![]() |
Norwegian Brillejesus is a really good and
welcome to a new group that I Haven´t heard. I
really like their music and I had to interview
them. Jon is the one who is answering the
questions. November-2021
Please tell me a little bit
history of the group?
Jon: The band started a few
years ago. In the beginning it was Ebbe on
acoustic guitar/vocals, Kevin on electric
guitar, and me on drums. After our first gig we
realized that we needed a bit more low-end and
recruited Espen on bass. After the release of
our first album, Ebbe bought a
Philichordia-organ, and his brother-in-law Ådne
liked the organ so much that he just had to join
the band! After we recorded our second album,
Ebbe wanted to focus less on playing and more on
singing, so I was promoted to guitar, and was
replaced by a much better drummer, Simen.
Jon: We don’t talk trash
about each other, so I’ll mention something good
about everyone instead of something bad
Ebbe (guitar/vocals) is a
father of four in his mid-forties who works as a
librarian in a small town called Riska. He has
played the guitar since he was a teenager and
has released records with Arthur! and Teeny
Grownups before he started Brillejesus. Ebbe
founded the band and writes all our songs. Ebbe
is also co-founder of our record-label Kari
Recordings. Positive thing: Ebbe bought a dog
during the pandemic, and he has written a song
about it.
Jon (guitar, backing-vocals,
and drums on the albums) is Ebbe’s cousin. He is
in his mid-thirties and works as a bouncer at
one of Stavanger’s best concert-venues, Folken,
and as an assistant at the local hospital. Jon
has previously played with Ebbe in Arthur! (he
played the drums), and is also one of the
co-founders of our record-label. Positive thing:
Inspired by Ebbe and Joe Strummer, Jon picked up
running during the pandemic, and can now run 10
km even though he has asthma and has smoked for
twenty years.
Kevin (guitar) is a father of
two in his forties who works as a
physics-teacher at the local international
school. Born in New Jersey, he had never really
been in a band before we started Brillejesus.
Kevin is the bands designated snack-dad (he
brings candy and Pepsi Max to rehearsals) and
has built his own guitar amp. Positive: Kevin
has a degree from Cornell University, one of the
world’s most prestigious universities where he
claims to have studied “something about water
and poop and stuff like that”.
Espen (bass and
backing-vocals) is in his mid-twenties and runs
his own recording-studio in the outskirts of
Stavanger’s city centre. Espen is from the
borough of Tasta, which has given Stavanger some
wonderful experimental bands for the last ten
years, and Espen has probably played in (or
produced) half of them. All of our records are
recorded in his studio, and he does the
engineering and production while recording the
bass live. Positive: Espen has been to a
production-class/workshop with Steve Albini!
Ådne (organ and
backing-vocals) is a father of two in his early
forties. Ådne has a bachelors’ degree in church
organ and a master in opera and is by far the
best trained musician in the band.
He works as a music teacher at the city’s
best high-school and has formerly played with
bands who have toured internationally, such as
Thomas Dybdahl and Purified in Blood. Ådne has
had Lasik surgery, which has given him the
nickname “brillejudas”. Positive: Ådne has
bought a cabin and loves doing DIY stuff at the
cabin in the weekends.
Simen (drums, drums, and more
drums) is in his early twenties, and is both the
newest and youngest member of the band. Simen
studies drums full-time at the local university
and does some session-work on the side. Like
Espen, Simen is from Tasta, and is therefore in
a lot of interesting experimental bands. Simen
used to play handball when he was younger, but
he doesn’t have time for it any more because of
all the bands. Positive: At our last show, Simen
played a drum-solo with one of the cymbals
placed on Ådne’s head, and everybody survived!
Jon: You sort of hit the nail
on the head there. Ebbe is an old indie-guy and
loves bands like Herman Dune and Neutral Milk
Hotel, but he has one foot in the punk-camp as
well, and there is A LOT of Ramones in me and
Kevin’s guitar-playing. In this band he has also
taken a lot of inspiration from Norwegian bands
such as deLillos, Raga Rockers, and
Stavangerensemblet. Ebbe is also of the opinion
that the Norwegian radio-station NRK P1+, a
radio-station that aims to please senior
citizens, is the only radio-station that plays
any good tunes these days, which probably
influences his songwriting in some way.
