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norway arc 
This is an archive of my time in Trondheim, Norway. I am only focusing on the AKJ project here.
IMG ZOF (pointe) PIC OF THE CITY OR WITH SNOW IDK pic of uffa too? outsdie? ISAK ISAK is absolutely crazy. It is a cultural center with band rooms, studios, dance rooms, art rooms, two stages... I discovered it around the middle of February. Wish I had found it earlier.
Rehearsing in the band room was such a great experience. For the first time, I could actually rehearse at full volume. I think this made me find the sound I wanted, and the one that I feel like defines the project better.
I also began playing the drums a bit. I am nowhere near being a drummer, but getting the feel for it is interesting, as it connects the drums programming part to the reality of playing the physical instrument. (more on that)
The band room could be booked for 2 hours (I got it for 3 hours the first time and it never happened again). Usually, I would start by playing some drums, then I would get to rehearsing the set. In the end, since my voice was warmed up, I would try to explore vocals for songs that were in the process of being written.
The studios can be booked for periods of 3 hours. They are actually built in an apartment on the second floor, so every studio had the name of a different room ("kjøkken" for kitchen, etc).
The thing is that they have all this equipment for free if you are under 26.
they can offer help with songwriting too concerts 
This was the first show in a punk venue. Also the first show in Norway! It looks the exact same as la Gueule Noire in Saint-Etienne. I opened for Centrum and Double Cut, two local bands from Trondheim. Their sets were great and these guys are full of energy.
I played 8 songs in 30 minutes. It was a bit tough in the beginning, since I had some trouble with hearing my voice. That's why I put Die Anyway first: it is a good, comfortable first song to adapt to the conditions of the gig and warm up.
The stage was a bit small because of the drums, but I was able to move around enough. I'm happy that 3 songs were filmed.
I wanted to make people do a wall of death for Sardened, so I got them to split in two sides. Though, I don't think anyone really understood the instruction of "start moshing when the song starts", as I had to say it quite fast in order not to go overtime. So it was a bit awkward (but funny) in the beginning when no one moved right away.
That one was a bit unlucky despite the cool place. We had a technical problem that caused the right speaker to have less volume. Luckily, it did not have much impact in the end.
I hadn't realized that the week of the gig was a holiday week in Norway. There weren't as many people as in UFFA, but there were friends and that's what counted.
Probably the first time I tried playing with untied hair for the entire set. It went well, I could see what I was doing but the expressions on my face were less visible.
The set was quite long, about 50 minutes. I got to do two more songs, DWGMLA and whatever Basketbaurgh is.
This was organized by Legend Trondheim. I opened for Malabari, a melodic hard rock band. Great people making great music, heavily suggest you to check them out. I genuinely like their stuff and they did an awesome set.
One thing I realized when they were playing, is that the singer was performing like he was in front of 3000 people in a huge venue. And when I turned around, we were barely even 15 in the room.
This made me understand that as a spectator, the show feels huge (only?) if the band make you feel like it is huge. Before that, I thought (especially as someone alone) that it would be "showing off" to play as if I was in a stadium. But it turns out that it doesn't matter... I will focus into doing that in the future.
I played for 45 minutes. I'm wouldn't say that I am entirely satisfied with the performance... Longer sets are especially about endurance, so I didn't want to lose my voice halfway through. Though, I didn't push it enough, and the same thing with the movements.
I tried moving a lot in the beginning, but the carpet under the drums started slipping and there wasn't that much space on the stage with all the pedals. So I decided to focus on head movement instead. Still, I feel like I could have given more energy, like I did at Ray's Bar.
This was the first time that Lucky was played live. Sardened was fun too. I knew that I could give everything, since there wasn't any other song after. I should do that from the beginning instead of waiting for the last songs.
finishing two songs 
The original plan was to finish every instrumental and vocal track for Save Me and When You Die, then mix it later to release the songs between January-June. And well.. Let's just say that I will not do that again.
I tried mixing Save Me using a software that lets you control the screen of another computer. But the sound was not great, and I had to make lots of exports to check the sound on my computer. Basically trying to hit a target in the dark with your eyes closed...
The final mix ended up being muddy.
I guess it would have been fine if I mixed the songs on my laptop.
Save Me actually ended up being played on Radio Dio, a radio from Saint-Etienne. It was tough hearing my muddy mix after multiple punk tracks by real bands sweating real sweat and giving incredibly powerful energy...
