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Håkon Høye - Besides that I try to promote the album as much as possible so we hopfully get a lot of gigs at the other end of the tunnel Aanbevolen

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Håkon Høye - Besides that I try to promote the album as much as possible so we hopfully get a lot of gigs at the other end of the tunnel

De Noorse blues artiest Håkon Høye brengt het soort blues waarbij grenzen vervagen. De man kleurt niet binnen de lijntjes van blues en kijkt ook naar soul en rock. Het is een eerste vaststelling na het beluisteren van zijn bijzonder zwoele en warme plaat 'Nights At The Surf Motel'. Het zit in de genen, zo lezen we in zijn biografie.
Håkon kreeg de muzikale microbe te pakken door zijn vader die klarinet en accordeon speelde. Op zijn negende begon hij saxofoon te spelen, om later over te schakelen op gitaar. Håkon Høye is sinds de jaren ‘90 zeer actief in de Noorse bluesscene en heeft daar een geweldige reputatie opgebouwd, met samenwerkingen met een rits uiteenlopende artiesten en kleppers in diezelfde scene.
Håkon Høye bracht onlangs een nieuwe schijf op de markt 'Nights at Surf Motel' waar we de nodige aandacht aan hebben besteed.
De recensie kunt u hier eens nalezen: http://www.musiczine.net/nl/cd-reviews/item/78101-nights-at-the-surf-motel.html  
We kregen ook de gelegenheid om deze klasse blues artiest enkele vragen te stellen over zijn nieuwe plaat, het verleden en uiteraard de toekomstplannen.

Your debut 'Bout Time' only came out in 2013, while you have been working with music for so long, why did it take so long?
Yeah, I like to take it easy:-D I’ve been in other bands all the time and I’ve always been involved in in those projects and prioritized those thru the years. I’ve had my own project on and off since late 90s/early 2000s…. Started recording songs for an album 15 years ago but I guess I wasn’t satisfied with them The last 15 years I’ve been involved with the Billy T Band which have been my main project where I’ve been writing songs with Bill Troiani. Finally in 2013 I released my 1st album. Since then I’ve been buzy playing and recording with Joakim Tinderholt and Billy T Band…… I’ve gotten a couple of girls too since 2015

Congratulations on your album 'Nights at surf Motel'. What I love about this disc is that you look beyond the boundaries of blues, but still keep its roots. A conscious choice? How do you feel about that statement yourself?
Thanks a lot! I like listening to different types of music from blues and jazz to latin and rock ’n roll! My main influence has always been the blues and I think my first album was a bit more blues focused. On this album I kind of let the songs point the direction and didn’t force it into a specific genre. I grew up with 70s rock, the Stones, AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top etc…  and I’ve always been a big fan of Chuck Berry and 50s Rock ‘n’ Roll. In the 80s I listened a lot to Tom Petty and what you might call roots or Americana today. But I’ve been listening a lot to Jason Isbell and Pops Staples latly so the inspiration comes from a lot of differnt sources. I like diversity…. Take a band like Blackberry Smoke, Charlie Starr is just as good doing Country, Lighning Hopkins or AC/DC….. I like thatJ

The new album ‘Nights at the Surf Motel’ came about thanks to a successful Kickstarter project and financial support from the FFUK.
Yes, I had some support from FFUK (Norwegian Fund For Musicians) and I did a Kickstarter campaing. If it wasn’t for that money it would’ve been hard to finance the album. It’s hard to sell physical copies of records these days, at least here in Norway. You mainly sell records at gigs, and at the moment there ain’t much… so, hopfully we can go out playing gigs again soon

We also hear a mix of Lightnin 'Hopkins, The Rolling Stones, The Band and Pops Staples. This statement is reflected in many press releases. What is your opinion about this?
It might been pened by myself for the press release Yeah, I’ve always been a Stones fan, especially the Mick Taylor years and Exile on Main Street might be my favourit album. The Staples Singers have always been a favourite of mine and Pops Staples tremolo sound is one of my favourites…. I like to use tremolo a lot
And, I’ve always been a blues fan and Lightnin’ is one of my favourites…. and Earl Hooker, Otis Rush and a bunch of others So, you can say it kind of sums up my influences….

The songs on this beautiful record are about love affairs, longing, beautiful memories, lost loves, spiritual unrest and a modern medium like Instagram. how did that idea come about?
Yeah, the classic themes Some of the ideas have been there from years back and some are newer ideas. I usually keep short recordings of riffs and ideas on my phone these days….. used to be this old fashined mini-tape recorder……. Then I usually go thru the the ideas and see which one who’ll fly…… some of the text ideas come from experiences and some from ideas you pick up here and there….. I usually finish the songs together with co-writer Bill Troiani, he helps me with the lyrics

There are also two covers on the disc, with respect for the original you give it a twist that I like. Have both artists influenced your musical taste?
Thanks I didn’t have time to finish all my ideas before I went in the studio so I just recorded a couple of covers in case I needed more songs for the record. And I think they turned out pretty good, so we just kept them and put them on the record. I’ve been a fan of Curtis since I was in my teens I guess, I love his guitar playing….. the chord melodys that you hear in Jimi Hendrix’s playing….. and Robert Ward, another favourite of mineJ
Richard Berry wrote Sweet Sugar You, the same guy who did Louie Louie and Have Love Will Travel. I liked that song and it’s not that know as the other two, so I thought it was worth a try

