No sleep, drugs, and alcohol just make it 10 times worse - Pär Grindvik Interview

The Swedish veteran Pär Grindvik, has been a lasting figure in the techno scene and a pinnacle member in Sweden’s electronic music since the nineties as a record store-owner, dj/producer and label manager. He has had a successive amount of releases on his own label Stockholm LTD as well as other renowned labels and has a plethora of other projects including collaborations with Hardcell.

MOTZ catches up with one of the most hard working artists in techno about the scene in Sweden, how he manages his projects, his love of hip hop, building his career and the effect it's had on his mental health.

Coming from the Swedish electronic music scene in the 90’s, have you seen any changes in the current Swedish scene?

It’s been a good 30 years since the scene took off in Sweden, so a lot has changed. Some years in the end of the 90s beginning of 2000 it was almost none existing. But what I’m most excited about is that the last few years the patriarchy is finally falling piece by piece. The world needs the gender revolution so badly and it feels like the climate in the Swedish electronic scene slowly become a bit more equal. More of that PLEASE!

What were your early influences when you starting producing and what sort of stuff were you making?

Pretty much anything that you got your hands on, I was into synthpop before discovering techno and in the beginning, most of the techno that I got hold of was from mixtapes and cassettes from friends and siblings. You heard rumours about styles and tried your best to figure out what was going on.

How did you manage a label and record shop whilst sustaining a DJ career and producing music?

It all came pretty naturally, I started to write music at a young age and with that came records, gigs, record store and at some point producing and playing records become my profession. But I’m running more businesses today than I did back then, that together with family life and three kids. I guess it all gives good energy to life and I couldn’t wish for anything else to be honest.

Swedish are well renowned for their contributions in music history, who are some of your favourite electronic music artists coming from Sweden at the moment?

Sissel Wincent is really inspiring me at the moment, she has an edge to everything that she does that I could just dream of. Klara Lewis is another brilliant one. I could make a long list, there’s so much popping up all the time.

In contemporary society we want to achieve things instantaneously and try to take shortcuts to get there, how long did it take you to build up a solid career in the industry?

I think that the shortcut is just an illusion, most of the artist's that “just pop” have been around longer than people realise and whatever you do, it takes time and timing to find your spot. I haven’t done anything else than this is my life, at a young age I was dreaming about music. I was 11 when I made my first attempt with electronic music, then it took me probably ten years before I actually had ever released anything. That leads to gigs and more records and I had probably been touring for 8 years before it hit me that this could be a career. Nowadays I’m not thinking much about it, I’m looking for what I think is fun and challenging and as I’ve been self-employed all my grown-up life, I kind of trust that I will come up with new ways to make a living.

Who are some of your favourite nonelectronic music artists of all time?

Ohh, I listen to anything really, normally making a list of all time fav's would have been easy but right now I can’t come up with anything specific. Today I’ve been listening to GZA, A Tribe Called Quest but also King Krule, Cymande, and The Last Shadow Puppets.

A lot of successful touring artists suffer from mental illness, how to manage to keep yours in check, especially after doing it for so many years?

Mmm that’s something that I can relate to, it can be really hard to keep track of who you really are. If you’re at a good run of your career you’re always up there, you have no time to think twice about why and what’s next. The backlash happens when you don’t get the same attention or just the fact that you’re alone so much while traveling. The silence after the party if you know what I mean, you are alone digesting all that you experience. The way your body and mind react to travel, no sleep, drugs, and alcohol just make it 10 times worse. I had a few years that was pitch black for me. After touring together as part of a duo I went on doing my own thing and in the beginning, it was all good but after a few years of crazy travelling I was in deep trouble. I for real thought that people disliked me for no reason at all, it occupied my mind constantly and I excused my existence where ever I went. The romance to work was gone and I was acting a role which I didn’t enjoy much of. I had to convinced myself every morning that it wasn’t too bad. I couldn’t act normal to my real friends anymore. It might sound silly if you haven’t experienced it but people start to treat you like you’re something different. I don’t say that what happened to me can happen to everyone, but we all feel the pressure and feel scared. I stopped drinking a few years back and started to care about my sleep in the week, that helped me a tonne, I never had as much fun doing this as I have nowadays and I can handle the pressure way better, It took a long time to figure it out but now I know where real me stops and where the expectations of me as an artist starts. You need to find your own structure, some need it from day one others when things start to get shakey, but everyone that does this will at some point experience the back side of all the fun.