the WILD honey pie: Greetings! I’m glad you guys (and girl) could take the time out of your busy schedules to answer my questions. Hope you enjoy this. What’s a day in the life of Fanfarlo look like these days?
Amos Memon: Here’s a time/motion look back at a day last week:
1100 – Wake up in a cramped ship’s cabin-styled hotel room in Arhus, Denmark
1127 – Cleaning lady walks in on us changing.
1200 – Begin drive to Copenhagen
1230 – Watch Classic Albums: Fleetwood Mac Rumours in the van
1545 – Park by the venue, Loppen, in snow covered Christiana
1700 – Soundcheck starts. Troubleshoot feedback and vocal delay.
1900 – Interview with Mazz and Mazz from Danish College Radio.
2000 – Skip dinner to meet friends.
2300 – Changeover between bands. Line check all connections and instruments.
2320 – Play gig. Prior adoption of James Brown’s penalty for mistakes seems to be working.
0020 – Finish show. Hang out and take tips from locallers on how to best spend the evening.
0100 – Load out of venue without falling down icy stairs
0200 – Snigger at Leon’s dance moves at local nightspot (he’s one of two people on the dancefloor)
0315 – Cram four people into a small cab.
0400 – Arrive at hotel. Drink cups of tea.
1000 – Wake up in a cramped ship’s cabin-styled hotel room in Copenhagen, Denmark

the WILD honey pie: You’re from Sweden, but are based in London now, right? How’s London treatin’ you? What’s your favorite thing about London that tourists may overlook when they visit?
Amos Memon: Simon started the band in Sweden but the band is based in London, even though there’s only two Londoners in Fanfarlo. My favourite thing about London is how easy it is to get around on a bicycle. Tourists shouldn’t be afraid to get on a bicycle and see the city that way.

the WILD honey pie: I studied in London this past fall and had an absolute blast. A few too many late-night gyros though. What’s your favorite drunk food?
Amos Memon: It’d have to be a delicious falafel and salad wrap. You don’t need to be drunk to enjoy it, just hungry and homeward bound.

the WILD honey pie: I love the diversity of instruments you guys use. They add such a depth to your songs. Anything new you’ve been toying with recently? What’s your favorite instrument? Why?
Amos Memon: Since we’ve been playing as a quintet this year, we’ve been using more effects pedals and loops alongside the other instruments. On a few dates in the USA late last year, we had a friend accompany us on harp as well as doubling up on the violin. The harp became a favourite instrument for a while when it was used for Comets but it was difficult to incorporate it into full band performances on smaller stages. It sounded fantastic when we played acoutistically though.

the WILD honey pie: What do you think of playing encores? Why don’t bands just play a longer set?
Amos Memon: I’m not into the concept of playing encores, but the benefit is that it’s good to have a breather and a set change. We put a lot of effort into sequencing the main set, and then use the encore as an opportunity to take requests, play old songs or covers. I can’t speak for other bands, but that’s the reasoning behind the Fanfarlo encore.

the WILD honey pie: Here’s a YouTube video that made me crack up recently. What do you think? Got any videos you could send our way?

Amos Memon: That’s freaky and I never want to see it again. For a brief moment we were amused by C’est Moi Pollux. It’s a song about Pollux (known to me as Dougal from The Magic Roundabout). He’s a chien deluxe.