- Hi, my name is Anders. - Hi, my name is Soren, and I'm from 2nd Strike. - Hello and welcome to Dynaudio's Unheard. My name is Christopher and I'm your host. My next guests combine pop, rock, electronic into their own genre that they call rage pop. They've just been in our mobile recording studio working on one of their tracks. So guys, 2nd Strike, you've just been in the mobile recording studio working on one of your tracks. How was that experience? - Well, it was kind of odd, because when we used to record there isn't a lot of people looking at us. It's very hard to concentrate when you're in there. But it was a very cool experience. I haven't ever tried anything like that before. - Yeah well it's quite a delicate process when you're recording because you're very critical of yourself and you're very "is this good enough?" "Should we do it again and again?" And "Oh I'm sorry, I fucked up!" "Oh oh I messed up!" So when you have all these people looking on, it's different experience but a very, very cool one, because it's really, really fun. - And before you got into the studio we were talking about that you wanted to take one track and work with it and go in there and do the mistakes, you know own them and just say okay cut, we're going to try it over. Did you feel that that was possible in there? - Well, yeah. We saw some other bands that had the mindset that it was like a concert where we kind of wanted to get that one track and then maybe we can use it for a release. That could be super awesome. So we just really want to focus. And I think that yeah it was possible because Ashley was extremely present and professional and he was very good at giving advice and feedback so we could really get the kinks out. So I think, yeah, I think it was a success. - Was there any particular thing that you guys were working on with this track? - Particular things, just getting tight and make it sound really good but also have the edgy life kind of feel. We like that, when it sounds like it's a real band and not just some CD you put on, yeah. - You talk about making it tight. Can you try to explain what you can do in order to make a track sound more tight? - Well, there is a lot of things you can do. I would say the first thing to do is just play good, it's something or I don't know. I don't know, do you have any answers? - Yeah, so for me, behind the drums I think it's most about focus. You really have to be in the moment. You have to be focused on the click track and you have to just really be a slave to the click. So really, just focus and it's very easy to lose the focus especially when you have people looking on. So yeah, that was the main thing, just be focused, be mindful, be present. - And I guess you were a little bit challenged with all of these people looking in and going, what are they doing? - Well I mean, that also adds some energy I think to the performance. - Guys, I want to transition into something a little bit different but still around the topic of your music. When you are writing a new song, where do you find your inspiration? - Well the inspiration comes from a lot of different topics and a lot of different, I would say, incidents, something like that. It's just, I write a lot of the lyrics in the band and when I do that it's finding a topic you think that's relevant for the time and the place and, and often it's frustration from my side. So that's what the topic of the songs usually are. Yeah. - When you have to translate that into drums is there any particular place where you start? - So yeah, I basically start off by thinking about what soundscape do you want to make? What's the basic feel going to be like? Do we want it to be very basic? Do you want the drums to be more in the background and more like, because some songs have drums that you don't really notice them until you think about them. They are just there and I think that's when you succeed. That's when you've made a drum track that's perfect for the song. When you don't really think about it until you do. And so I really try to be mindful of how do they fit into the soundscape of the song. I mean that's yeah, that's like the first and most important thing. - When do you guys know that you have a good song? - We don't. - It's kind of a feeling, you know. We can just kind of feel, when it feels right, you know you have to track and then you have to to have all these layers of music, musical layers, you put it on, and at some point you just feel like it's finished. - Is that feeling, is that like, hair standing up on your arms? Or is it just like a look at each other? - Uh, a little bit in between, I think. It's hard to describe that feeling. You just know it. - Yeah, well, It is very difficult because you know, making a song is a lot of different processes that lead into the final song so I think, with the two songs that we've already released, when we're in the studio with our producer and really putting the finishing touches we really get that feeling like, holy shit, this is really, really good. So I think that that's when you know. When you have the final sound. So it's actually hard to know before that. So as Soren said, it's all about feeling. - I know that you got married on Saturday. - That's right. - Congratulations. - Thank you so much. - And I know that you had to play at Live Cam yesterday at four. - True. - And I mean, if you had to just get some sleep, some rest. That couldn't be the longest wedding. - Well I mean no, no you're absolutely right but we did manage to have a wedding that went from eight o'clock in the morning until one o'clock in the night. - So I think it was - That's pretty decent. - I think it's pretty good because you know when it's your wedding you're just so knackered. After eight you're just dead because it's such a brutal day. It's the biggest day of your life, sorry Soren. And it's just you know, I think we did all right and I was exhausted the morning after I mean really just because I had to get up at like six because we had to clean up the house because we had it at our house. So I had to clean up and get here. - And you guys live in Aalborg so it's about an hour and a half drive down here? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - And we were talking about this in an interview we did before, going to Smukfest, the sacrifices that you make. And I guess this is one of those, right? - Definitely. - Of course, it must be worth it, because otherwise you wouldn't be doing it. But can you talk a little bit about some of the sacrifices you've had to make? - Yeah, all right. Well yeah, so this one's an obvious one because my wife would of course have loved it that we could just hang out and chill out the day after the wedding. So yeah, that's definitely a big sacrifice but she's amazing. She came down here with us and saw the concert and she's just supportive. So I'm very, very fortunate but also just I think the time investment is brutal, time and energy. - We're both studying. You just finished your study. I'm studying music in Aalborg and there's a lot of things I can't go to because I have to practice with the band or we have a gig the next day. Or something. There's always a lot of these things that you have to sacrifice if you just want it but I think it's the same in every adventure. - Business that you own? - Business, yeah. Yeah, so of course, there's a lot of sacrifices, but it's in the end it's all worth it, and we have, we enjoy each other's company so it's... - When is it that you know it's been worth it? Is that when you know you are at Live Cam, and you just have that connection with an audience or? - I think, I actually think that after a concert, we feel that, we get together and we stand and hold each other's arms and say "We did it, we did it, Man! We played good". And, I think that's the feeling. That's worth it all. - Also, it's all about enjoying the process of it because you can't do this at our level, and be like I'm only satisfied when I play in front of a thousand people because that might never happen. So, if you have to do this, then it has to be because you love doing it, not because you only love the results that might not come. - Guys, I have a final question for you, what is the single best thing that could happen to 2nd Strike right now? - I think that the single best thing would be that someone notices us, and gives us the next opportunity, because this is the biggest opportunity in our careers. And, we are extremely hungry for the next big opportunity, so yeah, that would be the most amazing thing, if someone came along and said: "You guys, have potential, I wanna, I wanna bet on you, and I wanna give you a new opportunity". That would be it, I think. - No, I mean, I think the same as you. - Yep, yep. - If that were to happen, what would you guys be able to then do? - Anything, really. I mean, we could do an album right now we could do, we could do Roskilde Festival, we could do anything. I think that we are so focused, and so hungry that we are willing to do anything. - I think that's an appropriate place to to say "Thank You" - Thank you. - And, get you on your way back to your wife. - Thank you. - Back to enjoying your new marriage. So guys, thank you so much for joining us. - Thank you. - And, all there is left to say is check out 2nd Strike on You Tube, Sound Cloud. - Yeah. Everywhere, Spotify. - And, enjoy them. Thank you for tuning in. ♪ I start to see a trend ♪ ♪ I'll try to make it end ♪ ♪ God this is wrong! ♪ ♪ What's with the industry? ♪ ♪ All creativity, seems to be gone. ♪ ♪ I start to see a trend ♪ ♪ I'll try to make it end ♪ ♪ God this is wrong! ♪