In the beginning, well there was nothing much to be honest; a few trees, lakes, naked blonde people running around and a few pop groups churning out what some of you could call music (yes, being brought up by a Finnish mother has had some nasty side effects) but I am of course, talking about Sweden!

Over the last couple years some amazing music has been coming out of this country in almost every genre. For those of you that tend to focus on the more electronic side of things, as we like to do at RA, you've no doubt come across the name the "Swedish House Mafia", which has been popping up all over the place.

Who are they? What do they want with us? Are they blonde and dangerous? Over the next few months, RA will be endeavouring to find out just that and to start with, we decided to catch up with one of the mafia, a guy who produces what he likes to call 'diverse house' under the name of Axwell.

Responsible for one of the biggest house tracks in the last twelve months, "Feel The Vibe", many of you would also have come across his other offerings including "Wait A Minute" and "Watch The Sun Rise". However you might be surprised to know that Axwell has in fact been producing tracks and remixes for some time now! With remixes of artists such as Moby, Roger Sanchez, DJ Flex and Usher all under his belt it would seem even bigger and better things are ahead.

With a forthcoming compilation on Ministry of Sound wich should propel him even further forward in the global dance music scene, we caught up with Axwell before his recent gig at Jambossa in Liverpool to help him lose his RA virginity.

The "Swedish House Mafia" includes yourself, Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso and Eric Prydz. When was it that you guys officially decided to hit the music scene as a joint effort?

Well we never really decided to hit it as a joint effort because we just made music at the same time, same city, same place. We were just sharing ideas and hanging around each other all the time. We figured, you know, let's keep doing what we do and try to work as much together as possible. So this name Swedish House Mafia, I really don’t know how that came about.

Do you think you have had a positive effect on the dance culture back home in Sweden as you have internationally, such as here in the UK?

Yeah I think so, I think that people are proud of what we have done and accomplished internationally so far. Also I believe we may have inspired people to start or to continue making music. We have also been inspired by other Swedish music producers like Stonebridge and a lot of the Techno guys, Adam Beyer, those kinds of people...so there’s always been a good scene there you know.

From a young age you were playing the drums before soon turning to the computer to create your beats. Do you think it’s important for all people thinking about producing their own music to be able to play some kind of musical instrument?

I don’t think so; I think the computer itself is a musical instrument. For me you know I just play the drums, I don’t really have any musical training, I just basically started out from the computer geek side of things, making music not really on the actual musical side of things but to gain the technical know-how.

As you’re spending a lot of time on the move, are you producing ideas for new tracks while travelling, or do you prefer to make frequent trips back to the studio?

Well actually you know, it’s hard. I try to produce some tracks on my laptop while travelling on planes and stuff, but you don’t really get the same vibe as you would when in the studio. I do, while travelling, make some very small ideas, but for me I have to be sat down in my own studio where everything is, and feel relaxed in my safe mode.

Technology is changing and improving all the time, what do you currently use to create your tracks?

I use the Logic Audio program 5.3, the old version, the last one they made for PC actually, so yeah, I use a PC. There are some interesting sound cards with good effects such as Universal Audio Cards, the TC Powercore DSP cards, the RME Audio HDS Sound Card and AD/DA Converter with 2 Amek Channel In a Box. I also have an Avalon Preamp and TL Audio 5052 Tube Processor.

With Sasha using Ableton Live and his mixing console Maven, Richie Hawtin doing 5.1 surround mixes and Louie Vega doing his Elements of Life orchestra tour, is there anything you have in the pipeline to keep things ‘fresh’ with your music?

I'm not sure really. I’m just trying to make good music at the moment with what I have and just trying to improve the skills I have on the CD players. Basically, that’s as far as I have got at the moment.

Can you give us a sneaky peak into any new tracks, remixes and collaborations coming out way in the near future?

Yeah, well I have a collaboration between me and Eric Prydz on his Pryda label which is coming out very soon! Also there are remixes of my last track ‘Watch the Sun Rise’. There will be remixes from me, Bob Sinclair and Sebastian Ingrosso, I think that’s about it that I know of so far.

Are there any up-and-coming producers/DJs that have impressed you or had plays from you that we as music lovers should be looking out for?

There is a guy I met yesterday in Germany called Funk Work or something like that, I really like his style, I was like ‘Shit this is good’.

Otherwise I’m not really sure at the moment because there are so many things and different names all the time. So you don’t really know if it is a new producer or an old producer so I can not really say at the moment. No-one else comes to mind.

Having friends in the Finnish Swedish army, I have heard great rumours about the Swedish night life, is there anywhere you would recommend visiting?

There is a club called Frog or Grodang in Swedish. It’s an underground house club in Stockholm, a good place to go. That’s where I usually go if I am at home. There are not so many places I would recommend to be honest.

Is it true about Swedish women; are they all beautiful, tall, blonde, blue eyed brilliant at tennis and great in bed?

I think that’s a massive exaggeration. It's like what people say about Swedish guys, that they are tall and blonde but I’m short and dark haired, so as you can see I’m not sure where they get that rumour from. I mean we have some of them but to be honest I don’t think they are good in bed at all; they are too worried about their looks to be good in bed. So if you find one of those tall blonde sexy women that are also good in bed, make sure you let me know!!

Have you ever played a set at or been to any naked parties back home?

Not at home, I have not, but in Japan I have been to some freaky parties, some really freaked out fetish parties!!

Ok so, back to the music I suppose. A few of us were finding it difficult to say what type of house music your style falls under, so I thought I’d give you this opportunity to tell us what you would call it?

Well I’m not really sure what to call it because I have the same problem you know, but you could call it 'diverse house' because I like to explore different sounds in music all the time, I don’t like to be stuck in one formula, so most of my tracks sound different to each other all the time so I can understand its really hard to define.

You must have played some amazing gigs! Where in the World have you had the most fun, also where in the world are you most looking forward to playing?

Most fun...I think when I was actually in St Petersburg in Russia. There was this huge event outside of the city in an old castle, which was during the summer. They made the whole castle into something totally freaky with dancers, fire breathers, fire works, it was totally amazing! As it was on during the summer it never gets dark!

Ibiza is of course very nice place to play, Pacha is very good!

I’m most looking forward to going to Australia actually [Axwell will be doing a mini-tour there early 2006], the people there seem to enjoy the music a lot so I’m really looking forward to that.

Just one last question, do you think vinyl is on the way out, or do you think the good old Technics will always be part of the set up?

Not too sure about that really because myself...you know, because I travel so much, I travel with CDs nowadays because I’ve lost too many records. Having to check the bags in and then for them to go missing. Its just too much of a hassle for me at the moment to carry around vinyl. However I do love vinyl and I hope it will always stay!!

When I’m at home I’m using vinyl if I don’t have to travel. It's like there was a time when tailor-made things were out dated and everything was supposed to be made by machines, clothes, furniture etc, but nowadays its gone back to an exclusive vibe on things that are handmade. So I think maybe in the future it will be the same with vinyl, that only the really exclusive DJs play with vinyl. It might be some kind of Renaissance.

Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great gig tonight!

Thank you man, yeah we will see about that!