MUSIC INTERVIEW: DATAROCK

Meet Rocksteady Freddie & Ketil - The Norwegian Diamond Geezers of Computer Rocking

Tracksuits. Red tracksuits. Red tracksuits jumping. Red tracksuits jumping up and down and sending their insanely catchy electronic pop/rock hooks out across a smiling, sweaty mass of people at a music festival. That is the picture before you when you catch Datarock in full flight within their natural environment. To try to add some context to that vivid picture, Buzzine’s Stefan Goldby was dispatched to the Toyota Antics Block Party at Filter Magazine’s Culture Collide Festival in Los Angeles, California to chat with main Datarockers Fredrik Saroea and Ketil Mosnes about their musical quest, their trademark tracksuits, and their jaw-dropping new release, the self-proclaimed Most Extravagant Single In History…

 

Stefan Goldby: As you guys are in decade number two of a never-ending mission to make sure that no-one on Earth has not heard of Datarock, can we begin by having you let any newcomers know what they’ve been missing so far? Give us just a quick, brief intro into the magical world of the red tracksuit…

 

Fredrik Saroea: This feels so weird. We are always asked first to introduce ourselves: I just want to do it.

 

Ketil Mosnes: Should we?

 

FS: No. [Pause] Hi! I’m Rocksteady Freddie! [Laughs]

 

KM: I’m Ketil-2.

 

FS: We are…

 

FS & KM: Datarock!

 

FS: So far, Datarock’s quest has taken us to 800 shows in 35 countries. Now this is the 20^th time we’ve come back to the US. Is that right?

 

KM: Yes.

 

FS: Something like that. To promote our new EP called California! [Laughs] What have they been missing? A lot of fun.

 

KM: A lot of fun, a lot of sweat.

 

FS: Yeah, you’ve been sweating a lot.

 

KM: Yes.

 

FS: It’s great to be back in California – especially Los Angeles, as it sort of became our second home. We have sold out more shows in Los Angeles than we have in our own town in Norway. So it’s like… [laughs] every time we come here, we have more friends here than back home.

 

SG: And this time you come to California to play shows and to promote an EP, called California, and to shoot a video for “California” here in California with Californian resident Jerry Casale from Devo?

 

FS: It’s being shot today at the [announcer voice] “Toyota Antics Block Party at Filter Magazine’s Culture Collide Festival!” We’re shooting the last scenes of the video today, but then tomorrow and the next day, Jerry and his production team are going to shoot all across Los Angeles – all the landmarks that everybody knows from TV series and films and stuff, and it will be a tribute to the California everybody dreams of… outside of California. Usually we’re very much hands-on when we do videos and design and all sorts, but this time we trusted Jerry to do it his own way, because, as everybody knows, he’s made classic videos, like “Whip It” and all the classic Devo videos, and even the video he did for Devo this year was amazing, so it will be very interesting. We don’t quite know what it’s going to end up looking like, which is a great feeling. So, by the end of the month, we’ll probably be surprised.

 

SG: And hopefully happy…

 

FS: We’re never happy. Behind the mask, the clown cries…

 

SG: Well you may never be happy, but you certainly have no lack of ambition: Can you tell us a little bit about The Most Extravagant Single in History, which I do see lurking right there…

 

FS: Are you talking about this? 

 

SG: Yes, indeed I am.

 

FS: This is the most extravagant single in history. It is indeed a vinyl release, because it is made out of soft vinyl! Translucent red soft vinyl! It’s a three-piece with a USB stick inside. It looks kind of like a diamond, and there’s data inside, so it’s a Data… Rock – get it? [Laughs]

 

The design is made by a famous designer toy dude called Brian Flynn who runs a company called Super7. He’s the illustrator and graphic designer, and he owns the world’s largest collection of Japanese monster toys from the ‘60s. And this one was inspired by the initial version of our release called “Limited Edition,” which was also an EP release. And what’s inside of this absurdity is 130 tracks, 23 music videos, 1500 photos, and an exclusive concert film. And amongst those 130 tracks, there are two exclusive albums, actually. Also included is the California EP and the Catcher in the Rye single, which is really an EP with four tracks. So it’s extravagant all right.

 

SG: What inspired something so insane/cool/awesome/holy-crap-you’re-putting-out-multiple-albums-at-the-same-time?

 

FS: It was the epiphany you had when you were in Prague drinking absinthe…

 

KM: I think so. So basically alcohol inspired it, yeah.

