Sondre Lerche Plays the PAPER Kitchen
The singer-songwriter plays tracks from his new album, Bootlegs
Brooklyn-by-way-of-Norway indie singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche recently performed a few songs in the PAPER kitchen and, after, stopped to chat about his new live album, Bootlegs, why he wants to help the ladies of the Hamptons relax, and which artist would "eat him alive for breakfast." Read on.
Tell us about your live album. Where did you record it?
It's from two different shows. Most of it is from a show in my hometown in Bergen [Norway]. It has 200,000 people and is the second biggest city in Norway but that doesn't mean much. It's where I grew up and in a way, we didn't plan on recording. I'd sort of given up on the idea of recording a show because it never lived up to the experience of actually doing it. I was disheartened by what I heard always and gave up on the idea. This show was sort of special because it was at the same venue where I had the release concert for my first album.
So it was like a homecoming.
Yeah, in a way. It was a small, small club inside a cave, basically. It's called The Cave -- "Hulen" or "cave" in Norwegian. But I didn't think much about it and then my sound engineer, it turns out, had recorded it very primitively. He sent me the recording and said, "You should check this out and it's actually pretty good." So I checked it out and for the first time, I was legitimately excited by hearing a recording of my show. For better or worse, really, I thought it was a chaotic and intense document of what it feels like to be onstage and hopefully what it feels like to be in the room. We couldn't do anything to manipulate it because it was just two tracks so we couldn't fix it. And that was part of what was great about it. It's really raw and it's really unpolished in the true sense of the word.
Where was the other show?
There are two songs from Brooklyn. We did a small, private show in Williamsburg. So it's my two homebases.
You've been playing music since you were in your teens. Do you have any favorite anecdotes from those days when you were starting out and playing shows at clubs while you were still underage?
When I was thirteen and played underage shows in Bergen, it was always easy because my older sister worked at all the cool clubs so that was my way in. I would always be allowed to play if they had open mic nights. I also played in a band with her. It was sort of a noise rock band. I was 13 and it was basically a band with her and her two girlfriends who were 27. We were a pretty strange set-up but we played together for years.
It was trickier when I started touring the States because here I didn't know anybody and I was still underage when I did my first couple of tours and I remember I was headlining a show in Seattle and they're very strict there. It was a sold-out show and I had to stand out in the street while people were in line to get inside -- I was not allowed to be inside. I had to go straight from the cold street onto [the stage] and I was pretty fucking pissed off. I was like, "I fucking sold out this joint and I have to stand out here in the freezing cold!"
And they didn't even have a dressing room for you?
I wasn't allowed to be there. They had it but didn't allow me in.
Have you been back to play at that venue?
Yes, I have. And of course it's not their fault, they're also busted by [the cops] but it did feel like, "Fuck you!" It was more problematic in that sense but now I'm all good.
On a different note, I was following you on Twitter and you're very funny. You had a funny observation about women "looking anxious" in the Hamptons. Were you out there chilling over the summer?
I had a one-day vacation there. I went to a hotel called The Maidstone -- it's very fancy. They had really good food. I was just snobbing it up with the locals though I can only afford to stay there one night. I just noticed that people look so strange in the Hamptons -- especially the ladies.
Are you referring to plastic surgery?
Of course plastic surgery but they always have this anxious look on their faces. I was just thinking I wanted to help them.
How would you do that?
I would just give them a hug, tell them it's alright and to calm down, get a divorce. You don't need the money. Stuff like that. I don't know if they would respond to that. It's easy for me to say, I'm sure. It's a place where the men are very boyish until they're 100 but the women are very worried and stiff and I want to help them relax.
So I take it you're very active on Twitter?
I think Twitter's wonderful. Sometimes it can make you a little crazy because it's so constant. It goes on forever. But I like it because you can focus on the niche. If you are a niche artist sort of like myself, you can get in touch directly with your audience. People can go straight to the things you're interested in. If you don't take it too seriously, it can be pretty amusing. Of course you have to watch yourself also because things travel very fast.
Are you speaking from experience?
Yeah. In Norway, the mainstream [media] pays attention to what I say whereas it doesn't really here, which is such a relief because you can totally say anything. In Norway, sometimes what I say gets picked up and put in the papers or in the equivalent of US Weekly. Then all of a sudden you're in trouble because you're leading these two parallel lives and something is okay to say here because nobody gives a shit but in Norway, it's more of a mainstream celebrity [situation].
If you could perform with any musician, who would be at the top of your list?
She would possibly chew my head off and eat me alive for breakfast but Fiona Apple. She is, I think, one of the greatest contemporary songwriters. I don't know if it would make sense.
Why not? Why do you think she'd "chew your head off?"
