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Photo 3: Hakon Sivertsen
Photo 4: Astrid SS
Astrid SS from Norway is a new punkband. So
f…..g good. Look after them ,listen to them and
of course read this interview done in november
2025.
Please tell me a little history of the group,
when you started to play , when and why?
Enok: We put the first iteration of the band
together to play the birthday party for one of
the local old school punks, I think it was in
2020. Our setlist was cover songs from the
birthday boy’s youth by The Undertones, Cockney
Rejects, The Ejected, Sex Pistols, GBH and The
Adicts. We played some more gigs in the same
vein, then we realized it was a waste to have
all this creative energy in a band and just play
covers.
Magnus: I think the idea behind making our own
material was like, imagine if this was a band
that played original songs, what would we sound
like? So I proposed this dogma that everybody
should write two songs in the vein of this
imaginary, but hopefully soon very real band,
and present them without reviewing anyone else's
song first. We were six in the band at the time,
so that meant we would have twelve songs at an
instant! A whole album, just like that!
Unfortunately the idea didn't quite work out,
but we did kickstart the songwriting process and
we haven't stopped since!
Tell me a little about every member, age, name,
what you play and bands before and on the side
of Astrid SS?
Enok: I am 44 years old, play lead guitar. I
also play guitar in Astmatisk Gapskratt, and me
and Trude used to play in a band called Ørtæv.
All the members of Astrid SS also sing in a punk
choir called DASK. I have played guitar
competently in a lot of other bands that
unfortunately never got out of the rehearsal
space, and drums poorly in a lot of other bands
that unfortunately played lots of gigs. I also
talk way too much.
Trude: I’m 45 years old, I play rhythm guitar.
In my twenties I played drums, and in my mid
twenties I started to play guitar. Until
recently I played in an all female punk band
called I Like To Tell Men That They Can’t Handle
Two Things At The Same Time.
Magnus: Drums. I'm 49, which feels weird to say,
I feel like a newbie but have played drums for
forty years now and guitar for 35! Maybe it's
because I reached my level of competence in my
twenties! I have played in numerous bands
throughout the years, and still play bass in my
old punkband (currently in hiatus) Rama Lama das
Punkabteilung. We've been going on since the
nineties! More recently, I play drums in a
prog/psych/rockband called ORDN and its
offshoot/bastard child Uordn. Besides that I run
Stomi Studio from my basement where we record
our stuff.
Joar: I’m 46 years old and play bass in Astrid
SS. I’ve been into playing music ever since I
was a young teenager, mainly as a guitar player.
Although I’ve played in several bands throughout
the years, nothing much has come out of it
(except the joy of playing) until now with
Astrid SS.
Frode: Vocals. 48 years young. I always played
some guitar, and did a little singing in
different constellations, but didn't discover
that I really could use my voice in various ways
until I was in my thirties.
For the last twelve years I've been playing
together with Magnus in ORDN, a band that can be
punkish at its best, but Astrid SS and the punk
genre really felt like coming home to me.
I do the singing, the other four rascals can do
the talking.
Astrid SS, please tell me a little about the
name?
Magnus: It's just a stupid name, ok? Stop
harassing me! But in all seriousness I don't
think there are any bands with good names! They
are all bad! It might not be obvious to people
outside Norway, but it's a play on the very
famous Norwegian singer Astrid S, and I'm afraid
we're gonna have to explain that stupid pun for
the rest of our career! It's an old, played out
take on the third reich and I was so over it,
even before the name was on the table. But we're
not doing a Korslagde Kukar and changing our
name. (Unless we're playing Schlagerfestivalen!)
Enok: We PROMISE we’ll never write the name with
lightning S’s.
Joar: Whenever I’m asked about the name Astrid
SS by the uninitiated I just tell them that
we’re an anti fascist punk band and that we want
to take those S’s back from the nazis - in pink
Barbie font, or any other font that we see fit.
They’re ours now, thank you very much….
This seems to be the first thing you release as
a band, why a LP as the first thing?
Enok: We are at a creative place mentally, so we
produce a lot at the moment and when the debut
album returned from the vinyl pressing plant we
had already started recording the sequel. I
think we all like the long play album as a
format because it’s such a deep dive into an
artist and their mindset at this moment in time.