But we are a six-piece band
with six very different members, so you can
probably find inspiration from every genre since
the baroque if you look close enough.
Jon: We are very satisfied
with the name, it’s a great name! It is and old
derogative name for someone who wears glasses,
kind of like four-eyes in English, but it has
the bonus that it makes a lot of people ask if
we are a “christian” band. A question there are
many answers to, such as “some of us are”, “we
don’t have a religious agenda” and “None of our
members are named Christian”.
The best band name is
probably The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Or
Iwrestledabearonce. Or Ramones.
Jon: The best thing with
playing live is of course the audience! Nothing
beats a good audience! We played six gigs while
Norway had Covid-restrictions, three acoustic
shows and three with the whole band. Our
strength is probably our energy, and the fact
that the audience can notice that we love doing
this. We like to joke around, both with each
other and with the audience.
Jon: We haven’t really played
at any bad venues. We’ve played large
rock-venues and small café’s, and if you have
the right attitude, a good chemistry, and some
good tunes, even the worst storefront can be
like Madison Square Garden, The Cavern Club, or
CBGB’s.
Jon: Well, I guess all
rock-bands walk around hoping that bands are
going to the next big thing any time now, but
you can get quite far in Norway if you have a
good network and are willing to invest some time
and effort into it (and maybe some money). But
this isn’t a career, this is for fun. What I can
say is that we were able to play a festival out
of town during a worldwide pandemic, and that’s
a good thing.
We usually play with local
punk-bands. We could play with other types of
bands as well, like rock, new-wave or hardcore,
but it’s usually punk-bands. This summer we
played at a folk-festival, and some sort of
techno-hippie-rock-festival, so it varies a bit.
Jon: Indie punk surprise!
Jon: Joe Strummer once said
“In fact, punk rock means exemplary manners to
your fellow human being”. On one hand, punk is a
fashion designed by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne
Westwood in London in 76. But punk is also
everything The Clash and Joe Strummer did from
1977 to 2002, which is standing up for peoples’
rights, not just your own, and making the earth
a better place for everyone (but not in a hippie
way), and with a kick-ass soundtrack! I don’t
think we’re going to change the world on our own
or anything, but it would be great to make an
effort and maybe inspire a couple of people
along the way.
Jon: I started singing and
playing in bands when I was eleven. At that
point I mainly listened to The Beatles,
Radiohead, and Fountains of Wayne. When I was
thirteen Ebbe gave me Ramones Anthology for
Christmas, and that was when I discovered punk
rock. After that it was The Clash and Ebba Grön.
Jon: Wear button-down shirts,
straight jeans, Nike running shoes, and do his
homework? I think the best way to rebel is to
educate yourself and look kind of square and
take people by surprise. If you have a studded
leather jacket and a green mohawk you’re not
surprising anyone, not even your grandparents.
Jon: Well, we just kicked the
conservatives out of government, so that’s good.
The radical left and the Green Party is growing,
and has a sizeable block in parliament. Which is
good. We don’t have an SD here, but we do have
small right-wing organisations such as NDL
(Norwegian Defence League) and SIAN (Stopp
Islamiseringen av Norge) but they are always
outnumbered 30-1 at every demonstration. Norway
is the best country in the world to live in, but
there’s still room for improvement: We can treat
refugees better, we can treat the climate
better, and we can decrease the gap between the
rich and the poor. But the left has been playing
defense for eight years, so hopefully things
will get better now.
Jon: One of the biggest
Norwegian bands at the moment is Kvelertak,
which has roots in the punk/hardcore-scene in
our hometown. So that’s cool. We’re from the
Norwegian Oil-capital, Stavanger, and where you
have power and capital, you get punk rock, just
look at Washington DC and New York! In general,
Norway has a lot of punk bands, both
70’s-inspired bands, 80’s-inspired bands and a
large scene of 90’s and 00’s-inspired bands in
Oslo. The Stavanger-scene also has a great 00’s-
inspired band called Prikkedöden, who we have
played a couple of shows with. Some of my
favorite Norwegian punk and hardcore bands at
the moment is Rødt Kort and Dangerface from
Stavanger, and The Good, The Bad & The Zugly
from Oslo/Hadeland.
