Beachheads: Live And Let Live
Everyone loves a little time off, right? Annual leave is that sweet reprieve from the day-to-day grind. You’re no longer on the clock 9-5, you’re no longer running a rat race; you’re just free to be whatever you want to be, do whatever you want to do. Most of us switch off and zone out. But what about your everyday rock stars? What do they do when it’s time to turn off? Well, for KVERLERTAK founders Vidar Landa and Marvin Nygaard, you swap your uniforms and start moonlighting as indie-rock-come-power-poppers BEACHHEADS.
But with both bands firing on all cylinders in recent years, how do the duo find being the Batman to their Bruce Wayne – do they struggle to juggle the two identities? “They’re like two very different bands, with two creative mindsets that can actually coexist pretty well together because they’re so different” explains Vidar, fresh off a train trip from Oslo to Stavanger to see some family.
So, it might be easier than you think to be your own caped crusader for the Norwegians, but with a new BEACHHEADS album – Beachheads II – on it’s way, and KVELERTAK still promoting 2020’s Splid, the timelines feel like they’ve been playing with the multiverse – especially when you throw a global pandemic in the mix. “It was easier to finish everything and have time to do the whole mixing process, because we didn’t tour with KVERLERTAK as planned, but a lot of the songs were actually done before the pandemic” Vidar admits, possibly the only person in the world who isn’t fazed by juggling a black ‘n’ roll band and a power-pop band, however the pandemic did present a spanner in the works.
“When the first KVERLERTAK tour got postponed, it got postponed to when it wouldn’t fit with BEACHHEADS stuff, so it was just trying to find the space and time to actually continue the studio sessions” he sighs, as fed up with the restrictions COVID-19 has thrown at us at every turn as we are. “That was hard, we tried to rehearse and spend this time well, but with all the different quarantine and isolation restrictions, it’s really hard, even with a band like BEACHHEADS, especially when some of us live in different cities.”
Despite the odds against them and every band from here to Timbuktu, they came up with the goods. Joined by vocalist Børild Haughom and drummer Espen Kvaløy, Beachheads II takes its predecessors power-pop punk-by-numbers approach and dials it down, drifting into a world where R.E.M., OASIS, and THE PIXIES become points of reference.
It’s a much mature band than the one we first heard five years ago, and it’s a learning curve Vidar feels is a long time coming: “When we started touring and putting out the first two albums with KVELERTAK, we didn’t really know how long it was going to last. After five years or so, you find yourself going ‘oh, this is what I’m doing, I’m playing guitar and I’m writing songs’ and being a musician, because it took me many, many years to even call myself a musician.”
It’s not only something that dates to their days starting up KVELERTAK that’s carried over, but also harks back to the very reason they started BEACHHEADS as a break from their day job. “When me and Marvin started this band, even though we were in our mid-twenties, it felt like a teenage band – it was very simple, very intuitive and that was the point, it was very easy and unpretentious music. But since that album, we’ve been writing so much that we’ve become better songwriters, we’ve learned more, found our own sound and our own voice.”
Whether they’ve grown up or not, such a shift in sound between a single set of albums is a lot to warm up to. But it’s ultimately what drove them to even make a new album, and why it took so long, too. “I think it was important to do something new. We didn’t want to repeat ourselves; the main idea was that instead of focusing too much on one sound that should fit all the songs, or a whole concept, each song would be its own idea – if we felt it needed a synthesiser, we were allowed to do that and if it sounded better stripped down, then that’s what we’re going to do.”
You can hear the fluidness of creativity flowing through the veins of Beachheads II. There’s not a single moment you can say you’re hearing the same thing twice – whether it’s Break It Off’s BEACH BOYS meets THE DRUMS surf-rock summer vibes, Down South’s glimmering campfire indie-folk, or the college rock-era R.E.M. melodies closer Oh Joy channels. Whilst there’s a lot of sounds flying about the album, there was only one album on repeat: Let It Be by THE REPLACEMENTS. “It’s this crazy album, it goes from these really super punk songs, that are even more punk than BLACK FLAG to you know, these ballads to more straight power-pop songs.”
Like THE REPLACEMENTS in the eighties, BEACHHEADS are lashing out at their peers playing it safe. “A lot of bands today seem like they get too caught up in the sound, so you have these records where everything sounds great, but there’s a lot of it that all sounds the same. It’s been a goal for us to have a record that can surprise you, where it’s not the same sound on all the songs, and not too pastiche.”
If you were ever to attempt to accuse BEACHHEADS of being pastiche, they can bypass it easily. Just like their founders have fun swapping identities like their alternative music’s answer to Hannah Montana, the songs they make offer the best of both worlds. On the likes of Live And Let Live and Oh Joy, they juxtapose glittering, jangle-pop riffs ready for the summer with wintertime musing and existential lyrics exploring death and our impending doom. For Vidar, it’s a balancing act he’s still becoming familiar with, as Børild writes all the lyrics.
“It’s very hard for our singer to write something metaphorically, it’s always very honest and straight to the point – what you hear is what you get, which can make it very interesting. Sometimes Marvin or I will have an idea that sounds like a great song for a summer hit, and it’s jolly, but then Børild comes in with lyrics and it’s about wanting to die, so the mood of the song takes a really different way than we thought when we wrote it”
For all of BEACHHEADS balancing acts, their aim is far simpler, although it’s easier said than done. Above anything else, they just want to give people a record that takes them on a journey, musically and spiritually. And with Beachheads II, that’s what they’ve done. “I hope that they find 10 songs they really enjoy, that takes them on an emotional journey through both nostalgia and love, but also grief and the darker stuff, like a companion throughout the summer and winter.”
Beachheads II is out now via Fysisk Format.
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