So let’s start with the most obvious question of course. When and how was Glasgow Kiss formed and what was the intention that you had when creating the band?
Charlotte: We started in 2020 and the guys have played together for many years before I came in.

John Erik: We played in a band called Test Pilot and in 2019 we broke with our lead vocalist. Obviously we knew about Charlotte, who was in a band called Violet Gin from 2016. When we heard that there were rumors that she had parted ways with her band we contacted her for the free position in Glasgow Kiss.
Charlotte: They called me and asked me to join to continue their former band Test Pilot. But I said that I didn’t want to join with that name because the songs didn’t really fit me, so I wanted to start something new.

John Erik: Then we found the name Glasgow Kiss, which means “headbutts”. We wanted to create a certain attitude. We started in March 2020 and one month later Covid kicked in. So our first years we were locked in the rehearsal room and had plenty of time to get to know each other and making songs.

Your first sign of life was the EP Fury, which was released in 2022. What did that EP do for the band, both from a commercial as well as from an artistic perspective? Was it able to set the band on the map?
John Erik: Yeah, especially in Norway, we got a lot of attention and good reviews. So we knew already that we were onto something. But since it was our first release, it was a kind of test and fail because when we released that, our instruments were still tuned down to H, so five notes down, which made everything sound quite dark.

Charlotte: I figured out that the gap was too big for my voice. So we changed our sound to what we currently play. About the sound for the EP, we have challenged ourselves and wouldn’t go for the traditional rock producers.

John Erik: We used a known country music producer because we didn’t want to sound like everybody else, we wanted to sound like Glasgow Kiss. It would have been very easy to go to a known hard rock producer and to use his standard presets but then we would have sounded like everybody else. The same goes for ‘Down In Flames’ for which we used a producer who’s more into the pop scene.

Who was then responsible for the sound of ‘Down In Flames’?
Charlotte: It’s a guy called Peter Mikkelsen. He’s part of a famous Norwegian band called Donkeyboy, which is making synth pop music. But we heard some of his productions and we challenged him with the question if he was ready to produce a hard rock band. He accepted the challenge and did the mix for the album. As such I think we were capable in creating our own sound.

So you’re really deliberately looking for a sound different from most other bands?
John Erik: Yeah, we’re deliberately going for that. I was actually quite nervous when I heard the final mixes, because I was thinking: “Hmm, this sounds very different from other music”. And it’s really scary to do something else. But if you want to create awareness, you can’t just go with the flow. You have to try to get a unique sound.

‘Fury’ was a self-financed release. Was it hard to find a record company at that time?
Charlotte: We wanted to do the first one ourselves, so that nobody was going to tell us what to do. We just wanted to try and figure out our own sound. Also for this debut full-length album, we recorded the whole album ourselves and then we sent it out to different record companies. Eclipse Records contacted us, who were really into our music and offered us a good deal. So for us it was the most obvious choice to release ‘Down In Flames’ on their label.

How does the songwriting process look like in Glasgow Kiss?
John Erik: It usually starts with somebody who has an idea, maybe a chorus, verse or a good riff. Then we start working together to finish the instrumental part of the song. Then Charlotte comes in and starts working on the vocal melodies and the lyrics.

Charlotte: I first do the vocal melody before I start writing the lyrics. A lot of the lyrics are based on my own life experiences, which may sound a bit cliché. It’s kind of a therapy to face my own demons. In Bergen it rains about three hundred days a year which can be kind of depressing so the lyrics are quite dark at times. I’ve tried to write happy lyrics, but that just doesn’t seem to work for me haha!

What are you looking for in in a great song before you decide to record it?
John Erik: No matter what song we’ve created we always do test it with an acoustic guitar. If it sounds good in an acoustic setting then we know that the melody is good enough. If a song has a good melody, good chorus and catchy riffs, then we start further molding and shaping it.

Charlotte: That can lead so surprising results. I was not very convinced about the instrumental part for the song ‘Down in Flames’. It just sounded to dark and not melodic enough for me and I thought it wouldn’t fit with my voice. So I started to work on the melody for the vocals and lyrics. And then I started to like it more and more and it even became the title song for the album.

John Erik: Also our first single ‘Those Wasted Years’ almost didn’t make it to the album. Charlotte said ”Let me put on the vocals first before we decide”. And then the vocals came in and we just said: “Damn, that’s the single”!

