Premiere: Schultz and Forever - "Strong Filthy Apes"

The release of Schultz and Forever's latest EP, Broadcast Dynamics, marks the artist's transition from one of Denmark's greatest young talents, to one of the nation's greatest musicals assets. Having matured as both a guy and a musician, Jonathan Schultz has picked out all new bandmates in order to capture the sound of blissful, trippy, sugary innocence on his latest EP. It's a feat he pulls off gracefully. The proof is in the EP's bonus track, Strong Filthy Apes. Sedately tempoed, the track invites you to wiki morphine or perhaps flick through your parent's sepia tinted family photos. Someday, it will make a convincing score to a teenage love affair in some smash hit indie-flick, but for now it's a little treasure, we all get to enjoy the way we see fit.

We asked Schultz about his latest release while we took photos of him in bed.

VICE: So, tell us about the Broadcast Dynamics EP.
Schultz: Broadcast Dynamics was originally planned to be my debut album and I started writing songs for it a year ago. We recorded a whole album and it was ready to get released, but I just couldn’t see myself in half of Broadcast Dynamics all of a sudden, so I decided to release it as an EP instead. The whole process was really great though. Writing it was quite revolutionary to me because of how differently I used to write. Once we started recording, everything just started to make sense. I wasn’t feeling well at the time I started writing for the EP, but making it was really helpful to me. Glad to hear it. Is that what it's about then?
The EP is about different things. It’s about growing older, about feeling extremely anxious and about broadcasting culture. It’s only five songs, but it revolves around many personal themes.

What were your inspirations? Is there an inherint message to the EP?
The lyrics are really personal, but they are also very easy to read and understand, so I think many people can relate. I don’t have a specific message though. I just want people to feel like someone else is going through sort of the same things they are, because that's really helpful to me. I actually think it’s really tough to grow up. You have all these sort of personality disorders, because you are trying to figure out who you are, and I think the constant stress of social media and all the self-promoting is making it worse. I really wanted to write based on my own emotions on this EP, and I thought of it as therapy in a way. I found inspiration in myself I guess. That sounds so stupid, but you know, I really wanted to isolate myself from stuff that would interrupt me in trying to “find” my emotions and feelings. Some folks say you’re a Danish Connan Mockasin. What do you think about that?
To be honest, I listened to a lot of Connan Mockasin while we were recording. His latest album Caramel came out, just when we were in the middle of recording, and I really like his sound. The snare drum sounds amazing on every song and the filthy chorus is used very tastefully. I’m not a Danish Connan Mockasin though. There may be one or two songs that sound similar to Mockasin, but the songs I’m writing at the moment for my debut full-length album sounds nothing like that. All right. What’s Strong Filthy Apes about then?
It’s about making mistakes, and I was sort of comparing the occasional stupidity of humans with the stupidity of apes. Who's the strongest, filthiest ape you know?
Pia Kjærsgaard.

Pia Kjærsgaard. Photo via I remember seeing you play for a fairly empty Blågårds Plads at Distortion some years back. Has the band changed since then? How?
Indeed it has. First of all, it’s a whole new band with new members. I had to find a new band, that could understand the musical transition I had been going through, so I hired some people I knew fairly well. They have since become my best friends. My old band was amazing as well, but I just needed a change. You supported Mac DeMarco not too long ago. Did you guys hang out and get wild?
I have received so many complaints at nearly every show I've played the past two months, because I got too drunk, and I’m not saying this to act cool or anything, because I really feel embarrassed. So when we played the Mac Demarco show, I really wanted to leave the bookers with a good impression. I’ve been really nice to the people working at the venues the past few shows and I really want to keep up that attitude. I went home to bed almost immediately after the show, but my band hung out with Mac Demarco and co. They went to Café Runddelen together.

I heard you’re a pretty cool guy. Tell us the coolest thing you’ve ever done.
I played a show in Switzerland at a festival a few weeks back and there were around 2-3000 people in the audience. It was insane; it was totally packed. At the end of the show, I beatboxed in front of the audience and I think that was pretty cool. I’m usually very shy when people ask me to beatbox.

That does sound cool. What's next for Schultz and Forever?
Hopefully, we’ll start to record my full-length debut album around November. This time it’s actually going to be released as a full-length album, I promise! The songs are fucking great and I’m really confident about it all already.

Looking forward to it, thanks a lot.