Tell us about MARBLES.
MARBLES is an indie-pop group from Oslo and consists of Ferdinand and Marcus Widmer (Vocals and Guitar), Marius Ringen (Drums) and myself Adrian Sandberg (Synthesizer). (Shout-out to our live-buddies Axel Øksby and Sebastian Sandved on bass and tech-duties. They make us sound better live.) We’re all from a suburban area South of Oslo called Kolbotn/Oppegård. Two of us are brothers, and the two others are old friends from growing up. We grew up on rock music, everything from Led Zeppelin, Yes and Pink Floyd to more heavy stuff like Black Sabbath, Metallica, Rage and Tool, very different stuff to what we are making now. We were in different bands back then but we played with mutual friends and stuff. In the end we ended up together. I think what makes us special is that we have gone through pretty much every genre. And we have a lot of confidence in what we’re doing, at the same time we are aware of the fact that we are not making music for everyone (most likely) and we are extremly happy for every little praise that we may get.
Describe your sound.
Euphoric pop and fun disco, a bit of experimental r&b and house/club music. Tame Impala, Empire of the Sun and Blood Orange references are strong while we also enjoy a lot of norwegian/scandinavian electronic and discomusic like Röyksopp, Hubbabubbaklubb, Little Dragon, Robyn just to name a few.
→ Discover and book Marbles here on gigmit!
Describe your creative process.
Often our starting point is a demo from mostly Ferdinand and sometimes myself (Adrian), then we tweak it a bit and re-track most of the instruments. Sometimes the demo has a feel or vibe that we struggle to recreate, so in those cases we like to just keep that vibe even though we feel the song has a «demo»-ish sound quality. Marius keeps an archive with all of our demos and is sort of a curator of demos. We also jam a lot, hanging out and having a good time with each other. We’re all very close friends.
Tell us about your passions outside of music.
We all have our different passions and hobbies besides music. Marcus is a big outdoors man. Travelling and hiking, that is his thing. He is also a good data programmer. Ferdinand likes geometric objects, he is an architect and a carpenter so he is really into shapes and symmetry. Marius is a biker, he has a few motorcycles and works on them from time to time. He also works in TV/media so he is good with a camera and a really good production manager. Adrian (myself) is mostly producing music, either for myself, others or the band. I like to read and I’m a big movie-nerd. I also play soccer and disc golf every now and then.
What is the biggest challenge for you in booking?
On the way up it is always hard. We can play a lot of concerts but when we use all of our time on playing and not making any money it is sort of draining, and that is something that kills most bands and artists I guess. We’ve been more strict lately in booking gigs that pay better so that our band is more self-sufficient economically, but it is a long grind for sure. You always have to balance two facts up agains each other, the first one is the fact that very few or nobody knows who you are so you are not in a position to ask for a lot of money, the other is that you know your music is the best shit ever and that you are a good live act. That must be the biggest challenge for us in booking so far.
What can we expect from you in the future?
We are making new music constantly, so some new singles will probably hit the surface at one point. We have some video projects in the works, some live sessions coming out in a few weeks from now. It is part of a festival yet to be revealed, it is super exciting. In the long run we are hoping to become a big international success of course, touring around the world and all that. Making hit records. But one step at a time.
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