In 2016, Bjørn-Marius Øyehaug and Rotlaus were left with a mere 15 kroner after their summer tour. Five years after their inception, they have become one of the country's biggest live bands.
/ 16/10/2020 / Kristian DugstadName: Bjorn-Marius Øyehaug
Current with: Rootless – Beautiful and Wild (Single)
TONO member since: 2015
Bjørn-Marius Øyehaug, can you tell us a little about who you are?
I am the drummer who found my way to the edge of the stage and became the frontman of the group Rotlaus. In short, I am a songwriter and musician, living and breathing for music. I first stood on stage when I was 6 years old. I was somewhat shy in my childhood, but on stage I always felt at home. I have always liked to perform, play or convey something I am passionate about. In most cases, it has been music. I started the group Rotlaus back in 2015. No goals or ambitions beyond having fun with music. You could say it took a while, but it is still fun.
I have been involved in music all my life and have traveled around with various bands since I graduated from high school. Now Rotlaus is the focus, but you can hear me on several releases and projects with other artists. I listen to a lot of music and find joy in everything from religious hymns, jazz and folk music, to rock from the 60s, modern pop and folk songs. Music is a wonderful language.
We'll dive into Rotlaus right away, but first: What's your musical background? You've played drums in Vassendgutane, among other things?
I am and always will be the boy from the country, from the village. I grew up on a small farm in Ørsta in Sunnmøre. My childhood consisted of open landscapes, play and lots of music. My mother danced with me on her chest from the moment I was born. The sounds of Cohen, Knopfler and Clapton did their part to bring out the budding musician in me. My father is a musician himself and jazz has been central throughout my life. Every Saturday when he was home, we could hear the sound of the NRK program "Swing & Sweet" with Leif Anderson and Knut Borge flowing from the kitchen. Lightly accompanied by my father on clarinet or saxophone. Good memories.
I started playing myself when I was 6 years old. I played the cornet for six months before I realized that I wanted to be a drummer. We didn't have much money at the time, so my father and I made the drums from oil drums, buckets, milk pails and old tubs. I was with my father at a band practice, but I didn't dare go in, I sat in the hallway and listened. A great musician and an eternal role model for me, Knut Andreas Foldal, took me inside for the warmth one winter day. Since then I have been a regular member of Follestaddal Hornmusikk. An adult band with an average age of 50, with a shy seven-year-old behind the drum kit. Knut Andreas passed away a few years later, he conducted his last rehearsal days before he passed away. I got my first drum kit, my dad said that music would be with me all my life. So far he has been right.
My father and I had many great times in horn music. We traveled on tours and tours, both domestically and internationally. In our youth, there were more and more musical projects. There was black hair, nails and punk bands. We composed our own music and were to become world famous. We never got much further than the neighboring village, Volda. I later applied for upper secondary school in Volda. The music school had long been a goal. It was a nail-biter to get in and unfortunately I had too low a grade point average. Fortunately, at that time they admitted talents based on an entrance exam. I lived in a dormitory and financed my stay by performing for various big bands, studio sessions and dance bands around the district. I graduated from high school with top grades on my main instrument and was planning to apply for further education in music at the University of Agder.
Through my then partner, I got to know the vocalist in Vassendgutane. They needed help with a recording. I joined the choir. They liked what they heard and offered me a job as a drummer for the band. I had planned to join for a year, save up money, before I could start my studies, but I stayed in Vassendgutane for 5 years. I enjoyed it and made many new acquaintances. Eventually it dawned on me that the focus was no longer on the music. I had become someone else and music had become just a necessary business to keep my overspending going. I did a lot of stupid things during this time. Hurt a lot of people, drove my body hard and woke up several times without knowing where I was or if I was even there. I quit Vassendgutane in the winter of 2012. I wanted to put music on the shelf, as I had no interest in it any longer. I wanted more out of life. Friends had started families, had houses and station wagons. This was a solitaire I had never been able to solve. I was alone.
A while later I met a girl. We could talk about most things and we talked a lot about my past. She encouraged me to start making music again, to write down what I was thinking and to look up the drums. Gradually I found the joy of music again. I joined a well-known big band and enjoyed being back on stage. At home I wrote songs, in English of course, and drove long-distance transport during the weeks. Life was good. Then I ended up in a bad accident at work that would indirectly lay the foundation for Rotlaus. A lot happened and it happened quickly.
You're honest about the fact that the first Rotlaus songs sprang from a difficult time in your life. What did songwriting mean to you during that period?
I am always honest and I have a lot of emotions. The emotions can sometimes feel like a burden or a burden, as I need a lot of time to myself to sort out the thoughts I have. However, I try to use this to my advantage and often write down the thoughts I have.
