Tag Archives: Robyn

Sweden’s Rebecca & Fiona are on their way to being household names and if you love them, then they love you back, man.

Rebecca Scheja and Fiona Fitzpatrick are from Stockholm and are vocalists as well as producers. Coming out of the European club scene, the heavy beat oriented duo has a new single out entitled “Dance.” Their new album I Love You, Man contains many unforgettable tracks such as “Bullets” and “Jane Doe.” Look for collaborations with Spank Rock and Kaskade on this disc from Ultra Music.

Fusion Radio visited the two before their DJ set at Studio Paris in Chicago.

JN: (Jerry Nunn) Hi, ladies. When did you first meet?

FF: (Fiona Fitzpatrick) We met quite recently in 2008. We immediately fell in love and very happy with each other. I knew that if we could work together and find something to do together we would be really happy.

We found that the DJ bookings that we did weren’t doing well so we started DJing ourselves. We then developed as DJs and learned by doing. After a year we started producing as well. We have working and touring for four years.

RS: (Rebecca Scheja) And singing on top of it.

JN: Did you study music when you were younger?

FF: Not electronic music but other types of music, more classical and pop.

RS: I went to singing and music school my whole life. I never worked with computers with Logic or music programs but I just sang. I was in bands and did songwriting.

FF: My father took the synthesizer to Sweden so when I twelve I got my first one but I hated it because he was forcing me to produce. So then I joined a punk band instead to rebel against my father. It wasn’t until we started working together that I started accepting it. Now I can take his help!

JN: If you weren’t in the music business what would you be doing?

RS: I would work with movies or filmmaking. Fiona would probably be in politics.

JN: Really?

FF: Yes.

JN: Did you grow up in Sweden?

FF: Yes we are from Stockholm, the capitol.

JN: Is this your first time in Chicago?

FF: No, it is our second but we didn’t see anything last time so we could say it is our first. We only went to a club last time and our hotel.

JN: So it was really fast.

FF: Now we saw Bucktown. We like vintage clothes and vegetarian food.

JN: We need to get to Boystown and the gay bars.

RS: That is what we heard about. We missed it!

FF: No one told us until now. That is where we will be staying next time.

JN: How do you stay in contact with people?

FF: Twitter and Instagram. I call my boyfriend on Skype because the phone bills from Sweden to America are huge. I think Rebecca had a phone bill for $1,000.

RS: Pretty much every month now. I don’t care because we travel so much. When I am drunk I am just calling people!

JN: What do you think of Swedish artists like Robyn?

FF: She’s a very good friend and we are very proud of her. She has taught us a lot.

RS: She is a big inspiration even though she is not our genre. She is a great live performer and songwriter.

FF: She has been like a big sister guiding us and helping us.

RS: We are not doing the exact same thing even though we are making music.

FF: She is touring and we are touring so we met in the airplane last time from Stockholm from Chicago. She is coming to our release party tomorrow, which we are happy about.

JN: Where are you going tomorrow?

FF: LA.

JN: That will be fun. Why did you decide to go by just the first names?

FF: We didn’t decide. I think that is just what happened similar to the Swedish House Mafia. They were just hanging out and called that. That is really what happened to us. We tried to come up with other fun names but people kept calling us Rebecca & Fiona. It came to a point where it was too late to change.

JN: Well it worked for Robyn!

RS: She changed her name to Robyn with a Y because she had a song called “Show Me Love” at the same time that Robin S. had the same track called “Show Me Love.” She just told us the other week that she had to do it.

JN: I never put that together! Have you ever listened to the music group The Sounds?

FF: They are bigger in America than they are in Sweden. It is very cool to find people like that here.

JN: How is it working with Ultra Music?

FF: We just signed three months ago.

RS: Maybe even two months ago…

FF: We have been in contact with them for a very long time. Ever since we started making music. They have been like close family somehow because they have been with us all the time even though we were not signed with them. Signing has been very natural.

RS: Patrick the boss has been supportive from the first track that we made. He calls and checks up on us.

FF: He came to Sweden.

RS: Also, he doesn’t want to change anything but is very supportive. He has been a great guy throughout the whole process.

FF: We feel really at home with Ultra.

JN: It is a perfect match.

FF: We are very independent. Our taste is our taste and no one is going to change it. We want to do everything by ourselves.

JN: With the new album I Love You, Man there are guest stars such as Kaskade.

RS: In the United States version yes Kaskade is on it.

FF: The only artist we are featuring is the rapper Spank Rock, an American rapper. He is on one of our darkest tracks “Church Is On Fire.” It is probably the most difficult track to attempt on the album. It is based on an old punk rock song in Sweden that we sampled.

JN: Who comes up with the concept of these videos?

FF: We don’t have a lot time to plan things. The “Bullets” video was planed in three days. We have a stylist and art director. He’s a really cool gay guy that dresses really crazy and he helps us with clothing and ideas. His name is Tommie X.

RS: He blogs and is a DJ. He’s super cool.

JN: He should come to Chicago, too.

FF: He wants to.

JN: The “Dance” video is very dark.

FF: That is actually not him. That’s our friend Laerke Herthoni, a Danish girl that just started producing music videos. She did “Dance” and “Bullets.” They were both made in Denmark and have a Scandinavian touch. They are depressing and dark but fun.

RS: She put her story together and we let her put it together all by herself otherwise we would have been in control of everything. We don’t usually let people decide for us but she is so talented. She is a really good movie director and we wanted her to be the next big thing.

FF: And she will be.

RS: We think it turned out cool. It is not us, the way we dress, makeup or hair but it is her and her story. That means a lot to us and puts feeling into the song as well.

JN: It is very stylish.

RS: Yeah, it is a short movie kind of.

FF: And the guys are really hot!

JN: They are. I need to look at it again!

FF: He is the new face of Versace. He is young, 19 year old Danish guy and another one is like Prada.

JN: When people watch the video they will get a certain image of you. You don’t seem like that at all in person.

FF: No that is not us at all.

JN: What do you want people to know about you instead?

FF: We are crazy party girls and then also serious, stupid nerds half the time. It is hard to put a finger on us I think!

RS: We are just humans. It is us having fun and making music.

JN: Do you ever get sick of being around each other?

FF: Yes, you can get sick of anyone but compared to anyone else, no. We actually very content.

RS: We are connected so well that we don’t even have to talk. We understand each other. When we are really tired or stressed we get mad for one minute then it is over. It is nothing deep or something we have to handle afterwards. It is easy because we know how we feel. We are always tired, stressed or drunk but it is always fun!

JN: What is this special drink we are drinking?

FF: An Averna sour.

RS: Fucking amazing.

JN: So the album is officially out now.

FF: It’s out. Cheers, man!

Go to www.rebeccafiona.com to keep up more with the girls!