At this point, I knew how I wanted the songs to sound like. I wanted to (finally) use double tracked guitars, and I was (again) dissatisfied with my vocal takes. I had some from the end of December, but I knew I could do better. So I did them again.
For When You Die, I decided to record the vocals in an ISAK studio. I did the takes over two sessions, warming up in the band room before recording.
I'm really grateful for Osmund from ISAK for helping me with the mixing. I spent 3 to 4 sessions doing it. Mastering was done in Loaded Studio back in Saint-Etienne.
Originally, I planned to release When You Die on June 3rd, the day of the ISAK concert. Unfortunately, there were issues that caused longer delays. The song finally released one week later.
That time, I did not do the same mistakes again.
sidequests 
There was a chill lounge place in Trondheim called Loftet, where they would host jam sessions every two fridays.
One evening, it was pretty empty and there wasn't anyone playing. I decided to start playing and singing AKJ songs with a friend. I think we started with Don't Tell Me. Shortly after, a german drummer joined us and we jammed on 8 more songs. Turns out that he plays in a band called Skamarley! I'm really sad that I didn't record it. The clean guitar tone and the two voices gave an indie vibe that I really liked.
During that jam, I rediscovered Lucky. I had completely forgotten about the song, to the point where my friend knew the lyrics better than I did. This is what made me want to play it live, and record a better version than the Made Up one.
Another place worth talking about is Antikvariatet. They hold open mics on every sunday. The overall vibe is very cozy, jazzy and acoustic. I knew one friend who was performing covers there, but I didn't actually go until late April.
I only joined one open mic in late June. We performed an acoustic version of Lucky with my same friend from Loftet, and I sang Could It Be on my own.
Perhaps I regret not discovering the place earlier. Maybe I could have joined the open mics more frequently, and actually built a little repertoire of acoustic versions. I know some people with whom it would have been a lot of fun to play together.
While visiting a friend in Tallinn, we discovered an underground bar that was hosting a jam session on that night. We were alone, except for another guy and his girlfriend. I jammed with him and we both sang solo songs too. I played Thanksgrieving and First Day Of Spring. So technically.. That checks out another country?
Another funny thing happened when I went to a songwriting session at ISAK. I was teamed with a rap duo, and we spent about 4 hours making a song. I recorded bass and some guitars, they produced the overall track and we both did vocals. So... There exists a track where I sing in french with two guys rapping verses in norwegian.
afterthoughts
This was the first time I was completely on my own for the gigs. The setup works fine, and is especially adapted for travelling. It consists of the guitar, laptop, sound card, pedals, cables for everything and the banner. If the venue has a guitar amp, a microphone, two speakers and a mixing board, then it can work out.
Perhaps I wished I had started looking for gigs earlier. But at the same time, I didn't know if it was even going to be possible to rehearse in the first place.
Checking where local bands play is helpful when looking for places to play at. Having to adapt in such a short time is fun.
Though, I really wish that I had more time to connect with the local scene. Centrum and Double Cut were down to organize another event where I could open for them, but my time there was running out.
I also want to include a list of other places that could have hosted gigs (for possible future reference):
· Lager11: completely booked until June 10th...
· Kafé Larssen: actually got to talk with the owner, but since I was running out of time, I did not put much effort into discussing a possible gig there. The bar is quite small, but it would have been nice to play a 4th time. Maybe I do regret not doing it.
· Good Omens: no reply after 3 emails, and impossible to physically reach anyone in charge of the booking. Sometimes it happens...
· Fru Lundgreen: looked like a great bar, would have loved playing there but I should have reached out 6 months earlier.
· Loftet: would have been a bit out of place, but it would have been fun and I knew friends there. Also started reaching out too late.
· Studentersamfundet: the big red house that hosts events for students. During the first week, I went to a concert in the basement room. To me, this was already a bit too big of a scene to play at yet. In hindsight, I could have just gone for it and sent a mail.
· Antikvariatet: could have been possible for an acoustic show. Understandably so, the owner was not so sure about the loud punk sound thing..
· Kafe Skuret, Ila Brainnstasjon: other places where local bands played.
cool people and shoutouts I would like to thank great people I met. , that I always saw recording the bands and keeping an archive of the scene.
people who are cool à la fin would like to thank (ryan, isak studio people, bart) Trondheim has such a great punk scene and community to Zofia for supporting and being there every time centrum/double cut trondheim hardcore legend trondheim malabari
