Season 1 - Ep. 1 - Discovering the Greatest Band You've Never Heard of with Stian and Ole from Death By Unga Bunga

When I first heard the band Death By Unga Bunga, I was blown away. They rock so hard, with so much energy and absolutely shred on guitar, bang on drums and wail on the mic.

As I told them in this interview, "When I first heard your music it was like a lightning bolt hit both of my eardrums at the same time, and it replaced my eardrums with guitar amps that shot incredible guitar riffs, wicked retro drum beats and harmonic vocals directly into my brain."

So, why would they NOT be a world-famous rock band that everyone has heard about?

That's just part of our discussion with Stian and Ole from Death By Unga Bunga, and you can check out their brand new album Heavy Male Insecurity by following the links below.

Intro Music: "Colorado" by Birds Love Filters

Death By Unga Bunga Official Website: https://www.deathbyungabunga.no/

Death By Unga Bunga on Bandcamp: https://deathbyungabunga.bandcamp.com/

Heavy Male Insecurity on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0YJDJDkKS8sb2UbbSYiU6i?si=iy73iLT9Q9-rtR7xlnsveQ&dl_branch=1

Heavy Male Insecurity on YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lfM9m7tbGe0oJEfLK0ROjiamootGR6G0A&feature=share

Death By Unga Bunga YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/DeathByUngaBunga1

Transcription:

Isaac Kuhlman 0:01
Hello and welcome to the Powered By Rock podcast where we're gonna be speaking with one of the world's greatest rock bands and surely the best rock band has ever originated from Norway, Death by Unga Bunga.

You're listening to the Powered By Rock podcast with your host Isaac Kuhlman. The Powered By Rock podcast was created to help showcase some of the best rock musicians in the world and to pass on to future generations the rock music that has inspired rock fans around the world for decades. We want listeners to be able to hear great stories and life experiences directly from their favorite artists, as well as dig deeper into music theory and talk rock like no other show you've ever heard. This isn't about looking cool. It's about getting real and having a great time. Without further ado, let's start the show.

All right. Hey, Hey, welcome to the Powered By Rock podcast. Today is actually our very first episode, and I couldn't be more excited to start it off with a bang. A band that has put out great music for about a decade now. And they're just getting started straight from moss. Norway will be speaking with Death by Unga Bunga.

So you guys have been rocking pretty steadily since about 2010. But I had personally not heard of you. And this is like the shame of the entire universe right here that I hadn't heard of you until earlier this year, when you guys actually released the new album, Heavy Male Insecurity, which is awkward for me. But mostly just because it's it's hard to find some truly awesome music from Norway unless you go searching for it. So firstly, I want to thoroughly apologize for missing out in the last 10 years or so of you guys's awesome music. But I will say that I've been pretty much binging on your music for about the last seven months straight to make up for it, including today. I listened to like three of your albums just this morning alone. And secondly, I want to thank Stian and Ole to the show and welcom you guys to the show today. So welcome. How are things in Norway right now?

Ole 2:00
Thank you.

Stian 2:01
Thanks.

Ole 2:02
They're good. They're they're getting better.

Isaac Kuhlman 2:06
Yeah. And you guys have actually gone back out on the road already. So that's kind of good. Is it kind of shutting back down? Are you guys pretty solid to keep kind of doing some concerts for a while?

Ole 2:15
We've been doing I think we had eight shows since March?

Stian 2:24
Yeah. Yeah. No, we had the first show in February. And then everything got closed again. So we had to wait a couple of months. And now it's been kind of steady like seated audience. But it's so much better than nothing. Everything is better than nothing at this point. So yeah, I think they're good. And it's getting better. So

Isaac Kuhlman 2:44
Yeah, I can only imagine. I mean, it's I haven't played a live show in probably five years, six years. But if it was like my life, and my my job, I'd be like, this is very strange that you can't do anything like you're playing like, what like Internet shows sometimes or whatever, like virtual stuff and just interacting as best you can. So yeah, it's definitely been a weird, what, almost two years now. So just kind of what have you guys been doing? Like, obviously, like keeping yourself busy? I know, obviously, you released the record. But has there been anything else that you guys have been like just kicking around while you're like, not able to actually go play live shows last year and a half?

Ole 3:20
We did one thing. June last year, we did this...What do you call it this live stream of a rock show. But we were dressed up as cowboys. And there was like the whole like plot to it. And in this I don't know like small, old cowboy town.

