- Introduce us to the band! What are your names and what do you do in the band? Where do you call home? Holten: It’s Holten on bass and he’s doing the drums in the studio as well, Seb on guitars, some keys and programming, Pim on vocals, guitars and keys. The roles in the band aren’t really set in stone so people are creatively free to do all kinds of things. Live we have a couple of other musicians helping us out on drums, acoustic guitar and backing vocals depending on what sort of setup or show we are doing.
- How long have you been together as a band and how did you find each other?Holten: We’re all from the same little town outside of Oslo so we all kinda rotated through various musical projects in the same area and got to know each other. Peel was formed in 1998, in 99 we released our first single called “Comes Down…ok” and that did fairly well on the radio here in Norway. That led to the band being signed to Edel Records so we did our first album and what do you know.. here we are in 2024 and still going strong.
- Do you have a special songwriting recipe you follow?Holten: Not at all and I think the Peel catalog reflects that really well. Peel is one of those bands that has a lot of variation in songs, arrangements, and expression but it still always sounds like Peel. The coming album “Big Sundown” will introduce yet another side of the band that I think a lot of people will find really exciting.
- How would members of your family describe your music to someone that hasn’t heard it? Holten: That’s actually a question I have never been asked before and I have no idea haha! It’s so strange how different we in the band perceive our songs. We have had so many experiences where someone describes to us how they hear a song, what the words mean and so on and it’s totally different from what we had in mind when the song was born. Melodic, emotional and energetic… perhaps somewhat introverted and a bit dark.
- What do you have on your(Spotify) playlists you would be embarrassed for others to see? Holten: There’s never any reason to be embarrassed by listening to music. Being able to pick and choose music to the extent that digital platforms have allowed for us is pure luxury so go explore without prejudice!
- Do you have any pre-show rituals?Holten: Nah.. just hanging out and enjoying the pre show vibe. Checking out the crowd and having fun. We do have a tendency to blast “Love gun” by Kiss on the PA before we go on. That’s sort of a ritual I guess.
- Who have you met that has left you starstruck?Holten: I’m not one to swoon easily so can’t really remember ever feeling starstruck. I met Morten Harket in a coffee shop once. That was nice as I’m a big fan of a-ha.
- What do you consider your greatest achievement as far as a band? Holten: To me the greatest achievement is the legacy in the form of the catalog of music that is there now, and that will continue to expand. Every piece of that vast body of work of music and poetry never existed before it was created and now it’s here forever.
- What key elements do you believe make up a successful song? Holten: Any song that someone connects with and find something they can relate to is a successful song I guess.
- When writing, how do you know when it is finally done?Holten: We don’t. The version of a song that ends up as a release is only one version of it, and we do other versions of a lot of songs when we play live, we do acoustic shows and so on.
- What song of yours are you most proud of?Holten: If I had to pick one it would be the song “Crack”. I’ll leave it at that because if you ask me again in two minutes it will be a different answer haha.
- Is it possible to be on the road and not eat junk food? How do you keep it leveled out? Holten: Nowadays there’s a lot more healthier options available and that’s a really good thing. Even the venues and festival backstage areas usually have much higher quality catering available than before. Tedious traveling, bad sleep and a lot of stress takes its toll on mind and body so good food is really important.
- Are you able to write while on the road or do you need a calm familiar space like home? Holten: We’re always kicking around new ideas during sound checking and picking up ideas for titles and lyrics, gathering pieces as we go along but it’s usually in periods of a little downtime that ideas are shaped into whole songs.
- What’s the most embarrassing thing to happen on stage or on tour?Holten: Well.. in my rowdier days I had a few too many one night and I spilled my beer on stage, shorted out the whole venue and then I fell off the stage. I don’t do that anymore haha.
- What can BleachBANGS do to help you in any way?Holten: Features like this one is a great help in spreading the music to new people so we really appreciate that. Single or album reviews are also really cool.
- How can everyone keep up with everything you have going on? Where can they get albums/merchandise? Holten: Peel is present on most streaming platforms, digital shops, and social media. We are in the process of creating a new line of merchandise to go along with the coming album “Big Sundown”. We’ll be updating info on merch on our social media.
