San Diego Punk - Punk rock and indie music from San Diego, California

This interview was done by Christopher in April 2003 via e-mail.

Christopher: Since JR EWING is sort of "new" band to many kids in the states, it would be nice if you could tell us when the band started and where you're from, how many people, etc...
Erlend: The band started out in March '98, which now makes us a five-year-old baby. We're five people, two of which were there from the beginning (the singer; Andreas and myself), and the other people in the band now are Håkon (guitar), and Kenneth (drums), Petter (bass). We're from Oslo, Norway, and our record Ride

Paranoia is out on GSL now. Earlier on, we've released among others, the full length Calling In Dead and the 10" The Perfect Drama, both out on Coalition Records.

Christopher: The first time I saw JR EWING was at 924 Gilman St. in California on your tour with Pretty Girls Make Graves... How did your inclusion on that tour come about, and how was it overall? Were kids receptive, did PGMG and others treat you hospitably?
Erlend: I believe that tour was the most fun we've ever had as a band. We've had better shows on other tours in Europe etc, but it had a lot to do with the fact that we were on the other side of the planet, playing in front of hundreds of new people every day, being on tour with 10 close friends (Pretty Girls Make Graves and Hint Hint), and just enjoying life in the sun, when our friends in Oslo we're freezing their asses off in the snow blizzard back home. People were mostly very receptive, and we had some awesome shows. We were worried we wouldn't have places to sleep anywhere, but it always worked out and people took us in.

Christopher: Being that you're from Norway, what were some of the biggest changes you saw in coming to the US... As far as the differences in culture and social interaction was there anything that really stuck out?
Erlend: Well, unlike what a lot of people think, Norway isn't all black metal, polar bears, and Vikings. The Norwegian culture has a lot of similarities to the American one, but from my standpoint it seems like everything is bigger over there. Be it cars or bags of potato chips. Other than that I noticed the fact that black and white people don't mingle as much as they do here. It seemed a bit more segregated than here in Norway. Other than that people seemed friendly and positive, and they were very interested in Norway and Europe. That's a good thing. But it's limited what you can get to see and understand being on a two week-long tour where you're busy playing shows every day, as that's what we do in Europe too. We'll see and experience more when we come over in the future for a longer tour.

Christopher: Since it's not very often that kids out here in the States get to interact with or hear the opinions of people from outside the US, how would you say that Americans are stereotypically viewed in Norway and surrounding areas?
Erlend: Right now there's a lot of hostility towards USA in Norway. A lot of people believe your government has stepped on the toes of the rest of the world in regard to the Iraqi-situation, and I've read in newspapers here that Americans living here have to discuss the situation of the home country a lot more these days, and get hassled. Still, American culture is very relevant and important to the Norwegian people, from literature, movies, food etc, but right now the usual young Norwegian is a lot more skeptical then ever before.

Christopher: Would you say that being from Norway has had a big impact on your music, or is that fact just a matter of logistics?
Erlend: It has definitely had its impact. It's hard to say exactly how, but take the population here for example. 5 million people live in Norway, which is half or whatever of the population in a big US city. We've gotten more of a chance to work on our music without a lot of interference from thousands of other bands our style here, as they don't exist in Norway, and we've gotten a lot more faith in our music, having been able to play shows for the last 5 years without needing to get "big" in order to do so. Might sound weird, but also the fact that here in Norway there's not just 1 scene for our music. We play with all sorts of different bands in all sorts of genres, be it electronica, jazz, rock or hip-hop, which I think is a great thing, and from what I've seen it's more divided in the US when it comes to this. It has broadened our horizons, to put it in a very cheesy way, something you may or may not hear in our music. Still, we're able to observe what's going on music and culture-wise in the rest of the world, through magazines, the internet and all that, so we're not totally "out of it" hehe.

Christopher: If some of us came out to your area, what would we do for fun? What do you kids do when not working with the band?
Erlend: I'd probably take you out drinking, and introduce you to all the nice boys and girls in Oslo. We all have different interests, but for my sake it's music and partying, and very little else. The other guys care about everything from literature to films to media-related things to art and all sorts of stuff. Like in any band, I guess.

Christopher: Is DIY/punk culture something that is pretty accessible out there?
Erlend: As I said earlier, the "scene" here is different from the rest of the world. Everything is on a smaller scale, including the DIY-scene, if one can call it that.. There exists a handful of people, but once we go down to Europe and tour, we see it on a daily basis, as we often play shows put up by people with a strong interest in DIY. We've done it ourselves from day one, but still we don't feel like we need to prove ourselves to the DIY-kids. We play all sorts of shows with all sorts of bands, and have faith in what we're doing. Fuck the rules, there' no such thing.

