would be no wonder in discovering he travelled back in fime from another time. From first uncool karaoke-oriented exibitions on summer beaches few years ago, emerging from a permanence in New York with a brand new and mature self-consciousness, a brilliant eye on storytelling… and geeky dark glasses, I have now the chance to introduce you the man before his Italian tour supported by “New Decade“.

Mark Zonda: First time I heard about you and your world was because of the name you picked as an artist. Parker Lewis. Parker Lewis Can’t Lose was one of my favourite series so far. Why did you picked that name?

Parker Lewis: Parker Lewis was one of my idols when I was a kid and I thought it was a good name. When I first started making this kind of music I wanted it to stay pure and innocent with no cynisism and as far as I could remember those where the things Parker Lewis represented. But it’s just a name, you know? To me it’s not a tv series anymore. It’s just my name.

Mark Zonda: Never understimate the power of a name. A name is a sign on a door, and it has the power to warn you or inviting you to enter. Talkin ’bout signs and places: which are your favourite venues?

Parker Lewis: That was a really nice way of putting it. You’re right! In Sweden I really like this place called “Herrgårn” in Linköping. It’s a club run by students and we did the first show after the album was released there last fall, they’re all just so friendly. It’s a great stage and smoking is permitted in the dressing rooms, which is always a big advantage. To be honest I think the coolest places I’ve played in Italy has been Hana Bi and Lego Café. Even if Lego Cafe is really small it was a good feeling about the place and the town.

Mark Zonda: First time I’ve seen you performing live it was with Le Man Avec Les Lunettes and Rough Bunnies. Ever heard ’bout them since then? Seems liked they disappeared. You were acting on a karaoke and playing some kind of mandolin under the wooden roof of a beach. What changed since then?

Parker Lewis: I haven’t seen Rough Bunnies since, but I think they’ve been releasing some stuff now and then. I don’t really like their music so I don’t keep updated on their whereabouts. That show at Hana Bi in Ravenna was actually one of my first shows so I didn’t really know what to do. I did a lot of shows back then with just mp3-backtracks and a couple of friends on stage.

Mark Zonda: You were brave! That really hit me! Which are your favourite artists right now?

Parker Lewis: I listen a lot to this swedish band called “Florence Valentine”. They just released a new album called “Spring Ricco”. It’s all in swedish and the lyrics are really important but if you use google translate on their website, www.pucka.se, you can probably get something out of it. Haha. Other than that I listen a lot to new Mixtapes and Cellmates-demos, my own new music, as always, Springsteen, Jackson Browne and old punk-music.

Parker Lewis live @ Lego 2008

Mark Zonda: Last time I’ve seen you playing live you really looked like another person to me. A complete new mature artist solo with his own guitar.

When someone complained that you played only five songs expecting more, your shocked him cold replying:”I don’t like playing too long”.

You just walked through the crowd as a spectator and went to smoke on the alley. Did New York changed you?

Parker Lewis: Haha. That was a nice show! People were going to the bathroom through the stage, right?
The thing is, I’ve been trying out different ways of playing live.

I’m not at all interested in trying to do a live show that sounds like a copy of my records so I’ve done the backtracks, the solo shows and the last year I’ve done shows as a trio. My dear friends Matilda and David has been playing drums and bass with me. I’m trying to make it like an old pub-rock act from the 70′s (like Nine Below Zero or early Nick Lowe) or white man’s funk, like The Style Council. I also think that it’s kind of important to explore new frontiers, both when you’re making the music and when you’re playing live. The main reason for these different ways of playing live is probably that I’m trying to get better every time. And of course New York changed me. It changed the goals I have in my life and it made me write my album. These are important things, you know?

Mark Zonda: Yeah right. Nice night, the bathroom thing (was it still the name “Pelle” hanging on the door?. I perfectly agree with you. Live shows should be honest. I love 70s and Syle Council too! Can you work on a cover of “Paris Quest”? By the way… introduce us to Matilda and David….

Parker Lewis: We’ll see about the cover. I have a lot of ideas of songs I would like to play when we’re in Italy. I have to remember to play some of my own songs as well.. Matilda is the bassplayer of Mixtapes and Cellmates and New Decade. She’s also my girlfriend… we met at the Motron festival in Modena!! David has been my drummer for 15 years. We started our first punk bands together when we were kids and we are still best friends.

Mark Zonda: Let me say it clear. Your last work is a masterpiece of abstract pop in a pure glorious swedish indie way. It can really kick ass to Mr. Leckman and Monsieur Carlberg. Why free? What’s the policy behind “Mad For It”?

Parker Lewis: I’m really happy to hear that you think that! There are many different reasons for giving an album away like that. First of all: I don’t buy cd’s, not even by my favorite artists. I keep all my cds in a box in my basement. Haven’t seen them in years. Second: Pressing a cd or vinyl is not environmentally friendly. It’s a lot of plastic and a lot of transportation. Not very modern! Third: If you’re not pressing a cd and you didn’t spend a lot of money making the cd, you don’t really need to get money for it when you’re distributing it. If people really wants to give you money for it, they’ll find a way. People buy me drinks and give me hugs. I’m a socialist so I believe that there are others ways of paying an artist for his or her work. The problem is not that I’m making to little money, it’s that some people are making too much money for doing the exact same thing that I am doing. This is by the way not an official policy for Mad For It, I’m not running the show there, but If you want to I can ask the cheif of the label about this.

Mark Zonda: Still will be missing some great cover arts, leaving us just with some… “white albums”. How would you reinvent the “Sgt. Pepper” cover?

Parker Lewis: Oh. Releasing an album digitally does not mean that you have to leave out the cover art. I think that the cover art for my album is really important. That’s why the album has it’s own website. I would really like people to listen to the album while visiting www.mfit009.com. It’s like a noise-free space on the internet. Sgt. Pepper… Well I would definately put Kevin Rowland, Bruce Springsteen, Nick Lowe, Roy Andersson, Max von Sydow, Woody Allen, Paul Weller and Glasvegas in there. And I would remove the Rolling Stones-doll.

Mark Zonda: Are you becoming a director?

Parker Lewis: Most definately not. I’ll leave that for all the talented people I know. Haha!

Mark Zonda: Anyway… Can you introduce us to your last video works?

Parker Lewis: A couple of months ago my friend Sebastian Rozenberg, a video-artist, made a beautiful short movie for one of my songs. It’s a wonderful piece of work and I really admire him as an artist. Last spring I made a video for a song called Hjältar, featured on the album in another version called “Heroes”. The material is from a documentary about the Red Cross Youth-programme in the village where my mother grew up… she’s actually in the video. This video was edited by me and my friend Philip Cristofor, who is a really talented graphic designer. I’ll try to have a new video out before the summer. Maybe something that I’ll shoot in Italy!

Parker Lewis – “Cezanne”

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