Flowers In The Air

Flowers in the Air is a pop band from Gothenburg, featuring John Holmlund, vocals and Bastian Pabst guitars and other instruments.

Neither Johan Holmlund nor Bastian Pabst are newcomers on the music scene. While Bastian has been working in the background as a producer, songwriter and musician, Johan made a name for himself in Sweden as well as overseas as the frontman of Easy, the first Swedish indie pop group to be aknowledged in the UK. Easy can rightly be credited to have kick-started the whole Swedish indie scene just when the 1980’s became the 1990’s. They ended up on the Brittish label Blast First together with Sonic Youth and Dinosaur JR and they toured all over Europe with The Charlatans, The Jesus and Mary Chain and other divinities. After more than a decade of laying low, 2010 was the start of a new phase for Johan. Easy made their live comeback on summer festivals, Johan published a collection of poetry (“I am the monster”) and Flowers in the Air entered the stage for the first time in their home town Gothenburg.

Q&A:
What are your favorite songs?
Johan: The Clash-London Calling. For the attitude. Once you´ve heard the bass rumble getting the track started and the manic guitar riff taking off then you are stuck. Forever breathes this heart of music: rock, pop, soul and reggae.
The Waterboys-The Whole of the Moon: the one moment when the big music hits the mark. A beautiful hymn for love and friendship.
Bastian: Jeff Buckley – Vancouver. Awesome guitars and an awesome bass line, great vocals in a song that does not follow the traditional templates but still feels genuinely homogeneous.
Tool-Stinkfist. Crushing riffs that still, after thousands of listens, induces goosebumps. Ahhh …

What are the ingredients required for a great song?
The Flowers recipe for how to make a song more than listenable: a lyric about Syd Barrett, ba-ba-ba choirs, backwards guitars, Swedish folk-music strings -in short: Dust & Guitars.

How did it all begin for Flowers in the Air?
We met at a school, on an island, where Johan tried to teach students to sit still, read and write and Bastian tried to make the same people to play rock ´n´roll and jump about.

That Håkan Hellström – Sweden´s biggest artist right now- recorded one of your songs, Lost At Sea / Saknade Te Havs, how has that affected you as a group?
Only positive. It’s nice to walk past a wild party and hear loads of people join in with the chorus.
And a hit is always a hit when it comes to the amount in your bank balance.

What type of music world will be listening to in 2020?
Music of the Spheres. NASA is opening the door slightly for the possibility of other life forms out there and why shouldn´t they be singing. Probably more in tune than most indie-bands.

And finally, what is your favorite flower?
Johan: Rhododendron. Bastian: Roses