Christopher: On to the band... Some of the lyrics seem politically tinged, or at the very least concerned with the state of the human condition as a part of the larger machine... Would you say that JR Ewing is a somewhat political band? Are members of JRE politically active, and/or do they live politically minded/conscious lifestyles?
Erlend: Well, Andreas who writes the lyrics doesn't have a computer, so it's hard for me to answer questions about the deeper meaning of the lyrics. But I would say the lyrics reflect his views on what's around him, be it friends or ex lovers, the city and the government, and some songs are just about getting wasted and fucking around. The only way we're political is when Andreas writes about things that he thinks are fucked up or whatever. We're not a political band, and we never tried to be either. We're five different people with different opinions, which is a good thing in my book. But we're not ignorant, we have our views on a lot of things, political and not.

Christopher: Do you guys have any feelings about the war that George Bush is waging on IRAQ?
Erlend: Yes. We're strongly against it. He gives the finger to the rest of the world, doesn't listen, and goes to war for financial reasons only. I can't see him caring a lot about the civilians of Iraq, he cares about the oil. It's that simple and that sad.

Christopher: On a totally different subject, I recently received a copy of Ride Paranoia (JR EWING's new record that came out in February on GSL records)... And first off I'd like to commend you on it and say that I REALLY like it... But it is definitely apparent that this record has shifted somewhat in sound from previous efforts like Calling in Dead or The Perfect Drama... It doesn't seem to be as heavy or chaotic... Would you agree that this record is a little different from past ones in these ways? And if so, what could the reasons or influences of these changes be due to?
Erlend: It's definitely different. We have worked hard on progressing through each record, and our songwriting has changed from just wanting to make the most amount of noise possible, to wanting to create stronger melodies and exciting songs. You can still hear that it's the same band that did Calling In Dead, a record I'm still very proud of, but the sound is clearer, the vocals more diverse, and I feel we've grown as musicians. Every band progresses, though some refuse to, and when I buy a record I expect the band to do something new compared to older material, and that's the way we think. I can't make chaotic hardcore-songs anymore, so we're just doing our best at making music that's powerful but thought-through. I think you can hear that on Ride Paranoia.

Christopher: In relation to the last question, the new record has been released by San Diego's own GSL records... How did that relationship develop, and what was the deciding factor/s in allowing GSL release it as opposed to other labels? Were there other labels interested in doing this record?
Erlend: We met Sonny Kay on a short tour with did with The Locust and Das Oath in Scandinavia a couple of years back. He liked our music, and we love his label, so a couple of months after that we decided that we should do something together. We're very happy with how it has turned out so far. We had serious interest from at least 10 other labels, from smaller labels to bigger ones, but we felt GSL has the vision and quality-control a lot of other labels don't have. Sonny Kay releases a lot of unique music, and we're proud to be a part of it. Also he's not afraid to make the music on his label available for more than just the underground, which we think is important too. If you're in a band working every day on your music, you simply want it to reach out to more and more people, it's very simple. A lot of "kids" don't understand that, but then again they haven't toured for 5 years straight, quit their jobs to do music, and had relationships end because of all these things. You need to get something back for the amount of work put into it.

Christopher: I recently read on your website that you guys were nominated for a Grammy... Can you expand on that? In the states a Grammy is a pretty big deal publicity wise, what's the story on that? Was it for a song, or a record? Is receiving a Grammy in Norway a big accomplishment?
Erlend: It was for Ride Paranoia, which came out in October in Norway. It's a big accomplishment, but Norway is such a small country (5 million people), so for us it's more funny than anything else. Bands like us that tour and get mentioned in the press outside of Norway, suddenly get a lot of attention here. We were sitting at the Grammys, drinking whisky, and laughing of the fact that in two months we're back to reality, touring dirty clubs in Germany for gas-money. It's cool though, as our families kind of got a understanding of the fact that we're doing this band, is worth it, however fucked up that may sound.

Christopher: Does JR Ewing have plans to return to the states at any point in the near future to tour for this release? If so, when can we look forward to it?
Erlend: As far as the US goes, you can look forward to October/November, as that's the time frame we've set to come over to the US again, to slay you all.

Christopher: Are there any really great bands from Europe right now, Norway in specific that you would recommend to kids out here?
Erlend: You should check out Noxagt, a 3-piece from Norway, that's on Load Records in the states. They're fuckin awesome. And Skarnspage from Oslo is great too, a fucked up 2-piece. And the new Turbonegro album kicks ass. So does Jaga Jazzist, a 10-piece doing electronica/jazz/rock. Brilliant.

Christopher: I guess that's it unless you guys have any last words…
Erlend: Thanks for doing the interview, and hope to see you in the US next time we're over. And people: buy our album. You need it.

http://www.thejrewing.com
http://www.goldstandardlabs.com