Thursday, October 6, 2016

Pheaturing Marie From Raymond & Maria


Hey, welcome to the Phile for Hurricane Thursday. This is gonna be a really quick entry. I don't know of you heard, but Hurricane Matthew is coming and it's a Category 4. Expect high-speed winds, confusing statements, and the refusal to wear a shirt. Best of luck finding enough horrifying damage to adequately update your Instagram. If you wanna see where the hurricane is going I will show you...


That's so stupid. Traffic is really bad in Florida right now.


Yep. One business said it best...


Whatever business that was. Alright, no monologue today people, but it is Thursday so once again it's...



I think I'm gonna throw up. I apologize. Moving on...



Haha. Let me know if you spot the Mindphuck. Alright, it's time to talk football with my good friend Jeff in a pheature called...



Me: Hey, welcome back to the Phile for a Thursday. How are you?

Jeff: Hey, Jason. Good to be back on the Phile. I heard the news that you're cancelling the Phile next year. While I will be sad to see it go, I completely understand why.

Me: Not next year, but in the summer of 2018.

Jeff: Ahh okay! Need to start working on getting an awesome last interview!

Me: Yeah. So, I saw you are doing this 22 in 22 day challenge or something. What's the deal with that?

Jeff: The 22 for 22 challenge is to do 22 pushups for 22 straight days. Twenty-two former soldiers a day commit suicide mostly from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This challenge, much like the Ice Bucket Challenge from years ago, is designed to a) raise money to help and B) bring awareness to those who might need help.

Me: I give you 100% credit, I could never do that. I'm glad no one challenged me. Haha. Anyway, your book comes out this month, right?

Jeff: Yes, "Paranormal Contact Vol. 3" will be out later this month, just in time for Halloween.

Me: Okay, so what's the NFL news this week?

Jeff: Biggest news in the NFL (well, more on that later) would be the fact that the Atlanta Falcons did something no team had ever done. Their quarterback threw for 500 yards in a game with 300 of those yards going to one receiver. Meanwhile there's only three undefeated teams left in the NFL after 4 weeks. Two of those teams have starting quarterbacks that prior to this season hadn't thrown a pass in the NFL (Denver and Philadelphia). The only other team acquired their quarterback because their starter got injured in training camp. Other news include New England got shut out at home for the first time in over 20 years.

Me: So, freaking Brady's coming back. Is that a good thing? It is for him. Haha.

Jeff: Yeah, Brady is back this week. And he returns against one of the worst teams in the league, the Cleveland Browns. He's going to make them look bad. I don't think it's a bad thing at all. Love him or hate him, everyone has a reaction to Tom Brady. It gets people talking about the NFL and that's not a bad thing at all.

Me: Okay, so, I was ahead by six... How did we do this week?

Jeff: I'm not really sorry to tell you this but I had a perfect week. Not only did my fantasy football team win (totally unrelated I know,) and my real football team trashed the Chiefs. But I also went 2-0. Considering I only had 1 win the first 3 weeks combined, I'll take it. You went 1-1 with a Giants loss. So I gained on you cutting your lead in half. You now lead in the standings by 3 points.

Me: Shit. Let's do this weeks picks. I hate to say this but I saw the Patriots by 5 and Broncos by 6. What do you say?

Jeff: My picks this week are the Minnesota Vikings by 3 and Colts by a point.

Me: By the way, Jeff, they should of named the hurricane Ryan Tannehill, that way it wouldn't hit anything.

Jeff: The same could be said about Ryan Fitzpatrick. 9 interceptions in the last 2 games.

Me: Good point. Alright, I'll see you back here next Sunday.

Jeff: See you next week.



Alright, today's pheatured guest is the lead singer for the Scandinavia band Raymond & Maria whose EP "Jobs Where They Don't Know Our Names" is available on iTunes. Please welcome to the Phile... Maria.


Me: Hello, Maria, welcome to the Phile. How are you?

Maria: Very good, thank you.

Me: You kids are based in Scandinavia, right? Whereabouts?

Maria: Stockholm.

Me: I don't know a lot about Scandinavia, except it's near Denmark and Norway, am I right? 

Maria: Denmark, Norway and you could add Finland too. (Even though they speak a completely different... and very strange... language…)

Me: What language do you speak there?

Maria: In Sweden we speak Swedish. Vi pratar svenska.

Me: I'm from England originally but live in Florida now. I should know more about Europe. I am an idiot. So, who is in the band? Ha ha.

Maria: Me... Maria and my sister Camilla singing, and three guys... Johan plays the bass and Per and Staffan guitars. And than we find a drummer when we need one.

Me: There's no one named Raymond in the band? Where did the name come from?

Maria: Raymond & Maria was actually a swingers club in Stockholm in the 80s. They had funny adds in the newspapers, offering ”coffee and cookies and more fun." Maria sounds kind of nice and Raymond kind of ugly... at least in Swedish. Like our music... happy melodies and fierce lyrics. 

Me: You guys are like ABBA, with two guys and two girls, and from Scandinavia. Do you get that a lot?

Maria: We love ABBA.

Me: Let's talk about your music, kids. I like the EP "Jobs Where They Don't Know Our Names." What a long title. How did that become the title?

Maria: We love long titles.

Me: I like the song of the same name. Unfortunately, where I work I wear a name tag so everybody knows my name. What is the song about?

Maria: It's about the fact that many of us spends most of our time working for people and companies that just doesn’t care about us at all.

Me: I like the video for the song as well. It seemed like it was fun to make. Is that your first video, Maria?

Maria: Oh, great, it was fun to make. The director Jakob Hysén Hedberg and the photographer John Scarisbrick and all in their crew were really great. We’re actually made another video to another song on the EP. “The fish are swimming slower every year." (Another nice long title there for you..)

Me: You guys are pretty big overseas, and now you released music internationally, what has the feedback been like?

Maria: Good good.

Me: I have to mention this, your EP was produced by James Iha from Smashing Pumpkins. How did you first meet him? Did he approach you or did you approach him?

Maria: He heard a demo of ours and than we got an email from him saying he would like us to work with us. And we were happy off course. He is one of our all time favorite guitarists. And a very nice guy it turned out.

Me: Where was the EP recorded? I think James lives in America.

Maria: Yes, James invited us to his studio Stratosphere Sound in New York. We like it there.

Me: Will you be working with him again?

Maria: Absolutely.

Me: Now you have the EP out, will you be releasing a full length album?

Maria: Yes, we’re hoping to release a full length album early 2017. And hoping to go on a tour too, all over the U.S.

Me: Thanks so much for coming onto the Phile. Please come back when your next release comes out, and I predict big things from you kids. Oh, mention your website

Maria: We’ll be happy to! Raymondandmaria.com.




That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to Jeff Trelewicz and Maria. The Phile will be back Monday with Phile Alum Bermuda Schwartz... unless I get blown away from the hurricane. Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye. Stay safe this weekend.



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