When you were kids, did you like the current top 40 or did you prefer Mum/Dad/big brother/sister’s music?

Pål: I grew up listening to the Stones with my father. As a young boy the Top 40 was absolutely present, but I became influenced by my older brother and his friends at an early age. Punk music and indie rock soon became my favourite genre, and probably still is.

Bjarte: When I was a kid my big brother was my music provider. The first bands I can remember listening to again and again was KLF and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Ivar: I know that I have always loved pop music. When I was 7-8 years old I used to go through my aunts records every chance I got. It was a lot of glam pop/rock like T Rex, Slade, Bay City Rollers, etc. I know that I turned my parents batshit crazy playing “Saturday Night” by the Bay City Rollers non-stop. I would never get tired of it (still don’t). But anything with a great chorus would hit the right spot really. Before that I would listen to my parents Elvis records and their one Beatles album (Rubber Soul).

Ole: Pretty strong father and brother influence there since childhood. As the youngest of three brothers I always got introduced to new music at home and never really cared about the top 40.

Knut Olav: Top 40!

What are your influences? Favourite bands?

Pål: The first bands I really fell in love with was Dinosaur Jr, The Descendents, Teenage Fanclub and The Lemonheads. Then I figured out that Tom Morgan had written or co-written a lot of Lemonheads songs and Smudge became a huge inspiration. Then I discovered Half A Cow and a bunch of new bands I really liked. I also have an interest for Belgian music (which I think have a special sound) and bands like dEUS, Evil Superstars and Goreslut. Other bands I like are Guided by Voices, Rancid, Neutral Milk Hotel…

Bjarte: When it comes to drumming, the first drummer I really liked was Bobby Schayer of Bad Religion. Especially on the album Generator, and he was an influence to me when I first started playing drums. Favourite bands right now I am listening to are mostly stoner/doom rock, so  it’s Fu Manchu, Kyuss and Sleep.

Ivar: I wrote my first song when I was 25. Always fanatic about music but never played an instrument or played in a band before I was 25. So my influences were pretty massive and diverse when I first gave it a go. Again, good melodies always were the inspiration. Big Star, Ramones, Go-Betweens, Teenage Fanclub were among the bands I listened to a lot when I started writing songs myself. But also Bob Mould was a big inspiration. The first Sugar album just floored me when I first heard it, and I still love it.

Today I still listen to the music I loved thirty years ago, but also a lot of country music. There is so much honesty and feeling in a real good country song. And my kids have introduced me to Kendrick Lamar and some guy named Vince Staples who is kinda interesting.

Ole: Rolling Stones, Uncle Tupelo/ Son Volt, Hank Williams, Teenage Fanclub, Lemonheads.

Knut Olav: Bob Dylan, Motorpsycho, Yo la Tengo.

First gig you ever went to?

Pål: My older brothers girlfriend had a mother who worked at one of larger venues in Bergen. They got tickets and I got to join them to see B.B. King. At a smaller venue my first real rock gig was Swervedriver. Both were great.

Bjarte: The first gig I ever went to that I can really remember was Beastie Boys in Oslo. I think it was in 1995-96.

Ivar: The first gig I went to was a Nazareth concert with my aunt when I was about 8 or 9.

Ole: The first real concert I went to was when Pål brought his under age brother to a festival to see Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth.

Knut Olav: Jerusalem – Swedish hallelujah rockers kicked some hard ass in Haugesund some time in the 1980s.

First record you bought?

Pål: Eric Clapton Backtrackin’.

Bjarte: I remember buying Bad by Michael Jackson on cassette. The first cd I bought might have been Mother’s Milk by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Ivar: The first record (MC, as I did not have turntable in my room) I bought with my own money was actually Men At Work Business as Usual. I think I was 10 or 11.

Ole: BMX Bandits Star Wars.

Knut Olav: Best of Vasselina Bilopphøggers.

Where was How do You do Karate? recorded?

Pål used to run a small label (Galant Records) and have built a small studio (Teleslyngen Studio) where we also rehearse. Here we can do our own recordings and not be pressured by the lack of money or time. After recording the album, we went next door to our friend Tommy Haltbakk to get the album mixed.

Do you find it hard to write songs in English?

No. Ivar, who writes the lyrics, has actually never written a song in Norwegian. Most of the music we listen to havw English lyrics and it has become a natural language for our songs as well.

Your song titles are very intriguing. Baking Soda, George Michael, Cole Porter. How do you come up with your lyrics?

Ivar: Most of the songs I write are some sort of love song. Many to my wife that I met around the time I started writing songs. She doesn’t understand the lyrics in a lot of them as they often are kinda all over the place. I try to express how I am feeling when I write the lyrics. A lot of them have been written when I was pretty drunk, and truth be told, I sometimes forget what I was trying to get across. I like to describe stuff in my own way. I love to the sun rising, and “Baking Soda Sunrise” is my version of a mighty, mighty, beautiful sunrise.

A line like “Kojak me tomorrow with a fine tuned song” means ‘hit me over the head and surprise me with a kick-ass song’. There is always something I try to get across, even if it is hard to get a lot of the time. I never change the lyrics after I have written them, and I write them very fast. Sometimes that ends up having some stupid shit and sometimes I am very pleased with myself. It is something that happens in those 5-10 minutes and I don’t want to change that even if that could make the song better to some, I guess.

What’s “Australian Wine” about?

Ivar: “Australian Wine” is a pure love song to my wife Irene. I was thinking about meeting her all those years ago and how she made me a better person; how she made me feel better about myself really, and how much I love her.

Have any of you ever travelled down to Australia or New Zealand on a ‘backpacker’s holiday’?

Pål: Yes. My wife and I travelled the East Coast for five weeks in 2010. We started out in Sydney, took the train to Melbourne, flew up north to Port Douglas and then bused our way down the coast back to Sydney. It was great travelling in Australia. We got to snorkel at the reef, visit the Whitsunday Islands, drive a jeep all over Fraser Island and surf at the beach in Byron Bay. Beside all these obvious tourist places we got to see smaller towns and lots of beaches. It`s a strange feeling though, going swimming when you know there is – unlike in Norway – sharks and tiny, poisonous jellyfish in the water. All in all, a great trip and we would love to go back someday.

Do you all live close to each other and is getting together for rehearsal relatively easy?

Bergen is a relatively small town, and we all live within 10 -25 minutes driving distance from the studio which is located in the city centre. We do our best to get together once a week, to rehearse, make new songs or just have a beer.

If you have families, do you find the family/work/life/band-music balance hard to do?

The logistics of getting together to rehearse is usually a pain in the ass. Work, kids, house building, and other duties as soccer training must be balanced, but we usually find a way to meet. Some have more stressful work than others, but we all have supporting companions at home to help us out. If we have a gig or recordings to do, we do plan ahead and get our priorities right.

Lastly, where is the name from?

Pål: Ivar and I used to play in a band called We Rob Banks. We had a plan to record a full album in one weekend. The day we were supposed to start a blizzard hit Bergen and Ivar got stuck in traffic for six hours and never made it to the studio. Only three out of six made it to the studio, and we just recorded one song. Pål came up with a new band name for the trio: I do You do Karate. Instead of forming a new band, we recorded a song with the same name (which still is being played in my other band Professor Pez). When Bjarte wanted me to join him and Knut to form a new band I invited Ole and Ivar and brought with me the band name.

Thanks!