Swedish rock band Mando Diao: 'We always get a good crowd in Spain'

Swedish rock band Mando Diao is performing at Torre del Mar's Weekend Beach festival on Saturday night. The band's frontman, Björn Dixgård, spoke to SUR in English from his summer house in Sweden, where he was "chilling" before heading to Malaga for the performance.

The band: Björn (guitar and vocals), Carl-Johan Fogelklou (bass), Daniel Haglund (keyboard), Patrick Heikinpieti (drums) and Jens Siverstedt (guitar), are coming to the Costa del Sol as part of their latest European tour to promote the release of their new album, Boblikov's Magical World, which came out in April 2023.

"It's our most rock 'n' roll album yet. We recorded it in a week. It was an experiment to see if we could do it and apparently we could," Björn explained. However, he promises that they will play their biggest hits as well. "People want to hear the oldies," he said. Fans can expect "an up-tempo, wild" performance with "a lot of energy, dancing and shaking the hips".

The band started out in 1996 and have seen a few members come and go over the years, but as Björn explained, "it happened to the Rolling Stones, it happens to a lot of bands. When you have been going for as long as we have, it's normal".

Band member Carl explained that the name Mando Diao "came to Björn in a dream. It doesn't really mean anything but we have been told it sounds Portuguese, Spanish, even Japanese".

The band also has a big following in Japan, as well as across Europe and in particular Germany, Austria, Switzerland and of course Sweden. They sing "mainly in English. English is our first language for our music" but have also released songs in Swedish.

However, the setlist for Saturday night is all English. "Unless someone shouts out for us to sing in Spanish, then we're in trouble," joked Björn, who added that they always get a good reception when they play in Spain.

"You know, in Sweden, people mainly like pop music but here in Spain, I think a lot of people like rock. We have played in Malaga before and there's always a great crowd in Spain."

Björn, 42, said that the band's musical influences come from some of the classics including the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Janis Joplin, but he explained that the members "grew up in the '90s, listening to a lot of indie bands like Portishead, Massive Attack, Blur, Oasis and, of course, Nirvana" and those influences also come through in their own music.

"Freedom" and "Liberation" are two words that Björn uses to highlight the important messages that come from the band's music. "Music is unifying. There's a lot happening in the world that drags people down and music needs to give people freedom and unity," he said.

Björn confessed that the band won't have much time to see the sights of Malaga or Torre del Mar as they are flying to Germany on Sunday morning, but said he hopes to be able to check out some of the other bands performing on Saturday night and "maybe have time for some tapas before we leave".

Mando Diao are performing on the Weekend Negrita stage at midnight on Saturday; British indie rock band Editors are on at midnight tonight on the Weekend Negrita stage. Tickets available from: www.weekendbeach.es