I'm not sure if I've ever seen a crowd in Chapel Hill love an opening act as much as they loved Casiokids when they opened for Starfucker at Local 506 last Tuesday. The Norwegian electro-pop quintet seemed to appear, one by one, out of nowhere onto the stage with dance songs that could be described like a good soda - sweet, bubbly, refreshing, and totally addictive.
The blond and lithesome lead singer jumped around the stage in a blazer with a border collie pin fastened to it, and (on the opposite side of the Scandinavian-stereotypes spectrum) some of the more muscular band mates would harmonize and chime in with delicately melodic voices that seemed to be discordant with anyone so strong and Nordic-looking.
People packed into the sold-out venue perked up in surprise and exchanged looks and comments - "Whoa, these guys are awesome! Where did they come from? Are they singing in Norwegian? English? Does it even really matter? This is great!"
By the end of their (all Norwegian) set, which included songs from their critically acclaimed album, Topp Stemning På Lokal Bar, and their most popular single, "Fot I Hose", Casiokids definitely had dozens of new converts for their North Carolina fan base.
Lead singer and keyboardist, Ketil Kinden Endresen, was kind enough to grant me a brief interview after the show:
You were just at SXSW?
Yes. We played four different times. At Beauty Bar, at Torchy's, at The House of Commons, and then The Parish.
Was this your first time there?
No, this was our third this year.
How do you like the festival?
It's crazy how many bands there are. I think there was something like 2,000 this year. Sometimes I think it's too much. But it's always a lot of fun, and it's such a great meeting place for all our friends in other bands and with all the labels we work with. There is just a drum kit playing from every place and corner. It's also nice to be somewhere warm, everywhere is warmer than Noway, but it was like we went from cold to summer.
Who are some of your favorite bands in Norway right now?
This band called Lo-fi-fnk, we really like them, and also Familjen which translates to "The Family" in English.
Who are some of you favorite American bands?
Um, I suppose we really like Beck a lot.
You actually sort of look like Beck. Do people ever tell you that?
[Laughs] Yes, this actually happened at SXSW. This guy from across the street yelled at me, "Hey! Are you Beck?" and I yelled out, "Yes!" because I thought he said "back", you know, like, "are you back again this year for the festival," which we were. So that was funny [laughs]. I also like American Jazz, like Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
What is your favorite Miles Davis album?
Hmmm, that is difficult. Dark Magus, I guess that is the one I listen to the most.
How have you enjoyed Chapel Hill?
We enjoyed the town a lot today. We went to the record store down the street [CD Alley] and to the book store next door [Internationalist Books]. This is the only city we've been to so far on the tour that has proper trees.
What new projects are you working on now?
We've been touring for about 2 to 3 years now and we just got back from Australia, so it's like we got to have two summers. Then after the tour we will go back to working on our new album at our studio in Bergen. We are doing our own production, so that is nice because we can be really flexible. We really like the studio. It is the same studio where Datarock records and we like it a lot.
Cool! When will the album be out?
Probably September for America.
Well thank you for the interview! I'll let you get back to signing albums! Good luck with the rest of your tour!
Thank you!