Isaac Kuhlman 3:50
Okay.

Ole 3:52
Here in Norway. And so it was like, Yeah, a live show.

Stian 3:57
It was more like a musical. Yeah. Yeah, it was like with the actors. pyrotechnicians,

Ole 4:04
some of the best Norwegian actors.

Stian 4:07
Yeah, it's it.

Ole 4:08
We got to play a few parts.

Stian 4:11
We wanted to do something special not just record the show. So we came up with this brilliant idea of being cowboys making it like a spaghetti western thing. And it just grew and grew and would

Ole 4:25
With shootouts and explosions

Stian 4:27
This his huge thing, and that was way too expensive for us. So yeah, the timing, what we weren't doing on the show, so we weren't earning any money. And then we did the stream. And we spent so much money on that stream that we didn't earn back. So yeah, but it was fun. And we're doing it. Yeah,

Isaac Kuhlman 4:49
Well, I'm gonna have to check it out. Do you guys have like, is it available for replay or was it just live that one time?

Stian 4:53
Not yet? Not yet. But it will be we can Yeah, we'll let you know.

Ole 4:59
It's called Death By Unga Bunga Live from Deadwood City.

Isaac Kuhlman 5:01
Nice.

Whose idea was that? How did that come about?

Ole 5:06
I think it was the best idea. Oh, it was mine.

Stian 5:11
It was my idea.

Isaac Kuhlman 5:14
That's pretty awesome.

Stian 5:15
Yeah, most of these band ideas are mine.

Ole 5:18
These are mine also my

Isaac Kuhlman 5:25
That's awesome. So obviously, Sebastian is obviously not here, obviously. But you know, he's part of the band. He's the lead singer. But I believe in you, right? Most of the music, right? You're actually the lead guitar player and you write most of music that's not from I would speak mistaken.

Stian 5:40
I've written a lot of the songs but not everything. And also Preben the other guitar play. So it's been mostly him and me the last years, but also everyone, like chips in has something maybe bring a song ideas. So yeah, yeah, we make the albums together. But of course, there's always some ideas from Yeah.

Isaac Kuhlman 6:07
I said you can't be together 24 hours a day. So at some point, you're going to start to make a little bit of music without the other guys around.

Stian 6:14
Yeah, we but we can be together 24 hours.

Isaac Kuhlman 6:17
Oh, really?

Stian 6:18
Yeah.

Ole 6:20
Well, most of us live together.

Isaac Kuhlman 6:22
Oh, nice. That's very cool. Oh, awesome. So the main thing I wanted to kind of bring up to you guys like I, you know, I've been listening, and I'm kind of like a historian. This was my degree in college. So I like to, like, know, the history of the band and kind of the evolution of everything. So I really wanted to bring you guys on to ask you questions that I couldn't find online because I don't speak Norwegian, unfortunately. And for some reason, the United States hasn't figured out how awesome you guys are yet. So there's not a lot of media for you guys out here. So before we get into some of the great topics that we're going to that we want to bring up, I first want to ask you about your journey. Like what was the reason first started playing music? Guys, I think you guys have known each other for pretty much like since school days, right? And like, what were some of the artists that you were your influences? And how and when did you decide that this was going to be the path that you pursued for your life?

Ole 7:12
I started I first I saw Kiss on TV when I was four. And my mind exploded.

Stian 7:19
That's my story.

Ole 7:21
Yeah. But then I stopped listening to Kiss, and then I found you when I was 16. And I could start listening to Kiss again. And Iron Maiden. Actually, I grew up in another in a different town than Stian and the rest of the guys. So when we started high school, oh, we all got together.

Stian 7:40
Yeah, that's where we met - high school. Yeah. As most bands do.

Isaac Kuhlman 7:45
Yeah. And Stan, what was kind of some of the influences that you had when you were kind of writing and growing up playing music?

Stian 7:52
Well, the first time I saw like, a rock show was a video cassette of Kiss when I was six years, so that was kind of like, you know, with pyro, stuff blowing up. Yeah. And tongue. Blood and tongue. (Ole: Blood and Tongue) So, yeah, I fell deep into that thing, and I started playing guitar, early High School, and just couldn't stop playing. So that was kind of like my first love the guitar. Yeah. being totally geeking out, not going to parties and just staying home. I thought, nah, I can't come. I was like, I really want to learn this guitar part. So

Isaac Kuhlman 8:40
well. That's the exact opposite of the rock star lifestyle scheme.

