Here's an interview I did for the Spanish "Clone Magazine". [www.clonemagazine.com]



1.What is Boy Omega?
It's the roof under which I collect the songs I write.

2.Listening to your songs, you appear to be a musical and cabaret fan. What do you like the most about those genres? Do you have any favourite songwriters?
I'm actually not a musical nor a cabaret fan. I even have to admit that I find it pretty disturbing when someone suddenly burst into singing and/or dancing in a movie.
I do like big orchestrated music though. "Make it easy on yourself" by The Walker Brothers is a good example, and also one of my all time favorite songs.

3.What are you listening to at the moment?
Lots of stuff... Andrew Bird, Sigur Ros, Mount Eerie, Eluvium, Spoon, Radical Face, Björk, Stina Nordenstam, Of Montreal, Stars Of The Lid etc.

4.Who were your childhood's heroes?
Kronblom, Dennis, Han Solo, Boba Fett, Ace Frehley, The Phantom, Big Jim, He-Man...
Music-wise, the masters were: Kiss, Motley Crue and Twisted Sister.

5.I have tried to look for some background info about you, but it's been quite difficult. And in Spain you're not very well-known, even though you've steadily been making records since 2002. In actual fact, I've only discovered your music thanks to this outstandingly brilliant record you've made. Can you explain us who you are, where you from or anything else you might want to tell us?
My full name is Martin Henrik Gustafsson. I was born in Sweden in 1978. I was named after Martin Chivers, a soccer-player for Tottenham Hotspur. I was born with a banana-foot and one leg shorter than the other. The first record I bought was "Creatures of the night" by Kiss. I'm a night owl. I love the sound of rain smattering against a plastic surface. I take interest in the unknown. Things that defy the laws of physics. I dislike a lot of things, but I do like animals, movies, books, bathtubs, balconies, photo albums, crossword puzzles, guitar pedals, rollercoasters, trees, random acts of kindness and so on.


6.How did you find your trip to Spain during the Tanned Tin festival?
We had a good time. Nice people, nice venue, nice hotel, nice weather. We'd love to come back.

7.What's up with Sweden? Too many good bands! In Spain, newspaper supplements dedicate whole articles to each and every band that comes out of your country, as if they were reinventing pop and it seems that their music will never go out of fashion. Can you explain this phenomenon?
Something in the swedish tap water, perhaps? I actually have no idea.
I have to tell you that there are lots of bands and artists from Sweden that suck as well.

8.What do you think about all this wave of musical information that we are currently experiencing thanks to youtube? Does the downloading of tunes bother you?
Maybe it's a gift and a curse. I mean, it might hurt your sales, but then again you probably want people to hear your records, right? Personally, I'm not bothered by it at all.
It seems as if the recording industry is in collapse anyway, so what can you do?
The only thing I don't really like with youtube, myspace et al, is that the sound quality sucks big time. I hope that a person who truly enjoys an album also buys it.

9.Do you listen to your records once they appear on the market? And are you satisfied with the result?
Not really, no. By the time a new album is released, I'm already on to the next thing. Also, when an album is finished and sent to the record label, the pressing plant and finally the record stores, it becomes other people's property. And I believe that's a good thing.
That's how it's supposed to be.

It's hard to say if I'm satisfied with my releases. I don't really think it's a good thing to be satisfied. I do like the fact that all four of them are different from one another.

10.My favourite song from the record, apart from this piece of beauty called "True Haven", is "Change of plans". Could you tell us something about it?
It's about wanting to be saved by someone or something.

11. What things inspire you? Is it true that unhappy people have more material to make beautiful songs?
Anything can inspire me really. There are stories all around you. You just have to look for them.
I find it a bit scary to talk about happy and unhappy people. I think we all have our ups and downs. I don't believe it's all black and white. Most things in life are probably more grey-ish brown.

12. What did you want to be when you grew up?
At first I wanted to be a professional soccer player. A goalkeeper. After that I wanted to be a pro skateboarder, but since my balance is a bit off to say the least, I would've never made it. I'm pretty glad I decided to pick up the guitar.

13. Is there any song you can think of that makes you blush to admit that you like it?
I'm a sucker for power ballads, but I'm not ashamed of admitting it. Maybe I would have had more problems admitting that when I was younger. Nowadays I don't really care who the artist is, or anything like that. A good song is always a good song.

14. And lastly, what is your favourite food?
I love Indian food. "Palak Paneer" is a classic, but any vegetarian dish will do. I'm not too picky.
I love oranges, grapes and sugar snap peas...

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Song of today: Alarm Will Sound - Avril 14th
Goal of today: Petter Hansson (Sweden 2 - Greece 0)