 

SG: 130 tracks, really?

 

FS: Okay, we have to be honest. The bonus track is the entire back catalog, so it’s not as if it’s 112 new tracks, to be honest. But, as I said, there are two exclusive albums, and one of them is brand new. But the other one is actually a collection of stuff that was originally released on limited edition 7-inch, 10-inch, and 12-inches, and that’s really why we did this. Because when we started off in 2000, the way we built an international audience was because we released limited edition vinyl. And back then, in 2001, the international environment… so to speak, of vinyl-collecting kids were really well-connected, and this was before social media...

 

The way people knew each other was really sending packages of vinyl to each other and calling each other up, and getting to know each other at hardcore festivals and punk festivals and shows across the world. And ever since we started releasing stuff, we would have distribution across the world because of this collector’s culture. But, as time went on and you have digital distribution, the decline of record sales… then everybody started releasing vinyl.

 

We wanted to create something as special as what a 7-inch was in 2001. And it is a digital release, basically, but I think it utilizes, in a great way, all the new opportunities, because you have film, image, and sound… which you couldn’t have in a vinyl. And it’s truly a collectible item. We are only allowed to print a certain amount of these because of the catalog. We had to license back our songs from the record companies… [laughs]

 

But it’s as much fun doing this as it was releasing the 7-inches and 10-inches back then. At least my perception has been so much focused on the negative side of the changes within the record industry for so many years, but for us, most of those changes have been positive. Illegal file sharing has brought us to 35 countries. We haven’t sold a single record in most of those countries, so how could it possibly be bad? We’ve always tried to approach those changes in a positive way, and this time we tried to do a release that encapsulates all the positive, weird changes of the music industry.

 

SG: So you got to take basically all the music you’ve ever made, smoosh it together, and squeeze it into one tiny, super cool package…

 

FS: …but when it’s happy, it grows and becomes very large.

 

SG: [Laughs] But you got to put everything you’ve ever done musically, together in one place. What do you think are the biggest differences between the latest music on the Datarock and the earliest stuff that is on there?

 

KM: It’s better!

 

FS: I don’t think it’s better: It’s different. The first releases were just us recording on cracked, s*** software, recording with microphones we bought from the toy store [laughs] and recording at home in the bedroom, basically. And the first 10-inch we released, we didn’t get any professional help. We didn’t know what we were doing. We didn’t get any help producing, mixing…we didn’t even master it. It went straight from a s***ty PC to print [laughs]. So what’s on the first 10” is just horrific. [Laughs]

 

But I think the songs are cool and, for what it’s worth, it’s the first songs that we ever made, and some of those songs we still play live. But the big difference is the first songs we have on this have almost only a single track in the session, in the song. It’s like super small sessions. But California has 125 tracks in the session. [Laughs] So I guess production is a little bit more lavish… Is that the word – “lavish”?

 

KM: I don’t know what it means. I have no idea. [Laughs] I don’t. What does it mean?

 

SG: He’s right. It’s the right word. Sumptuous and…

 

KM: I don’t know what that means either.

 

SG: Like you bought a really nice bed and it’s a fancy four-poster: you made a “lavish” purchase.
 

KM: Ah, okay.

 

FS: Welcome to the English course. We are just learning how to speak English right now. We’re taking on students. Just sign up at Datarockmusic.com.

 

 

So the earliest songs you made still get played live. Most people seem to become Datarock fans after seeing you play, perhaps because it is a pretty lavish, exciting and extravagant show: What about your music do you think it is that lends itself so well to playing at festivals like this one today?

 

FS: A lot of bands can’t let themselves go to the length that we do to engage the audience. We have tracksuits, but it’s okay for us to communicate with the audience in a very…

 

KM: …they sort of justify everything, and we can do whatever… and the audience feels so as well I think, because we look so stupid, so they feel they can just go crazy.

 

FS: When you wear something like this, you can do whatever. You can shout whatever to the audience. But if you’re wearing the same clothes as you were wearing when you had a quarrel with your girlfriend…

“No, I don’t want a baby! Why do you want a baby? I want to break up with you!” 

“Oh, I feel so bad... I’m gonna play a song.”

But if the same guy puts on these glasses and this tracksuit, he can engage the audience, and he can get engaged with people in the audience. And then he can have babies with those people: That’s Datarock in a position (compared) to the other guy.

