Swedish indie rockers Peter Bjorn and John have been on the scene for well over a decade, but they broke new ground in 2006 with their hit single “Young Folks,” which seemed to grace nearly every commercial and top-ten list. Consisting of Peter Moren (vocals, guitar, bass), Bjorn Yttling (bass, vocals, keyboard) and John Eriksson (drums, vocals, percussion, guitar), the band draws from ‘60s baroque pop with a fair share of new wave thrown in for good measure. This past March the band released their sixth studio record entitled “Gimme Some.” Buzzbin spoke with Eriksson before the band hit the road for a U.S. tour, which includes a stop in Cleveland this month. Eriksson admitted that if “Young Folks” (from their third record “Writer’s Block”) had never had the success it did, things would be different. For one thing, Moren would have been a librarian, Yttling an organ player and he would have been a private dick. “There are different ways for a band to break through. One is to tour your ass off and gain like two or 20 new fans for every gig. We tried that for five years in Sweden and Norway. It didn’t work,” Eriksson said. “Then we wrote and recorded ‘Young Folks’ and quite soon found out that having a kick-ass song was much more effective.” For the album, all three members wrote material, with Yttling and Moren even sharing vocals on a few tunes. “I think it made us more like a unity and it also made us sound a bit more mysterious, exotic and unique,” Erikkson said. “Peter and Bjorn forced me into writing pop songs since they knew that I had been writing a lot of classical music for different instrumental groups I was working with at that time.” While the album was the first time the band worked together, Eriksson said their ideas had formed together far before. “When I joined the band their music sometimes sounded like a mix between John Lennon and Frank Zappa,” he said. “I was listening to simple lo-fi bands, so already during our first rehearsal back in 1999, our individual inputs started to merge.” Whatever the case may be, Eriksson feels that each member’s contributions are what makes Peter Bjorn and John what it is today. “Peter and Bjorn are very different as songwriters, and maybe my songs became like a shady bridge between their styles. Bjorn’s dark voice and my high-pitched fragile pipe as a contrast to Peter’s awesome way of singing also maybe made us sound mysterious in a way,” Eriksson said. “Today it’s a great advantage to have three songwriters in a band, but when it comes to lead, I believe that Peter should do most of it.” The band’s 2009 release “Living Thing” combined pop music with a weird mix of ’80s pop, hip-hop and rockabilly. “Kanye West did a version of ‘Young Folks’ on a mix tape and that sort of surprised us,” Eriksson said. “Later we realized that a lot of our songs work great for sampling since there’s a lot of space and air in our arrangements and in the production.” It was only fitting that a remix album followed, and, with the help of producer Mick Boogie, the idea for “Re-living Thing” was spawned. “We met in New York and wrote down personal favorite rappers and MCs and then all the goodies just kept pouring down,” Eriksson says. “I cant tell you how amazing it was to hear Jazzy Jeff, 6th sense, GZA, Talib Kweli and all the others making something out of our songs. Surreal.” Though “Gimme Some” is a jump from Almost Gold Recordings to Star Time International, and also adds Per Sunding from Eggstone as producer, Eriksson said not much has changed. The previous records were produced by Yttling, and Eriksson joked that all Sunding brought new to the table was beer and whiskey. While the band has toured with the likes of synth-pop legends Depeche Mode, an ideal tour lineup would include Eddie Van Halen and some wild monkeys, said Eriksson: “The original Van Halen, then a acoustic set with Tom Waits, after that some wild monkeys playing congas and then Peter Bjorn & John in tofu costumes.” Catch them in Cleveland — sans tofu costumes, sadly — on August 31 at the Grog Shop. Show starts at 8 p.m.; tickets are $18 in advance and $20 at the door.