They’re cranking up the sleaze factor at Mayhem Festival as The Rockpit catches up with Norway’s very own Suicide Bombers. With a sound rooted in gritty hard rock, laced with attitude and an unapologetic edge, they bring a raw, rebellious energy that feels tailor-made for a festival crowd. Never ones to hold back, Suicide Bombers promise a set full of swagger, hooks, and just the right amount of chaos.
What does Mayhem Festival mean for Suicide Bombers?
It means we’re invited back to the UK after last year’s successful tour with Continental Lovers and Trench Dogs, which is very cool. Trench Dogs will be playing the festival with us and Continental Lovers have threatened to show up, so this is gonna be a good one. Can’t wait to play to our UK fans again and the line-up for Mayhem is great and we can’t wait to see the other bands too. There’s also gonna be a live stream, which means most of the shenanigans will be available to the world.
What first got you into rock and roll?
Elvis Presley, maybe… but the first band I loved, that has stuck with me since, was Kiss. I remember discovering W.A.S.P. shortly after and both those bands are still among my very faves.
How has your sound evolved over time?
Organically. We haven’t really made any deliberate changes, but we are constantly improving as a band and getting better at playing to our strengths. More refined, kinda. We do like to push the envelope a little with every record to keep it interesting to ourselves and our fans, but I think it’s safe to assumme that if you like one record – or one song – by the SUiCiDE BOMBERS chances are pretty big that you’ll like all, or most of, our stuff.
What defines your current era as a band?
A lot more international work. We have done some in the past too, but there’s more now.
The Suicide international era!
What inspires your sleaze rock attitude?
It comes very naturally. For me, I guess it’s my personality more than anything, but 10 years in a porn store probably didn’t help. Apart from that it’s all the usual…. Girls, parties, fun…. life in general.
Photo by: Espen Sandengen
What’s your newest material sounding like?
Cool that you ask, as we are rehearsing songs for our 6th album at the same time as preparing for the tour. Again we have pushed the envelope in a few corners and have some really strong songs, but it’s a little too early to be talking much about it. We are shooting for a 2027 release, but things have a tendency to take a while with us, so you never know.
How do you approach songwriting today?
For the upcoming record I have been really focused on lyrics. I mean, I have always focused on lyrics and most are very personal, but with the upcoming one it’s kinda like it’s hit a new depth. It’s the first time I have told the band which lyrical topics we need on the album before lyrics or songs are even written. That’s a brand new approach, but one that feels important this time. There are some darker topics, but we won’t be scaring any of our old fans regardless. Still tons of tunes about female anatomy and even those are on a deeper level this time.
What makes a Suicide Bombers live show?
Great songs, great musicianship, great energy and a great concert that lasts from the intro starts ‘til we are off stage again. We take all aspects of it seriously and try to be very conscious about the fact that the concert is not just about playing the songs… it’s the whole thing. I guess anyone who’s curious about it can just log on to the Mayhem Stream and see for themselves.
What’s your most dangerous live memory?
Not sure we have any. Most have gone really well.
How do you prepare for festival sets?
Same as regular sets. We rehearse a lot and go for it. Set times at festivals are usually shorter and curfew is stricter, so – with 5 records out – it’s hard to cut that many songs to make it fit, but what is left is the absolute cream of the crop and playing short sets are a breeze energywise too.
What bands influenced your early style?
We all have different influences and most of that comes through in our music in one way or another. To us it’s more important to have our own sound than to sound like the bands we like. Put enough different influences in there – not just music, but everything – add a ton of personality and don’t look back.
What keeps your sound relevant?
That we have something to say, both lyrically and musically. We’ve always been authentic as artists, but I think we are even more so now and that shines through in our sound. If you have something to say and you mean what you do, you’ll stay relevant, even if that isn’t your main focus.
How important is image in your music?
Very important! We all like bands who look like bands. That is about showing respect for yourself, and your audience, and not giving anyone any half assed shit. You get the full thing with SUiCiDE BOMBERS. Then again, this is the way we look most of the time so it hasn’t been as conscious as it’s been with bands from our past, but we take that aspect of the band very seriously too.
What’s your favourite track to play live?
It varies from night to night. I really like Tonight Belongs To Us, So Bad, Murder Couture, All For The Candy, Suicide Idol, Bladerunner…. the list goes on. They are all great!
What’s next for the band after Mayhem?
We headline the Friday at Lillehammer Rock Festival in Norway, a few weeks after Mayhem, and then we hope to dedicate our time to the next record. There are talks about a tour in the autumn too, but not sure what will happen with that yet.
How do you keep your shows unpredictable?
There’s always that Rock’n’Roll element of danger with SUiCiDE BOMERS. You never know what might happen, but apart from that we don’t really strive to make our shows unpredictable. We pretty much stick to the same set for a tour and really enjoy how we, as a band, deliver it better and better as the tour rolls on. Terminator precision and full frontal attack. To someone seeing us at Mayhem and not in Germany, Austria or Belgium on this tour, it’s a lot more important that we fucking KiLL when he/she sees us, than that we play 3 songs we didn’t do when he /she didn’t see us in Berlin the week before… if that makes sense? But we do switch up the set between tours of course.
What defines success for you now?
Most of the time I feel success is in the art one creates together. What happens with it is important as fuck too, and I think we’d all be bored to tears if there wasn’t progress careerwise… I mean, every advancement in our career is success, but at the end of the day… when we are all dead and gone it’s the records, songs, performances etc standing the test of time that is the real measure of success in my opinion.
How has touring shaped you as musicians?
I don’t think it has shaped us much as musicians, but it has really shaped us as a unit. When playing every day, it’s inevitable that the band starts syncing on a level that doesn’t really happen when you are just gigging. There’s a self confidence and collective energy and consciousness on stage that one only gets from touring.
What inspires your lyrics today?
I guess I’ll dive further into this when the album is released, but for me it’s life… mostly my own life… as always. I wrote my last songs for All For The Candy in the summer of 2021, and a lot has happened since then. This time it feels important to open up a little about some of those things and we’ll see how that works out in the end. For now I guess you’ll just have to hold your breath in suspense hahaha
What makes Suicide Bombers unique?
We have our own easily identifiable sound and attitude and exist in a universe all of our own. If you’re in a club where the DJ plays bands and songs in our genera, you’ll know when he plays SUiCiDE BOMBERS, if you’re familiar with the band, even if you haven’t heard that particular song before.
What is the meaning of life?
Seriously? Hahaha…
If you could be a fly on the wall anywhere in rock history, where would it be?
Backstage at Mayhem Rock Festival in Nottingham in May is where I’d want to be…. oh, wait… I’ll be there hahaha
What’s one thing fans get wrong about you?
There is a lot more heart to the band than most see at first glance.
What should Nottingham expect from your set?
To be fully and utterly annihilated and drenched in disaster! You’ve been warned
