SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA SPLIT! Steve Angello on the end of SHM
For some, they’re heroes of the new age of EDM, breaking America and reawakening the motherland to the rhythmical joys of repetitive beats. To others they’re a symbol of the return of ‘90’s excess, punching the air to the musical equivalent of Coca-Cola, calorifically rich but nutritionally bereft. Whatever you think though, the announcement that Swedish House Mafia are to split at the end of their current tour was a topic that spread shock through the dance community when it first appeared on their website.
When we meet Steve Angello, a few days after the announcement, in a studio in London where he’s encamped with the crew of Size Records — his label which this year celebrates its tenth anniversary — he’s the calm at the centre of a storm, relaying the endless calls that mean he’s only slept a few hours, but only giving what he calls his “stress ball” a few cursory bounces.
“We’ve always been three solo artists,” he answers on the inevitable ‘why?’, the sound of label artists Third Party and Tim Mason leaking through from next door. “You know, we’ve had an amazing run, an amazing time together.
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We just decided to do this and we’re still friends. We’ve done the best things we can and you don’t want to repeat yourself all the time with the same things.”
The decision may seem perverse, especially when Swedish House Mafia are at the height of their powers and earning potential, inspiring DJ trios such as The New Iberican League and Erick Morillo’s Sympho Nympho, who no doubt hope to emulate the fun of being on the road with your buddies, but as Angello points out, despite the levels of management and marketing surrounding them now, their success was a happy though lucrative accident.
“Swedish House Mafia was never a planned venture. It was never like, ‘OK, let’s do this supergroup now, let’s go’. We were three guys coming together once in a while. We were still doing 90% solo stuff, and then we’d do the Swedish House Mafia. We’re still us, still gonna be us. We’re not dead.”
As to whether they will announce any North American dates during the final leg of the tour bidding farewell to fans, Angello is non-committal. “I don’t know. It’s still in
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the works, you know. We don’t think too far ahead. It’s still very fresh to us. We just decided to have fun. Let’s do this run, have a blast.”
At one point he adds on their already mighty achievements, “I mean, what’s next? Fly to the moon? You know what I mean?”, something that could possibly happen since he tells us that millionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, who is planning the first commercial trip into space with Virgin Galactic, has been giving him advice on the music industry.
“I just wanna go up there. See what it’s like. Send a tweet,” he laughs. “’There’s planet Earth’, you know? Hashtag.”
Space adventures aside, Angello has since been rallying his inner-circle around him, including brother AN21, spending time doing a house music team-building exercise, producinh tracks alongside the young producers he’s helping nurture. Read our full feature on Size and what Steve has planned for the future on pages 16 – 19.
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