IN VINO PÄRITAS – VULKANO WINE

It’s just past noon and I’m in a hotel lobby bar waiting for Cissi Efraimsson and Lisa Pyk Wirström, the two creative souls that make up music duo Vulkano, for a glass of wine and small talk about creativity, wine and everything in between. The first time I met them was some six years ago in the Irish capital of Dublin, which at the time hosted an annual festival featuring both new bands and exciting art from our oblong and diverse country. Back then, Cissi and Lisa were part of the acclaimed pop-outfit Those Dancing Days but they have since left their prancing pop years behind for somewhat more explosive punk tunes.

“We have played together in various bands since we were 14 years old and released our first album as Vulkano last fall. We are currently working on our follow-up,” Cissi explains, browsing the wine list while leaning over the bar. Lisa claims to be slightly hung over from yet another late night on the Stockholm club scene and lets me decide what will fill her glass. I pick a crispy clear Vouvray with a tart acidity of Chenin Blanc to wake her up a little. Cissi on the other hand, hovers over the American part of the list and settles for a Californinan Zinfandel, as she claims she needs something deep and sweet instead. Having a laugh at the wine label, 7 Deadly Zins, nodding quizzical towards Lisa, they continue: “We’re both interested in the supernatural, astrology, nature, art and film which gives our music it’s very special vibe.”

We cheer and taste our wines and our conversations on creative acts leads us towards their genius release Neptune Moon, a short film with a story built on the songs from Vulkano’s debut album Live Wild Die Free. “Neptune Moon takes place in another dimension where fantasy is mixed with reality and you don’t know what’s real and what’s not,” CIssi explains. “We shot it in the woods outside of Stockholm for three hectic days with a group of talented friends. It’s written and directed by me but both of us play the main characters. Film is a medium we definitely want explore more next to our music. We’ve recently started with clay animation too.”

Both have art school backgrounds and together with their irrefutable music talent the topics and projects are endless. They have also just finished shooting a feature film based on themselves called All We Have Is Now, with the documentary movie directed by multi talented actor/director Alexandra Dahlström.

The movie will premiere on silver screens in Sweden in mid-October. “Alexandra Dahlström fell in love with our band when she saw us live at Debaser Slussen in September 2011 and started to film us straight away. She continued working on the project for three years. The result is this very documentary, we have seen the end result and we are all very proud of it. It’s a movie about our band but it’s also about growing up, making your dreams become reality and about friendship.”

Both Lisa and Cissi speak warmly about the production and the experience of being the subject of a movie, but soon the giggling takes over. “At first it felt weird to be followed by a camera all the time but after a while it felt very natural and after the movie was shot it felt weird not to be filmed,” says Lisa.

The band is based in Stockholm, but lately they have spent some serious time in the USA and especially in LA. “We just love LA! It’s a wonderfully weird and diverse place with the vibe that anything can happen anytime anywhere. Artists and musicians there work hard and believe in their dreams and it’s very inspiring. We’re planning to move there part-time since our manager lives in LA. It almost feels like a second home for us already. We were there for two months this summer when we released our album in the US. We played live, wrote and recorded new songs.”

As we sip ourselves through this conversation, we drift more and more into the tastes of the wine, the background of the acclaimed wine interest they have. As I noticed Cissi’s eagerly eyeing the American section of the wine list, I assume she picked up her tastes over in the big country in the west, and I’m not far wrong.

Cissi is the big wine-lover in the band. “It started about a year ago when my boyfriend had an art exhibition and he had a wine sponsor for the vernissage,” she tells me. “There was loads of wine left that he brought home. So I started drinking wine, instead of my usual beer and when the bottles were gone I really missed having a glass. I started buying wine and trying different styles to find out what I like and my taste brings me more and more in the direction towards the USA. Big, fruity, bold and beautiful wines is what I like right now, but I’m always up for something new.”

She smirks and takes a sip of Lisa’s tart glass of chilled Loire. “This is also really nice, but I really love a glass of red wine, preferably with a bloody piece of meat.”

As she lists some of her house wines I get the picture. Cissi loves American red wine, like Californian Zinfandel Ravenswood and Charles Smith’s Washington State Syrah Boom Boom. Lisa, on the other hand prefers whites and the more noble Champagnes, like her absolute favourite Veuve Clicquot. “On tour, we always ask for local wines of good quality on our rider list. It’s fun to try new wines from different areas and countries and we like surprises.”

Make sure to see the documentary movie All We Have Is Now as it opens in cinemas all over Sweden at the end of October. Vulkano promise a great fall evening and recommend punk rock and these wines:

Ravenswood Vintners Blend Zinfandel (nr 26001) 99 kr

Boom Boom! Syrah (nr 6714) 129 kr

Veuve Clicquot Champagne (nr 7421) 399 kr

 Image: Pär Strömberg