When songwriter Anders Risan felt the lack of energy from collaboration, he took matters into his own hands. With the help of a single demo, he recruited his five fellow musicians, for what would not just be "Anders with a band."
/ 22/03/2019 / Kristian DugstadName: Thomas André Hjelleset (21) Erlend Synnes Drønen (24) Sondre Rasmussen (21) Kim Ervik (32) Anders Risan (26) Andreas Meland (24)
Current with: The debut single "Get Your Breath Back"
TONO member since: 2015 (Anders)
All photos: Asbjørg Homme Lindeland
– What is their musical background?
– We have both common and different musical backgrounds. We all studied music at Ansgarskolen in Kristiansand. We do have different references when it comes to sound, but when we get together there is quick interaction and agreement. We are fans of everything from U2 to Karpe and Boy Pablo to Sigrid. Some love gospel, others love pop, and we all love what we do.
–How did Discothéque Franson come about?
– Anders (vocalist and songwriter) had a desire to start a band. He felt the need to have more people on the team who wanted the same thing. Someone who pushed him to write more music. He also missed the energy you get from playing with others. He then wrote a song, and sent around a demo to a bunch of friends and acquaintances with whom he could imagine starting a band. It was important that it was something everyone felt ownership of and that it didn't just become "Anders with a band", but that it actually became a band. Everyone who was asked wanted to join. Then we started arranging and rehearsing some songs that he had written, and then taking them to the stage and studio.
– How do you work together? How does your music come about?
– It usually starts with a text and melody with a simple demo from Anders. It is taken to the rehearsal room, where we are creative together and figure out how to dress the song. We then take this with us to the studio. We are lucky to have access to a studio at Ansgarskolen that maintains a high standard.
– Tell us about your latest release?
– Our first song is called “Få Pusten Tilbake”. It’s about the feeling of being suffocated in a relationship, but it also has a slightly ambiguous message, because it’s also about someone who is “breathtaking”. We’ve only released one single, but we’re in the middle of recording two new singles that will be released before the summer. We’re really looking forward to the release of these. We’ve received incredibly good feedback from friends, acquaintances and less acquaintances and even radio, and the response is that people are looking forward to more music.
– What are you working on now? What does 2019 bring for you?
– We are still working on getting a full setlist that we can go on tour with. We started playing together less than six months ago and so far things have gone very quickly, and we will soon be ready for this.
– What is your career highlight so far?
– Public response is always a highlight, so playing on P1's Kveldsåpent and P3's Urørt is probably a winner so far. It was also really fun to record a live music video at Glassbua Live. This can be found on YouTube.
– Do you have an instrument or other equipment that is indispensable in the writing process?
– iPhone voice recordings maybe?
– What do you do when you're not making music?
– Two of us are studying music, one works as an acoustician, another is studying theology, one is taking a postgraduate course and another works as a child and youth worker.