Swedish dance rock band, The Sounds, to crash LA

Sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching , feverish and stuck on a tour bus. The Sounds are currently in Washington D.C. and their drummer, Fredrik Blond, is ill, very ill.

Blond got sick two nights ago, on the band’s day off, and played New York the very next night in a much worse condition.

“I’m the drummer, so I can sort of get away with just keeping my head down and just play the drums, nothing else,” Blond says. “But if you’re the front person, you have to sing, be the entertainer; I can see it’s a lot harder if you’re not feeling well. So I guess I’m a little bit lucky in that way.”

Swedish rock band The Sounds, widely known for their songs "Tony the Beat" and "Living in America," are making their third California stop in a month next Wednesday at the Wiltern. They’ll make a big loop around the country and come back to Los Angeles .

“When you’re sick, all you want to do is be at home in your own bed, have some hot tea or soup, watch TV or read a nice book,” the drummer confides. “ You don’t want to be traveling on a tour bus with 11 different people, and play onstage, and play for an hour and a half, that’s what you don’t want to do.”

Even though a vicious cold would be bad enough off the road, The Sounds persevere with their international tour.

Colds and traffic notwithstanding, Blond and the rest of the band enjoy traveling the world and exploring the areas that surround their nightly venues.

As the Occupy movements are gaining force in New York and D.C., the band doesn’t allow the events to disturb their leisurely walks. “In Sweden the government is at least a little more agreeable,” says Blond. “It’s a nice sunny day for a walk.”

“I like walking, it’s a good way to see things,” says Blond. “When you sit on a car or a bus, things just sweep by.” Discussing the stretches of time he and the band must spend on the bus, Blond says, “I don’t want to think about it. No ways around it, just deal with it.”

“It is what it is” and “dealing with it” are natural and common phrases for the drummer, especially when it comes to critics’ issues over their changing style. “We like trying new things. [Our style is] going to keep changing all the time, but I think you always recognize us as still our band, though. It’s never a step too far, at least not in my opinion. Whenever you do one thing for too long, it gets boring.”

“We always go out there and try to have a good time, and make sure the audience have a good time, that there’s some kind of interaction, some kind of connection between you and the audience,” Blond says. “That’s always what we’re looking for.”