Jon: I lived in Trondheim in
my twenties, so I used to go to Åre every other
week to buy cigarettes and snus. Norway and
Sweden are quite similar, but we are different
as well: I think that you think that you are a
bit more borgouise than us, because you used to
have nobility and stuff, but I think time has
catched up on that difference, because now a lot
of Swedes move to Norway to get steady jobs.
I think trends used ti come
to Sweden faster, so you got punkrock before us.
But you also got neo-conservativism before us,
with the Reinfeldt-government stripping down
your welfare-state. So when the
Solberg-government tried to do the same thing
here, we were prepared.
Jon: Some of my favourite
bands are from Sweden! Refused, The Hives,
Hellacopters, Ebba Grön, Stilett, Backyard
Babies… Your country has had a huge influence on
my life, at least when it comes to music.
Jon: Ebbe writes the lyrics.
He’s written in English before, but I guess
Norwegian feels more natural. Someone once said
that writing lyrics in English when it’s not
your native tongue is like writing lyrics with
your left hand if you’re right-handed – you’re
just making things more difficult for yourself.
Ebbe writes observational
lyrics, he writes about whatever is around him.
Our latest single is a chant for his kids
football team. But when protesters who protested
Norwegian road tolls were being d*cks he called
them out on it and wrote “Bompenger, bompenger”,
which is our most popular song.
“Dine kommentarfelt” is about
the comments-sections in newspapers and on
social media, and how sick Ebbe was of reading
them. People can’t seem to control themselves
once they get access to a keyboard and a
platform to write on.
“Bibliotekarblues” is a song
about a librarian who spends all his time at
work around books, but never gets time to read
any of them. It’s a simple observation from
Ebbe’s job, but you can probably interpret some
deeper, hidden meaning from it if you want. Like
a bartender who never has time to sit down and
have a drink. This is (as far as I know) the
third song he has written about libraries.
“Når dette er over” is our
Covid-song. It’s about staying in during
lockdown, feeling nostalgic about how things
used to be while dreaming about the future.
Jon: Like I said: Ebbe is an
observational writer, so he writes about
whatever’s on his mind. If he’s going on
interrail with his family, he writes about it,
if it’s two days till payday and he dreams of
what he’s going to do with his paycheck, he
writes about it. Sometimes he writes political
songs that can be provoking, but I don’t think
he means to offend anyone, that’s not the point
of the band.
Jon: First thing first: It’s
okey not to write about politics. Some of our
songs are not about politics, but about going on
holidays. But then again, a lot of songs can be
political without being obviously political,
like our song “Gjenbruksbutikk”: That’s just a
song about a trip to a thrift-shop. But going to
thrift-shops can be very political! Buying used
stuff instead of new, not contributing to
societies pressure to have the newest, hippest
stuff, etc.
Our most political songs are
probably the ones on our first album, like “Vi
har det for godt” and “UDI”.
Jon: That is a tricky
question, because a political band can have
great lyrics but crappy music, or vice versa.
But my top three are probably The Clash (1),
Refused (2) and Manic Street Preachers (3).
Jon: Yes, it can. Both
sonically and lyrically. When I was five years
old I heard “Did I Ever Hear You Say You Love
Me” by Stevie Wonder for the first time, and
that was also the first time I danced. I had
never noticed rhythm to that degree before, and
it completely changed my life. And music has
continued to contribute to small and big changes
in my life, the same way literature has. The
first time I heard “100%” by Sonic Youth was
probably one of the most important days in my
life, because I had never experienced something
as loud as that before (another record Ebbe gave
me for Christmas, btw).
Jon: Sgt. Pepper, maybe? Or
Abbey Road? Or maybe London Calling? There are
too many iconic album covers out there.
Our first album cover was
designed by a former co-worker of Ebbe called
Benjamin Hickethier. According to the myth, the
design we ended up using was not a serious
suggestion, but just something he made for fun.
Our second album cover was designed by Ebbe’s
mum, and is an actual embroidery that she made,
which Benjamin then scanned or did some graphic
thing with.
