Briskeby back with new music – for the first time in a decade

It is the first new music in almost a decade. The title is “Like The First Time”, and Lise Karlsnes (44) says that’s how it feels to her too.

– Great fun – and a little nerve-wracking, exciting and with lots of expectations. Just like the first time.

Briskeby will bring the new song with them when they return to town in two weeks: the Larm scene. It was at this industry festival that they had their big breakthrough 24 years ago.

– I can remember the feeling of standing on the ByLarm stage in Bergen in 2000 and I think I will have some of the same tension in my body now, says Karlsnes.

Pop history on hiatus

Briskeby sang right into Norwegian pophistorie. They helped define the sound of the new millennium with songs like “Propaganda”.

But in 2005 they “took a break”. For years, the members were barely on speaking terms. But last year, Briskeby was reunited at the Picnic in the Park festival in Oslo. It became a catalyst.

– We were only supposed to play once for the sake of coziness, but were surprised by both the love and the feedback from the audience and organizers – who seemed like they had been waiting for us. Twenty-year-olds sang the lyrics back to us. We got a lot of energy and new energy after that.

– Maybe a little too much

– The fact that we hung out in the rehearsal room and had to redo old songs was magical. They brought us back in time, reminded us of how we felt at the start and all the nice things we did together on this incredible journey, says Karlsnes:

– I think we may have needed this rather long break. We went 24-7 for seven years and it was perhaps a bit much.

The band’s guitarist and songwriter Bjørn “Bulle” Bergene began studying medicine when Briskeby took a break. Today the hospital doctor says:

– When we started, we were in our early 20s. The music and the band were all-consuming. We lived in a little bubble that burst, we needed more in our lives. Now our lives have been filled up by many big and small people and cats and dogs, and Briskeby has become a surplus phenomenon.

Not planned

– In the last couple of years it has been fun to rediscover our old songs, and listen to them with new ears, says Bergene, who continued songwriting, and last year brought a new song into the rehearsal room one day.

– It hit something with everyone, recalls “Bulle” from the studio about what became “Like The First Time” – and Briskeby’s completely unplanned foot back in the record industry.

Lise Karlsnes says that the band members jammed a bit on the song and pondered “should we go into the studio and record it?”. They asked Espen Berg, who produced their best-selling debut record “Jeans for Onassis” back in 2000.

– Classic pop

– Then Thomas Kongshavn joined the producer side. He told us that he had started music because of us! she says. Kongshavn is thus the Spellemanns-winning producer behind Dagny, Emilie Nicolas, Chris Holsten, Seeb and Karpe.

– To hear that we as a band had influenced the new generation of producers and artists, and made them dream of their own careers, that is special, admits Karlsnes, while Bergene adds:

– We regularly hear it from younger artists – that we are a musical reference for them, a sound. When I hear music that is fresh, it is not far from the Briskeby song from 20 years ago: It is classic pop, which has been there all along.

– More than one ego

At by:Larm, Briskeby will share the stage with younger colleagues such as Skaar and No. 4. Lise Karlsnes points out the advantages of having taken the round before.

– You gain more experience and wisdom and don’t get knocked off the hook as quickly. I remember how we were sucked into everyone else’s expectations in 2000. Now we do it because we have re-chosen the music and each other. We have realized that there is more than one ego to accommodate.

Briskeby belonged to the time when you could sell 130,000 copies of an album, as “Jeans for Onassis” did. Lise Karlsnes notes dryly:

– The music industry has changed considerably since we started. Slowly but surely, we are building up the new part that did not exist – such as social media. It’s fun with all the feedback that comes directly, like when people share their memories. Now we will create new memories.