Denmark’s Smag På Dig Selv performed at Eurosonic in Groningen in January 2025. It was an exhilarating set by the trio of Oliver Lauridsen (tenor saxophone), Thorbjørn Øllgaard (baritone and bass saxophone, and vocals) and Albert Holberg (drums). This was followed by their two biggest headline gigs to date in their hometown of Copenhagen’s Vega (capacity 1600) which God Is In The TV Zine was invited to attend.
Whilst in Copenhagen we spent a couple of hours with the trio strolling through Freetown Christiania where Oliver and Thorbjørn grew up and indeed where members of Thorbjørn family still live. The community of Freetown Christiania began when anarchists and hippies began squatting at a disused military base in 1971. It’s still a thriving creative community with only one obvious sign of gentrification encroaching, a Square Burger unit which, to be frank sticks out like a sore thumb. The neighbourhood was a formative space creatively for Smag På Dig Selv as they not only worked here but rehearsed, put on shows and even recorded their first EP within Freetown Christiania.
I believe the name Smag På Dig Selv, means “Taste Yourself” in English. Why did you pick that name?
Oliver: I think the meaning doesn’t translate very well, because in Danish, it kind of means look inside yourself, look at yourself in the mirror. It’s not a way of saying something that is used, but we invented it and it sounds like it’s a way of speaking that has been around for a long time.
And how did the three of you come together to form Smag På Dig Selv?
Oliver: We were living together, me and Thorbjørn and our old drummer, who also was from Christiania. Unfortunately he got sick and we were going on a Christiania culture exchange to Russia, and we needed a drummer. Thorbjørn knew Albert from childhood and we knew he played very well. We were just busking around the streets, we hadn’t really played any real shows back then. We just crashed different parties around Copenhagen but then we had to make a set for the Russian trip.
How was the experience going to Russia?
Oliver: It was very intense. It really was an experience.
Thorbjørn: Albert was threatened with a knife on stage because the venue owner, he thought that he was playing too loud!
Albert: And I was playing with quieter sticks! But when we got home and we got booked for stuff which we had to do, one thing led to another.
Thorbjørn: We just played at every support party, playing free and invited ourselves to private parties, carrying all of our big drum kit up to the fourth floor. “We’re gonna play music now!” When I think of it it was really nice, because then we got the playing live experience.
Oliver: That’s also how, in the beginning, we found ourselves very much a live band, because that’s how people got to know us, not through a record deal but working hard, playing everything.
I was really interested to read this quote “you made a name for yourselves by using Nordic throat singing, powerful poetry reading and industrial props on stage”.
At this point all three members provide an impromptu live example of Nordic throat singing!
Thank you very much!
You released your debut EP Dunkelkraft in 2020 which was recorded here in Freetown Christiania. And your self titled debut album followed in 2024. Where does the inspiration for your music come from?
Oliver: I will say actually the UK scene was a huge inspiration for us, because they were the ones taking a lot of things that were happening in the rap and grime scene, taking it into the jazz scene. People like Femi Koleoso, Ezra Collective all these guys. I think that was a huge inspiration for us, and in the way that they took modern music and took it into a more traditional jazz setup.
Thorbjørn: And we all have different musical backgrounds. You’re (Albert) coming with a lot of metal, hard rock, punk, and you’re (Oliver) a lot of jazz.
Oliver: I’m also going to the Jazz Conservatory in Amsterdam. And you (Thorbjørn) like drum and bass, and hardcore electronic stuff. We came from many different things. So the music is like the middle ground, a compromise. But just to say that the UK scene is a place where we all feel connected to the rhythms and the jazz tradition, so that scene inspired us quite a lot.
How do you create a song?
Oliver: For us, we maybe have the concept of what we’re going to play. We’ll have a very abstract concept, and then we have to take it out. You really have to stand in the rehearsal room and, try this, try this. To try to make electronic music in this context, we only have two saxophones and one drummer, you have to hear it live to hear what works.
So is there improvisation as well?
Albert: A little bit, I think, but not that much. It really starts, as you said, often with a concept, an idea that we’ve agreed on. Someone has been on, maybe, an online deep dive, and found something that’s, “Oh, look at this. This is really cool. Can we do something along those lines and make it our own?” And when we analyse that thing to see if we can do our own version of that on our instruments and in our style, I suppose. Sometimes improvisation can be smart as a tool if we’re stuck. But we’ll have some ideas, and we’re like, okay, how do we expand on this idea? Or what do we do after this idea? And then we can jam on that idea and see if we get something.
I have to say, your music is so accessible. People can be put off by the jazz reference but your music instantly grabs. The energy, vibrancy and the hook is just incredible. You must see that in the crowd when you play.
Oliver: Everything we do has to have a hook melody. And then, following the flow, that’s the rhythm of the people, then you can present all kind of weird shit over that. So when you have the rhythm of the kick drum and you play a (Ornette) Coleman type of playing on top of that, then the ears can access it better, because they have this rhythm. And then you can do throat singing!
The names of some of your songs do translate literally and made me laugh. For example “Fuck,the inspectors are coming”. Your debut album came out in April 2024. When you were putting the album together can you describe what you wanted to achieve with this body of work?
Albert: We made the first EP, and then we figured out it would actually be better for us to have an album. And we were in the process of writing the next EP, when we thought maybe can we put those together? It just so happened that the next EP was trying to show a different side to us, going to another studio, doing things another way.
Oliver: The first part is kind of the old us. It’s a raw thing. And then we thought but how are we going to take it to the bigger stages? How are we going to make it more electronic and live friendly. And in the end it works really well. You can hear us finding our way, because we started as a live band, we really didn’t start in the studio. So finding our way to get to know how we want to sound on a record. And you kind of see that whole process through the album. And I think it came out very nice.
You had a very productive 2024 with the album and touring.
Albert: Last year we did a spring Danish tour, and that basically led into us doing quite a big summer festival tour, definitely the biggest we have ever done. We played something like 70 concerts in Denmark.
You began 2025 playing Eurosonic and were in New York in January, and you’re going to South by Southwest Texas in March. Do you have anything else booked?
Oliver: Last year we played Denmark, we finished that level. So now it feels like, in the game that we move to the next room, and now we’re going international! We’re going to Athens, we’re going to Romania, going to Brazil, Sweden, Norway, UK, Germany, Holland, Faroe Islands……
Albert: We’re really doing the international thing. We have transcended!
And what’s the situation with new music?
Albert: We’re planning the recording. And we will be until the day before!
Smag På Dig Selv play SXSW in March. Please check the website for full details.
For more information on Smag På Dig Selv please check their facebook and instagram.
Image credit: Julia Mason
