M2M – Interview

Come along as we talk to Marion and Marit of M2M!

What is life like on the road and on tour? What do you do all day?

Marion: When we are on a promotional tour, we mostly don’t stay at one place more then 4 days. It’s early mornings and tons of interviews or maybe some photo shoots. We have lunch, sometimes while doing an interview. Then it’s either a press conference or showcase. A showcase is a small “acoustic” show where you might do 4 to 9 songs. We normally work from 8 am to 10pm and have dinner when we come home, if we aren’t too tired. It all depends on which country we are in! If it’s a concert tour it’s more fun.. You live in a bus for weeks. You can sleep ’till 12 if you want (if you aren’t doing morning shows at 6am) and you just live life and do what you love to do at night. PERFORM! I love being on tour, it fits me perfect. I love late nights and late mornings. (Laughs)
I can’t wait to go on tour with Jewel this summer.

Marit: Life on the road is usually exciting as every day is different. We get to perform for audiences all over the world. The rest of the time is usually spent to do interviews to tell people about our music.

What kind of shows are you doing?

Marion: We love having a band, a drummer, electric guitar and bass. Marit on rhythm guitar and me on the piano. We sing and play our songs and have fun with it. I like doing shows that are personal with the audience. Where you can see them sing along.. We don’t have dancers and tons of fire works.

Marit: This summer we will be opening up for Jewel. We are really looking forward to it, as we will get to bring our whole band with us! It’ll be a blast.

Do you get to meet fans? What question do you get asked most often?

Marion: We meet fans all over the world. I find that people that like our music are really similar to us. From fans we get asked tons of things, normal things.

Marit: We really enjoy meeting our fans. They are usually so much like us. Many
people ask us whether it’s really cold in Norway right now. No matter what
season we’re in. (Laughs)

Could you talk a bit about the songs:

“Miss Popular”

Marion: I had the title for this song for a long time. I always wanted to write a song about it. It’s a very “touchy” subject that no one really talks about. It’s about the one girl at school that’s really popular “miss popular”, She treats everybody really bad and everybody really hates her. “She should have used her title for a good case, but instead she spits in everybody’s face”. It’s about coming back to her in the end.

Marit: Miss Popular is about that one popular girl in school who goes around bad-mouthing everyone and treating everybody like crap. In the end it all comes back to her.

“Jennifer”

Marion: She’s the girl your boyfriend always talks about. She’s so perfect and you’re so jealous!!! She’s so nice, so you can’t even hate her and you realize that you’ll never be like her.

Marit: Is about the girl your boyfriend is constantly comparing you to. You really want to dislike her, but you can’t, because she’s actually really nice although the situation bothers you. You’re basically letting him know what you think of the whole thing.

“Leave Me Alone”

Marion: Is a song I wrote about a guy dumping me and then wanting me back. And I’m just so sick of him being around all the time. “I’m tired of hearing my friends say that you still care, that you want to come back into my life, well I just want you out of there”

“Sometimes”

Marion: I had this REALLY bad day, like all girls have sometimes. And I wrote these lyrics about the whole day. Just to get it out. I guess you just have to listen to it and read the lyrics. All girls will understand!!

Marit: Marion wrote this lyric on a really bad day. She showed it to me, and we wrote a really happy chorus melody to it. It’s very funny, and great for one-of-those-days

Did you approach the new album any differently than the first?

Marion: One the first album we were all about finding who we were. Everything was new to us, songwriting, traveling, and the producers. EVERYTHING! On this album we knew exactly what we wanted. We wanted to make a “real” album. With a live band in the studio, with our songs and a producer we knew would listen to our ideas. It’s a lot different then the first record. You change a lot from 14 to 17.

What instruments do you play?

Marion: I play piano and guitar.

Marit: My main instrument is the guitar.

Do you miss your friends? Family?

Marion: When I’m gone more then three weeks I start getting homesick.
I have a very close relationship with my whole family and it’s hard being away. I also miss my best friends, but I try to have people come over sometimes.

Marit: I miss them a lot when I’m gone. I’m so used to seeing them all the time
when I’m home! Sometimes they come on the road with me.

What are you listening to right now?

Marion: I’m listening to the soundtrack “I am Sam”. It’s different artist singing Beatles songs. I love it.

Marit: David Gray: White Ladder.

Who are your idols?

Marion: Singing: I love Celine Dion. Her voice is like this instrument.
Songwriting, I love girls who write “real” lyrics like I do.
Alanis Morrisette and Shakira are good at that. I love to play piano like Elton John, he’s very good.

Marit: Joni Mitchell.

If you could meet one person alive or dead who would it be?

Marion: I’d love to meet Paul McCarthy from the Beatles. He’s so great and seems so nice. I’d like to be with him and he would tell stories like “yeah this one time me and John Lennon” or “We were playing and…” you know?

Marit: I would love to meet Joni Mitchell and write with her. It’s a dream of mine.

What trait does the other have that you wish you had?

Marion: I’d like to be better at playing the guitar. Marit is really good with the rhythm.

Marit: Marion gets really funny when she’s tired. My humor gets really, really bad! (Smiles)

What question do you hate being asked? What are you asked most often?

Marion: Questions like “are you going to bring more people into the band?” “Do you really play?” “Do you have a boyfriend” “What’s your favorite Nsync or backstreet boy?”

Marit: I hate being asked what my favorite Pokemon is. We were just on the soundtrack and I know nothing about it! (Smiles) The most frequently asked question is probably why we called our album “The Big Room”.

+ charlie craine