So, how did the band come together?

Henrik: First, it was me and Audrey and Fredrik. I was living in Paris and I was hanging out at Audrey's place using her computer for a Dictaphone. When I had been in Sweden I listened to my stuff and she had made awesome guitars for the songs. So we thought we should do some more stuff and then it was summer and we borrowed a summer house by the sea and Fredrik came too and we made Demon in two weeks.

What issues, logistical or otherwise, are there with having members living in different countries?

Henrik: Money. Rehearsing gets expensive. Mostly it's good, though. It's nice not to play very often and then get together in band camps and work hard. Everyone is so happy when we finally meet but maybe we wouldn't have to live in different countries for that, but it's just like everyone has their lives and so we want to keep it that way. It's good to have a life outside the band; you need a lot of sensations in your life.

What non-musical influences would you say are there on the music?

Henrik: Kandinsky [see above image]. I like to think of the music as LEGO: you build. It's different pieces with different shapes and sizes and colors. It's pretty visual, I think. Kandinsky and Lego have a lot in common obviously. The song is a face, and the rest is make-up. You can make any face into a Goth or a Louis XIV or a Polynesian mask. And you can make any song into any genre. Thats why I don't get it that most records have a "sound" - don't you want to try to make some different things? Don't you get bored? Maybe one day we will make a record with a "sound"...

How did the name come about?

Henrik: Well we had another name and then we were putting out our first record and we noticed that a lot of other bands had that name so we felt we should change. And then we made a long list. In the end we wanted something very common and uninteresting. Bad thinking maybe, from a marketing point of view. In the beginning, no one could find us on the internet. If you search for envelopes you just found "red Christmas envelopes, 99 cents" and stuff. Now it's a little better. But we might change back to our old name. We miss it.

So, it's pronounced "envelopes" like "antelopes" and not "envelups"?

Henrik: We use both.

Because "envelups" is cool and describes the music as well.

Henrik: Right now I prefer envelups.

One's a noun and the other's a verb.

Henrik: Yeah. The verb ROCKS.

Smoke In The Desert, Eating The Sand..

* * *

Their follow-up, Here Comes The Wind, was just released in the UK. Though physical copies aren't available in North America (yet), the album is available on iTunes.

Envelopes - 2008 Tour Dates
Jun 5 - Sunsui OSAKA
Jun 6 - Club 24 Yokohama (dj only) YOKOHAMA
Jun 7 - UNIT Tokyo TOKYO