Ole 8:43
Yeah, but that came later.

Stian 8:45
That's how we become. So yeah, it became you can do that later when you know what to play. That's the most important thing. So, that's all I want to do.

Isaac Kuhlman 9:01
Yeah. And so the band name, does it mean what I think it means

Stian 9:08
not when we took the name. That was just we saw the name. The reason why our band is called Death By Unga Bunga is this budget garage rock punk band called the Mummies from San Francisco, or somewhere close. And they released a CD that was called Death By Unga Bunga. And we we really liked that record. And we saw that title. That's cool. So we just took it. And maybe a couple of years later, it was like, what what does it actually mean? And there was like this really bad joke. It was like the punch line in some nasty joke.

Ole 9:49
Have you heard a joke?

Isaac Kuhlman 9:50
I haven't heard the joke. I know of the, of the concept of what the name I believe means.

Stian 9:57
The thing is this. We've been told so Many different things. So it doesn't seem to be like, it doesn't mean one thing.

Isaac Kuhlman 10:04
Yeah, there's no consensus on the actual definition.

Stian 10:08
But so hopefully you can just mean this band now.

Isaac Kuhlman 10:14
Yeah. I, when I first heard it, I was like, that sounds familiar. Like, it sounds like something I've heard before. But I'm like, that can't mean what I think it means because that's way too graphic. For what these guys are doing

Stian 10:27
Yeah it is graphic when we first heard it. Like one of the ideas of what it meant or something. That's, that's, that's horrible. Ewww

Ole 10:39
Someone mentioned a baseball bat with nails on it.

Stian 10:44
Terrible stuff

Ole 10:45
Going up the ass.

Isaac Kuhlman 10:47
Yeah. That's pretty much anything to do with that kind of death is kind of in line.

Ole 10:53
Yeah, that sounds painful.

Stian 10:56
Yeah, we just didn't bother to change it. Yeah,

Isaac Kuhlman 10:58
yeah. And I wouldn't, it's a great name it it almost threw me off when I first started listening because how I actually discovered your music was I was just going through all the albums that were coming out this year. And, you know, listening to literally like, each and every album, and some of them were just awful. Not your guys music, like what was coming out at the time. And I'm like, man, there's some really bad music. And I'm like, I see the name Daeth By Unga Bunga, and I'm like oh God, this could be another one of these is terrible bands.

Stian 11:24
Another one.

Isaac Kuhlman 11:25
I'm like, Oh, God. So hit play in like five seconds in, I am like, "Hold on. This is incredibly better. Like, this is insane. Like, how have I never heard of this band?" Great name, like, catches you, like catches your eye? And then you as soon as I hit play, I was like, "Okay, Play another song." I just went through the whole album, went back to the catalogs or listen to the other stuff, and I'm like, "How many albums they got? This is awesome. Like, this is incredible." Like, this is like, finding out that, you know, Breaking Bad or like Game of Thrones, no one ever heard of it. And it's like, all of a sudden its out there and you've just missed it for the whole last 10 years or something like that. So it was pretty awesome. I was I was very excited to to.

Ole 12:02
That's how I feel too.

Stian 12:04
Yeah, yeah, that sums it up.

Ole 12:07
That sounds right.

Stian 12:09
Right.

Isaac Kuhlman 12:11
So what is your guys's kind of life been like, since you started playing music together? I mean, obviously, a musician's life can be up and down a lot, depending on the year, the obviously the last couple years have been not as great as you were obviously expecting. And obviously, in the kind of the prime of your guys's musical career, you're kind of being shut down. So how is that kind of been over the last, you know, 10 years up to now? How's that going for you guys?

Ole 12:36
Most of us have jobs, actually.

Isaac Kuhlman 12:40
Yeah.

Stian 12:41
Or how do you get new jobs? Because of the pandemic? So? Yeah,

Ole 12:45
But I was. I was bartending for 14 years.

Stian 12:51
14 years?

Ole 12:52
I think so.

Stian 12:54
How old are you?

Ole 12:57
I'm 32.

Stian 12:59
Did you start bartending?

Ole 13:00
I started to bartending two days after my 18th birthday. And yeah, bartending and, and playing in this band. And then there's this pandemic thing, so I had all the bars were closed. So I got a new job. So now I'm, I drive the subway. In Oslo, the capital. I'm a subway, controller.