In 2015, my life was suddenly turned upside down after the work accident. I was determined to get back on my feet and I was going to get back on my feet quickly. I worked at home to get everything in the new house in order. There was a lot of painkillers and the pain, combined with my low self-esteem, drove me and my partner apart. I didn't feel good about myself.
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I tried to make amends with my then partner for a long time. Anyone who has lost someone they love knows how painful it can be. The damned heartbreak. It's easy to resort to messages – you want to try to make amends. Then the day came when I no longer received replies to these messages. I decided to write down the messages, rather than actually sending them. It helped me to vent my thoughts, while gradually getting over the breakup. Gradually, I took out my guitar and set the melody to the lyrics. At first, it was my grandmother who got to listen to the lyrics. She was my audience and constantly encouraged me to keep writing. Later, I showed this to a childhood friend and we agreed to start a band again – Rotlaus was a fact.
Everything in life happens for a reason, I believe. It can all feel chaotic and unfair. You feel small, maybe a failure. When you look back on it all, it all seems like a well-written novel, like there was a meaning to all the bad things that happened. The memories will always stick with you, but you usually only remember the good times. I wrote the song "Møt mej i minna" which is about exactly this. Times were tough for a while there, and I had a lot of bad thoughts. However, the band Rotlaus emerged from the ashes. The following year I met my current partner and this year we had our first child together. Life has taken on a whole new perspective.
You are the frontman, vocalist and songwriter of the band Rotlaus. Five years after founding the band, you are touring the country and the beach to sold-out houses.
How would you describe Rotlaus to those who don't know you?
I think most people see us as honest and down-to-earth guys who really live for music. I can't see ourselves from an objective perspective anymore. Rotlaus has become one of the bands that travels the most in the country. We are probably mostly seen as a party band, but most people who have been to our concerts probably see that it is a little more. Our audience ranges from early teens to well into adulthood. We probably have a somewhat younger audience than many in the same genre – if it is a genre at all? Maybe we are somewhere between DDE, Åge Aleksandersen and Sondre Justad. Maybe not. No, this was difficult to answer. I mostly have something to say and am a man who has the ability to occasionally convey something very little with a lot of words. It also comes across at the concerts.
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Your recognition has by no means come by itself. It has been a lot of hard work. What has been the key to your success?
During the short time Rotlaus has existed, there have undoubtedly been some tough times. We have seen tour buses catch fire, we have been cheated out of gig fees and we were on for quite a while before we made any money from the time we put in. At first, I lived by myself with friends, family and in the tour bus. The house and all my belongings were sold to finance the first album release. I often think back to the summer of 2016, where we stood at a roadside inn outside Ålesund and looked at the proceeds of the summer tour. We were left with a total of 15 kroner. It was enough for two Wiener sausages as the waiter kindly tipped a 5 on the last sausage. A true story. We consistently lost money at every gig as we had to travel far to perform and the bus ate up most of the fees.
I was often on the verge of giving up. Several times. Unfortunately, I think many people who start bands automatically think that people will come to listen to them. That's not the case. Not today. At first there were 2-3 people singing along to the songs, the next time we came back there were 10-15, suddenly there were several thousand. We didn't ask for much at first. On the rider there was a pot of coffee, two jugs of water and "something to eat". We never gave up - fortunately.
Today, I and we still work hard and determinedly. I do most of the work in the office Monday to Wednesday, before we leave on Thursday. We perform mostly on weekends, except for the summer, when we are constantly traveling for a large part of the time. Traveling and playing is a true joy, I see it as free time. During the weekdays, I do promotions, record greetings and briefly be present for those who like our music. In a typical week, there can be 2-3 interviews in various daily newspapers and radio channels, in addition to 10-15 personal greetings for birthday parties, weddings and other gatherings. This takes a lot of time, but it is time well spent. We always make time for the people who listen to us. Without them, there would be no us. We will never take it for granted. Maybe because we know how hard we have worked to get where we are today. We are not known for having had too much help, A-listings on the radio, or media coverage.
I have been involved in music and touring for so many years that I have learned that honesty and openness are unfortunately something many people forget in the shadow of success. I have seen most things and been involved in a lot of stupid things. All of this has shaped me and has been with me as I formed Rotlaus. Me and the rest of the guys have simple rules of conduct and it goes a long way in never thinking we "are anything". Authenticity and good ground contact are a good formula for success today. We are unadorned and genuine and I think we show that again, both in lyrics and appearance. I think the audience appreciates it.