Magnus: Vinyl is expensive so my motivation was
most bang for the buck! It's tempting to release
something as fast as possible just to get
something out there, but since it's our first
release why not take your time. EPs and 7”s
later! I also had the idea that once we had
twelve songs we would start recording. It seemed
like a decent amount!
Joar: Vinyl is nice. Having real artwork on the
front cover is nice. Holding a hand written
piece of paper with all the lyrics and credits
is nice. Listening to vinyl is nice. If this
isn’t nice, what is?
Is it important to get it out physically?
Magnus: I think that it's probably more
important for small bands to have a physical
release. Unless you've made a name for yourself,
if you drop an album on Spotify only, that's
just a blip and then it's gone.
A vinyl you can always find on your shelf five
years later, but you'll never visit that
Spotify-page again.
I understand that people don't bother about
vinyl, because it's expensive to manufacture,
and you're never getting your money back, but
Spotify is stupid.
Bandcamp feels more like a safe space for
artists, they give bands more control over
income and sales and feels less like you're
dealing with Music Incorporated.
Joar: Same reason as in the answer to question
four…
The cover on the record is really nice, any
deeper meaning with it?
Enok: We wanted a hand drawn cover showcasing
one of the many great artists in the Norwegian
punk scene, and we all love Erik Henriksen’s
distinct style. We sent him a link to the
unmastered tracks and he was inspired by the
dystopian vibes of songs like the closing track
“Death Drive Society”, and proposed a baby
wearing a gas mask. He’s a geek like us, so when
we proposed to have the band name appear
organically in the picture like in the splash
pages of the old “The Spirit” comics he
instantly took the cue and drew the baby during
feeding time and making a mess that spelled out
our band name. We all loved the artwork and the
interpretation is up to the viewer, as with all
great art. I see it as a commentary of how “we”
value the needs of the rich and powerful of
today over the needs of coming generations and
leave our descendants a fucked up world with
destroyed climate and depleted natural
resources.
Magnus: I think the only instruction/restriction
we gave was “no skulls”!
Is it important to have a record cover that
shows which type of music you play?
Enok: We actually had this discussion in the
band! I myself like album covers that are
“wrong”, like industrial noise pioneers
Throbbing Gristle with their cover for “20 jazz
funk greats” or Deafheaven’s “Sunbather”.
Magnus: Beach Boys - Surf’s Up! That does not
look like a Beach Boys album! But the cover is
perfect since they had moved away from surf by
that time.
Do you have any favorite record cover?
Enok: Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass - Whipped
Cream And Other Delights. There were so many
other album covers from this time period that
are just a pin up model striking a pose, this
one does a nonsensical twist on that subject by
covering the model in shaving foam resembling a
wedding dress and this transforms the image from
cliche to iconic.
Magnus: I think Lionel Richie - Can't Slow Down
oozes calm, cool and collected! This is a guy
that knows what he wants and he's grabbing
opportunity by the neck!
Also Funkedelic - Uncle Jam Wants You. That's
the ultimate peacock chair cover! Funkedelic
knows how to make fucking fantastic cover art!
To play punk like this in Norway, how is it
nowadays?
Enok: We’re usually placed in the oi punk/
street punk subgenre, and I don’t think there’s
a huge scene for that style at the moment. There
are a few bands in Oslo that fit the bill, and
also bands like Cockroach Clan in Lillehammer.
The singer from Bergen based Bitches And
Bastards has a new band called Destination
Nowhere that has released some promising
singles. I think it’s safe to say there are many
more bands inspired by 90’s American punk at the
moment than 70’s and 80’s British punk.
Magnus: The punk scene in general in Norway is
better now than ever and I see a lot of
crossover between genres. Of course you've got
your gatekeeping geezers, but there seems to be
room for everybody no matter where you go.
Norway has always had a lot of good bands,
favorites from the past and favorites nowadays?
Magnus: I like early punk like Ischjazz, De
Sjenerte, Søt Hevn and Svartedauen. That kind of
music where you hear they exceed their
abilities, almost into outsider music territory,
but still full of raw emotions and energy! It's
a wonder some of those songs even got recorded!
Fucking North Pole Records and Apollon Records
both have a steady stream of quality releases.
They seem to have the duopoly on good music
these days!
