Your Favourite Places

Bergen, Norway

Foto: Embla Karidotter

Razika is the most honest indie-ska-punk band in Norway at this time. Their first album, Program 91, was released 2nd of may 2011 and their single Vondt i Hjertet is currently B-listed on NRK P3.

Our favorite place on earth is Bergen. All of us are born and raised her, this is the city we have a relationship with. We are all city-kids from the centre and “need” what a city can offer: shops, cafés, parks, cultural offers etc. And in addition to that, Bergen hare 7 amazing mountains and a harbor. Can it possibly get any better.

Yes, it’s one of the cities in Norway with most rain, but when the sun is out the city just explode! Everybody is outside and there’s a good atmosphere everywhere. Also, Bergensere (people from Bergen) is without doubt the coolest people in Norway. As Agnar Mykle once said, Oslo is the dog, Bergen is the cat. We support each other in Bergen patriotism. Just like the amazing musical environment: there’s no competition because everybody does their own thing and therefore everybody support and help each other. If it wasn’t for Bergen, the coolest city in the world, there wouldn’t be any Razika!

Where is Bergen?

Tourist info

Damsgårdssundet, Bergen, Norway

The Urørt (Norwegian BBC Introducing equivalent) team described Lovecult as “the sound of of the 60s successfully mixed with 70s krautrock and 80s shoegaze-pop, a place where finishing your songs with blissed out fuzz cacophonies and feedback orgasms is de rigueur. You don’t always have to be on the way somewhere, sometimes it’s nice to just be!”

On the shadow side of Bergen, just across Puddefjorden, you find Damsgård, an area awaiting major gentrification but sort of in limbo due to the financial crisis. It used to be an active shipping and industry area, but in the recent years it’s sort of been left to its own, ever more rapidly decaying. The area is quite ugly and all in all pretty dodgy, but it’s just so beautifully demised. There are several classic old brick and tile buildings with that unique old industrial atmosphere. Perfect for New York-style loft apartments and creative studios. When we first moved our rehearsal-studio there a few years ago, the area was mostly empty, but only since last year, more and more musicians and artists are filling in the vast spaces of old factories and storages. You can always hear music from one of the several rehearsal spaces in the area, or if you’re lucky, stumble upon an atelier. This is not an obvious place to visit, even if you live in the city. We probably wouldn’t be familiar with it if our studio hadn’t been located there. It’s close to the centre of Bergen, but there never seems to be anyone around, except the occasional junkie or jogger.

The reason why we chose the Damsgård area is that it is so filled with opportunity, contrasts, and inspiration. It’s a place that makes you want to explore and imagine what all these run down spaces could be used for. Since there never seems to be anyone around it’s a great getaway from everything. There’s also a couple of weird and sort of creepy David Lynchy elements in the area, like a small café under the Puddefjord bridge, crammed in between two huge industrial buildings, with an old army-tank parked in the backyard, or a ferry on the docks turned into a houseboat. This only adds to the sort of special mood of the area. Crossing the Puddefjord Bridge and walking down dusty Michael Krohns street always fills us with anticipation.

In the summer it’s nice to bring some cold beers to the docks, watch the sunset under the bridge and dream of what could take place here if enough people took the opportunity, before it is all turned into hi-end real estate. Bring a camera and capture images of an area caught in limbo. Finish the tour with beers at Bien bar!

This is where you go