We got an email about this new band from Norway at the start of the week. Cars & Calories. And their debut single ‘Runner Up’. The song caught our attention straight away, as it’s pretty damn good. A song in which the verses are on the same par as the chorus in terms of quality. How often do you find that?! Not often enough. This is a semi electronic, guitarpop number. Catchy, as is the main requirement around these parts, and quite cute too – which always helps. And is it just us, or does the singer sound a bit like Mr Donkeyboy in places?
Anyway. Then we saw their amazing band bio.
“Falling on the musical spectrum somewhere between British stadium rock and American dance-pop, Norway’s CARS & CALORIES operate at a temperature that’s historically been a few degrees too hot for chilly Scandinavia. But that hasn’t stopped MICHAEL MARKUSSEN and JIM ANDRÉ BERGSTED. If anything, it’s egged on the duo, who together with songwriters and producers from Sweden, Germany and the United States, will soon unleash their sonic beast with a decidedly un-Norwegian expression of unbridled energy. Their debut single, RUNNER-UP, launches on Spotify, Wimp and iTunes on September 16th, marking the start of a brand-new and ever-more-raucous adventure for the Oslo-based tag team“.
There is so much to love about that bio. The capitalisation of their own names. SONIC BEAST. Unbridled Energy. Ever-more-raucous adventure. Tag team.
One thing we just had to ask though. WHY that Godforsaken name? Jim from the band enlightened us: “Well, we think it’s a little weird and different, and like how it sounds. It’s also the name of one of our favorite songs by Saves The Day (we asked their singer, Chris Conley, if we could use it as our band name, and got his blessing!)“. So there you go.
‘Runner Up’ is out now, and has been released outside of their native Norway too.
