Danish pop-rock band Michael Learns to Rock bring their clean-cut aesthetic and earnest pop songs to Shanghai for a show at Luwan Stadium. MLTR has a huge following throughout Asia, and have released eight albums throughout their long career. We spoke with the band before their shows this weekend to learn about their overseas fan base and celebrating 25 years as a band
You have a large fan base overseas; why you think that your music appeals to so many fans here in Asia?
We know that many people in Asia are very emotional people and that they are very fond of singing along to good pop songs. It is like our music fits perfectly into the state of mind of many Asian people and that people in Asia really understand what our music is about.
Who have been your biggest inspirations as musicians?
We grew up with the music from the 70´s and 80´s and many pop and rock artists have inspired us like ABBA, The Beatles, Supertramp, Elton John etc.
What is your songwriting process like? Do you all work collaboratively to write music and lyrics?
Usually Jascha comes up with a demo for a song and if we all like the song we proceed with the recordings, sometimes collectively and sometimes with a producer taking most decisions. It changes from album to album, so we don’t have just one way of working. Only the writing process is the same since Jascha comes up with both music and lyrics.
You started this band in high school, and recently celebrated your 25th anniversary as a band. What do you think has kept you guys together and helped you find success for so long?
Every show has a different audience and for us it’s important never to believe that we know what kind of audience will be in the venue that night and never to take anything for granted. We try to be curious and take our fans and our audience seriously all the time. Also we set a very high standard for our performances in order not to feel that a live show is like “another day at the office” which it will never be.
Why did you choose English as your main language to sing and create music in?
We choose to sing in English because that’s a great language to sing in and because all our musical influences was from the US or the UK all singing in English. Also Denmark is such a small country that it would limit our options if we had chosen to sing in our own language.
How do you relate your Danish roots to your music?
I don’t believe that you will find any “Danish” sound to our music. Most of the music we admire is from other countries and the Danish song tradition is very different from the music we make. Naturally that’s because Denmark is such a small country.
You recently collaborated with Phoebe, a Chinese artist. What made you want to create a Chinese/English bilingual song?
First of all we wanted to try something new and we think that Phoebe is a great singer. Then it was a great experience trying to do a bilingual song aimed at our Chinese fans and a lot of fun recording music video etc. in China.
What is your favorite place to play in China? Do any especially memorable concerts come to mind when you think about playing over here?
I remember both Beijing and Shanghai as great places to play. Also our previously shows in Hong Kong and Guangzhou has been great so it is going to be great coming back to these cities again.
What can we expect from your concert in Shanghai?
We will bring a brand new show with new visual effects and a few surprises especially for our Chinese fans.
Aug 26, 7.30pm, RMB380-1,280. Luwan Stadium, see event listing.
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