The album is out now for about a month. So what were the first reactions of the press and also from the music fans?
John Erik: Surprisingly, all reactions so far have been very positive. Last time I told Charlotte that I am almost waiting for a bad review, because up to now they’re all good. We can’t cope with the interview requests, which is very good for a band which has just started up and that has just released its first full-length album. Of course we’re very happy with the huge interest in the band.

You have a very distinct style combining heavy catchy riffs with lots of melody with some more poppy elements?
John Erik: We all come from different places, as I also have another band that’s more pop rock. Our drummer is playing in a country band while Daniel is involved in a hard rock outfit. Our other guitarist Sveinung is into black metal and Charlotte is coming more from the soft rock area. So we pick the best elements from each genre and then “Glasgow-fy” it.

You released three singles so far?
Charlotte: We chose for ‘Those Wasted Years’ as our first single as it contains a lot of different elements that make up our sound. Next we wanted to have a more high-energy song and we thought ‘Forsaken’ was an excellent candidate. This one was followed by the title track and next up will be the ballad ‘One Last Time’.

For me ‘One Last Time’ is the absolute highlight of the whole album and if I’m not mistaken the lyrics are very personal right?
Charlotte: I like it very much myself as well and indeed it’s really personal from a lyrical perspective. It’s about a very good friend of mine who passed away in 2020 of cancer. This songs is kind of a tribute to her and also for me it’s also one of the best songs on the record.

If you had to pick one song which would represent Glasgow Kiss best, which one would that be and why?
John Erik: I would probably have to go for ‘Put The Blame On Me’, because it really has a catchy chorus, a hypnotizing slow riff and an outro that’s totally different. It was a potential single at first but because of the outro, we thought is was not a very good candidate. That’s the advantage of making the record ourselves as it gives you total artistic freedom and we can make our own choices, which is very important to us.

Unfortunately there are only eight songs to be found on the album?
John Erik: We would have like to have a few songs more, but sometimes you have to take the decision to leave the listeners hungry. We are quite a new band and if people are interested in our music they might also look at our first EP ‘Fury’, which can be seen as a bit of a bonus then.

Charlotte: We might do an acoustic release for one of the songs of the album and we have nine or ten new songs in the pipeline that we will start working on for a possible next release. Absolutely no lack of motivation!

What are in your opinion the biggest differences and improvements that you made when comparing ‘Down In Flames’ to ‘Fury’?
John Erik: As said earlier we tuned our instruments differently so that it fitted Charlotte’s voice better. Furthermore we also thought that less is more and we tried to go for a more open sound. We give space to every instrument and especially the vocals. This gives the album much more of a dynamic sound compared to ‘Fury’.

The album cover also attracts one’s attention. Who was responsible for the cover?
Charlotte: It’s a photo taken by our drummer Frode. He was working somewhere and stood in a stairway. When he looked down he thought it was a very cool sight to see and took some pictures. He did send these to the group chat on Messenger and we thought that it looked just great. We did some editing and transferred it to black and white which was visually more captivating. It will definitely grab your attention.

So what’s next? You’re doing a lot of interview now, but what are the plans for the next couple of months?
Charlotte: We have two concerts now at the end of the month planned on the West coast of Norway. And then we have the release show on February 6^th in our home town Bergen. Of course we want to play more shows but there are no further concrete plans yet.

How is the metal scene in Norway nowadays for a band like Glasgow Kiss?
Charlotte: Norway had a very lively scene but after the pandemic a lot of rock clubs shut down. But we see now they’re starting to open up again and there’s more and more rock festivals showing up. In Oslo there’s the Tons Of Rock festival, but unfortunately they haven’t called us yet haha.

So how experienced are you on stage and what can we expect from a Glasgow Kiss show?
John Erik: We’ve all played for many years in several bands, so we’re quite experienced as live musicians. Even just talking about playing shows gets me excited already! What you can expect is a high energy show, trust me!

So you’re still at the beginning of your career. But what’s the ambition level that you have? What are some of the targets or dreams that you would like to accomplish with Glasgow Kiss?
Charlotte & John Erik: We would like to be touring Europe, well not just Europe but the world. We would like to be playing bigger stages and festivals, that would be awesome. And like every other musician we have the dream of living off just making albums and touring. Quit our day jobs and make a living from making music, that would be the ultimate goal for now!