SONDRE: Oh yeah, Norway's a much smaller country and over
there, I'm a mainstream artist. I'm more of a high profile face.
Over here, I work in the indie rock segment or whatever and it's a
different focus. It's very rewarding coming here because it's all
about the music and in Norway, the focus shifts. But it's good to
get both worlds.
P.S.:
So you have Paris Hilton
status in Norway? Everybody wants to know who you're dating and
such?
SONDRE: (Laughs) Yeah, people would be asking that kind of
question.
P.S.:
You got sick at the beginning of this tour, right?
SONDRE:
Yeah, we had a rough start. My
sound engineer
and
tour manager, he
got really sick in New York. He had to stay in New York to
get treatment. He's from Norway and he always comes with me. So
for the first two weeks, I was on my own. I hate working without
my own sound engineer. I was sick as well and had the flu and a
really bad cold. It was really terrible for two weeks. But it's
all good now.
P.S.: So let me take you through a scenario. You were in
New York when you got sick which is coincidentally, where Saturday
Night Live is taped. Now imagine, you get sick and supposedly lose
your voice.
SONDRE: (Starts laughing) I think I know where this is
heading. I'd try my luck with lip synching and then, if
it didn't work...
P.S.: Blame the band?
SONDRE: Or... I'm thinking, 'this is Saturday Night Live,'
so if it doesn't work on a musical level, maybe it would be funny.
It's a humoristic show. So afterwards, I could say, "Ha! Didn't
you see? I was just making fun. It was just a joke."
P.S.: You're very outspoken. I was reading some of the
monologues on your website and you don't seem afraid to speak your
mind which is refreshing. Do you ever worry about the politics of
speaking so honestly about other musicians?
SONDRE: Well, there may be a side to it that I can't see
now that might hit me tomorrow. There's certain things that I
stay away from and I don't have to speak my mind at any price. I
don't mean to hurt people but I'm thinking as long as what I have
to say has to do with music, which is my profession. Naturally,
I'm going to have opinions about music that is out there. It's the
same way that I share my appreciation of music that I love. I
sometimes can't help but share my opinions about music or things
within music that I think is stupid basically.
P.S.: So it has more to do with musicianship than
entertainment?
SONDRE: Exactly, and I enjoy music both as an art form and
as entertainment. I'm not just an indie geek where everything has
to be real. I love Destiny's Child and all of that stuff. But when
I feel that Ashlee Simpson's music sucks, I can say it. It's not
that I think she's fake or that she lip synchs. I was totally not
shocked to hear that she lip synchs. I'm just shocked that the
rest of the world seems to think of it as a shock that an artist
of that caliber lip synchs. Because basically, that's what their
whole career is fundalmented on. Which is odd because I saw
Destiny's Child on Oprah and they were lip synching because it's
really tough singing live and dancing all over. It's like, great
if they want to do the dancing instead of the singing, as long as
I get to hear the song, that's cool. At least that's what I think.
But in the case of Ashlee Simpson, I'd rather she just dance and
didn't sing. It's really annoying... that whole format that's
coming across now with these young, angst ridden teenage girls
complaining about their family life and not being understood. I
think it's really annoying and I'd prefer Jessica Simpson anytime.
At least she's not complaining about stupid things like that.
She's just being shallow and singing stupid, annoying ballads.
P.S.: She's wearing her spoiled nature on her sleeve
instead of pretending to be tortured.
SONDRE: Oh, yeah. Exactly.
P.S.: While we're on the subject of musical opinions, you
really seem to be passionate about artist's you listen to. I once
had a musician tell me that the difference between being a fan and
being a musician is that the fan can enjoy and appreciate the
music while a musician is thinking of ways they could have
contributed or wishing they had. What's your opinion of that?
SONDRE: I want to learn things when I hear great songs but
I don't want to let the fact that I'm an artist and I have to be
on the lookout, get in the way of just appreciating a great song.
I'm a musician sure and a songwriter but I'm also a fan. I'm not
afraid to say, 'I love what a band is doing and they're so good
and the world should hear it.' Ultimately, when I hear
stuff, I'll think, 'Wow, that's a clever move. I never thought of
that.' That's the thing. I want to bring that into my own world of
music.
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