Stian 13:29
Operator,

Ole 13:31
Operator,

Isaac Kuhlman 13:31
Quite the career shift from bartender to subway.

Ole 13:36
It is. But it's really nice, because you don't interact with people and you just go back and forth. And yeah, it's a job.

Isaac Kuhlman 13:45
You pull some drumsticks out while you're in between stops and just start slamming on the steering wheel.

Ole 13:50
I actually do. Yeah, yeah, you can do that. Anyone can run the train. So sometimes I sit with my hands or

Stian 13:59
No, it's a talent. You're doing good.

Ole 14:01
Thank you.

Stian 14:01
Not anyone, YOU can do it.

Ole 14:02
Thank you.

Stian 14:03
Because you are all "Ole"

Ole 14:04
What was the question?

Stian 14:07
The last 10 years? Yeah. He answerd it. You answered it. And same thing with me. I when I moved from Moss, we live in Oslo. So when we moved to Oslo from Moss, tried some studies, started working bars, etc, etc. Stuff that works with music on the side,

Isaac Kuhlman 14:28
Something you can just leave if you need to go do a show or something.

Stian 14:31
Yeah, and when we've done some really long tours in Europe and in the States, actually. So it's good to have something because you always end up really, really broke on those long tour. So it's good to have something to come back to. Yeah. But now I'm working at a school. With the pandemic, everything stopped the bar thing and I'm working at a school

Isaac Kuhlman 14:57
And is it music related?

Stian 14:59
Yeah, music so just make sure the kids don't die while they're there, you know, make sure everyone's having a good time and being safe.

Ole 15:07
We figured that's the main thing with kids just keep them from not. Yeah. Don't let them die.

Stian 15:12
Yeah. Make sure they don't die at the school. Everyone's happy. You know?

Isaac Kuhlman 15:20
Ole's job is to keep everybody safe and from dying on the subway and your job is to keep kids from dying in schools.

Stian 15:27
Yeah, my job is to keep kids away from the subway.

Unknown Speaker 15:34
The subway is right next to the school he's working at

Stian 15:37
Yeah, so Ole doesn't run over the kids.

Isaac Kuhlman 15:43
That's awesome. So when I first heard you guys music, I will admit it is pretty much like a lightning bolt hit both of my eardrums at the same time. Oh, and it replaced my eardrums with guitar amps now shot incredible guitar riffs, wicked retro drum beats and harmonic vocals directly in my brain. So my question for you guys is why the hell you guys not one of the most famous bands in the world? Because you're that incredible.

Ole 16:05
We tried...

Stian 16:06
Too ugly! We're too ugly! s

Ole 16:09
See how fat I am when I do this.

Stian 16:14
Your face is broken. I can't think of any other good reason because we're the were the shit.

Ole 16:22
It's, it's too expensive. We got to go into the States all the time. And we just can't.

Isaac Kuhlman 16:29
I mean, do you think it's obviously I mean, not a lot of United States, people from the United States are going to know of any bands from Norway or Scandinavia, in general, for the most part, but the fact that you guys actually sing in English, not in Norwegian, really lends itself to a Western audience. So I don't, I mean, it sounds a lot like you guys range kind of started with like, maybe like a Sex Pistols kind of that kind of punk rock, British punk rock sound in the early days when you guys are doing with Juvenile Jungle, and it's kind of evolved to like this more like, arena rock, very party anthem type of songs, like, you know, a Kiss or Cage The Elephant is kind of in the same vein in terms of a sound. So, like, you know, I sort of want to get some insight from you guys about your music evolution today. You know, because it seemed to me as I listened to the album's that, that EP, Tell Me Why. And more specifically, the song Tell Me Why it was sort of this perfect bridge between that old style and the Neuse new modern sound that you guys are kind of exploring today. Yeah, so I'm on the right track here.

Ole 17:34
Yeah, yes.

Isaac Kuhlman 17:36
Was that kind of like, was that song kind of like that bridge? And you guys were like, oh, man, you know, we we've had this sound. And now we can actually like mold into this sound? Because that EP actually starts with that song, Tell Me Why. and ends with Don't Go Looking For My Heart. So to me, in hindsight, I can look back at this now. And it's like, you're introducing the new sound upfront, and saying goodbye to kind of the old sound by the end of the EP. So is this just like, I mean, was this kind of intentional, or was that just somewhat coincidental on that part?