Jon: We are
record-collectors, and we collect all formats:
Vinyl, CD, cassette, maybe even MiniDisc. But
Vinyl is our favourite, and in my opinion the
best format to physically distribute music these
days. But some of our songs are only distributed
digitally, because vinyl is expensive and
because it takes a lot more planning to release
a vinyl record than it does to release something
digitally.
Jon: I won’t reveal Ebbe’s
banana-trick, you will have to see that for
yourself, but that’s a real crowd-pleaser. But
yeah, there’s always a bit of banter between
ourselves and with the audience. My favorite
moment was the aforementioned episode at our
last show where Simen played a drum-solo with
one of the cymbals placed on Ådne’s head.
Jon: Our audience is usually
between 25 and 50 (the same age as the members),
mostly highly educated people who’s a bit
alternative. A lot of teachers, or people who
should have been teachers. And librarians. So I
guess we could have more people under 25, and
more working-class people.
Jon: We haven’t really played
with any big bands yet, we mainly play support
for our friends, or let our friends play support
for us.
Jon: FFS! This is a tough
one!
The Beatles – Rubber Soul
The Clash – Give ‘Em Enough
Rope
Refused – The Shape of Punk
to Come
Ramones – Anthology
Trojan UK Hits Collection
Concerts:
Silver VS Amulet, Folken
Kvelertak, Folken
Bruce Springsteen, Telenor
Arena
Beastie Boys, Quartfestivalen
Refused, Øyafestivalen
The last list is hard to
understand, do you mean things or life-events?
I’ll go with “things”
Love
Hope
Community
Music
Fast-food
Jon: First record: D.D.E. –
Det går likar no (if I still had it, this would
be the most embarrassing record in my
collection). Last record: Dangerface – Get Loud!
(I bought it at a show the other day). Most
Expensive: Probably “A Poet’s Life” by Tim
Armstrong, the white limited edition
RSD-version. I’m not really embarrassed by my
records, but if I still had that D.D.E-record,
that would be quite embarrassing.
Jon: No, and no. We don’t get
interviewed very often, and I find it
interesting.
Jon: I think a healthy
approach to reviews is to care about the good
ones, and not care about the bad ones. That’s my
approach. One review said that one of our songs
(Jeg kjøpte meg et orgel) should have sounded
more “Christmassy” or something, that was kind
of weird. So I suggested that we should put some
bells on it and release it as a
Christmas-single, but we never did it.
Jon: I’m not really sure who
people compare us with, it’s very easy to be
compared to other Norwegian bands when you sing
in Norwegian, especially bands from Oslo (Ebbe
speaks and sings in the Oslo dialect), and I
think people compare us with some bands from
over there. I don’t find comparison boring or
anything, it’s good to be compared with other
bands. Like when you compared us to the Wedding
Present.
Jon:The Beatles
The Clash
Beach Boys
Ramones
Sonic Youth
I bet A LOT of people would
come to that show, that would help us a lot.
Jon: Drumming was definitely
therapeutical for me, and guitar-playing to, but
in a less aggressive way. But music can also
have a negative effect: Good rehearsal = good
Jon, bad rehearsal = not so good Jon.
Which is the most odd
question you ever have got in an
interview?(Except this one)
Jon: Ebbe once got a question
about the t-shirt I wore in a band-photo, that
was kind of a weird thing to ask about.
Jon: “What gear do you use?”
To which the answer is “Epiphone SG through a
Boss Stagetuner, EHX Soul-Food, MXR GT-OD, some
reverb-pedal, EHX LP-1, and then into a VOX
AC15.”
Jon: Record and release some
songs, play some gigs (both home and out of
town), and then, who knows? World Domination?
Jon: Get a full-time job
(instead of various small jobs), fall in love
(hopefully for good), and play some rock n’
roll.
Jon: “Without people you’re
nothing” – Joe Strummer (and every word ever
uttered by Johnny Cash)
Jon: I think that covers it.
Jon: Well, we usually drive to gigs and I’m tea-total, so it would be something that you could make a non-alcoholic version of as well. It would have to be something easy, with it’s own special taste, so maybe a Czech pilsner or an American Lager? Both with and without alcohol.
|