“There There” by Californian rockers Evaline has been chosen as the soundtrack to UEFA’s newest Respect* campaign promoting the positive message of diversity in the world of football.

The advert featuring the song is to be played multiple times daily on each network that has bought the TV broadcast rights to show Euro 2012 matches, as well as constantly at the stadiums of every EURO game. In addition, it will be shown at all Fanzones in the host cities in Poland and Ukraine. According to UEFA, Euro 2008 was broadcast around the world to a cumulative global TV audience of 6.6 billion viewers.

Chances are, then, that an awful lot of people are going to hear “There There” over the next few weeks, so Football Burp caught up with Evaline’s bassist Steve Pedersen for a quick natter about it all. First, though, check out the song’s official video…

…and of course the Respect advert on which it features…

Congratulations on being chosen to soundtrack the Respect campaign! How did it come about?

We’ve had our music on quite a few sports events over the last couple of years because are management are good at that kind of thing. They managed to get the song into the right hands. We were strung along for a couple of months not sure whether it was going to happen or not, so we’re very excited that it’s worked out.

How does it feel to think that billions of people could have heard your song by the end of the tournament?

It’s really hard to imagine that number of people! (Laughs) It’s the best thing we could ever want for our music, for it to reach that many people. Even if one per cent of them like it, that’s still a huge number of people.

Have you already noticed a swell in your fan base off the back of it?

Yeah, we’ve been trying to keep up with the statistics and we’ve definitely noticed more action on our online presences.

Do you follow football yourself?

A little bit. I’ve been watching the games a bit here and there, and I do enjoy watching it even though I don’t know much about it. I used to play it when I was a kid so that’s as far as my knowledge goes. It’s one of those things where the more you get involved it the more you understand about the players and the dynamics of the team.

What position did you play?

Striker.

A goal-scorer, or more of a creator?

I was more of a goal-scorer! (Laughs)

The US national team has been coming on in leaps and bounds over the last few years. Have you been following their progress?

Once again, I haven’t really followed them that much but I have been hearing good things.

Steve Pedersen, thank you.