Enok: I like just about any punk adjacent style,
and have lots of favorites. If you want
recommendations for innocent but energetic
bubblegum pop punk I would tell you to check out
Ramona’s Tea Party, if you like more
experimental post-hardcore I’d tell you to check
out the duo Barren Womb. If you’re into power
violence and modern grindcore you should give
Rat Lord a spin, if you like old skool d-beat
hardcore I’d suggest Dødsdømt or Knuste Ruter.
I’d also recommend you go see bands live,
because music is always best live and a lot of
great bands I could have mentioned here haven’t
released any records yet.
What does punk mean to you, is it only a word, a
music style or is it a lifestyle for you?
Enok: It’s everything
Magnus: All of the above, but mainly it's an
attitude. A way of doing things.
Joar: I’ll have to agree with Magnus here. It’s
mainly an attitude. I’d go so far as to say that
it’s an attitude that has been adapted by other
genres too. Some of Darkthrone’s material has
that punk attitude, for instance.
Your lyrics seem to be important to you? Is it
important to have lyrics that are about
something really important and not sing about
nothing?
Enok: Yeah, I take lyrics seriously. I can’t
even listen to some bands from my youth anymore
(like Seigmen for instance) after learning that
their lyrics are just nonsense. Our lyrics range
from deadly serious to silly or satirical, but
there’s always a meaning behind them.
Magnus: When you add good lyrics to a song, the
whole piece comes together. Without the lyrics
it's just another riff or chord progression.
Joar: One of the reasons why I sometimes listen
to a lot of instrumental music, or music in
languages I don’t understand, is because bad
lyrics ruin the listening experience for me.
Some people have the ability to ignore the
lyrics, but I don’t. By this I don’t mean that
the lyrics have to be political or anything like
that - they can very well be ambiguous and open
to interpretation.
Please tell me a little about following lyrics
-For King and country
-Your punk band sucks
-Ugly things
Magnus: King&Country is a song about small
people that wants to grow at the expense of
other people.
“Give me a medal! This land belongs to me now!
Die for me!” People that wants to be remembered!
Trude: We actually wrote this BEFORE the current
Trump presidency started and the following “No
Kings” protests, so we were kind of prophetic in
a way.
Enok: Some people seem to equate being “punk”
with being an asshole/ sociopath or “punk rock”
with playing poorly. To me that’s what “your
punk band sucks” is about.
Magnus: Everybody played in a band as a kid and
made songs that sucked. Imagine if you kept
playing those handful of songs for the rest of
your life and never made anything else! Then
imagine that you make your journalist friends
write about your shitty band!
Trude: If you feel like the lyrics in Your Punk
Band Sucks are about you, they probably are.
Enok: Ugly things is a song about domestic
violence. It’s pretty common that the aggressor
in such couples blames the victim for making
them violent, and often their surroundings even
enable them by talking about this unfortunate
great guy who always ends up in relationships
with psycho women. These lyrics tell the story
of a violent partner actually convicted for his
crimes and still vengeful and denying any
guilt.
You have never thought of singing in norwegian?
Magnus: We do! On an upcoming release, a tribute
to the cult hero Per Bergersen, we play a
version of a relatively unknown song he wrote,
Tanga For To!
Any swedish favorites?
Enok: Totalt Jävla Mörker. Of more recent bands
at the moment I’m quite fond of Ett Dödens
Maskineri, Småjävlafötter, Crash Nomada and
Gatuplan, but in general Swedish punk and
hardcore have a huge place in my heart.
Trude: Mimikry, Gatuplan, City Saints, DLK,
Lastkaj 14. I’ve been at Mimfest and
Close-up-båten several times, and I love the
music, the vibe and the punks! With the
exception of City Saints, all of these bands
have played in our hometown! Tickets for
Close-up-båten 2026 are already bought!
Magnus: I like old progg and got a couple of
meters of that on vinyl! Very unique sound, when
everybody was copying UK and US bands, Sweden
did its own thing! I find lots of similarities
between progg, flum, rörelsen and punk. Both are
very much diy and political with independent
labels and venues!
Joar: In the last few years I’ve listened a lot
to Gösta Berlings Saga. I also like Henrik
Palm’s music a lot. Bands like Meshuggah and
Opeth have been important to me over the years.
My involvement in the punk scene has also
brought bands like ATTENTAT, Gatuplan and
Beforeskin to my attention.
