What inspired you to make the jump "across the pond" to tour the US? What were the expectations versus reality upon arrival the first tour? 

I had written and recorded music for about 6 years, playing shows and festivals in Sweden as well as doing the odd festival in the US now and then. But going overseas for Lollapalooza or SxSW is nothing like long time touring. I still kept a day job at home, but Sweden started to feel too small, too homogeneous and I wanted to experience something else. I was looking into ways to do this and told my husband that “it would be fun to go to the US and just tour, but it’s not like you can just do that” and he turned to me and said “why not?” So we did the research on artist visas, ways to get around and booking, and a year later we hit the road on our first 2 year artist visa, me playing and singing and my hubby doing the sound.

How did you acquire the RV? Where did the name come from? Where does it "live" when you are back home in Sweden? 

For the first long tour we did, we planned to stay on the road for the 2 years that our visa covered. We had never owned an RV before so optimistically we went to Florida (where we had friends we could stay with temporarily) and started looking for an RV - 3 weeks before the tour started. We bought a big 29ft class C which we fixed up. It was like driving around in an apartment. It was very comfortable but you are also quite restricted where you can go in a big RV like that and it consumes a lot of gas.

So when we went home after 1.5 years we sold it. But our lust for touring hadn’t diminished just because we decided to go home for a while. We had learned so much on that first tour. And we felt no desire to go back to a 9-5 job so when we got our second artist visa we decided to come and go on shorter 2-3 month long tours instead of one continuous long tour, and that meant we could get a smaller RV which got better gas mileage and was easier to get around in. We bought a Winnebago micro warrior from 89 built on a Toyota chassi. Little did we know when we got it that it had something of a cult status. People actually come up to us at gas stations and parking lots asking to buy it. We named it Lil’Chief because it’s a Winnebago and it’s earned its status as a band member. When we are not in the US it stays parked at friends homes. For that reason our next tour always starts off where the last tour ended.

You've been across most of the continental US -- where have you NOT been that you'd like to see / perform? 

I’ve toured through 47 states and I’ve played in 46 of them. I still have West Virginia, North Dakota and Alaska left (yes I played in Hawaii but didn’t bring Lil’Chief). I’d love to tour my last three states, you’d think WV would be easy but I’ve never found a suitable concert opportunity there. ND is on my list for 2021, so hopefully I’ll get to go up there then. I think it would be wonderful to tour Alaska but the problem is how far and expensive it would be to go there and back with the RV. We also try to keep where it’s warm or temperate as it’s not fun to be freezing in an RV on tour. So that limits the possibility to go far north.

What have been some of your most memorable experiences along the way? 

The fact that I’m just touring with my husband, and that we have an RV, and because we book the tours ourselves, gives us the opportunity to plan for camping and to plan for interesting tour routes. At first, when we started touring it was all about cramming as many shows in as possible. Now we have a different approach, planning for days off to see interesting sites or to just relax in a beautiful area. The fact that we own our little RV means that we don’t have to pay for hotels and restaurants on days off. It makes a huge difference. We did a tour a few years ago that we planned around going to Yellowstone national park. That was amazing and so much fun. I have traveled all over the world and Yellowstone is hands down the coolest place I’ve ever been. On our last tour we planned for time in southern Utah’s national parks, Arches, Bryce, etc. that was also amazing. I rarely have time for a normal vacation so I prop these days in my tour and call it tour-cation instead.

I know that it seems like a big scary decision for many to take the step and start touring and making music full time. For some people having a balance between a day job and making music is what keeps their spirit going. For me I spent all the energy on my day job and really felt like I had to choose one or the other. But really if you think about it, it’s not a huge terrifying choice at all, because what happens if it doesn’t work out? Well, you can just go home and get another day job. So I wasn’t very scared when I made this decision. I just needed someone to open my eyes to the possibility.

I think most of the time doing is the best way to learn. On the first tour we booked about three months in advance playing anywhere we could. Now we book over a year in advance and know what kind of venues we want to play and don’t want to play. The quality of the shows are much better now, and we make more money as we have time to book better routes and better venues. Having played so much has also made us better at what we do, everything from singing and playing to interacting with the audience - it’s all practice. It has also given me a more relaxed view of my profession as a touring artist. I’m not hung up on “making it”. I feel very lucky that I can live on my music, having the chance to see so much of the world and meet a lot of wonderful people. Also, I usually don’t have to wake up at 7am!

Maybe because I’m a quite economical person I had an advantage in making the budget work from the beginning. But being on the road, especially the first long tour that we did really taught me to change my habits when it comes to consumption. I don’t buy a whole lot of stuff I don’t need anymore, staying in a small RV really helps with that, because where are you going to put the stuff? I almost never waste food anymore either. I always cook in the RV, making at least breakfast and lunch every day, which also keeps me away from junk food.

But the best thing is really the freedom. How I get to choose when and where we go, being able to see all these astonishing places. That’s why I love touring in the Midwest and towards the Pacific Northwest. There is a lot of amazing nature up in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. And also easy to park for free. The only times we pay for campgrounds is if there is a dire need for AC as we can only run ours if we’re plugged in to electricity. So most of the time we find dispersed campgrounds and BLM land. I really see it as a privilege to be able to do this and I’m looking forward to my two US tours in 2020.