Stian 18:03
Well, that that EP is only released in the U.S. It was like, a thing to show us as a band, the first thing that was kind of like, released properly in the States. So that's why he has the old songs as well. .

Ole 18:21
It was my idea.

Stian 18:23
And, and it was Ole's idea. And it worked. It was amazing. Yeah, but the thing is, we started out more like this garage, retro kinda 60s revival ban. Inspired wtih early Stones, Kinks, with first guitars, that whole thing. And then we had had this like, one year break. We're just kind of spent all our time at rehearsal spot. We wanted to sound more like the way we actually sounded live. And be just a modern punk garage powerpop band. So that's when we wrote the songs like, Tell Me Why, and recorded a record or album called Pineapple Pizza. Yeah, so that was kind of like the first thing, the first album that was like, Okay, this is actually how we sound like, because everything else was kind of like, a bit too smooth. Working in the studio, and we just kind of became more confident in ourselves. So we wanted to make a record like that. And so yeah, that was kind of like the, from the old stuff to the new stuff.

Isaac Kuhlman 19:41
Yeah, and Pineapple Pizza. I mean, it's got some of those surf kind of vibes to it with like Dollar Slice and Hot Leather.

Stian 19:49
Yeah. It sounds more raw. Kinda. Yeah.

Isaac Kuhlman 19:56
Yeah, that's the one thing I appreciate about you guys. Is you find Way to like literally take, I don't know, 60 years of rock history and smash it into one band. And it doesn't sound off in any point like, it's like you can do like the garage, like retro 80's, 60s, 70s, punk rock, and then you can do like, you know, you can do like a Beach Boy's song basically. And it's, it doesn't sound any different than what you would expect from a band of your guys's caliber. So, in my opinion, it's it's a pretty awesome way to create music because I don't like when when a band just like has the same sound for 30 years. It's like, oh, man, I don't know how you could just keep playing that, like, I just reviewed an album. And I won't mention the band. But I'm like, man, I haven't changed since the 90s. Like, it's the same. Like you could have just made 12 straight albums exactly the same and just gone in this recording studio and just kind of piped in some different vocals and it wouldn't have changed anything about their sound. So that's kind of one of those things like, you know, I always appreciate when when when people can change, at least a little bit, even on each album to have not so much of the exact same thing across the board.

Ole 21:00
Yeah, we used to have a lot of Preben and the other guitar player he used to not play guitar. He used to play the Organ.

Isaac Kuhlman 21:09
Yeah. That was the first album Juvenile Jungle. There's a lot of organ on that.

Ole 21:13
Yeah, the first and he used it on the second and the third. But now we will. He just plays guitars. he's a he's an educated, schooled skilled jazz guitar player, actually.

Isaac Kuhlman 21:30
Wow. So that's why he was on the keyboards because he was just like the smartest of everybody, right?

Ole 21:34
Yeah. But

Stian 21:35
no, not the smartest, smartest, most talented guy. Yeah. He's dumb.

Ole 21:40
He's dumb.

Stian 21:43
Oh, my God.

Isaac Kuhlman 21:44
I'm sure he'll love it when he watches this. He's like, Oh, I'm going to kill these guys.

Stian 21:47
Yeah, yeah. He couldn't be here now because his wife is in labor as we speak.

Isaac Kuhlman 21:53
Yeah, yeah. Congratulations to him. I just actually had a son back in January.

Ole 21:57
Congrats!

Isaac Kuhlman 21:57
So when our kids grow up they will be the same age? Cool. Yeah. So maybe one day we'll have an international rock band from Las Vegas to Oslo.

Ole 22:08
Yeah, you should

Stian 22:09
Most definitely.

Isaac Kuhlman 22:11
We can talk about the new album, obviously heavy male insecurity. I think that's a great title, by the way.

Stian 22:17
My idea.

Isaac Kuhlman 22:18
Because it's it's pretty awesome. has a pretty decent range of style within it as well. So was your creative process different on this album from past albums? Because this album does have a slightly different style overall. It's more I mean, what is it So Far, So Good So Cool, is kind of going in the same direction. But this one kind of takes it over the top in my opinion, it's, it's of that high caliber, where I can see the songs being played in arenas in front of 1000s and 1000s of people. Like if you went and played a festival, people would have thought that you're the most famous band in Europe coming over there.

Ole 22:49
Yeah, what was the other album called?

Stian 22:54
So Far So Good. So Cool.

