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Artist Interviews
Q&A: Ungdomskulen
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 15 January 2010
Ungdomskulen are a prog-rock/new wave band from Bergen, Norway, consisting of Kristian Stockhaus, Frode Kvinge Flatland and Oyvind Solheim. The trio released their debut album ‘Cry-Baby’ on Ever Records in 2007, and have carried out tours both in Europe and the US including two appearances at the SxSW festival.
Despite the band’s rehearsal space burning down just a few weeks prior to recording, the trio remained eager and worked even harder to finish their second album ‘Bisexual’. With the album out and a showcase gig at Eurosonic Noorderslag this very evening, we caught up with Ungdomskulen to find out more.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
Growing up you are looking for your thing, that thing that stands out as your own. I guess you try out a lot of things, whether it’s sport, smoking or ghosthunting. For us it was always music, it wasn’t even a choice. We just picked up an instrument and never looked back.
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
I guess we wanted to create something special and sincere, so the inspiration that we came surfing on was from people that have the same mentality or approach that we admire, people that make you proud to be a human, whether it’s Britain finest rock-band Egg, Terry Richardson, or Norwegian multi-millionaire Christian Ringnes who puts his money in making Oslo a more magical place.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
It’s basically like throwing paint on a blank canvas and then see what sorta imagery comes out. We just turn on our amps and let it flow, and then it’s survival of the fittest from there on. Whatever instruments make the most fulfilling noise lead the way for the song to come out.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
We are into a lot of different bands but it’s hard to tell which ones make you sound the way you sound. We all like Nirvana, King Crimson, Yes, Frank Zappa, The Zombies, ELP, and Bowie, but we listen to all sorts of music all the time. Our minds are like gaping holes and we just suck it all in, even the bad stuff.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Congratulations.
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
Ambitions are tricky, I guess something we always want is that the records reach the people that are interested and get the fate they deserves. We are all about the brick by brick concept. You know, getting to world domination when we are 80 years old.
MORE>> www.ungdomskulen.com