Who are your major influences, in order to build on that
Yeah, I mentioned a few blues guys above. I listened a lot to old BB King and T-Bone Walker when I was younger,  alot of Chicago Blues… Earl Hooker, Little Walter, Robert Junior Lockwood, Johnny Guitar Watson, West Coast Jump Blues, Junior Wason, Rick Holmstrom….. yeah, the list goes on! 
And I love New Orleans Music, The Meters, Allan Toussaint, Excello, Gulf Coast Rock ‘n’ Roll….. and Memphis Soul Music, Robert Ward…… his voice and tremolo guitar is great! I guess he was a big inspiration to Lonnie Mack.
And I’m a big Los Lobos fan…… might be my favourite band, roots rock, Tom Petty, Blackberry Smoke……. Country, jazz
Midnight Blue with Kenney Burrell is one of my favourite albums
Yeah,  alot of different stuff…… and latin music, Cuban, Toots & The Maytals…… the list goes on

Let's go back in time. I read that you inherited your father's music bug? Is that correct, and does his music still affect you?
Yeah, he played the clarinet and the accordion, still does I never really got into the accordion music and traditional folk music but I remember he had a few big band LPs he used to play …. and Louie Armstrong, I liked that
My father actually plays accordion on one of the songs on the album, Stay Awhile. So, I might use that more in the future, you never know

You have worked with so many artists, what do you have the best memories of?
Yeah, Sven Zetterberg, the the late Swedish blues/soul artist! He was great, and I had the opportunity to play with him on several occations. Great guitar player and singer…. and great guy, true spirit! We miss him!
And I had the honour to play with Louisiana Red on a couple of records….. Back to the Black Bayou was nominated to Blues Awards back in 2010. And we backed him up at the show in Memphis, that was great He was a  true blues man, and great human being! He had some great stories from the time he used to hang out with Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker in the ‘50s…… I’m glad I got to experience that, hardly any left of that generation these days!

For example, you played in the ‘Muddy Waters’ club in Oslo, where he played with artists such as Mitch Kashmar, Kid Ramos, Jackie Payne, Nappy Brown and Tad Robinson. How did that work? Feel free to tell some anektodes and stuff
The ‘Muddy Waters’ Club in Oslo was a great place for live-music, and it had a great atmosphere. It had live-music every night and twice on Saturdays, always quality acts. Music 8 days a week as late great RC Finnigan used to say form the stage! It opened in 1999 and closed in 2008, but from around 2006 it was in decline. The best years was a combination of a great staff that loved music, great booking agent and the musicians liked to hang out there – so it was a great place to just meat people.
A lot of great musicians came out of that place too, Christoffer ‘Kid’ Andersen was in the first houseband, now with Rick Estrin & The Nightcats. And Billy T Band with frontman Bill Troiani grew out of that environment too, so I got to play with some great musicians back then. And we used to back up some of them on tours in Norway and Scandinavia. I remember going on a week’s tour in Russia with Mitch Kashmar, that was a whole lotta fun. And we backed up Nappy Brown once, that was really cool, he was a great show man and used to spin around on the floor on his back

The Norwegian blues scene is perhaps less known in the rest of Europe, or only among the real blues fans, do you have an explanation for that?
It’s too cold  I don’t know! Maybe Norwegian artists except of a few (like Knut Reiersrud and Bjørn Berge) haven’t toured that much outside Norway. Since the mid 90s the Norwegian Blues Scene has been well organized with a lot of blues societies, so the circuit has been pretty good…. but a bit small so it’s hard to make a living being strictly a blues artist …… most professional artist have different projects all the time to keep buzy.
I really don’t have any good answer to that question, maybe bad promotion

These are difficult times for musicians, the tour plans are in the corona water. But what are the further plans despite everything?
At the moment I’m buzy at home with the family and trying to enertain two kids and keep up with things in the house. And I have a part time job to cover the basics, so that is pretty good in these strange times. I’ve done a couple of live-streams with a couple of other bands I play with (Billy T Band and Joakim Tinderholt) and that has been pretty good. Not much money but good promotion. I plan to do one with my band too in the near future just to keep everything on track Hope we don’t have to wait too long to go out and play gigs again….. maybe this fall

Besides the uncertain near future, are there already plans for new collaborations or something?
I have some gigs booked for the summer that’s probably not gonna happen, at least no festivals. So, at the moment we just have to wait and see, hopefully some of the gigs this fall is going to happen
Besides that I try to promote the album as much as possible so we hopfully get a lot of gigs at the other end of the tunnel

Thanks for this great interview, are there any comments to our readers? how can they buy your music and thereby support the scene?

Thank you
So to everybody who has gotten this far, thanks a lot for spending your time reading this and checking out my album If you like it and and want to get a physical copy I really appreciate that. It’s available for the European market now so check with your local music store or buy it online from one of the online stores. If you can’t get hold of it feel free to get in touch with Big H Records on e-mail: Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.. International shipping and payment thru paypal.
Thanks a gain, cheersJTake care, stay healthy and stay safe!

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