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Swedish Duo Galavant Discuss Global Success on the Fast Track [Exclusive Interview]

June 5, 2014 By Tyler Almodovar

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For most newcomers to the electronic scene, making a national impact is a lofty goal. For Galavant, one of Sweden’s most promising acts, national acceptance was but a truck stop on the highway to global recognition. In two short years, Sebastian Atas and Victor Sjöström have tasted the sweetest fruits of success; performing at national festivals, releasing tracks on major labels, and attracting millions of streams of Spotify are only a few of the bullet points on their impressive resume. Despite all of these accomplishments, the boys of Galavant claim they are only getting started.

We didn’t really know what to expect when we met our management team less than two years ago, and we got into this with no expectations whatsoever and have been on quite a journey so far. If somebody would have told us that we were going to be signed to labels like Ultra Music and Universal, play the biggest festival in Sweden and have our first release go platinum, we would probably have taken them for a couple of imposters. Alex and Stefan from Fingertip Management have believed in us since day one and all the hard work is starting to pay off. But it’s still very early so we need to stay on track and not lose our focus. We are very happy that we are able do what we truly love and see that people like our music so we are really looking forward to release more tracks and show people what Galavant is all about!

The festival they are referring to is Summerburst, where their platinum-awarded debut single was the official theme song. An upbeat progressive house banger, “Tonight” is an amiable song, constructed of the standard build and drop structure conventional of today’s chart-topping hits. What really makes “Tonight” stand out, though, are the alluring vocals and lyrics, a pivotal element in each Galavant track. Their most recent single “World of Dreams,” featuring singer Mary Jane Smith, is another vocal masterpiece. When asked how they choose their vocalists, Atas and Sjöström explained why they are so selective.

We believe that music is all about creating emotions and that is something that we want to do with every track that we put out there. Our main goal is to make everybody that listens to our music feel something special and this is what guides us when we look for lyrics and singers to work with. We are quite picky when it comes to vocalists and before we decided on going with ‘World Of Dreams,’ we had a lot of other alternative top lines presented to us, but none that we felt had that right ingredient to really move people in the direction that the instrumental track deserved.

Perhaps what has kept them ahead of the pack, artistic acumen and discernment embodies Galavant in their music and beyond. Every so often the pair will release a mix tape called Galatones, a clever blend of popular and obscure tracks which flow seamlessly together, a surefire indicator of what their live sets must be like.

We wanted to create a series of mixtapes that shows who we are and what kind of music we like and get inspired by. As with vocalists we are also very picky when it comes to choosing tracks for each mixtape and we rather wait until we have an episode that we feel is great rather than pushing out mixes every month or week. We choose the music we think is appealing to us at the moment and that we would consider playing in our sets, simple as that!

Unorthodox procedure seems to have paid off for Galavant. The prestigious name of a fellow Swedish musician has constantly shadowed their career, but recently the connection has taken on a new form.

‘Tonight’ got a spot on the Le7els podcast last summer, which was fantastic. It was our first release and we felt really honored to be included on Avicii’s podcast. On the ‘Beginning of the World’ we were asked to do a remix of the track by one of the A&Rs (artists and repertoire) at Le7els who is a good friend of ours and we are pleased to see that it is doing so well. It’s already been streamed almost 700,000 times on Spotify which by all means is a good indication that people like our style of producing music!

Other Swedish musicians have also played a part in Galavant’s rise. Fans of dance music for over a decade, artists like Axwell and Alesso have molded the pair, not only in their sound, but perhaps more significantly in the type of musicians they have become.

Growing up during the 90s, dance music has always been a big part of our lives. There have been quite a few people that inspired us to become musicians and DJs and maybe most of all, allowed us to think big and pursue those dreams. Artists like Axwell, Alesso and Eric Prydz have been a big inspiration for us over the years and have helped shape us as artists. It is hard to describe the feeling you get every time you hear a new track by these guys and the way that they are able to reinvent themselves over and over again to create new sounds.

Brought together by mutual friends and the internet in 2012, Atas and Sjöström were once struggling musicians with a shared passion. In 2014, Galavant has released two widely-acclaimed singles, earned the accolades of some of the world’s greatest producers, and performed in front of thousands of people. Their extraordinary life is something most of us will never experience, but surprisingly they claim not much has changed.

Our life is more or less the same but now we are able to work with our biggest passion, meet fans and travel to places around the world. However, as we said earlier, hopefully this is just the beginning of a long journey and we have just started to move forward. It takes a lot of hard work and many long hours in the studio, but if that is what it takes to get there, we are more than willing to put in the hours!

For now, the boys of Galavant are busy touring Europe and promoting their single “World of Dreams,” set for official release June 10. Rumor has it they may be venturing stateside for an American tour, so make sure to keep an eye out, but until then, check out their two biggest hits below.