WIN TICKETS TO HIGHASAKITE
When we meet Ingrid Helene Håvik, the singer of Norwegian indie-pop group Highasakite, she’s wearing four gold rings across her fingers that spell ‘K-I-E-T’. Kiet. We repeat it in our head. What is this magical Norwegian word, kiet?
“Oh, it’s wrong,” says Håvik, reshuffling the rings. “It’s supposed to be ‘kite’.”
But let’s not let that ruin the magic.
Highasakite is here for the upcoming Laneway Festival, so we take a seat with Håvik and drummer Trond Bersu for a little get-to-know-you and – bonus level – thanks to Chugg Entertainment we have five double passes for the Sydney and Melbourne side shows to give away. To win, enter below the interview.
What are your earliest memories of music?
Trond: My grandfather played the accordion, playing all the Norwegian folk songs.
Ingrid: My earliest memories were singing with my mum, she’s a singing teacher. And she put on a lot of Mariah Carey for me, and had this microphone she put into the stereo and I could sing along with Mariah Carey.
Ingrid, we heard you sing quite a lot around the house – you have an extremely good voice, but is your boyfriend at breaking point?
Ingrid: We had an argument very early on where he’s like, “That’s enough.” And I said, “Well then you can’t live with me.” And I haven’t heard anything else since (laughs).
Besides family and friends, what do you miss most about Norway when you’re on tour?
Ingrid: Most about Norway? I don’t miss anything about the country really. Maybe just the safety, that I’m at home and I trust that things are clean. And I can sit down on the toilets. And actually I did that here in Australia too because it feels really as clean as back in Norway.
Trond: In the south of the United States, I felt like, we were driving from Texas to the West Coast and we slept at some really strange hotels.
Ingrid: And I’m scared of the police, because they walk around with big guns and it just doesn’t feel as safe as at home.
What’s the last thing that made you angry?
Ingrid: Oh, it’s this rap song that was released in Norway that was really offensive towards women. It’s called ‘It’s More Fun to xxx’. It’s in Norwegian and it’s just about a guy who says to a girl, “Why would you go out on the town if you don’t want to have sex?”
Trond: I think maybe the terrorism going on. The terrible stuff going on in Iraq and Syria, I think it’s really horrible.
Whose mind would you love to look inside?
Ingrid: Maybe Barack Obama. That would be fun.
Trond: Corin Roddick, he’s the brain behind the band Purity Ring.
Norway has great fairy tales. Can you tell us one?
Ingrid: We have a lot of trolls. They’re evil, but they’re stupid, so you beat them by tricking them. It’s about a guy called Espen Askeladd.
Trond: The Askeladd guy and the troll, they’re competing about eating the most, and the troll, he doesn’t see that well, and Askeladd wears this bag over his stomach, and he cuts a hole in the bag – pretending to cut his stomach open – with his knife and says, “You can also do that, Troll.” And the troll kills himself with the knife, just to make room for more food.
Go-to karaoke song?
Trond: Yeah, I did it once. I think I tried to sing Peter Cetera, an old eighties hero, he had a song called ‘Glory of Love’, from Karate Kid. I did not nail it at all, it was really horrible.
Ingrid: It’s not fun for people to hear me, because they’ve heard me before. It’s fun to hear Trond sing, because he never sings.
Trond: Yeah, you’re too good.
Ingrid: I should do some rap, at least that would be fun for people to hear.
If you guys had a band mascot, what would it be?
Ingrid: A bear.
Trond: I was thinking about like, a kite with feet and arms.
To win one of five double passes in either Sydney or Melbourne, just tell us in 25 words or less: “What is your go-to karaoke song and why?”Tuesday 27 January
Metro Theatre, Sydney
ticketek.com.au or 132 849
Wednesday 4 February
Corner Hotel, Melbourne
cornerhotel.com or 1300 724 867
http://www.yenmag.net/win/win-tickets-to-highasakite/TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Competition is open to Australian residents only. Starts 19 January, 2015 and ends at 4pm January 23, 2015. This is a game of skill and entrants must answer this question in 25 words or less: “What is your go-to karaoke song?” The most creative answers will win. Ten winners will each receive a double pass to Highasakite in the city of their choice. Total prize pool value $480. Entries will be judged on 23 January 2015 at nextmedia Level 6, 207 Pacific Hwy, St Leonards NSW 2065. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. All email addresses collected in the entry form will be added to the Yen Newsletter database. You may unsubscribe from this free service at any time. Winners will be announced in the ‘Winners’ section of the Yen website and prizes will be sent to the postal address provided on the entry form or contacted via email about collection.
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