I think she's so severe and maybe it would be like she'd be overpowering because she's so great. I'd be like a little mouse and she'd be this wolf [mimics wolf noise] but I would take that. I think she's just incredible.
"Two Way Monologue"
"Modern Nature"
Tell us about your live album. Where did you record it?
It's from two different shows. Most of it is from a show in my hometown in Bergen [Norway]. It has 200,000 people and is the second biggest city in Norway but that doesn't mean much. It's where I grew up and in a way, we didn't plan on recording. I'd sort of given up on the idea of recording a show because it never lived up to the experience of actually doing it. I was disheartened by what I heard always and gave up on the idea. This show was sort of special because it was at the same venue where I had the release concert for my first album.
So it was like a homecoming.
Yeah, in a way. It was a small, small club inside a cave, basically. It's called The Cave -- "Hulen" or "cave" in Norwegian. But I didn't think much about it and then my sound engineer, it turns out, had recorded it very primitively. He sent me the recording and said, "You should check this out and it's actually pretty good." So I checked it out and for the first time, I was legitimately excited by hearing a recording of my show. For better or worse, really, I thought it was a chaotic and intense document of what it feels like to be onstage and hopefully what it feels like to be in the room. We couldn't do anything to manipulate it because it was just two tracks so we couldn't fix it. And that was part of what was great about it. It's really raw and it's really unpolished in the true sense of the word.
Where was the other show?
There are two songs from Brooklyn. We did a small, private show in Williamsburg. So it's my two homebases.
You've been playing music since you were in your teens. Do you have any favorite anecdotes from those days when you were starting out and playing shows at clubs while you were still underage?
When I was thirteen and played underage shows in Bergen, it was always easy because my older sister worked at all the cool clubs so that was my way in. I would always be allowed to play if they had open mic nights. I also played in a band with her. It was sort of a noise rock band. I was 13 and it was basically a band with her and her two girlfriends who were 27. We were a pretty strange set-up but we played together for years.
It was trickier when I started touring the States because here I didn't know anybody and I was still underage when I did my first couple of tours and I remember I was headlining a show in Seattle and they're very strict there. It was a sold-out show and I had to stand out in the street while people were in line to get inside -- I was not allowed to be inside. I had to go straight from the cold street onto [the stage] and I was pretty fucking pissed off. I was like, "I fucking sold out this joint and I have to stand out here in the freezing cold!"
And they didn't even have a dressing room for you?
I wasn't allowed to be there. They had it but didn't allow me in.
Have you been back to play at that venue?
Yes, I have. And of course it's not their fault, they're also busted by [the cops] but it did feel like, "Fuck you!" It was more problematic in that sense but now I'm all good.
On a different note, I was following you on Twitter and you're very funny. You had a funny observation about women "looking anxious" in the Hamptons. Were you out there chilling over the summer?
I had a one-day vacation there. I went to a hotel called The Maidstone -- it's very fancy. They had really good food. I was just snobbing it up with the locals though I can only afford to stay there one night. I just noticed that people look so strange in the Hamptons -- especially the ladies.
Are you referring to plastic surgery?
Of course plastic surgery but they always have this anxious look on their faces. I was just thinking I wanted to help them.
How would you do that?
I would just give them a hug, tell them it's alright and to calm down, get a divorce. You don't need the money. Stuff like that. I don't know if they would respond to that. It's easy for me to say, I'm sure. It's a place where the men are very boyish until they're 100 but the women are very worried and stiff and I want to help them relax.
So I take it you're very active on Twitter?
I think Twitter's wonderful. Sometimes it can make you a little crazy because it's so constant. It goes on forever. But I like it because you can focus on the niche. If you are a niche artist sort of like myself, you can get in touch directly with your audience. People can go straight to the things you're interested in. If you don't take it too seriously, it can be pretty amusing. Of course you have to watch yourself also because things travel very fast.
Are you speaking from experience?
Yeah. In Norway, the mainstream [media] pays attention to what I say whereas it doesn't really here, which is such a relief because you can totally say anything. In Norway, sometimes what I say gets picked up and put in the papers or in the equivalent of US Weekly. Then all of a sudden you're in trouble because you're leading these two parallel lives and something is okay to say here because nobody gives a shit but in Norway, it's more of a mainstream celebrity [situation].
If you could perform with any musician, who would be at the top of your list?
She would possibly chew my head off and eat me alive for breakfast but Fiona Apple. She is, I think, one of the greatest contemporary songwriters. I don't know if it would make sense.
Why not? Why do you think she'd "chew your head off?"
I think she's so severe and maybe it would be like she'd be overpowering because she's so great. I'd be like a little mouse and she'd be this wolf [mimics wolf noise] but I would take that. I think she's just incredible.
"Two Way Monologue"
"Modern Nature"
This story was published on Sep. 28, 2012
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