Ole 22:56
So far, so good. So cool. That was the first album we did on our own. Okay. So then we really grew some balls. And we just took that. Like further on with with the heavy male insecurity. Yeah, we did. We recorded we recorded bass and drums here in Oslo in the in a studio, a friend of ours. And then everything else would was done at cabins. In Norway, everyone has cabins.

Isaac Kuhlman 23:33
I grew up. I grew up in a very Scandinavian heavy area of the United States up in North Dakota, which is like next to Minnesota. All like regions and Germans up there. And everyone's either have a cabin or a lake house or something. So yeah, I'm very familiar with the type of lifestyle.

Stian 23:50
Yeah, that's Fargo country.

So we did everything that's not bass or drums on Heavy Male Insecurity is recorded in different cabins around the country.

Isaac Kuhlman 24:06
That's that's a very cool idea.

Ole 24:08
So we did everything.

Stian 24:09
DIY

Isaac Kuhlman 24:10
I mean, so I'm just when you say that you're recording in cabins, I'm just thinking like, you guys have like four sleeping bags. You're all sleeping in like bunk beds in the same room. And downstairs, you got all the recording stuff. Is that kind of how it worked out?

Ole 24:22
Yeah, but it's more like houses because Norwegians like to be comfortable as well.

Isaac Kuhlman 24:29
So it's not like an old school log cabin like Abraham Lincoln or Viking cabin or something. Right.

Ole 24:37
No,we're not that hardcore. We play powerpop not not metal.

Isaac Kuhlman 24:44
Yeah. Awesome. I think now your music lends itself to be what I can only imagine to be an insanely fun and energetic live show. I haven't had the chance to see you guys live because like literally haven't been to Norway ever, and I don't think you guys have been to Las Vegas in the last couple of years, so. So just tell me a little bit about what your concerts are like and what do you guys try to bring? Bring to the crowds when you guys are on stage?

Stian 25:13
Well, it's a lot of energy. And our singer Sebastian. He is he's mad. He's like angry, the whole show at the audience can be a bit difficult to understand what's going on.

Ole 25:31
He's mad at the band as well,

Stian 25:32
Yeah, he's mad at us.

Ole 25:36
He's really tall. So when

Isaac Kuhlman 25:40
he looks like he's basically just out there trying to use his intimidating frame to scare the ever living shit out everybody in the audience.

Ole 25:48
Yeah. Yep. No, I don't know. We just want people to have a good time and get along and listen to Stian's guitar solos. And Preben's guitar solos as well. Yeah. And when they play guitar solos together. That's pretty cool. But I just have a good time. There's not there's not like we don't have any message for anyone.

Stian 26:16
We don't? Have a good time. That's a that's a good message.

Ole 26:20
Yeah, well, yeah, I guess

Stian 26:22
And yeah, don't have a bad time.

Ole 26:26
Don't fuck around.

Isaac Kuhlman 26:27
I think you brought up a pretty good point earlier because the guitar on your guys's albums, your guys's recordings, is insanely technical at times, and truly awesome. Like, you know, just be playing like some riffs and all of a sudden just throw in a fill of like, like, just like a rapid trill or something goes in there. And you're like, well, that's, that's pretty awesome. Like, if you're watching that live, your face is just going.

Ole 26:55
Yeah. But the problem is they got to learn it after we record it.

Stian 27:00
Yeah, yes. That's the stressful part of the show is like, Oh, no, I have to play this.

Isaac Kuhlman 27:06
Yeah. I know exactly how you feel because I record what I think is a really good guitar solo over here in this area. And then I'm like, "Am I actually ever ever gonna be able to play that?" Because I play that for like, three straight weeks to even figure out how I can do this ongoing?

Stian 27:21
Yeah, a couple of shows in itself is all fine. It's good.

Isaac Kuhlman 27:26
I'm glad I'm not the only one that has that issue, because I really thought I'm just a shitty guitar player.

Ole 27:31
Oh, no.

Isaac Kuhlman 27:33
I probably am. But

Ole 27:34
You're all bad guitar players.

Isaac Kuhlman 27:38
So cool. So some bands want money. Some bands want fame, some bands want the ladies and some bands just play music to survive because they don't want to do anything else. So what do you guys see is like kind of the overall goal or aspirations of the band, you want to be mainstream? You feel like you you have to achieve a certain level of fame or is some level of fame too much. what's what's kind of your guys's outlook for how Death By Unga Bunga goes from here?