Our key can be summarized nicely as follows:
1) Have faith in your product (if you don't have faith yourself, how can you expect others to?)
2) If you have the faith, bet and bet big, "we only live once" mentality.
3) Be honest, be yourself.
4) Take care of those who like what you do, if they are few, they will become more.
5) Don't set too high standards.
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There's no doubt that your songs strike a nerve with the audience. Where do you get inspiration for new music?
I write about what I think about. Sometimes you think about a car, write about the car. Sometimes you think about love, write about love. I think I draw inspiration from myself. Most of the songs are about that. Without seeming self-centered, they are about me and my life. I think it is far-fetched to write about something you cannot relate to yourself. That is the case with the somewhat deeper lyrics.
I always start with a melody line. Maybe a theme. What does that theme say and what do you think of when you first hear the melody? If you think longing, then the lyrics must be about that. Many times I have had a melody and heard a theme in my mind, and then tried to change the theme in the lyrics. It is never a success. I always have to go back to the starting point. In other words, it is all about first impressions like so much else.
Some lyrics can sometimes seem superficial. Maybe you could use words like "Sell out". We want to reach all listeners, so there will be something for everyone. Some lyrics have to be easy to digest, straight to the point, simple. Others are up to the listener to interpret and it is not necessarily wrong if the listener interprets the lyrics differently than I do. That is part of what makes music as a mouthpiece so fascinating.
Where and how do you write?
I need to have peace of mind. I can't have anything hanging over me, or something I should be doing. It's left to block further inspiration. I often sit at night to write. Then the world sleeps and I have time for myself, alone. Being alone is in itself a privilege that, unfortunately, in line with the success we experience, is becoming rarer and rarer. I dream of a cabin where I can feel myself, alone. I like nature, the sea and the clouds. Weather and wind. Nature lives its own life, you can't do much about it. It calms me. That's when I write best.
I also find that I find peace when I drive myself. We have drivers on both the bus and our trailer, but I happily drive to the venue myself. That's when I get to relax. Stare out the windshield, hear the engine roar and talk to old colleagues on the phone. I often miss that life. Almost all of our songs are written on the road, behind a wheel. I'm an old long-haul driver.
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Do you have equipment or tools that are indispensable in the process?
Not really. The senses. It all depends on what you're writing about. Some songs, especially the ones that go deeper, come when I find this aforementioned calm. That's all it takes. I need a guitar or a piano. Songs like "La dagen vare evig", "Longt på natt" and "Siste song" are examples of the songs I like to write best. I work on them for a long time, being true to myself and my thoughts. I need to be 100% present with myself. That's a challenge today. You're always present for everyone else with the world in your pocket – your phone.
A few weeks ago you released the new single Vakker og vill. Can you tell us about the song?
We can say that Rotlaus' audience consists of two different types of people. On one side you find the robbers/raggars, drivers of trailers and other motor-interested, car-loving youth. The other group is the listening audience. Those who hear the lyrics, but have nowhere near the same relationship to driving. What perhaps distinguishes Rotlaus from other bands in the same genre is that we have a vision that the lyrics should have a certain substance, but still embrace the entire fan base.
This song is a proposal to the car-loving fan base and will round off a trilogy that deals with the transition between youth and adulthood. Previously, we have written about boys who become men. Those who grew up in the robbery community, became adults, met again in adulthood and everything is as before. We have received several requests to make a song with a similar theme, only with a woman in the lead role. I already had the sketches for the song "Vakker og vill", I wrote it at the same time as the first album came out, back in 2016. A party song, with a descriptive action from the village where we grew up. I finished the song in the back seat of a "ragger car" in Halden during the recording of Allsang på grensen this summer. It probably took a few quarters to write the song. An evening with many impressions.
Rotlaus makes music for its audience, we must embrace them. I myself have been on the road since I was 15 years old. I have seen large parts of the country from a tour bus or a truck cabin, slept on the streets of the capital on a winter night and lived more in hotel rooms and in strange beds than at home (Hence the name of the group, Rotlaus). For me it is easy to write about life. Challenges, ups and downs. Many of the lyrics are about love that went wrong, about the country road and about never living up to expectations. Life, contrasts.
How has the reception been?
It has exceeded all expectations. In the first 24 hours we streamed 150,000 and now the song is approaching 1,000,000. A clear record for us and straight into 3rd place on the singles chart. That's quite a feat for a country boy, if I do say so myself.
You are currently working on new music in the studio. Can we expect more releases in the future?
