First of all. I’d like you to tell me something about Norway. The climate is rather cold there. Are the people cold?
No. You have to change the bad situation into something good. So when it’s cold, you just stay in and make music or play records. In the winter it’s extremely cold but the summer is nice though.
And what’s the atmosphere in clubs?
It’s cool. A few years ago there was a big trance wave and a lot of big parties came. But now things got underground in a good way. We have a really healthy house scene, a good techno scene, nu jazz kind of stuff, hip-hop, drum’n’bass and breakbeat. The crowd isn’t that big, because there’s only 500,000 people in Oslo but that’s enough. But there’s a lot of good stuff going on - especially these days. Loads of new interesting nights coming up with a good variation of music. We’re starting a new night called Rotation, where we’re gonna have djs like Josh Wink, Lee Burridge and Meat Katie. No rules. Just good music from good djs who we like – who inspire us.
When I read the names of Norwegian artists and djs on your website, I feel a bit lost. I don’t know them. Tell me who should I look out for?
There’s one guy called Marco Soldic – he’s a good friend of mine and a really great dj. He plays house with reggae, hip-hop and a drum’n’bass influences. He’s really got his own sound and he’s got something special. And there’s another guy called Vidar Kroken who’s a resident at Renaissance. He has also developed a very good sound over the years. I really believe in those two. We’re the same generation. But there’s also Andre, who is around 30. He used to live in Norway but he moved to Amsterdam, where he plays in Chemistry. He’s great.
But you were the first Norwegian to do an Essential Mix. Did it help you a lot with the carrier?
Hopefuly. Actually, it was unreal, because the Essential Mix has always been one of my sources of inpiration and new music. When you live in Norway, you can’t just go to Fabric every saturday. So thanks to the Essential Mix you can listen to new stuff.
Performing there is a big success.
It’s a big compliement.
Is it harder or easier to conquer the world from Norway? From places outside UK and the US?
I don’t know. I’ve never seen it hard, ‘cause I love playing music. But I think it’s a bit harder. There’s probably a lot more djs in the UK and no-one is looking at Norway – at this tiny little spot. But you can manage to do everything as long as you really want to. It’s about making sacrifices. I’ve been djing since I was 13 and I still love it.
So what was it like in your home town, when you were young.
It was really funny. When I was on my last year of school I was already djing out of town. It was almost three years before I was allowed to get in. That was kind of strange. All my friends were shocked (laugh)
Your style is very diversed. What influences you the most?
At the beginning, I was a hip-hop dj. Then I turned to techno and progressive and even goa trance. Later on I was really into house music and the drum’n’bass scene. There’s always been so much new music. There were so many interesting things to hear. So I think it’s just a sum of all these things. If I have a weekend off I don’t want to stay at home. I travel to Sweden or to England to see someone dj, to get inspiration.
I know exactly what you mean. Now, tell me about Bermuda Triangle. I like “Mooger Fooger”, but “Tay Do 22” is one of my favourite tracks this year.
Wow!
Yeah! When I listened to your Essential Mix, I was pissed off because the track wasn’t full. However, when I heard it on Zabiela’s “Sound In Motion” it was mindblowing.
Wow!
I also listened some the samples of the album and I think it might be really great. I want you to tell me everything about it.
Actually, I have a copy at my room. It’s the only copy I have but you can get it.
Well, I can’t ask you that.
If you liked it that much, it’s yours!
Wow!!! Thanks!
No problem!
So when does it come out?
In Norway, on October 6th. I don’t know what’s happening with the rest of the world. We’re trying to get a bigger record label to put it out outside Norway.
Tell me something about the rest of the gang? Arta, Jan-Tore...
Arta is a friend Ariane – she’s a dj as well.
“Don’t Hang The DJ” compilation...
Yeah. That’s also a really nice night. It’s a massive, jerk off kind of thing. All the djs in Oslo just show up with their records to play and act silly. Ariane and Jan-Tore are much older than me, so I’m just a litttle kind of mascot. Ariane is 31 and Jan-Tore is 32. They are much more experienced with music than I am but maybe I’m more extreme in what I do. So we have our own specialties. Jan-Tore has played piano for 25 years. He’s amazing! He can play anything.
I wanted to ask you about live instruments...
Yeah. All the synths, all the pads in “Mooger Fooger” - everything is played in one take - from start to finish. So it’s not just a loop or anything. We worked like: “Oh let’s just take a line” and then we just used the lines that worked. That’s one of the things we wanted to achieve. It’s electronic music but with a live feeling. In “Tay Do 22”, there’s a live bass and the singer from opera school. She’s veeery big (laughs)
But there’s also another singer, the one in “Secret Pillow”. Who is she?
