[Editor’s Note: Swedish indie rock band Hearts is gearing up to release their new single “In Over Our Heads” on Friday, March 1. The band, based out of Gothenburg, Sweden, features former Catfish and the Bottlemen drummer Rob Hall and members from Swedish bands The Bongo Club and Bottlecap.
Says member Jesper Jansson (formerly of The Bongo Club): “It’s a song about navigating everyday life while pursuing a music career. Having played music since we were kids, we know all there is to know about being a band. You can put us on a stage, in a van or in the studio any day of the week and we’re always at our finest. However, we sometimes find ourselves struggling with the more mundane things of life. Luckily, we got our best mates to lean on and we’re all in this together.” The track is the follow-up to the band’s 2023 debut EP1, and first taste of their second EP, which will be out later this year.
Below, Jansson writes about the importance of the band and how it came together.]
The idea of Hearts was born a couple of years ago, but it wasn’t until I met Rob that things really started moving. Let me take you on a trip down memory lane.
After having played with the same band for about 10 years, with Covid preventing us from playing live and overall motivation at an all-time low, we went on an indefinite hiatus. At first, it felt like a relief; I was able to put my focus on something other than pursuing a music career for the first time in a long while. However, after doing that for a while, I found myself experiencing somewhat of an identity crisis. I had always been someone who played in a band, and with most of the people around me being musicians with their own bands, I started feeling like an imposter. I knew I wanted to be involved in music, but I didn’t know with whom. Since most people I knew were already involved in other projects, I started making simple demos on my own and biding my time.
Fast forward to December 2021: I first met Rob outside Fyrens, a bar in Gothenburg’s most culturally dense area, during the club festival Viva Sounds. Sharing similar backgrounds with both of us having played with the same band for 10 years and recently getting out of them, we quickly hit it off. A couple of months passed, and we started randomly bumping into each other more often than could be considered a coincidence. So, we decided to meet up for a jam session, just the two of us. It was during that session that we both felt we were onto something. I remember Rob saying something along the lines of “You love music too much to not be in a band,” and he was right.
So, we invited Erik, who used to play guitar in my old band, and Johan, whom we had known forever for playing bass in a band we had done countless gigs with in the past, for a weekend in the countryside, locked in a room with nothing but music to occupy us. This first weekend with the four of us was the most creatively inspired I had felt in years, and we laid the foundation for most of our first EP, as well as sowing the seeds of ideas that are now part of our second one.
From that moment, Hearts was born, and things have been moving quickly since. It’s been a little over a year since that weekend in the countryside, and we have released one EP, recorded a second one, and played gigs in Sweden, the UK, and Spain. I have never been more excited about being involved in music.
It seems Hearts was just what I needed, and it’s safe to say I no longer feel like an imposter!
Jesper Jansson
Contributor
Jesper is member of Swedish indie-rock band Hearts, which also features former Catfish and the Bottlemen drummer Rob Hall. He also played with The Bongo Club.
