Nice Shoegazing

Photo by Lars Petter Pettersen

Oslo based Lionheart Brothers play the psychedelic, slightly unfashionable indiepop of bands like Ride, Ultra Vivid Scene and Galaxie 500. Ironically, exactly the kind of band that Sofia Coppola would pay one of her French buddies to discover for her movies. Two members of Lionheart Brothers were early members of similarly psychedelic, Oslo rock bands 120 Days and Serena Maneesh. Together they bring back warm memories of baggy cardigans, hair clips and flowery dresses, and remind us of what it was like back when it was cooler for a band to release 25 numbered 7"s on a label run by a postal worker who lived with his mum, than having 400,000 imaginary friends online. Vice: Would you say that you, Serena Maneesh and 120 Days are part of a new, quietly stylistic Oslo scene? Marcus: All us bands are friends, you know. I played in Serena Maneesh when they started out and also Morten, our guitarist, has played in Serena Maneesh and 120 Days, so we’re all good friends. I don’t know if you can call it a scene but we like a lot of the same music. Norway’s a small country and there’s really just us three who are influenced by shoegazing bands. Why not move to London or New York? The fashion people would would take you in their arms. Marcus: I’ve never been to London or New York, but I guess you can play tons of small places and not many people will notice you. If we get good shows, maybe support for some bigger bands then great, but I don’t want to go there and spend a lot of money to play crappy shows. So you’re all about labels like Creation, Fire and Cherry Red. Do you think that MySpace has eradicated the chances of there ever being a great, truly independent scene like that again? Morten: I think MySpace is positive at the moment but I can clearly see it going down the drain because it’s so artificial. If you’re a bad band you won’t last, no matter how many “friends” you have. How would you feel if your label told you they wanted to get a stylist in to give you a more fashionable look? Morten: I don’t think we’ll ever get that demand. I don’t think we’ll ever be on that kind of label. I totally wouldn’t mind it on a smaller scale, for a photo shoot or whatever, but a band stylist who follows us around telling us where to go and what to buy—that’s a bit far out! TONY WILSON
The album Dizzy Kiss is out now on Racing Junior.