Jesper Zar Interview

What is your favourite Daze song?

My favourite Daze song is Superhero, as I have so many good memories to that song, I and the rest of the group never went bored of that song. We did some arrangement things with that song that u normally don do, but thats also what makes it special. The funny part of the album "Superheroes" is that every song is special in its own way, many people have different favourites... But ofcourse Superhero and Tamagotchi are mostly the top farvourites, as they were the singles..

While we're on the topic of favourites, do you have a least favourite Daze song too?

You mean a song that I dont like ? hehe... well u gotta have a least to have a most :) Sky is blue, I aint that found of... and we also dropped it for the international edition of the album... so dont know if you have heard it ?
[Oh yes, I've heard it. :) Wasn't it a bonus track?]
Maybe... on some releases :) but it was on the cd as a "real" track in scandinavia.. but got dissed for the international edition :) its an ok track, but was made in a hurry and Trine had a cold when she sang it in the studio :D Trine is a very good singer, and you can only hear it if you knows her... but still sounds a little nasal to me though :D

You worked with Johnny Jam & Delgado? What was Daze's relation with them?

We owe them everything :D They are the ones that formed the sound of bubblegum dance... We met them as they should produce our album, and they were quite secretly about what they did etc... :) We delivered the songs to them, and they changed the sounds used and recorded the vocals, they made a class A product EVEN better :D Some people made of water (get the hint) told the world that they only were engineers.. but thats not true, they are the one that made the sound for Aqua, Daze, they are my true Superheroes :D

Wow, that's amazing, did they work with all of the songs on "Super Heroes"?

No they did the producing on : Superhero, ToyBoy, Tamagotchi, Sea of Love, In the middle of the night. think that was it... but the producers we then also worked with was told by Sieber and I to match the sound as much as possible :D most of all the others was just trying to copy the work that they had done. well... its in the same universe.. but the different sound made the album more complete...

Do you have a favourite bubblegum dance group, apart from Daze?

hehe... My influences is more the 90's Eurodance... Like: Maxx, Culture Beat, Twenty4Seven, Dr. Alban, Snap!,Haddaway,E-type etc, and they are the ones I really like... Though I like Aqua's "Roses are red" as it's more Dance then the rest they did :D

Were you ever mistaken for another bubblegum dance act? If so, did it offend you?

The only thing that was typicaly was that people thought of us as "Aqualike" :D At that time it was annoying... as we did our own songs.. didnt have rap in the songs etc... yes but you have to like the kind of music to hear the differents :) Like Rock music sounds to people who likes dance... :D :D drums and guitars... who needs it anyway :P

Whose decision was it to take the sound and style in a new direction for the follow-up album?

Hahaha.... Ok let me give you the whole short story.. ;) Sieber and I have sworn NEVER to change the sound for the 2nd album.... As we had noticed other of our farvourites dance acts to do so before.. and never succeeded...
But when the time came for the second album, we actually thought that because there had been so many Bubblegum acts.. the sound would change.. or people would be bored if we made a Superheroes2
Sieber and I was very into Denniz Pop (R.i.p) and Max Martin, and we began to find interest in the productions they made with backstreet Boys, Britney Spears etc...
So when we were in Canada, we thought that that was the sound we would like to do, and if we would succeed in Canada first we would convience the rest of the world to like it :D :D :D :D
well need I to say that it didnt go as planned ? LOOL
I have fans telling me that they bought 2 albums of the 2nd, just so we would make a 3rd album with bubblegum dance :D
And you should also know that we had made eurodance for like 3-4 years before Daze... in a group called Systematixx...
So I think we in some way needed to grow naturally.

Did you change the style to match the new sound? While creating the new DAZE page I was comparing logos, and how you introduced a new firey logo - everything seemed to get a transformation hehe ;)

Yeah we did a full makeover... the plan was to get result from Canada and then it would go smooth elsewhere :D

Do you think you will ever make a new album? There are obviously still a lot of Daze fans out there, and you're quite famous all over the world :)

Hehe... we are just starting a mini tour right at this moment.. so if anyone wants to book us they can contact our booker "CLubservice.eu"
Hehe, and we are making new mixes of some of the songs too... And we got 5 songs that nobody has heard yet;) So maybe a 3rd album aint that far away....
But make a poll to see if people would like a 3rd album. :D

Oooh, how exciting! :D Are they bubblegum songs?

Yes they are dancesongs.. :)

Do you know what the highest position "Together Forever" reached in the Danish singles chart?

The single was never released in DK;)
But I think that it went top3 or number 1 on the dancechart here... People had to buy the album to get Tamagotchi... Marketing :D

What happened to Johnny Jam & Delgado after "Super Heroes"? Would you work with them again in the future?

I have spoken to them, but they went different ways, so they are not a team anymore (as far as I know) But it would be fun to work with them again, but they are mostly songwriters today and Delgado works as an A&R
They moved to England and then to USA, and are now back again in DK... so who knows, maybe they are up for "Superheroes never dies"

What are your views on Aqua's recent reunification? Smile.dk has also returned under new producers. :)

Well I welcome every dance act, and are looking forward to see what they can come up with. The whole 90's Dance is returning to the clubs atm. and soon to the radios again, so thats just great :D
[:D I hope more bubblegum acts start returning. The world needs to see more happy music hehe]
That I agree to :)
And thats what will happen... if you listen to the rap/rnb today.. they use a lot of dance synths and roles.. so its on its way :)

Would you be able to reveal to your fans some of the titles of the unreleased songs..?

That would be too early, but I can promise it will be dance if it ever comes out ;)
And maybe some of the old Systematixx tracks would be remade for Daze :)
Be my lover was a Systematixx track that we remade for Superheroes

Just thought of an unusual question. Was there a story behind "Mizz Molly" from They Came To Rule? Who is Mizz Molly? hehe :)

Hehe no .. just inspirations from real live, what u see in movies, tv news etc... we like to tell stories in the songs ... LOL

I mean, the name (Daze) is just damn awesome for starters lol. Who thought of that?

The name Daze was giving to us by a famous RnB producer: Karlin (works together with Soulshock) who have done Whitney Houston and Toni Braxton etc. They heard of us through Karlins father, whom at that time worked as Sales manager at Sony here in Denmark...

And we were searching for a good name, as Systematixx was a bit to EuroaDance D:

They came up with the name... and we liked it :)

The majority of bubblegum dance styled music comes from Scandinavian countries. Do you know why it has such a huge focus in this area, and why is it mostly popular in Japan?

It started here in DK, and is a adaption from EuroDance... more radio oriented... Again Johnny Jam & Delgado are to thx for that... why its popular in Japan ? I guess its because of all the colours and the happysound... its a little kitch :) And the fact that the groups are inspired by the manga .. I know we were :D

I have one final question to finish the interview. Do you have a favourite candy? ;)

haha.... yes girls :D
well gotta be chocolate... Love it ...
by the way.. a little bonus...
if you take tamagotchi and plays " oi oi yambam" backwards.. u get superhero's "um baba eyah" :D
some people have already found out... its also on youtube ;D

Thanks so much Jesper, it means heaps! I will post this interview on the new Web site, when it is launched this year. :)

np mate :) Let me know when its up... And thx for the interest.. :)