Stian 28:04
Well, if it stops being fun for us five guys as a group, that's when it stops. And like, then the mainstream success is kind of been like, a slow climbing thing for us. So every time we release something, we feel like this is better. And we're getting more feedback, and we're getting more listeners. So it's still kind of like in the right direction. So is it interesting if we have things to do in music, and rock and feel like yeah, it's fun, and we have something to show. I think that's what keeps us going. Yep.

Isaac Kuhlman 28:48
So you guys don't want to be like married to supermodels or anything like that?

Stian 28:52
Yeah, all of those things. Is it someone who wants money some wants fame some wants supermodels and and some just want all of that. So yeah, we're still working on that.

Isaac Kuhlman 29:06
Take a sprinkle of everything.

Stian 29:08
Yeah, everything too much. More.

Ole 29:13
More is more.

Stian 29:13
More is more.

Isaac Kuhlman 29:15
So I'm assuming obviously as Scandinavians, Europeans you like your guys you know have a have a pint or two every once in a while at the pub. So if we're to meet at a pub. How does the night go and what are we drinking? I was gonna say this will be directed at Ole, but I wanted to give it a fair shot.

Ole 29:37
I don't know we usually we have like our usual spots that we go to. There's a bar called Revolver. That's like pretty much to some of us our second home. But we...I don't know we drink What do we drink? We drink beers. We drink some cocktails. I drink a lot of fernet

Isaac Kuhlman 30:02
Okay, that's funny. My wife used to love that stuff. Yeah. It's like the black licorice flavor, right?

Ole 30:08
It is. It's like 20 something Herbes. Yeah. It's great. It's good for you.

Stian 30:17
This much as good for you.

Yeah. The rest is gonna poison your blood. But yeah, whatever.

Ole 30:21
probably. I don't know. But yeah, we Yeah, we like to go out.

Isaac Kuhlman 30:26
You guys doing activities there playing pool or throwing darts or watching sports or what do you guys do at the bar? Just hanging out?

Stian 30:33
Yell at people

Ole 30:34
Yeah, we'll just yell at people and we'll listen to music. Yeah, wait for like, fresh blood to arrive so we can yell at them. Yeah. Tell them I know how dumb they are.

Stian 30:47
And you don't belong here. That kind of stuff.

Isaac Kuhlman 30:51
Yeah. So you guys are like the Fight Club. Like anytime somebody new comes with doorstep. You just got to berate them until they leave. And if they come back, then they're like, okay to stay.

Ole 30:59
Yeah, but if there's a fight, we run fast as fuck. We don't do too much fighting.

Isaac Kuhlman 31:06
Well, that's I mean, obviously, the EP you guys released Fight. And I think the first one is Fight off of that. It's like, basically like, why do you want to fight, man? Like, just shut up.

Stian 31:16
It's about a friend of ours.

Ole 31:17
But yeah, that's all it's about a friend of ours. Who will he wanted to fight the doorman at revolver, the bar that I mentioned.

Stian 31:27
Because we were having an after party after show with it at another, another venue. So our friend was trying to get into that after party. And his way of trying to get in was to start an argument with the doorman. And we're like, nope, you're on their own. We don't know him.

Ole 31:49
And the doorman was a friend of ours as well. Yeah.

Isaac Kuhlman 31:51
That's funny. Awesome. So you guys are obviously someone on the road now. Right? Like you can you have? I think you have like three or four shows still coming up after this. I think it's Norway. I think you got a couple of other spots in maybe like Belgium or something from memory. Do you guys have plans to come back to the US when everything come kind of lifts itself? Because I hear Vegas is a pretty fun place to tour.

Ole 32:15
I can go to Vegas.

Stian 32:16
Yeah, definitely. We we want to but it's been it's it is expensive.

Isaac Kuhlman 32:23
Well, you gotta place to stay if you need one. So yeah.

Stian 32:28
But we would love to come back.

Isaac Kuhlman 32:30
And unlimited drinks, cuz I don't drink myself as well.

Ole 32:34
Awesome. Nice. Awesome. Yeah. We're there how's Saturday?

Isaac Kuhlman 32:41
I'm actually going to Texas on Saturday. But the next Saturday. Come on in.

Ole 32:44
I love Texas

Isaac Kuhlman 32:46
Texas is pretty fun. People are a little bit odd. They're really nice to your face. But their politics are really strange.

