Stockholm-based production duo ManyFew are brothers by blood and best friends by choice. Driven by their unrelenting passion for house music, ManyFew – crowned Tomorrowland’s Future 4 artists – have caused a tidal wave through clubland with their high-grade output.
Chartering releases on the likes of Musical Freedom, Selected, Spinnin’, Axtone, and Thrive Music, and with a very long list of top supporters including Axwell, Chris Lake, Duke Dumont, Gorgon City, Rudimental, David Guetta, and Mark Knight, this self-taught duo are a force to be reckoned with.
They’re now gearing up to play one of their biggest shows to-date in their homeland when they’ll take over renowned Stockholm venue, Slaktkyrkan on 22 May alongside ABBA royalty Janne Schaffer and his collective hybrid synth band, The Night Agent.
Their latest release ‘Giving Me More’ is out now on Perfect Havoc; an old school house sounding track with a modern stamp, produced in collaboration with Eddie Craig and staring the iconic Angie Brown.
We caught up with ManyFew aka Jacob and Victor, to discuss how ManyFew came to be, their brotherly relationship, and collaborating with the ABBA legend.
Tell us about your journey in the music industry. How did you decide to form ManyFew, and what inspired your musical collaboration?
We started as DJs playing at school parties and local nightclubs in Sweden. Later on, the idea came up about how it would be to try to make our own music to play out. We’ve always been big fans of sampling, so we started to sample different elements from old disco records. For us, DJing and music production really goes hand in hand, and we love both sides of it.
Your latest single, ‘Giving Me More’, features Angie Brown and Eddie Craig. What was the creative process like for this collaboration, and what message do you hope listeners take away from the track?
The first idea came about in the beginning of last year. We and Eddie Craig had an idea about creating something uplifting with a disco feel to it. We sent a first idea to Eddie, and he was vibing it. We both jumped on a session and created the instrumental track. After that we and Eddie contacted the legendary Angie Brown since we thought that she would be the perfect fit for this record and asked if she was open for a session which she was 🙂 We had a blast writing this tune together and want to spread a positive vibe with it.
Listen on Spotify
As self-taught musicians, what challenges did you face early in your career, and how did you overcome them?
At first it was hard to get the music to sound as we wanted. We had a vision in mind but to get that sound to come out of the speakers was hard. We put in hours and hours into music production and learn it by trial and error. The Internet has always been our main source of information and nowadays there are so many good tips and tricks you can learn from just watching YouTube, for example.
What were you like growing up – did you always get on?
Yeah, we have always had a great bond, best friend kind of vibe. Our interest and personality are pretty similar which makes music creation a bit easier too. We share the same type of music taste and that’s something we can take advantage of when producing music. It’s rare that we need to argue about the sounds or music vibes.
But of course, we can have different opinions on things while creating, but there’s definitely no competition at all between us, the most important for us is to support each other and to be a team!
Your track ‘Off My Mind’ made waves when you debuted on Spinnin’ Records. Can you share the story behind that track and how it felt to break through with such a hit?
When we’re in the studio we just play around with sounds. At that stage we’re not focusing on anything, it’s just a having fun kind of vibe. We played some piano chords which sounded uplifting, we added a vocal to it which we had on our hard drive and within a few hours we had made the first demo. We sent it to Spinnin’ and they loved it. The tune received great support and still does which we’re very grateful for.
Listen on Spotify
Your radio show, Electronic Heaven, drops weekly with you playing some of the freshest and funkiest tunes from around the globe. How do you curate the perfect mix for your listeners, week on week?
The radio show started as a side thing but today it’s a big part of ManyFew. We love radio and have always wanted to do our own show and we are very proud of the success so far. We pick tracks we think stand out; tracks that have something different. We love uplifting tracks and disco tunes so there’s a couple of those vibes on the show as well rave tracks and deep house tunes.
Collaborating with ABBA guitarist Janne Schaffer is impressive. How did that collaboration come about, and what was it like working with such a music legend?
It was great working with Janne Schaffer, we instantly got a vibe when working in the studio together. We started the conversation about a year ago and went into the studio at the beginning of last summer and we had a blast! We recorded lots of different takes and wanted to get the best out of it and connected musically with him. So good to see that ‘Back To Back’ received very good feedback from radio (and it still does) and from the UK TOP 5 Club Chart as well.
Performing at legendary venues like Ibiza Rocks and Ministry of Sound must have been exhilarating. Can you share a memorable moment from one of your live performances?
ManyFew is about bringing people together and making people happy through the music; we have so many great memories.To be able to play music and spread a good vibe and have a good time with everyone who’s there is the most important for us. At the end of the day it’s about having a great time with everyone who’s involved on the dancefloor and those memories are the best. When we, for instance, play a tune that really, really connects with the crowd, that’s a big VIBE!
On 22 May you’ll be taking over a renowned Stockholm venue, Slaktkyrkan alongside Janne Schaffer and his collective hybrid synth band, The Night Agent. What can people expect from the night?
The legendary ABBA guitarist Janne Schaffer is the common feature of the show! It’s going to be a night full of energy and loads of house music from us. We’re very excited to do this in Stockholm and also to be able to share the stage with the legendary ABBA guitarist feels really cool. We can’t wait to see you guys there!
Looking ahead, what’s next for ManyFew? Are there any dream collaborations or specific goals you’re aiming for?
We are so excited for the future, lots of new music in the making and cool collaborations too. Also we’ll be announcing more tour dates soon, many more releases coming up on our label ‘ManyFew Records’ as well as other exciting stuff, so make sure to keep an eye out on our social media. Thank you everyone for listening to our music. We really appreciate every one of you!
Many thanks for your time.
Thank you for having us!
ManyFew x Eddie Craig x Angie Brown ‘Giving Me More’ is out now via Perfect Havoc
Connect with ManyFew