She’s called Agnete - our Norwegian tallent. Jan-Tore is a teacher in a Norwegian school of art and music. Agnete was one of his students. He was so amazed about her voice, about the personality in her voice, so he just took her to the Bermuda studio. We did some vocal things and she started to write tracks. She wrote all the lirycs on “Secret Pillow”. She’s really deep.
How do you divide the work between the three of you?
In the basis, it’s me and Jan-Tore working on various ideas and putting them together. Later on, Ariane comes and says: “Ok, that’s cool, that’s not cool, let’s cut this out and do that...”. Then we think whether we want some vocals, some live bass, live drummers. If we do, we try them out.
About the live drums. I want to ask you about the guy who did the percussion on “Mooger Fooger” – Peter Baden. His track “Re-work” is fantastic! (the opening track of Noa’s Essential Mix). I’ve been looking for it over and over. Did it come out?
Yeah! But the funny thing is – in only 100 copies.
100 copies? It’s unbeleviable!.
I know, it’s so silly. My mission is to use my contacts to lincense it to a bigger label.
You should. When I listened to your Essential Mix for the first time I thought “Oh fuck! This is gonna be amazing!”.
(laughs) It’s really like a Norwegian track. I have two different projects: it’s Bermuda Triangle and it’s me and some guy called Mudman, who is a friend of Peter Baden. Mudman, Peter and another guy called Hans are a group called the Chillinuts. Now, they are going to make a whole album with “Reworks”. It’s gonna be electronic music made out of jazz samples. It’s going to be released in January.
Are you doing any solo projects?
Well, Nils Noa and Mudman is more like a solo project. For all summer I just made Bermuda stuff, which is more home listening, floating kind of stuff. Whereas me and Mudman make harder dance music. House and house influenced brakbeat. It’s got everything that a house track has, but the kicks are not 4 on 4, they are a bit fucked up.
How do you feel with the computer?
We do most of the things on laptops, because the new soft synths are amazing. We just got a G4 Macintosh. This, good speakers and a lot of samples... You don’t need anything more.
Ok, let’s change a subject a bit. What do you think about the end of Hooj?
I hope they can can use their people and start something better. If it hadn’t worked, they’d had do something wrong. They should find out what they did wrong and start something better – something new, something fresh. I always believed that when you have good tracks you’re gonna make a good label. It’s that easy.
That easy?
There always has to be a reason for going bancrupt. The same with clubs – “Oh no! No one is coming to our club!”. But why?! Is it because you’re not doing your job, or maybe your music sucks? You know, it’s so easy to blame the costumers. But is there something we can do better?
It’s the easiest way to blame the costumers saying that they’re not supportive enough, not educated...
But maybe we’re not doing our jobs! It’s always about improvements. Always!
If you don’t progress, you gonna stay behind...
Exactly! You have to progress.
Ok, so Monkey Business in Sikamikanico. I read that it’s only a 150 capacity club.
Yes. Thanks to that, we have the people who really love the music. We also have a really cheap entrance and it’s healthy enough to be running monthly. We only invite the people who love the music we play. And there are no rules – it’s about playing the music you like. It’s quite a small club but it’s got a big club feeling, because it’s just a big dancefloor and a big dj booth with good equipment and a really good sound system.
You’re not planning to move to a bigger place?
No! Maybe it’s a bit egoistic but it’s much better to have a line outside and people who want to come in. It’s much better to have a beautiful party than a half-full 500 capacity club. Because then you’d have to book big name djs that you might not like that much. But the bad thing with a small club is that we can’t pay the djs what they really are worth. So we tell them that we don’t earn any money on this. The money we get it, or the club gets in - it’s for them. We’re not into this to make money on their behalf. We just want to cover the costs and give them a reasonable fee for the size of the venue.
Well, I think James Zabiela likes it that way, ‘cause he plays there regularly...
I hope so. Have you seen him dj?
No but I got his albums and many live sets. I love his music. I think the future belongs to artists like you and James.
Maybe. We’ve been working hard, trying to progress and to be better and make better music. Things go up and down but in the end it’s what you do. I try not to think about what’s gonna happen in two years. I try to focus on what I can do now, what I can do better in studio today, not next week.
If you asked me - you’re doing great! And we’ll finish with that. Thank you very much!
Thank you!
~:) (February 7th, 2005):
Best Norwegian DJ, keep up the good work ;)
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