To live in Norway today, how is it politically
with racists, high prices , not to be in the EU
etc?
Enok: I think we’re seeing a lot of the same
trends as in other countries, with the liberal
conservatives losing ground to more populist and
downright xenophobic conservatives. FrP are the
closest thing we have to your SD, and they were
the second biggest party in the last election.
This is legitimately scary. I think the economy
and a lot of the other issues we are seeing in
Norway are part of a larger international issue.
The superpower to the east is waging territorial
wars on their neighbors and the superpower to
the west is invoking a trade war on the entire
world with ever changing tariffs, and they’re
both run by narcissistic sociopaths. Of course
this affects both us and the entire world.
Magnus: Pathetic people blaming others for their
own shortcomings!
The newest fad among the anti-woke, right-wing
“free thinkers” (that somehow ends up having the
same talking points as every other free thinker!
Curious!) is that they are desperately trying to
pretend that now it's cool to be christian.
Christian is the new anti-woke! Fortunately
other (real) christians are fighting hard to
make that not happen! 20yo leader of the
christian conservative’s youth party thinks that
rape victims should carry their pregnancy to
term!
That's the situation, right wing, self declared
intellectuals posing as common sense centrists,
partaking in moronic podcasts and blogs
disguised as newspapers. Lots of new names on
that list in the last five years. Slick,
suit-wearing silver tongues, revisionists,
apologists and open minded bigots!
Fortunately pride flags and Palestinian flags
are so common at punk shows now that it almost
feels strange if you don’t see any!
Are there many places to play live for you in
Norway?
Magnus: There are several venues all over Norway
for us to play, but the logistics are a bit
fucked. It takes us eight hours or so to drive
to Oslo, and most gigs are in that area or even
further south, so it's an ordeal to get around.
And gigs don't cover the gas money so I'm glad
we're at least having fun doing this!
What is the best thing with livegigs and what is
the worst?
Enok: The worst thing is the logistics and
hassle of BOOKING gigs.
Trude: The worst thing is the nervous feeling
just before the show, and the best thing is when
that feeling disappears and you don’t feel like
shitting yourself anymore when the show starts.
Magnus: What I want out of a gig is to convert
the congregation, get them on our side! That's
the best feeling, when you get the audience to
loosen up and win them over!
Have you only played in Norway or have you
played anything outside Norway?
Trude: We played in Östersund in 2024! Our
friends from Beforeskin invited us to play at
Gamla Tinghuset where we played together with
Världen Brinner, Fattig Aristokrat, Avtonat,
Nionde Kretsen and Beforeskin.
Enok: We actually ended up headlining that
evening because none of the other bands wanted
to be the final act on stage!
Please write down your ten favorite records of
all-time?
Magnus:
Cardiacs - Sing To God
Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotten
Vegetables
The Residents - Commercial Album
Frank Zappa - We're Only In It For The Money
Soft Machine - Third
Mr Bungle - Disco Volante
NoMeansNo - Wrong
Kjøtt - s/t
Fru Pedersen - Blandt Kløver Og Sopp
Gong - Angel’s Egg
Enok:
I hate ranking music and this list would be ten
completely different albums if I was asked again
tomorrow, but here are ten immortal classic
albums I always come back to in no particular
order. My music taste is all over the place:
Stiff Little Fingers - Nobody’s Heroes
Böyen Beng - Kjærlig vårt hat
Black Flag - Damaged
Atari Teenage Riot - Delete Yourself
Refused - The shape of punk to come
ZSK - Hertz Für Die Sache
Against Me! - Reinventing Axl Rose
The Aller Værste! - Materialtretthet
Israelvis - Eurosis
Zeal & Ardor - Zeal & Ardor
Joar:
Dødheimsgard - A Umbra Omega
Voivod - Nothingface
Jethro Tull - A Passion Play
Virus - The Black Flux
Gong - You
Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting
Vegetables
Indian Wells - No One Really Listens to
Oscillators
Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu
David Bowie - Low
Brian Eno - Thursday Afternoon
Why stop at ten? The list goes on and on…
Trude:
Rage against the Machine - Rage against the
Machine
Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
Cock Sparrer - Shock Troops
Rancid - And Out comes the wolves
Frank Zappa - Apostrophe
The Interrupters - Say it out Loud
Mimikry - Tjugo
Gatuplan - Kampen Går Vidare
Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come
Faith No More - King for a Day, Fool for a
Lifetime
Which type of people come to your concerts?
