“Of course, you need to have talent and you need to be good at what you’re doing. If you have lousy songs you can spread them as much as you want.”
Age Sten Nilsen
The music industry is very much about reward for effort.
No matter how good your music is, if you don’t put it out there and have it heard by as many ears as possible then the likelihood of your band progressing up the universal ladder reduce significantly. But even that is more of a prerequisite to the possibility of success. Nothing is a given.
Not by a long shot.
Norwegian rock outfit Wig Wam are classic examples of this, with one of their songs, Do Ya Wanna Taste It, being chosen as the theme song for HBO television series Peacemaker last year and in the process turning the band effectively into overnight sensations.
Overnight to some, but definitely not for the band themselves who have been spreading the voice of rock since 2001.
Sure, as many bands, they have had their ups and downs, but, as vocalist Age Sten Nilsen explains in the interview below, Wig Wam have always had at least one eye on the prize and made sure individually and collectively that they were giving themselves the best opportunity to be in the position they currently find themselves in.
Nilsen sat down with HEAVY to discuss this months first ever tour of Australia and plenty more.
“There are places we haven’t played,” he laughed when quizzed about neglecting Australia for so long. “We have played Japan several times, but never Australia. Never New Zealand. Never America, actually. We only focussed on Europe and Japan, and then we broke up so when we got back together it was like one part of the deal that we made was to go out and do places we haven’t played before, so here we go!”
We press Age on what the band are expecting from Australian crowds and if the band has done their homework, but he just shook his head.
“I like being surprised,” he laughed. “I know a couple of Aussies and I find you people… you’re not too far away from the Norwegian people. We’re pretty much the same kind of people. In Japan, it’s a different thing. They have their special things with the shows. They’ll be totally crazy and then suddenly they will go very quiet. They have this very… different style of behavior – in a cool manner. In Australia, I reckon you guys are just like in Norway. A little bit stiff sometimes, but then you have a couple of beers… (laughs).”
In the full interview Age talks more about the run of shows, Wig Wam’s new album Out Of The Dark which will be released on February 10, the success of Do Ya Wanna Taste It and how it has changed things for the band, how the song was chosen to be the theme song for Peacemaker, the early days of the band, early fake cover stories perpetuated by the band themselves and more.
