Hailing from a small Norwegian
town, did you ever think that your dreams of becoming an
international rock star would come true?
I definitely dreamed of it!
When I moved to Bergen as a 15 year old I saw a norwegian rock band for the
first time, I would sneak in to concerts, I learned that dressing up in
colorful eccentric clothes was a great way to get past the doormen without ID,
because they would never ask anyone flamboyant for ID. So it was all about
showing off and having a big ego, then I could get in to shows when I was
underage. I saw rock bands perform and I knew I wanted to do this for a living.
You gained notable well reaction from Jools Holland, Glasvegas, and
The
Times. When the reviews started coming in, what was your reaction?
I think my ego blew up a bit,
and I got a little big headed. Now life has beaten my ego down to a slightly
more sympathetic size. But I also felt like I had accomplished something, I had
broken the code somehow.
Your breakthrough single, "Oh My God" featured Iggy Pop. How did
that collaboration come about? What was he like to work with?
Iggy is amazing, and he really
gave me a lot of good advice. I feel very much like a young version of him in
many ways. Really shy and thoughtful and philosophic, and also explosive and
curious and artistic. And misunderstood. We didn´t like the treatment for the
music video, so we did a whole other thing instead. We wanted to do something
anti-punk. I don´t know what´s more punk than anti-punk, so we wanted to make
something where Iggy was the protector and the guardian of the younger punk aka
me, and where we behaved more like children than posing like rockstars. He was
totally into it and he said it was the best music video filming he had ever
participated in. He is a highly intelligent person and has a lot of experience
to draw from. We have a common friend in Jonathan Shaw who is a tattoo
artist/gypsy and amazing author of among others the book Narcisa.
Another collaboration you did was with Anthony Green for his solo album.
How did that come about? Where you a fan of his work before working
with
him?
I didn´t actually know a lot
about Anthony before we worked together but I think his management sent my
management a song and asked if I wanted to do a duet with him, and write some
parts for the song, and I really liked and identified with the song and the thematics
and it was a joy and very inspiring to write and sing it with Anthony. I got to
perform with him at his show in LA a few years back and we got to hang out and
chat but not enough. I was so impressed with him and his band, I was not
touring at the time, so I was a bit out of the live-loop and his band was super
tight, it inspired me to put a band back together and start touring again.
You just released your latest EP, "Accidental Happiness," what was different about the EP
that you had done from your full lengths?
What´s different about
Accidental Happiness is that it is very much a first person storytelling. Where
Katla was a lot about other people, stories and anecdotes, and descriptions of
other people, Accidental Happiness is very much meticulous descriptions of me
and what I´m interested in and what I´m not interested in, plus warnings about
how bad I am in a relationship, how ice-cold I can be towards men and so on. It´s
also about my boogie nights with the devils soul, there´s some exorcism, there´s
the physical attraction, there´s the sex vs. love, which I think I have been
discussing on all of my releases.
On Fortress it was the story
of Stella the prostitute, who got the power of the World as payment for a
night, from her customer God, the Bearded man. Also on Fortress was the song I
Like You So Much Better When You´re Naked, where it´s me objectifying the man.
About time if you ask me. On Katla there was Cherry Red, my feminist anthem
about giving head, funny how I got a lot of criticism from old feminists for
that one, and totally banned on the radio. And then of course 10000 Lovers and
I eat boys like you for breakfast" which are two sides of the same coin -
non-exclusive relationships gone wild. Welcome to life on the road! Musically,
I would say it all rocks. Especially live.
What does the title, "Accidental Happiness," signify?
It signifies that you can walk
around in darkness for years, like after a nuclear war, and have PTSD ´s, bad
hearing, bad vision, nausea, and stay in the darkness for so long that you
think that darkness is all there is, and light is a myth and light is a dream
and a vicious lie, a joke with no laughter, and then all of a sudden the sky
cracks and the sun beams start shining and all you can see is unicorns and
shooting stars and palm trees and elephants with ornaments and velvet plush and
purple wigs and belly dancers and the best food you can imagine like waffles
and pizza and carousels.
With the release of a new EP, does this mean we will get a new
album soon?
Totally.
What is
next for you?
I´m taking this crazy big
cruise ship Hurtigruta from Nesna to Harstad in Norway, it´s gonna take 24
hours on the boat to the next place we´re playing, Harstad. And from there we
are renting a car and driving to Finnsnes and from there we are driving to
Tromsø, from Tromsø we are taking a plane to Vadsø, and playing in Vadsø. If
you look at the map, you will see that we are touring the North Cape, far above
the Arctic Circle, in landscapes that are absolutely beautiful and dramatic. We
are trying to document this and put it out on youtube, because this is truly
exotic even for me as a northern norwegian. It´s pretty much Alaska the Last
Frontier meets Ice Road Truckers meets The Osbournes, meets Lilyhammer.