The HC Nitter Band is among the ones on the rise. Being an international music act they embrace the different cultural traits and dare to sing and write beyond the cultural trends. As their new songs started to come out, we’ve sat down to talk about artistry, music and the world around. Be brave to read on!
And while you are at it, listen to Æ ska pule dæ by the HC Nitter Band, it’s a good one!
Music Authentic: Welcome to Music Authentic! Let’s begin with our site-traditional question: How did you sleep last night?
HC Nitter: Last night when me and my “wife” (I am not married and I stay away from organized religions) went to bed. It started to rain hard. Usually I go to bed later than her, but following many days with little sleep we went to bed together. We live in an almost new house here in Mexico, but the architect tried to win some extra money not making the roof water proof an in a correct manner. Just after we went to bed the rain started to drip inside the bedroom but fortunately on the floor beside the bed. We put towels and boxes around the bedroom and after that we were a bit stressed and we had time to talk about a neighbor that is not paying the rent and another neighbor that just finished a 5 year relationship. I felt asleep thinking about the man working for tip outside the supermarket and another man that almost can’t walk after a car accident following a bad operation because no private health insurance.
“Crazy night”. Sometimes days are so hard to survive, oh yeah
A million ways to bury you alive – KISS.
Music Authentic: What is the weather now over there? I’m sure Summer is quite different over there than in New York or Los Angeles.
HC Nitter: Yes, here now is the rain-season. And June is one of the hardest rainy months. The flooding last week was hard to some people in the center and we gave some food to support them. An initiative that came from the “president” of the neighborhood here. Or maybe he took the collected food to himself… at least some of it… it happens…
Music Authentic: Now, as these years of “lockdown crazy” passed, do you plan to travel and relax or is there a tour in your calendar?
HC Nitter: Yes, a tour with the band would be the best for me now. Also when you and maybe other have an interest to write about my new song that is in Norwegian language and when there is an interest to put the song on an USA radio, I guess all is possible. Also the song has been accepted (yesterday) to a playlist in Venezuela and Costa Rica. So, the idea was trying to get money for a tour in the north of Norway, but maybe I should go for Boston or Costa Rica…
Music Authentic: What is your song, Æ ska pule dæ no, about?
HC Nitter: I made the demo of this song in a cabin in the north of Norway in the Lyngen Alps. The cabin is like a smaller and uglier version of the cabin in the great movie “Secret window” based on a novel by Stephen King starring Johnny Depp”. My main music video idea for the song is to use a film clip from the movie “Amores perros” (in Netflix) and from where the old man finds his dogs killed. I am still trying to get hold of the rights for that clip. The song is mainly about suffering, pain, abuse, loneliness, pleasing, revenge, isolation, disorder, violence and sexual aggression. It is a little bit hard to translate the title and the lyrics, but it is about a revenge in a sexual way. A man that has been abandoned / forsaken / deserted and feel some sexual aggression towards the other person. I need some more time to translate the lyrics. I still didn’t get it right. I guess the main theme is sexual aggression. Maybe sexual aggression is related to the need to dominate and control, and / or the need to have somebody who wants to be dominated or softly dominated. I man / woman thing. Evolution. Like the man feel strong and important when the woman wants him. This is maybe an interesting theme for your show… A man who needs to be strong (sexually potent) specially if he feels weak…
Music Authentic: You’ve released a series of songs lately, all are different in style, niche, length – and all are in Norwegian. Very few could make it in their native language, even your national treasures, the A-ha, sings in English. Is it an artistic decision for you?
HC Nitter: Thanks, yes, I started making songs in Norwegian long time ago, some songs will be back on Spotify etc soon. I didn’t pay the membership on IndigoBoom for some years and they removed one album just to fuck me / push me (the way I see it). I was stuck in no ideas about marketing and this company didn’t share any marketing ideas…I was stuck in the cold…poor me…I told them and they didn’t answer… Yes, it is all about my identity I guess. Also when I am thinking about creating a LIVE show with music and scetches (humor) and multimedia, it would be very difficult to do songs in English, but maybe I could use some words from the Sami and kvensk language…
Music Authentic: Music has several purposes; mainly it serves as a bridging language to spark meaningful conversations and convey important messages, and of course express thoughts, emotions other ways impossible. Why do you write songs, what is your drive and where does your passion come from?
HC Nitter: I guess my story is a bit like George Carlin. It started with the love of music (blues and classical) and then I realized that I am not a person who just want to sing and play whatever. I wanted to create something and then it also turned into humour in both the music and in the sketches reflecting the society we live in.
Music Authentic: I know it is a struggle to get where Bon Jovi is, though most artists have that dream. Yet, it seems so many musicians lack the spirit to go through the first decade of relative unknown and just give in when the glass ceiling seems to be impenetrable. Have you always been sure music is your fate and destiny?
HC Nitter: I guess what drives me is to create a great LIVE show. So I am a big fan of LIVE show concerts, stand-up, theater and musicals. For me music has been a struggle always, but as the years goes by the struggle is less. And trying to get a tour is about money as well and connections, network and relationships, logistics etc – and here in Mexico I need to pay musicians / band members. They have other jobs and children and I need to “pay them out”. (“Pay them out – a nice song title maybe…) Marketing and advertising is also much about money, but Fiverr and groover.co and SumMitHub is great. Yes, I always had an inner drive. Don’t know why. There is something about creating melodies and these melodies needs to come out and be presented. Bon Jovi and Def Leppard are two great examples of melodic rock that fitted perfectly into my childhood, and I was also a lot into metal music in all kinds of forms and classical music.
