American ‘Swede-bloggers’ invited to Sweden

The Swedish Music Information Centre is inviting two bloggers to Sweden and this year’s Hultsfred Festival. They are Avi Roig and Craig Bonnell, who write daily blogs on Swedish music called, respectively, It’s a Trap! and Swedesplease.

In the USA there are two influential music blogs, Swedesplease and It’s a Trap!, which are updated every day with information on new Swedish music for thousands of fans around the world. The blogs are the labours of love of two passionate Swedophiles, Craig Bonnell and Avi Roig, neither of whom have any links whatsoever with Sweden besides an infatuation with Swedish music. Neither of them speak Swedish, and Craig has not even visited the country. Now, thanks to the Swedish Music Information Centre, they have a chance to visit Sweden, where for one hectic week in June they will visit Stockholm and the Hultsfred Festival.

“We wanted to show our appreciation for the invaluable work that these guys are doing in getting Swedish music out into the world, so we’ve invited them to Sweden, where we’ll be arranging accommodation and activities for them while they’re here,” says Kristofer Kebbon, Promotion Manager for popular music at Swedish Music Information Centre. “And Rockparty has been kind enough to give them press accreditation, so that they can blog directly from Hultsfred. Hopefully, this will give Swedish music even more space out in the blogosphere.”

It’s a Trap! (www.itsatrap.com) was set up in 2002 by Avi Roig, today 30 years old and living in Olympia, Washington. It’s a Trap! was one of the first music blogs to launch a record label, which released such artists as José González and Peter Bjorn & John – long before they had their international breakthroughs. Another indication of how influential Avi’s blog has been is that Malmö’s Debaser venue has named one of its clubs after It’s a Trap!.

Swedesplease (www.swedesplease.net) is a blog kept by Craig Bonnell, 39 years old and living in Oak Park, Illinois. Every day for the past three years, Craig has written about Swedish music, largely in the more narrower genres dominated by indiepop, electronica and twee. The blog has attracted considerable attention, and Craig has been interviewed by The London Times, The Guardian, The Chicago Tribune, Swedish radio and several Swedish papers. Craig was one of the first to write about Hello Saferide, Maia Hirasawa and I’m From Barcelona – all of whom have enjoyed huge successes outside Sweden.