Enok: All kinds of people. A really positive
experience was going to Östersund. We were
playing an all ages gig there, and there were a
lot of youngsters with mohawks, band patches,
studded belts etc that were also playing in cool
punk and hardcore bands. I think there are
emerging punk scenes like that in many places,
and hope we can cultivate that and keep the
scene alive.
What is the most chaotic thing that ever have
happened during an Astrid SS-concert?
Enok: I don’t think there’s been any particular
events that stuck out, just general mayhem and
moshpits. There was a concert in the band’s
early career where we all got too drunk, the
bass player fell asleep while standing up and
still playing, the guitarists were running all
over the stage and everyone in the band felt the
need to speak into the mic between each song,
but we collectively decided to never go on stage
in that state of intoxication again, and try to
scrub all video of the night from the Internet.
Which is your favorite song to play live? And
which is the song is most popular in the
audience?
Magnus: They Don't Care seems to get the best
response, probably because we repeat the chorus
ad absurdum, so even the densest crustpunk gets
it.
But of course our favorite will always be the
newest one.
Enok: My two favorites to play right now are two
new songs called “All billionaires are fascists”
and “Heads will roll”.
Trude: Lizzie’s in a Box. Because it’s fun,
hard, fast and over in a minute.
Joar: Currently some of my favourites are All
Billionaires Are Fascists, Killing Children for
Peace and Get Up, all of which are new,
unreleased songs. So, I guess, the newest ones.
Do you do any covers live? If you do, which
songs?
Enok: We used to. We started as an old school
punk cover band and even played some oi punk
versions of non-punk songs like Limahl’s Never
Ending Story theme and Lynn Anderson’s “Rose
garden” but the novelty wore off and we wanted
to focus on our own music.
I love beer and do my own brew. Any thoughts of
doing a Astrid SS-beer, if you do , what type of
beer will do and what would you call it?
Trude: Maybe a pale ale called Rude Brew?
Enok: Rude Brew is a good answer. I also think a
good signature Astrid SS-brew would be a variant
of an Irish Red Ale. Call it Guillotine Juice. I
actually do some home brewing myself, maybe I’ll
whip up a batch of both these.
I support Arsenal in England and GAIS in Sweden,
do you have any favorite teams in football?
Enok: Haha, I think that’s what separates us
most from stereotypical Street punk bands. We
don’t really follow football.
I like underdog stories like when Norwegian
teams like Bodø/Glimt have beaten much larger
rivals in men’s Champions league and Europa
league, and similar with Brann in the women’s
leagues. I also appreciate when teams show good
values, like FC St. Pauli in Germany who have a
strict, non-wavering anti-fascist and
anti-prejudice stance. That takes balls (pun
intended).
Magnus: I think football should be outlawed.
It's organized hate crime.
How do you listen to music, is it vinyl, CD,
Spotify, what is the perfect format?
Magnus: There's only one format that counts
really, but that doesn't stop me from buying
CDs!
Enok: I actually don’t think I have any devices
left in my home that play CD’s! Vinyl and
streaming for me.
Joar: I mostly listen through Tidal, but also
vinyl and CD’s.
Do you buy many records yourself?
Magnus: It's a disease. I buy records I don't
even want. I know I'm not going to listen to
them, still, I can't stop. And it's not even
about what you've got, it's just about what's
missing, and you feel like a loser because you
haven't got such and such!
I need everything!
Enok: Most of the albums I buy are at concerts
with bands I want to support by paying them what
Spotify doesn’t.
Joar: Before I got a record player some years
back I used to think that I had quite a few
vinyl records. Now that I’ve got a record player
it turns out I don’t have that many. I mainly
buy vinyl when I really like a band and feel
like I want to support them in a tangible way.
Wisdomword?
Magnus: Don't think outside the box! All your
tools are in the box! Everything you know, all
your experience is inside that box! If you go
outside of that box you're helpless!
Also: Nothing is nailed in stone!
Also also: Don't bake the bread before the dough
has risen!
Something to add?
Enok: All billionaires are fascists. Free Palestine. Trans rights are human rights. Eat the rich.