Music & Arts
The Umgås Understanding
Welcome to the Umgås Understanding.
We get to understand a little bit about you, you get to understand a little bit about Sweden. And we all have fun.
I am Antoine, and I’ll be bringing you goofy interviews with amazing people.
Today we’re talking to the ultra-talented, head honcho of Dubstep and original EDM mastermind, Chris Mercer aka RUSKO.
Enjoy, and as we say in Sweden, ha så kul
If you had to choose to make the world would live without one of the following Swedish inventions, which would it be? And why?
- The adjustable wrench
- The 3-point seatbelt
- The pacemaker
- The zipper
- Skype
Haha, you can’t say pacemaker, can you? Or seatbelts. Haha. I would say the adjustable wrench because I’m terrible with tools anyway.
Pick one of these tongue twisters to say three times fast.
- Packa pappas kappsäck med åtta pepparkorn
- Knut satt vid en knut och knöt en knut.
- När Knut knutit knuten
- var knuten knuten.
- Farfar, får får får?
- Nej, får får inte får, får får lamm.
(At this point Rusko is um’ing and erring.)
Packa Papi nap… err
Fail. Next question…Of these six Swedish artists, who has had the biggest impact on your life and why?
- Avicii
- Swedish House Mafia
- Ace of Base
- Roxette
- ABBA
- The Cardigans
ABBA, obviously. You can’t knock their song writing. I once heard that Bjorn LIVES in the Mercer hotel in New York. The Mercer is like $2,000 a night. That’s some SERIOUS hit money right there.
If you had to give one of these Swedishy gifts to anybody in the world, what would it be and who would it be for?
- Free Candy Crush gameplay for life
- A trip to Summerburst Electronic Music Festival
- A Husqvarna chainsaw
- Or a brand new Electrolux vacuum cleaner of your choice
I would say a trip to Summerburst. It’s one of the only festivals I’ve NOT played in Europe, and I heard it’s amazing. They have incredible lineups each year.
Choose fast and don’t have regrets! Have lunch with/get drunk with/punch
- Alfred Nobel, Inventor of dynamite and the peace prize
- Dolph Lundgren, action movie star
- Ingrid Bergman, famous Hollywood actress (Casablanca)
- Avicii, No. 7 DJ in the world (2015)
Lunch with Alfred. How does he make something that blows stuff up AND win a peace prize?! Genius. Get drunk with Ingrid, proper babe back in the day. And punch, oh (expletive), nice work, I don’t want to punch Dolph, he would kill me, or Avicii. (Same expletive). I have to choose like it’s life or death?
It’s life or death.
(Same expletive for third time). Sorry Tim (Avicii’s real name)
OK, now read the following words and tell me which one is the actual meaning? “Slutspurt”
- The sound a drink makes
- Grass in a field
- Final sale in shopping
- Springtime
Er, the sound a drink makes?
FAIL. Final sale in shopping is the right answer
Haha. I love a good Slutspurt. Haha.
I don’t think I can print that. Haha.
Whatever.
“Trivselbit”
- The last pastry or piece of cake
- To be content
- A fig
- Chalkboard
This is weird. Ha. A chalkboard?
FAIL. It’s actually “The last pastry or piece of cake,” and it’s a huge taboo for us Swedes. We would actually prefer to throw away perfectly fine food and deal with a lifetime of guilt and shame that comes with eating the last cookie.
Oh, I’m guilty of that all the time.
Finally, “Kackerlacka”
- Cockroach
- Christmas cookies
- A feeling of despair
- A camping stove
Haha, I’m always kackerlackered. (At this point, RUSKO is laughing at his own joke for almost a whole minute…)
Hurry up!
OK, OK. Er, a cockroach?
Correct. Rusko 1, Antoine 2.
You didn’t tell me this was a competition.
Us Swedes treat everything like a competition. We’re very competitive you know.
Oh, I know. Bravo, congrats.
Thank you for your time today. What do you think about us keeping a scoreboard of “Guess the meaning game?”
Do it. I’d like to know who else is as bad as me. This was actually one of the most fun interviews I’ve had. Ha. Thank you!
Can I get you to say a Swedish goodbye to the world?
Ha det så bra!