Ole 32:52
We played South by Southwest a few times.

Isaac Kuhlman 32:54
Yeah, I saw that. That was on there. Yeah, that's pretty awesome. Well, that's it. I mean, was that kind of like one of the bigger shows you guys have ever played?

Ole 33:01
It was fucking huge. When we first like when we got the message that we we got invited. Yeah, yeah. That was cool. So that's probably one of the bigger things we've ever done. Playing just different shows that in Austin. Yeah. That's always been fun.

Isaac Kuhlman 33:24
It's a very cool city. I like Yit

Stian 33:26
Yeah. But playing that festival also, like, you didn't know what to expect. And when you get there, it's like, oh, we're so smaller. There's so many other bands. Yes. So much going on?

Isaac Kuhlman 33:38
And there's like a bunch of stages there too, right?

Stian 33:40
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Oh, where's the stage? That's the stage is that that's not a stage. That's where you're playing. Okay. That's, that's the fun part of it, also. But we've been there, like four or five times now. So it's nice. We keep coming back. So hopefully we'll get back to the States with just Yeah, I don't know, people just tell your local promoters to get us on the road.

Isaac Kuhlman 34:08
Yeah, and hopefully everyone starts getting vaccinated a little quicker or whatever. So that way, we don't have to worry about everybody being able to travel freely, right. Yeah. Cool. So I'll add some links to the obviously your guys' music and stuff in the show notes below the episode. But you guys have anything that you want to say to your fans, and those fans that have yet to find you before we go today.

Ole 34:35
Thanks for checking us out. I don't know whoever you are. We're we're trying to get back to the States. As soon as we can, as often as we can. Hang in there. The guitar solos are coming.

Isaac Kuhlman 34:54
It's pretty awesome. And then last but not least, can you give me a word or short phrase in Norwegian that listeners can benefit from learning maybe like how do you say cheers or something like that

Stian 35:04
Skol.

Isaac Kuhlman 35:05
Skol so yeah very okay so the Minnesota Vikings the football team here they say skolis like their fight cry for like their football team in America

Stian 35:16
It means cheers is like salud - skol

Ole 35:19
They used to drink out of skulls out of the

Stian 35:25
Skulls of the English me.

Ole 35:28
Still doing the more rural rural parts of the country actually

Anything else? Skol you want swear words?

Isaac Kuhlman 35:43
Whatever you want rock on Fuck off. Sit down shut up I don't care whatever you guys feel

Ole 35:52
Helvete

Isaac Kuhlman 35:55
Yeah, was that mean?

Ole 35:57
It means hell but you use it like fuck or shit.

Isaac Kuhlman 36:00
Okay, helvete?

Stian 36:02
Yeah, you got it

Isaac Kuhlman 36:04
all right. So like if you stub your toe or something you'd scream that.

Ole 36:10
Yeah, helvete.

Stian 36:15
Another swear word. Maybe Trump is a swear word.

Ole 36:19
Yeah, Trump is a swear word

Isaac Kuhlman 36:24
of American origin but in in Norwegian. It's such a swear word.

Stian 36:28
Yeah, it's kind of new. I'm not sure where it came from. I don't watch that much news, but there might be something to it. It's in your thing.

Ole 36:37
It was something Simmons.

Stian 36:39
Yeah, maybe? I don't know. Grab Gene Simmons by the tongue. Yeah. He's uh, he's pretty sure just grab him by the tongue. Yeah, and you will get elected. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, it all make sense.

Isaac Kuhlman 37:04
Awesome. Well, I will wrap it up I've taken enough you guys evening from you. I know you got some beers to drink and some you know hang out to do between the two of you and I know that your your band member Preben is in the hospital so as soon as his wife gives birth, I'm sure you guys will be sending him congratulatory text messages and FaceTime or whatever you want. But I really want to thank you guys, def Banga, Banga for the awesome conversation today. And if you haven't checked out their music yet, fix that issue. Like I did. Go listen to all of their music on your favorite streaming service. And if you like what you heard on the show, please make sure to subscribe to the podcast and share with your friends on social media. Also, if you want to check out some of our written content, or any of the products or merch that we have available, you can go to poweredbyrock.com to check out our absolutely free rocking blog, where we have album reviews, interviews and other lists that keep you entertained as well as our gear that you can buy to play and look like a rock legend. So that's our show for today. We will see you all soon on for the next episode. Until then, rock on.