This post marks an inauguration of sorts for our blog. It’s the first installment of the tentatively titled, Idiosyncratic Routine, which will become a pretty regular feature around here.

The formula is simple, we are going to contact bands who we think are cool, and fill a void by asking them five questions that we’ve scientifically proven to be queries omitted either intentionally, or accidentally by other reporters and journalists. Some questions that will be asked may seem awkward, but do not fret, we assure you that many others will actually prove themselves to be “slightly less awkward”, and hopefully every once in awhile we’ll stumble upon something provocative and actually produce a damn fine piece of journalism. We’re trying to be optimistic.

So without further ado here are five questions with our pal Björn Dixgård, frontman for the Sweedish rock-outfit Mando Diao*. You enjoy this.

Love the first song on the album, “Welcome Home, Luc Robitaille”. Are you guys big hockey fans or is Robitaille that much fun to sing?

The combination of those two things really made the trick! We love hockey and he’s a hero, but the story behind it is that Gustaf found an old hockey picture of Robitaille in his parent’s attic and the song turned out to relate more to our lives than to hockey as a sport. We’re all hockey players in Sweden with all the ice in the streets.

We’re excited to see you guys in Austin? Have you played SXSW before?

No, we’re all virgins. We’ve played in Austin, but not at SXSW. In March we usually need to stay home with our families for the Easter Schnaps, but this year we managed to add that to our rider, so now we are able to do it.

The album is full of “Characters” per se, are all of these real people or fictional folks?

Some are real people that should be fictional, some are fictional characters that shouldn’t be, and some are both I guess.

In the States, your musical-style is often described as “garage rock”. Would you rather the garage in question be attached to the Karlsborg Fortress, Rosendal Palace, or just a plain old Neo-Renaissance-style Burgher house?

Wow, who told you which mansions we grew up in? Actually we prefer a mix between Neuschwanstiein-garage and The Hat n’ Boots gas station-garage (before it was restored). We love mainstream in that sense.

You claim that your band’s name came to you in a dream. Can you describe the full dream, to the best of your memory, for us?

I was 10 years old and a goblin came up to me and said that his name was Mando Diao. So that question was simple. But the French are not so simple, they called us Mon Dieu when we played in there the other night.

* Mando Diao’s new album Ode To Ochrasy is out April 10th on Mute Records. For more info, hit up www.myspace.com/mandodiaoband

Related Posts

• Mando Diao Tell Us “If I Don’t Live Today, Then I Might Be Here Tomorrow”
• VIDEO: Mando Diao | “The Wildfire (If It Was True)”
• Mando Diao Got Down On Spinner.com