In this interview, we chat with Swedish folk-rockers Crooked Trees about their new self-titled EP, influences, and more.

Full Q&A as well as links and a stream of the entire EP below.

Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?

When I (Kevin Spring) grew up, my brother and I would go through our father’s huge vinyl collection from time to time. We could spend hours just listening to old classics such as Creedence, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Dire Straits, Rolling Stones etc. Unknowingly shaping what I later would find myself doing with my own music. Dreaming of someday be able to create and make other people do the same. Emil and I, as a duo, have always shared a big interest in rock music. That’s actually how we started hanging out, and later on to form Crooked Trees. I think the folk influences grew stronger when we started to experiment a bit more with our sound and having fun with more instruments.

How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?

I (Emil Gyllensvärd) think we’ve been doing music together for about three years now. Just having fun with it. We haven’t shared much of our music, just passing around demos and stuff. But we felt like this was a great time to present ourselves with our debut EP, Crooked Trees.

Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?

I (Emil) get a lot of inspiration from bands such as Kings of Leon, Mumford and Sons, Band of Horses and Biffy Clyro.

As I (Kevin) mentioned earlier, my influences, for guitar playing, are the ones I found in my fathers vinyl collection. A lot of blues and American folk music. Although for writing lyrics I (Kevin) get a lot of inspiration from the grunge scene like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Nirvana. If the instrument itself looks like it got a story to tell, either if it’s beat up or been through a lot, it’s easier to draw inspiration from it and contributes greatly to the sound. You can sort of live and breathe the history of the instrument and tell your story together. As fans of music we love playing and making more of it. Maybe someday we can inspire someone to do the same, which would be great.

Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?

I (Kevin) think we took a huge step with this one, both personally, and in our music career. We definitely worked with our sound and tried to make it bigger and/or more full-bodied. It was the first time we went into a real music studio too. Which was a dream coming true. Not just any studio. We were lucky enough to get in touch with the owner of Polar Studio and got to work with Swedish legends that have worked with Abba, Led Zeppelin and other big names. I think we accomplished what we had in mind, which was to further develop ourselves as musicians and make music we love.

What was the last song you listened to?

Ariana Grande – Into You

The Black keys – All You Ever Wanted

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

Vinyl definitely has the best sound in our opinion. It has a charm and beauty to the sound of it. It’s a special feeling to actually play a record, rather than just hit play and switch song after 30 seconds. I think that’s what people are starting to rediscover again, now with the huge distribution online with streaming. I think that’s why it’s making its way back.

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

I (Emil) use Spotify, because it’s easy access but considering going over to Apple Music.

I (Kevin) prefer my own music library. I can listen to it whenever/wherever I want, without bad Internet connections, subscriptions or restrictions.

Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?

The competition. To stand out when there’s thousand and thousands of great musicians promoting themselves and can be easily accessed on various platforms. I think it all comes down to the live act. If you really want to grab people’s attention you’d better off getting out there and rocking their socks off rather than trying to email people.

Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you live?

Not at the moment but we love playing so we take what ever we get. As for now we usually like to hang out with cool people at Local bars and open mics around Stockholm.

Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?

I guess it would be soundcloud for now. We are going to put out our new music there first.

Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?

We’re just two dudes, who don’t really know what we’re doing and having fun with it. Somehow along the process of having fun we’re also creating music that people tend to like. Keep doing what you love and life finds a way for you, who really knows where you’ll end up? Also. Stay in school kids.