Sweden, lo!

>> The Cardigans get "silly and crazy" and dance around a pole

by ADAM GOLLNER

Hailing from a small Scandinavian town full of churches (52 in total), Cardigans drummer Bengt Lagerberg has made the transition to world-famous drummer with a great deal of hubris. We discovered that, even though Bengt is a star, he is a simple, easygoing fellow with no noticeable personality defects. He openly shared his delightful vision of the world with in a transatlantic chat...

Mirror: Do you know anybody like the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show?

Bengt Lagerberg: No, not at all. I think Americans think that when Swedes are talking Swedish it sounds like that, but actually it doesn't... I think.

M: You usually do Black Sabbath covers. How come you didn't do one on Gran Turismo?

BL: We were actually talking about doing one. We didn't really come up with any good ones this time, but also we had enough of our own songs. We're talking about doing one on the next album.

M: What does the title (Gran Turismo) of the album mean?

BL: What it means? Umm, well, I think it's Italian, and uh, it means, big or adventurous tourism, or travelling more. But there's no real meaning of it for us. It was just, we were sitting down in the studio and we were trying to come up with a good album title, and then we saw a Playstation game lying around that was called Gran Turismo and we thought, "Wow! That's a pretty cool title. Let's name the album Gran Turismo!" So we did.

M: Were you guys smoking pot at the time?

BL: No, ho ho ho! We don't do that very much here in Sweden.

M: Tell me a bit about Midsummer's Eve, the traditional Swedish national holiday when the sun doesn't go down.

BL: It's just a really old tradition. I think it goes back to the time when the Vikings were around, you know? We drink a lot, eat typical Swedish summer food, and are dancing around a kind of totem pole, being silly and crazy.

M: Bengt, is there any one Midsummer's Eve that sticks out in your mind as being particularly... crazy?

BL: Yeah, there is, but I didn't celebrate that here in Sweden. In '96, when we finished our first American tour, we had a few days off and some of us in the band, we rented a car, and we went from San Francisco down the coast to Big Sur, where we rented a lodge and celebrated Midsummer's Eve there. That was quite amazing.

M: So did you dance around a totem pole in Big Sur?

BL: No, we didn't. We had a tequila race, actually.

M: A tequila race?

BL: We drank tequila slammers. Have you heard of that? You take tequila and some 7-UP or Sprite in a glass and you hold your hand above it and then you slam it in the table and then you just drink it like a shot and it makes you really drunk.

M: Wow. That's what you guys did in Big Sur? Sounds like a blast.

BL: Yeah, and we played cards. It was good times.

With Kent at the Spectrum, Monday, February 8, 8pm, $18.50+taxes