Alternative pop duo AS CAROL have toured the world and has even released a debut EP. But in the mean time, the band is currently hard at work upon all new material set for release in the summer of next year sometime. But before that a few single's will be released in the New Year as well. Find out just what else was talked about when it comes to the music and planning of an duo act such as this one.
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
The two members of Ask Carol met for the first time at a school, studying jazz, in southern Norway, over ten years ago. It wasn't until years later, in 2015 we decided to start a band. That summer we stayed at a cabin in the Norwegian mountains, with no electricity and no water, far away from people and civilization, only a few sheep outside the windows. That's where our first songs were made, and the seed to what would become Ask Carol started. One more year went by before we started for real, and Ask Carol was officially born, in 2016. Our first concert ever was at a small blues club in Seoul, South Korea, called Strange Fruit. At that point, Carol was already a somewhat known guitarist-for-hire in the Oslo music scene, and had never ever sung in front of people before, or at all for that matter. That's why we wanted to try out our music and hold our first concerts far away from our hometown.
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
After thinking hard and long about the band name, with many pretty good suggestions, we ended up with the simple band name Ask Carol, the first names of our two members, Ask and Carol, put together. Ask is a real Norwegian name, coming from Norse Mythology, the Viking religion; he was the first human being, created by the God Odin, out of a piece of Ash-wood.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
Ask Carol is for the time being based in Carol's home place, Auma. We like to call it Auma City, but only around 150 people live there. That means there are not so many other bands there either, so we feel partially connected to the capital, Oslo, too, where there is a bigger music scene, and quite a few good bands. For example the duo Aiming for Enrike whom we played with as SXSW in 2018, and guitarist/singer Hilma Nikolaisen, who we saw at ByLarm this year are pretty good. Just to name a couple.
4. How would you describe your style?
Our style is a mix of different genres, but we like to call it grungy alt-pop. Usually we sound a little more rough live than on the records, with more of our rock influences shining through live. We like so much different music, and different genres, and we believe by blending them we can create something a little bit new.
Being only two, playing almost all instruments live on stage, our live-style is multitasking, with both of us often playing two instruments at a time, maybe even more. For bigger concerts/stages we use either a third person or a little bit of tracks to fill in.
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
As of now we have released 6 singles and one EP (which includes three of them).
6. Do you have any new music in the works?
We are currently recording songs for our upcoming album, scheduled for release some time around summer next year. There will also be a couple of new singles coming after New Year's, following on from our last single, "Shining Bright", released last week.
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
In February we are planning a tour to the Philippines, where we have big following thanks to Carol being half Filipino, and having toured there before. We also plan on doing a small tour in the UK and Germany in the coming spring, and a US tour later next year.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?Well, first of all the album we mentioned, and also as much touring as we can.
Oh, and we're working on setting up a webshop for our merch. It was so popular at the shows, so we thought it would be a good idea to get something online too. As an independent DIY band we are doing everything ourselves though, so it might not be ready before Christmas... But we promise to get it ready soon :)
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Our songs are available on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and most other platforms. All songs are on YouTube too, some of them with music videos. And as mentioned we are working on a webshop, it will come to askcarolmusic.com soon!
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
The feeling it gives them, Carol's voice, and the guitars. Have a great day, and all the best,
Ask T. Borgen from Ask Carol
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