Norwegian The Fects is a really nice group. Plays punky music and I really like it. In the end, this short interview came about and this happened in the middle of August 2025

Please tell me the history of The Fects, why and when did you start to play?

-First rehearsal was January 23rd, 2019. Debuted live August same year.

Please tell me a little about every member, age, instrument, wehat do you do when you don´t work, bands before and on the side of The Fects and something really bad about every member?

-Let’s just say we are a union of people from different places with different stories to tell :) Good, bad and in between. All The Fects.

Your new LP:s name Rocket to Ruin feels like a celebration to Ramones, or what was the gial with the name?

-Hell yeah it’s a tribute :) It’s also incidentally the title our guitarist (mistakenly) answered when asked about his favorite Ramones album 😛 Oh yeah and the mashup title fits the band like a glove.

Who is the one of the cover on the bike?

-Our wonderful album cover boy is our good friend, sound guy and all together legendary punk rocker Pål “Påsan” Johnsen (Whalers, Tommy Lüger, Blitzkrieg Boppers) on his equally legendary Royal Enfield.

You are putting out the record on Fucking North Pole records, is that label do a lot good for the norwegian punk/rockscene?

-Fucking North Pole Records is a great label with Robert Dyrnes at the helm. Constantly releasing Norwegian punk bands (both over- and underground), tributes and compilations they are definitely contributing greatly to keeping the scene alive. Also they distribute awareness outside of Norway about what’s going on here. Big up to Robert & FNPR 🤙

Some other bands on the label and in Norway you really like?

-Ooh yeah there are several kickass bands on FNPR. Some favorites are Lazy Sodz, The Oxydants, Tiedemann og Gud and Antisocial Rejects. And more. Also there’s a heap of other great Norwegian bands - White Trash Blues band, Quarter Wolf, Basement Brats, Pjolter Guys, Kosmik Boogie Tribe, Gratitudes, Hard Luck Street and of course the legendary Yum Yums. And the even morest legendary Backstreet Girls 🎶❤️🍻

Any swedish band you like?

-A bunch! Psychotic Youth, Professional Againsters, Trubbel, Hjelle, Sator, Troublemakers and Gatuplan to mention a few of the bands (still) playing today. The Swedish back catalog is a constant inspiration as a whole, from ABBA to Ebba 😎🤙

You have done some singles and one Album called Accept and Embrace(How can i Get that?)…and you have been Pönk i Norge hyller Jokke, something I have missed?

-You’ve got most of it :) We also have a track (Hello I’m Death) on the «Pønk i Norge - 2022» compilation from FNPR. And we’ll be appearing on an upcoming tribute album honoring the late great Bjørn Müller (RIP). The singles are all exclusively digital releases, and the first album «Accept and Embrace» was released physically only as a strictly limited (and sold out) cassette tape on Krapyl Records & Tapes. We are hoping to release it on vinyl at some point in the future, but no promises 😅

Have you done any songs in Norwegian?

-The Jokke song is in Norwegian (he didn’t do anything else). Also the song «Sommer» on our first album is done in Norwegian (it’s about the summer here in Norway – hence the shortness 😛). And the upcoming Bjørn Müller tribute song is in Norwegian (the song «Konstant» from the Speed of Sound album «Tanker Livet Gir Oss»). We think doing songs in Norwegian is ok but English fits our mojo better 😎

Please tell me a little about following lyrics

-Looking for my mind

-Bunker Knights

-Synaptic Blitzkrieg

- «Synaptic Blitzkrieg» is about ADHD

Bunker Knights» is about friendship.

Looking for My Mind» is about…well… we’ve all been there, haven’t we?

Not so much politics in your lyhrics or? Which is your most political song?

-Our song «Fuck All» pretty much sums it up. Na na na na na na na!

How is it to play this sort of music in Norway right now? Have groups like Backstreet Girls and Turbonegro helped bands in the same style to get concerts easier?

-The punk rock scene in Norway is actually as close to alive and kicking as you can get, we guess because people are more and more annoyed? Getting gigs is not all too hard, but we are loosing small- and mid size venues, rehearsal- and recording studios at a frightening rate these days. And of course BSG and Turbo has paved the way to «normalizing» our kind of music 😎

What is your opinion about punk, is it only a word, a life style or is it only a musicstyle?

-Yes.

I can imagine that a concert with Fects are sweaty, what´s the best of playing live?

-Getting sweaty 😅 Delivering the kind of gig we’d be sorry to miss.

Which type of people comes to your concerts?

-Mainly the usual suspects. All kinds of wonderful people.

What is the most chaotic thing which ever have happened during a Fects-concert?

-Well it felt pretty chaotic when E. Fect broke the drum kit barely half way through the opening song at a gig in Birmingham. Luckily someone managed to coff up a swift and sturdy solution.

I can hear influences both from Ramones and Motörhead, am I right, what other old bands have inspired you?

-150 years of musical evolution has brought us to this. It’s inevitable. Both Motörhead and Ramones are of course important ingredients in that soup.

How is it otherwise to live in Norway, nowadays?

-Ssweaty, expensive and fun. Its complicated…

Do you like football, I support GAIS( a swedish team) and Arsenal in England, do you support any team in football?

-As a band, no.

Photo:Atle Jörgensen

Can you imagine yourself to do a song to a football tema or something like that?

-Sure. We do songs about anything 😎

Many bands do their own beer, if you do a Fects-beer, which style would it have been and what will it be called, or you have maybe already done that?

-We do alotta beers all around, but our own stuff? Nah, not so much :)

Five favoriterecords through all times, the five best concerts you have been to and the five most imprtant things in life?

-You won’t get five of each, but here’s one of each from the four of us:

I. N. Fect: it’s not possible to decide on just one all time favorite record, but The Real Kids’ self titled 1977 debut album is a strong contender. Best gig I ever attended might actually still be The Dictators (with support from Hellacopters) at Last Train in Oslo 1996 – hot, loud and extremely sticky. As for important things in life I’d go for patience. Most things turn out OK in the end.

A. Fect: Album: Slade Alive, Consert: C J Ramone 2016 (where I also met a Fect). Important: I wanna live ‘til I die.

D. Fect: best album (or at least the most important one for me) is «Nina Hagen Band» from 1978. Best gig is CJ Ramone at Revolver in Oslo 2016 (where I met A. Fect). And the most important thing in life? Stay sane.

E. Fect: album: Klusse Pojkman, consert: AC/DC Oslo Spectrum 1996, important: ah ha ha ha staying alive.

Do you buy much record yourself?

-I. N. Fect does. A lot.

In which way do you prefer to listen to music, cd, vinyl, cassette or digitally?

-Vinyl is king, digital is convenient.

Would you think that you have released a record if you only release it digitally?

-The term «record» is still valid. What’s done is done. So absolutely yeah.

Which is the record that you always must have in the tourbus?

-We don’t have a tour bus. «It’s Alive!» would be a qualified candidate if we did.

Futureplans for the band?

-Yep.

For yourself?

-Yep.

Wisdomword?

-Keep on keeping on!

Something to add?

-Nope. Phew, that was a lot of questions and we’re exhausted. But thanx for asking them, we really appreciate the interest :) Rock on!