The Sounds celebrate 10th anniversary of breakout album ‘Dying to Say This to You’

When was the last time you danced to a rock ’n’ roll record?

Not a dance-rock album.

There’s a million of those these days, which is not quite a million too many, but getting there.

Turn on whatever passes for the closest approximation to contemporary modern rock radio in your parts and you’re likely to hear keyboards as prominently as guitars in tunes that often seem to have the dance floor in mind first and foremost.

This isn’t a bad thing, but the point is, there’s a difference between this kind of album and a straight-up rock ’n’ roll record that’s suited for dancing.

To explain this distinction, we turn to the Swedish fellow on the other end of the phone.

“These days, I think a lot of bands are sitting by the computer instead of sitting in front of the drums or with a guitar in their hands,” says Fredrik Nilsson, drummer for coed rockers The Sounds, calling from a tour stop in Texas. “A lot of songs for us start with some keyboard or guitar and then you add all this other stuff. But I feel like bands today are like, ‘Oh, let’s come up with a dance beat.’ So they start off with that instead of starting like, ‘Oh, it’s going to be a rock song’ and then making a dance twist on it at a later stage.”

Nilsson has the credentials to know of which he speaks.

A decade ago, The Sounds released their second album, “Dying to Say This to You,” an album of hot-blooded yet hummable jams that melded ’80s New Wave and ’90s garage rock into a modern, highly adrenalized sound.

Cowbell-banging opener “Song With a Mission” marries the cocksure rock ’n’ roll strut of countrymen The Hives with a fierce R&B sass, while attitudinal kiss-offs (“Ego”), breathy come-ons (“Tony the Beat”) and raw-throated shout-alongs (“Running Out of Turbo”) surge forth on dizzy keys and cresting waves of guitar.

The grooves here are intended to get bodies in motion, but the rock comes first, these songs built around preening, duckwalking guitar licks, insistent bass lines and frontwoman Maja Ivarsson’s blustery vox, her words alternately defiant and contemplative.

“You can’t stop me no matter what they say,” she announces on “Turbo,” and really, that’s what this record is all about: becoming unstoppable.

It worked for The Sounds, who did as much in their own way.

Already stars in their homeland thanks to their 2002 debut, “Living in America,” The Sounds goosed their profile around the globe with “Dying.” By Nilsson’s estimation, the band played over 200 shows the year it was released.

But while “Dying” would prove to be a breakout record for The Sounds, making it wasn’t always as fun as the record itself suggests.

Initially, the band was hyped to record the album here in the States with producer Jaff Saltzman, who did The Killers’ “Hot Fuss” and also worked with Blondie, a band The Sounds frequently get compared to, among others.

But after a fast start, the brakes were soon pumped.

“The atmosphere was great. ‘Oh, we’re going to America, we’re going to record in this big, great studio.’ We thought it was going to be like what we saw on TV or the movies when we were kids,” Nilsson says. “We started recording drums, did five, six, seven tracks, maybe, then we started to add bass and guitars on those, and after a week like that, we weren’t happy with the drum sound, and so we started over fresh. I would say with almost every record for us, at some point, you sort of hit the wall, you start to think everything sucks. You go through that phase, ‘Oh, we’ve got to change everything.’ We were adding and changing stuff all the way to the mix. It was wild.”

None of this is to suggest that the process was all work, no Budweiser.

“There was partying in the studio,” Nilsson recalls. “I thought it was a great vibe, but looking back on it, I think we learned a few things since then. There’s a time for partying and a time to be serious. But we had a good time. We also had some awful moments, but let’s forget about those.”

Done.

It’s easy, really.

The Sounds are the sound of letting go, cutting loose, sweating out any regrets to the beat, and “Dying” is one of their defining moments to this end.

“It’s all good, you don’t have to worry,” Ivarsson tells her beau on “24 Hours,” but the sentiment could apply to anyone listening, really.

A decade later, the record still sounds as vibrant and fresh as it did when it was released.

With the band playing the album, in its entirety on the current tour, “Dying” keeps on living.

“I don’t really know how we did it,” Nilsson says of making the record and sustaining his band. “But we did it.”

Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @JasonBracelin on Twitter.