Music Authentic: How could you describe your style and yourself if Simon Cowell just called you now?
HC Nitter: I didn’t listen to Simon Cowell much, but I guess I am a selfish bastard who try to be a better person and usually when I try to be good I do too much – and end up too good. So kind of fuck you or fuck me. Not much balance. Ha-ha. I guess I am also looking for a way to fit in – meeting the “right” people and to connect with other. I think Eric Clapton was dealing with this issue in his song “River of tears”.
“In 3 more days Ill leave this town,
And disappear without a trace,
A year from now maybe settle down,
Where no one knows my face,
I wish that I could hold you,
One more time to ease the pain,
But my times run out and I got to go,
Got to run away again”,
Music Authentic: In this decadent and rapidly declining western world where everybody seems to be shouting without listening or paying any attention to each other and things that real and matter, how can one be heard and seen?
HC Nitter: I guess it is all about relationships. One of my main interests as well. If your dog takes a shit in front of your neighbor house and you do not pick it up or if a country sends a bomb towards another country – that’s not very friendly. There is no relationship in that. No communication. No dialog. No thinking together.
Music Authentic: The internet is probably the greatest tool for any humans on Earth, but can we say this about social media where – especially as a musician, performer – in any given day you can be depleted, called on names, drained and ridiculed?
HC Nitter: I was reading that people were throwing tomatoes on Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan in their early days (maybe it is true). That kind of sets the standard. And if you throw tomatoes on me I can make a tomato soup. And there is a learning in all that happens. 100% narcissists, psychopaths and sociopaths – I stay away from them – if I spot them. Usually I spot them too late, but I am getting a better spotter. More normal people – I always give them a second chance (s).
Music Authentic: In the old ages we had “fans” that went to concerts, bought the records, cassette tapes and learned the songs by heart and sung at campfires. Who are the fans these days? Are there any or just folks who want to be entertained?
HC Nitter: Yes, I guess we all need to cover up and run from our own thoughts and life (problems). For the adults I guess there is a conscious escape and a conscious covering up most of the time. We know we are escaping and hiding and running. We know that life is painful. We know that we are running. This theme is an important part of my lyrics / texts. I guess we need to stay in the pain. Not hiding. Not running. No covering up. Jiddu Krishnamurti writes and talks about this endlessly. I love his books and talks. Not all, but some of it.
Music Authentic: Here is a funny question: would you take the job as a spaceship performer towards Mars in that short 9 months of possible residency?
HC Nitter: If I could bring my two daughters and “wife” – yes.
Music Authentic: Back to Earth: who are your musical and real life heroes?
HC Nitter: Because I am also into classical music I have many classical composers and performers on that list. Assad Brothers from Brazil for example or some stunning orchestras and string quartets. And I guess most of the classical music repertoire, and Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Listz, Chopin. The list is endless. Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Steven Tyler and Robbie Williams are at the same café. With whom of them would you rather have a deeper conversation? I guess I would hand over some half-finished songs to Paul McCartney to see if he could finish them off, and then I would find an arranger. I like my music to be arranged by professional arrangers. Frank Sinatra knew how to do it – or Quincy Jones. I guess Paul McCartney would rather work on the songs intuitively more than talking too much. That’s what I need, but I would talk to him about the musical ideas and the lyrics – I would try to bring in Eric Clapton as well to overlook the “song creating process” and put in ideas as well. No competition. No pressure. Just pure song-writing. Just a creative process. Fuck the rest.
Music Authentic: Sometimes we don’t ask the question or we aren’t sure in the right answer: is there any point to be a musician, artist in this decadent, self-absorbed world?
HC Nitter: I think the world needs LIVE music, poetry, theater, new composition, opera, classical music etc. I guess some music will only be music. My approach (in my own dream world) is a bit like George Carlin – a little more, a little deeper, a little extra.
Music Authentic: Styles and niches are always in an evolutionary state. However, it seems, genuine musicianship started to turn into a copy-paste loop model… Can you cope with this tidal wave of well, less original and quite machine based flock of musicians?
HC Nitter: Yes, it is a good question. In Mexico they who works in a supermarket gets I euro per hour (actually a little less). They can’t buy one liter of gasoline from what they make working one hour. Mexico is one of those countries where things are not getting better. It is getting worse. Big social differences. Pollution. They talk about seven social classes in Mexico. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Art, music, poetry, blogs etc can also focus on that – but they who push it too hard in Mexico will for sure get a bullet here in Mexico…it is dangerous to protest in Mexico…recently the owner of a local newspaper here was shot dead. I wish there were more protests in Norway. Don’t take shit. The royal family in Norway dresses up with titles and medals, but if normal people do the same they are put it a mental hospital – In a ho-ho-ho hotel as George Carlin puts it.
Music Authentic: Before we go, do you have any special message to your fans and sympathizers?
HC Nitter: Try to look for the humor in things. Put on the humor-glasses. Many people – and most of us – with a sense of humor forget to use it. My father told me this one time. It´s one of the best lessons I had. And a short one. And a funny one. And if you want people to share something from you in social media, making other people look good usually works. We like to share things where we look good ourselves. And I guess Robert Cialdini and his books changed a bit of how I was thinking (or not thinking) about marketing and life in general. Pre-suation and Influence.
Music Authentic: Thank you for the time and this interview. Looking forward to hearing your new songs!
Follow and listen to HC Nitter on their:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HcNitter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hcnitter/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBGT9jxgdOP4hyXilNeJXDw/featured
Website: https://hcnitter.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/1xTyVUhzTMwO1RgywJjP6Z?si=a146b98ae07347e8