 

KM: This has to do with the songs…

 

FS: No, what do you mean? [laughs] But it is interesting that the songs work across the world.

 

KM: I think it’s because a lot of people regard Datarock as electronic dance music, but it’s actually classic rock or pop music – classic songwriting put into an electronic package: semi-electronic.

 

SG: With a tracksuit zipped up over the top of it. Do you think you’ll ever not be able to wear tracksuits now?

 

FS: Yeah... to funerals...

 

SG: Not just a black tracksuit for those?

 

FS: [Laughs] One day… It started off as a joke, of course, but it worked so well. In the beginning, it felt as if we were wearing the tracksuits, but now it feels as if they are wearing us.

 

SG: At least you picked a comfortable uniform.

 

FS: They’re not that comfortable, to be honest. [Laughs]

 

SG: We interviewed Teddybears a couple of weeks ago. That also started as a joke, but now they’ve backed themselves into wearing fiberglass heads, whereas you’ve backed into cotton tracksuits. That’s just a win in anybody’s book... [Laughs]

 

FS: It’s true. And the show we’re doing, we’re always covered with sweat, we’re totally exhausted, then we can just remove our tracksuit and put on our regular clothes without having a shower, of course. I mean, seriously: We’re rock & roll.

 

SG: That’s how tracksuits get their character, and why sometimes they need to be burned. [Laughs] What would come together to make a perfect night on stage for you guys?

 

FS: Having Devo’s Jerry shoot the music video, spending time in Los Angeles, having all our friends in the audience, and knowing that you’ll be there, watching.

 

SG: Well, then I think that tonight has a shot. [Laughs] Gentlemen: In a career of many, what has been your single best rock-star moment so far?

 

FS: I’ve got a pretty good story for you. Are you ready?

 

SG: I’m ready.

 

FS: Are you sitting down?

 

SG: Yes.

 

FS: [Laughs] Okay. It was unnecessary to ask, I know. Are you ready now? Let’s do it.

 

Before we really had a real career to talk about anywhere, we started getting booked to Australia to do huge festivals. We would go to Australia with a backing track on a mini-disc… like a portable mini-disc player! We came to Australia with a guitar, a bass, the mini-disc, and a distortion pedal for my guitar, and that’s it… and a Casio M264...

 

We came down there and we would play for 25,000 people who knew our songs – completely retarded! And then I guess our first tour was early 2006, and then later in the year, we came back and, because we have musical equipment and you look kind of weird, customs always stop you – they want to look through your s*** and blah blah blah. And it’s usually not a very pleasant experience. They’re always aggressive and trying to manhandle you.

 

But then they asked, “So, you’re a band. Where are you from?” And we said, “Norway.” And the next question was: “Are you… Datarock?” And then everybody working in customs started singing “Fa Fa Fa.” [Laughs]

 

It’s not a very impressive story, I guess, but that’s my favorite rock & roll story.

 

KM: That’s good…

 

SG: Ketil - Can you beat that?

 

KM: I felt like a very big rock-star, very important, when a friend of ours came over – this guy’s name is Quang Le, he’s a photographer, and he came over at Coachella in 2008 and asked us if Elijah Wood could possibly get a photo with us. I don’t know if he was too shy to come ask himself, or afraid of our shocked reaction to see Frodo in real life. But it was very special…

 

FS: And the pun is, of course, that he [Elijah] is very small and he [Ketil] is very big. That’s why he was a big rock-star. You get it? [Laughs] Was that the point of your story?

 

KM: I guess now it is.

 

SG: In closing: You have many to choose from, but the dance moves of Datarock are individually legendary, and though it may be a hard choice to make, do you have a favorite?

 

FS: I have a favorite.

 

SG: Can you tell us what it is, or perhaps even show us?

 

FS: [Sigh] It’s a bit hard for me to show you. It’s something I can only do in the heat of the moment. But I’ll tell you that it’s a tribute to my favorite actor and dancer: Jane Fonda. Because when I think of her aerobics videos from the ‘80s… that’s dancing. Ballet? Go f*** yourself. [Laughs] Aerobics? Hell yeah. So yeah, it’s a tribute to Jane Fonda. And it’s a classic aerobics stretch and bounce…

 

Datarock's 'California' EP is out now as a digital single from Young Aspiring Professionals Records.

The limited edition ‘Most Extravagant Single in History’ is only available direct from Datarock's own website.