Photo: Atle Auran

And today is the day! buy us band’ new album ‘we ask again’ out now! Digitally, on vinyl and cassettes. Just choose your favourite format or enjoy this new diy noise rock masterpiece on all of them! Expect new extended sound and lots exciting guest appearances! For the new album the band has teamed up with AGCR and went from 25 ex on vinyl for previous album to 70 ex on vinyl (half white, half transparent, all hand painted) and 40 ex on cassettes. But you still have to hurry up to get your one! Read a big interview with the band about all of the above and much more. Highly recommended playing the album in background while reading!

In terms of sound, what new things did you want to try on the new album?

In a way the songs have become more structured this time around. We picked up a bunch of new instruments like the accordion and also through our guest appearances we have introduced trumpet to a couple of our songs. We have also moved and upgraded our studio since our last release, and this also has affected the recording experience and quality in a positive way.

We’ve also experimented with wheelbarrows, broken cymbals and high-pitched guitar loops to make different parts of songs as challenging as possible to listen to, while still being something we as a band really like. This combined with nasty and gritty guitar tones makes for a great contrast to our more mellow and ‘beautiful’ piano and acoustic guitar parts.

Art is a big part of this project. Where do you get your art inspiration from? And what is the affiliation of the band members to the world of art?

The project is heavily based on the idea that we want to do as much as possible of the whole music making process ourselves, including everything surrounding the release. This led to the idea of us making the artwork as well. As of inspiration it mostly comes from the music itself and the grittiness of it. As well as the whole atmosphere of making the music. None of us are really in the world of art, but it’s a hobby that has bled into this whole project. 

During the work on this album, you’ve got a new band member – Jonas Jansen Ramsfjell (BAKRUS) and a new studio – PIIR Studio. Tell me a bit about it

Jonas joined us in a studio session right after the release of our previous album. We had a lot of fun in the studio and we decided that it would be great if he became a permanent member. The song also ended up on the new album as ‘at least i’ll die’, which was the only song we were able to record before we had to move out of our old studio because of the city’s decision to evict all the cultural institutions from the building and build apartments instead. This led to us having to find a new place for the studio. A couple of the previous members left the collective and a couple of new ones joined in and PIIR Studio happened.

The new album also includes guest appearances from Arne Wormdal (BEIST, Arne Åsmund), Jonas Dalen Espseth (Sinnsrot), Philip Døhl and Sebastian Andersen (karl.i.fårnia). What did these collaborations bring to the sound and mood of the album? And do you plan to invite any guests to the next record?

We really appreciate the process and the result of having these guests onboard for this record. Arne contributed with a haunting piece of vocals for the track ‘belfast & furious’. Jonas provided trumpet which really lifted the same track, as well as ‘maybe the real treasure was the friends we lost along the way’ to new heights. Philip joined us in the studio when we picked up ‘summertime 1998 (drive-by fernet’ for the second time, after leaving it on the shelf for a little while. He helped loosen the screws aka grease the wheels and together we created the summer hit of the decade. Sebastian joined us when we were working on ‘when in drunk’ and worked his magic on the atmospheric middle part of the track. Most of our songs are written and almost directly recorded in the studio so in a day we might have an almost completed song. This makes the mood and sound for that particular song dependent on the atmosphere that day. We think that is why you never know what will come next when you listen to the album for the first time, and that is also why having guests join us is such a great impact. 

We’ve already been talking about having more guests on the next album and making this into something like a collective. Where everyone who wants can join in and help us make more albums (for free haha).

Previously you mentioned bands like Årabrot, Pissed Jeans, Godflesh, Harvey Milk, Nothing and Soft Kill as some kind of inspiration for the band. Have you got any new favorites lately? And what about local bands?

We’re still fans of the bands you mentioned. We would also like to throw Melvins, Pink Room, Gilla Band and The Cumshots into the mix. Local bands we like and are inspired by are Barren Womb, Lache, Gnasher, Jørgen Dretvik, Black Moon Circle and Sinnsrot, 

For the new release you have teamed up with All Good Clean Records. Why? And will all your new music be released on this label?

AGCR have helped us a lot in the release of the cassette as well as the release and production of the 7” single, which was a really cool initiative from their side. They have also handled all the digital distro, making it a lot easier for us to just focus on the music and the artwork for this release. We would love to work with them in the future as well.

Your debut album ‘it’s all the shame’ from 2022 was released on vinyl as only 25 ex with a unique cover art for each of them. ‘we ask again’ is coming as 70 ex on vinyl and in addition as cassettes. What is behind this change? And what was new in the process of releasing the album this time?

While AGCR handled everything else for this release, we did the vinyl part of it. So as well as last time, all the vinyls are handcrafted and painted, which compared to the last 23 ex, this round, with 70 ex (!) was a hell more ambitious. Since the last 25 ex went away pretty fast we thought that we should make some more this time, maybe also a bit ambitious to sell 70 ex of lo-fi noise rock on vinyls but at least it’s not too few. The addition of cassettes was just for fun, it’s a really cool medium and it allows for cheaper production. Here it also gets a bit confusing, since the length of a vinyl is limited we couldn’t fit all our songs on it and decided to split it into one album and one EP. Digitally this is separated, on cassette you get both and on the vinyl you have 3 songs less. This makes the cassette the deluxe edition for physical medium. 

Are you considering any live shows soon?

The downside of sitting in a studio making music is that it makes for a challenging transition to playing live. We don’t remember how to play any of our riffs and we also have a lot more instruments in the songs than people in the band. But we’ll find a solution. We are eager to play, for now though, the studio is our safe space.

‘we ask again’
Recorded at PIIR Studio, Trondheim
Mastered by Karl Klaseie, Øra Mastering
Released by All Good Clean Records

Follow the band on social media!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buyusband/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3kimwKYfMLBOG4xa13be7G?si=jGIHqaUfStOpmp7sX7bloA
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/buyus
Bandcamp: https://buyus.bandcamp.com/