In light of the corona pandemic, we had a very cool experience. We were hired to do an acoustic live broadcast in Ålesund. We thought we had to do something more. We came up with a slightly different instrumentation. Stand bass, banjo, we were going to do bluegrass. This was very well received. We have some secret plans for the future that go a little in the acoustic vein. We are starting the plan by releasing a new version of the song "Ei tid". This time in a bluegrass package. This was the first song I wrote. It means a lot to me to be able to release it again. This will be released in early November if everything goes according to plan.
Then comes a song that will woo our more listening audience. The song is called "You" and is about nothing less than the meaning of life. This has been in the back of my mind for a while. In fact, almost a year. We tried and failed a couple of times during recording. There's something about a song that doesn't reflect the feeling you had in your head when you wrote the song. It didn't give me the impression it was intended to. Then everything goes wrong. I think we've cracked the code now and if everything goes according to plan we want a very special collaboration on this song. If she says yes.
The producer and I are also working on finishing new versions of old songs. We are changing the character a bit, mixing and remastering the entire first album. In the future, we will replace all older versions with these, as well as give a small presentation of each song. What I was thinking when I wrote the song, what it is about and what it has meant to us. A fun project on the subject of new releases.
I believe I hear elements from country, Americana, rock and folk music in their sound. How would you describe Rotlaus' sound?
Some say rock, some country, some pop, while others find folk rock the closest thing. I myself felt that we operate at the intersection of several genres and have early on stated that our genre is "Country Rock". I have observed several other artists have used this term in the aftermath.
Rotlaus's band consists of musicians with very different backgrounds. I myself am a trained drummer with a main focus as a jazz musician, something that probably few people associate me with, I think. The guitarist, Simen Rebbestad, likes to play oriental string instruments, the fiddle, stringed instruments in different tunings and flutes bought on trips around the world. Bassist, Anders Maristuen has a bachelor's degree from the University of Agder with a main focus on rhythmic music and jazz as the main pillars. Accordion player, Vegard Hansen has several NM titles in folk music, ensembles and solo performances. Simen Bjørdal, drummer with a background from both local bands to punk and funk bands. Judging by our background, we should really have played free jazz.
In other words, the inspiration comes from several genres. This combined with influences from today's modern music and the music we grew up with is Rotlaus.
It's hard to escape the social situation. For a band that makes a living playing live, the lockdown must have hit hard?
We are doing just fine, are patient and use our time wisely. New music is coming and we get much-awaited time with our family. There was a certain adjustment. Rotlaus has become a company with a large production, service department, its own warehouse and a fleet of several semi-trailers and buses. It was obviously difficult to send home those who work in the warehouse, to take everything away ourselves. This is to save our life's work. We are betting on better times and are looking forward to new music and new concerts. We must keep our spirits up, not give up and go to the ground. A wise man told me, either things are going well, or they are over. I have faith that when this is over, both we and the audience will be more than ready for concerts again.
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What is the first plan to be realized when society fully opens up again?
It was a simple question. It deserves a simple answer. We plan to play – a lot.
What is your career highlight so far?
I think it's hard to put into words a specific highlight. But it must be the first performance with our own music in Rotlaus. We suddenly experienced that people were singing along. They were singing along to songs I had written. There weren't many of them, but I remember it so fondly. The feeling, the moment.
I have dreamed all my life of playing for people and I grew up in a time when there was dancing at the venue every weekend around the district. I snuck into a dance to hear a local orchestra called "Novus". The drummer there was my big role model at the time. He was struggling with a foot and halfway through the evening he couldn't do it anymore. I came up on stage, 15 years old and got to play with my big heroes. I remember we played Marius Müller and other Norwegian music. It was huge for me. I will never forget the rush it gave me. The first time I played for hundreds of people who were dancing and singing. Joy.
Can you share your greatest music experience – as a listener?
It must have been when I took the guys in Rotlaus to Denmark last year. We sat in the front row and got to experience the Eagles. My whole body tingled when 5 men stepped into the light. They opened acapella before continuing with the signature tune "Take it easy". Deacon Frey, son of the late frontman, stepped forward on stage, "I'm going to play a song my dad used to sing". Tears flowed from start to finish. A great experience and even greater to share it with the guys. I will never forget that. I watch a lot of documentaries about bands. I know the Eagles' documentaries cover to cover. My greatest inspiration. And there we sat, barely two meters away. Big. Really big.
Finally – Can you give us a tip for a Norwegian artist you listen to a lot these days?
It can hardly be considered a tip, as she is well known to everyone. I have great respect for the artist Dagny and listen to her a lot. I have had the pleasure of seeing her and the band live on a couple of occasions. I think she delivers that little extra, has charm and charisma. She exudes authenticity, which I value.