Norwegian Pigs

Photo by Mona Ødegård

Snuten are three bearded dudes and one hot stud from Norway who sound a bit like the missing link between Barbra Streisand, Crass and DJ Assault. Just what the world’s been waiting for, right? VICE: What’s a Snuten? Ivar: Snuten is a nickname for the police and for dogs’ noses in Norwegian. It’s also the name of our band. It's just a way of saying, "Respect our authority." Tell us about your song “Hug the Police.” We don’t get it, do you like cops or not? Ivar: That’s from our previous album. The song is all about the police not being as bad as kids may think. Every time somebody puts up giant speakers in the park to play half-assed roots reggae there's some white dude with dreadlocks mumbling a weak attempt at Patwa into the mic, going on about police brutality. It's pathetic. We don't live in Soweto. Cops here might do some pretty fucked up things every once in a while, but they also protect old people and stuff like that. We just want some balance. Martin: Salvador and Oscar from Darkside Of The Force, who rap on that track, would probably say that they we’re being ironic. We're not. We're totally serious. We are working on another song right now called "Fuck The Police." That one is about Sting’s band. They had a great drummer, but so does Slipknot. OLAV BREKKE MATHISEN
Go to www.snuten.no for more.