pontus winnberg, one of three members of miike snow
how did it feel to return to coachella?
this was the fourth time we've played at coachella, last time was 2016 so a lot of things have happened to the festival and the vibe. i really enjoyed it. it was a lot of fun and we got a really good time slot, considering that we haven't released stuff in a while. we were on at 9:30 on the biggest tent right before the prodigy. the downside was that we were overlapping with missy elliott, which I would have loved to see.
the OP–XY rig
why did you decide to use the OP–XY for your live shows?
i was really into the OP–Z sequencer. i had long conversations with the project owner of OP–Z and OP–XY, jonas åberg, about what i felt could be done and added to the unit. there was a feature on the OP–Z, i can't remember what it was called, but it's what eventually became the brain function on the OP–XY. my interpretation of it is that it acts as a sort of auto-comp feature. like the old traditional home organs had this auto-comp: you could just play a chord and it would start. like this little electronic band would play along with whatever chords you fed it. that's basically what the brain in the OP–XY is. but you can dictate exactly what your little electronic orchestra should do. so it could be everything from a gesaffelstein track to... i don't know... a dance band. you're completely free. you can do whatever you want to do and that's also something i've been looking for in playing electronic music live, where it's impossible for a human to play something that is quantized, and it becomes a completely different expression.
building the stage
we did a lot of work behind the scenes before the OP–XY ever hit the public. there were only about twenty prototype units, and i begged to get one. the first time we played it was just like heaven, and from that point we slowly began integrating it into our show, but this year it kind of took over. it really became the heart and soul of the whole show.
custom made live rig by love hultén
tell us about the live setup.
the live setup was basically built around two OP–XY units, one connected to a prophet-10 and the other to a roland juno-106 mini clone. after that, we had a series of effects built into a kind of custom modular system. we also used the OP–XY as a sound source, especially for samples. most songs were triggered by the brain function, so it was almost like having two huge auto-comp organs. the thrill, and part of the adventure, of performing is that nothing is synced. we usually have a metronome click playing in our earpieces, but it's mostly used as a common reference point. it's up to us as players to get it right, and sometimes, when it's slightly off, it becomes something pretty interesting.
how does your band approach live electronic performance, and what role does the OP–XY play in that?
i think it's important to keep the dangerous aspect of live music, something can go terribly wrong, and preferably not in a computer-crash way, but through musical mishaps that the players on stage have to adapt to and incorporate into the performance. otherwise, we could all just be at home listening to some crappy streaming service.
miike snow live at coachella 2025
one of the rig's most powerful features was scene switching. at the press of a button, we could change not just sounds on the OP–XY, but entire routing setups, including midi parameters, effect chains, and synth presets. when you add analog synths via midi control and stuff, what you can do is endless. this made moving between songs seamless, even without a centralized computer system.you load up a program, and all the sound data comes with it. it changes everything, on the OP–XY and across all the connected gear. i don't know any other equipment that does that. for us, as a band that's always blended precise sequencing with live unpredictability, the OP–XY is perfect.
it's kind of like electronic jazz, mistakes become part of the performance. every show is unique. the OP–XY gave us the freedom to extend sections, respond to the crowd, and rework familiar tracks in the moment. you have to be on your toes and if something goes down, you replace it with something else. it's built for that.