Interview: Skodde "Abduction" LP

Congrats on your first album release! How did you conceive the idea about your first LP? What was the production process like?

Thanks! The process has been a real fun one. It´s been a lot of trial and error and a lot of hours in the studio. Mostly we just jam the same way we play live to get a blueprint, then export individual tracks from the jam and produce it in ableton. Henrik makes most of the melodies, mixes, and masters most of it and Andreas does most of the rhythm and arrangements.

Your album is raw, emotional and gritty. It’s described as a pure analog mayhem. What is the inspiration behind it? 

We are inspirated by of lots of things, art, nature, mountains, fjords, sex, emotions and events, but music is our biggest inspiration. The obvious inspiration are guys like Oscar Mulero, Jeff Mills, Surgeon, Nørbak to mention a few. But we get a lot of inspiration from black metal as well. We like the aesthetic and atmosphere of the old black metal records from the 90s. Bands like Mayhem, Darkthrone, Gorgorth and Immortal have had a huge impact on our sound. We are also inspired by the free spirit in the melodies and rhythms in jazz music. 

Is there a reason behind the name you chose for the album - Abduction?

We are really fascinated by space.

What pieces of gear did you use for the album?

Korg MS 20, System-1m, Arturia minibrute, Sunset dual overdrive, Electron Analog Rytm Electron Octatrack, BOSS Reverb, BOSS delay, Roland TR-8S, Arturia Beatstep Pro, Korg sq-1, An old 16 channel Allen Heath Mixer.

When producing music, do you use mostly hardware, or software, or a combination of both?

All the individual tracks are from hardware, with some few exceptions with a few samples. We don’t use soft synths but we use a lot of plugins from Waves to mix and master the tracks. 

You’re co-founders of this label with Anémi. How did you end up collaborating and starting the label up, in the midst of a pandemic? 

We have been making music together for a long time just for fun. All the way back in 2013 we started making some music together. And decided on the name Skodde in 2015 but we started up seriously in May 2020. About the same time Andreas and Andrea (Anémi) started to make events and raves. When Andreas and Andrea decided to start up Flux Henrik was quickly included since we make music together. We started up during the pandemic because it was a good time to highlight the music, we have had a passion for techno for over more than 10 years and felt like the techno scene in Oslo was finally ready for what we in Flux want to give them.

Do you see yourself staying in Oslo, where you are based, and working on developing the techno scene there? 

We hope to contribute to putting Oslo on the map as a leading city for techno, as we know there are many people and artists loving this sound but havent had the proper output for it in the clubs. This will always be in our mind wherever we are. But we have a secret dream of a studio with glass near mountain’s, fjords and midnight sun. Preferably somewhere on the islands of Lofoten. 

You are mostly know for playing live on hardware - what is it about this that you like compared to DJ’ing? 

We love playing on hardware because we can be creative in a way we can’t when we DJ. Especially when we improvise live on hardware. Sometimes we get in a trance like state where we forget what we have done when the show is over. It’s like out of body experience our two minds communicate on a different plane of existence, somewhat spiritually. We never get the same experience when we DJ but we love that platform as well. You can say we have more fun when we DJ because it’s of a lesser effort and we communicate much better with the crowd when we don’t have to think about 1000 things as we must when we play live. It’s  two completely different experiences.  

You must have a unique connection musically - looking at your live performances. What are the pros and cons working together in a duo and how would you describe your roles?

It's just pros and no cons. We can work much faster than what we are able to as solo acts. Because we have different roles, we can work in the studio at separate times to save a lot of time. When we play live, Andreas does the rhythm and Henrik does the melodies. 

What do you look forward to in 2022?

We have a lot of new music coming out, both on Flux and other labels which we really look forward to. A lot of cool stuff is happening this summer with the rave season coming up which always is a lot of fun. And a lot of other cool events coming up after the summer. 2022 has already been great, and we can’t wait for the continuation.  

Do you have any upcoming plans and projects you would like to share with us?

There is a lot coming up now. A lot of new music, a lot of upcoming shows. But there is a secret event 18 of June we really look forward to.