[PREMIERE] Glam Glitter Punk Horror in The Magnettes’ “Hollywood”
Besides being called “Glitter Punk,” The Magnettes prefer to be more accurately described as “21st Century Fuck-Pop,” a genre we are more than willing to be down with.
With their new song, “Hollywood,” The Magnettes hit a note that we can all understand, which is the idea of the long distance crush on Hollywood and everything that it represents.
“It becomes so mythical and fictionalized that it’s hard to grasp that it’s a real place and not just a reality show where people have orgies in mansions, snort coke with the Kardashians, and die at 27,” they told us.
If you’re down with creepy love stories and the fantasy vibes of Hollywood, then The Magnettes’ new video for “Hollywood” will def be your jam. Add a dash of horror movie haunted mansion-ness and you’ll likely be hooked. Check out the video and our Q&A with the band below!
Tell us about the start of The Magnettes.
Sanna and Rebecka met when they were about 6 years old on the first day of school. Tomas worked closely with the band for a couple of years as a studio tech and then he and Rebecka started writing songs that helped develop the Magnettes sound, so it was just a natural step to have Tomas join the band full time.
Describe your sound to us.
We’ve been calling it “21st Century Fuck-Pop.” But it’s basically a combination of influences from riot grrrl bands, eccentric new wave and billboard pop. Katy Perry meets Kathleen Hanna, with a touch of Tina Weymouth.
If “Hollywood” were on a movie soundtrack, set to a specific scene maybe, what would it be and why?
That scene in the 1989 Robyn Lively movie Teen Witch, where the teen witch she desperately wants to be a popular girl and she sings a song about it. So instead of that song she would sing “Hollywood.” A perfect fit.
Tell us your secrets! Is this song about anyone in particular?
We wrote it more as a creepy love story with the fantasy of Hollywood, the surreal myth of the place as it is perceived from the other side of the world.
What was the inspo for the radical music video for “Hollywood”?
We shot the video in two days in Los Angeles. We shot in Korea Town, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Hollywood Highlands, Venice Beach and The Observatory. We even crashed the red carpet of the movie premiere for the Steve Jobs movie, but ended up getting kicked out.
The inspiration for it was like a horror movie version of the glamorous paradise that Hollywood is often portrayed as. We wanted it to be like a Hollywood Haunted House. In the video we got in some movie references from The Shining and The Black Dahlia. We also shot close to where the Sharon Tate murder happened.
Are you cool with being described as “Glitter Punk”?
Pretty good, it’s pretty accurate. We’ve been using that term ourselves for a couple of years, since around the time when we released “Sore Feet & Heartbeats.” We’ve always loved silly pop songs and weird disco, but we also grew up listening to punk and have kept a pretty raw approach to what we’re doing. Pop and punk are really not that different. It’s simple and to-the-point. So we’ve sort of been exploring the line between those genres.
Does fashion play into your performances and who you are as an artist?
Yes, more and more. Earlier it was more about standing out, like wearing all-white suits at a venue where most bands would have black tees or plaid shirts, but we’ve started to let what we wear be a bigger part of the story we want to tell in the songs. We’re working closely with our stylist Frida Thuneström and for us everything, the sound, the lyrics, the clothes, are parts of the same puzzle.
How do you feel about reaching fans through Spotify and Soundcloud?
At the end of the day, we’re basically a laptop-based band. We record at home, have mile-long Facebook messenger threads about daily band business, e-mail song ideas back and forth etc. We wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for the digital age, so yearning for that era before everything became digitalized wouldn’t really make sense for us.
When can we expect to hear a full album from you?
Our album is in the process of being mixed right now. We can’t wait for people to hear it! Right now, we are looking at releasing it in the first quarter of 2017, around March.
What’s next for you? Is there an upcoming tour?
We’re playing the YouBloom festival in L.A. September 30th, then heading to New York for various meetings and co-writing appointments, then back to Sweden for some shows. We are in the throes of planning a U.S. tour around the album release next spring.
Where can we find out more about you? Social media links?
We use @themagnettes everywhere! Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube!
Download “Hollywood” on iTunes, Spotify and SoundCloud.
Photo Credit: Peter Åstedt
