DROP KNEE

1. Greetings from one cold place to another! Would you please introduce yourself, where you’re from, and what you do in the band?

M: Hey! I’m Miriam. I’m from Trondheim, Norway and I do vocals in Drop Knee.

T: I’m Theodor, I’m from Bodø, Norway and I also do vocals in Drop Knee!

B: Hi, I’m Basse and I play bass.

J: Yo, I'm Johnny and I'm the drummer.

S: Hello! My name is Simon, I'm from Trondheim and I play guitar in Drop Knee.

2. Which came first: veganism or straight edge, or was it a kind of mutual discovery? What drew you to each, respectively?

T: I made the switch to both around the same time. Veganism had been a thought kicking around in my head for most of my adult life until I ran into Johnny, Miriam and Simon and I realized that the switch was incredibly easy and it was an opportunity for me to turn thought into action. Personally I feel like they’re both very politically motivated choices, as well as something that’s improved my life in about a million different ways.

M: I’ve been vegan for over ten years now and straight edge for about four. I got into veganism before I got into hardcore as well, it was purely an ethical and political choice I made in my late teens after already having been vegetarian for a while. It was brought about through reading about the animal agriculture industry as well as having a friend go vegan at the time which made me realise it was something that was actually possible to do “even here” in Norway (which seems obvious now but wasn’t at the time). Straight edge was something I opened my eyes to after meeting some really great straight edge people in the hardcore scene and hearing their stories, realising that straight edge was something that aligned with me and my values. It also helped that I didn’t drink much at the time anyways and really didn’t enjoy being inebriated.

J: Been vegan for almost 12 years now, and I have my wife Ronya to thank for it. She went vegan about six months before me and was a massive influence on my decision. After many conversations about animal welfare and speciesism, etc, I realised that going vegan was the only moral choice. In modern society there is simply no justification for harming animals for food, so I went straight from being a meat-eater to vegan. Before that I had always enjoyed vegetarian and vegan food my entire life, heavily inspired by my aunt Anne-Charlotte (may she rest in peace), who was a lifelong vegetarian.

S: I’ve been vegan for 10 and straight edge for 2 years. I was vegetarian for half a year before I went fully vegan. My turn to veganism is largely inspired by Miriam, listening to her talk about her reason to be vegan inspired me to make the switch. I guess I just came to the conclusion that consuming animal products causes harm and is unnecessary.

B: I went vegan and straight edge around the same time. I was ruminating on both for a while, and after some well-needed self-reflection, I chose to commit to both at the same time.

3. Why was it so important to you that Drop Knee be vegan hardcore?

T: Visible and militant veganism is an incredibly rare sight in Norway, in part due to what feels like a bit of a social stigma around it, especially here in Trondheim (Trøndelag), which is basically the heartland of animal farming and agriculture in Norway. I think we all feel it’s really important to speak up about veganism through our lyrics. It feels like it adds something meaningful and loud to what is an incredibly lopsided discourse right now.

4. When and how did you form as a band? What influences were common ground?

J: I met Theodor back in mid-to-late 2023 and we started chatting about putting a band together. Ended up jamming with him, Basse and our friend Vegard (who actually did guest vocals on “Abolitionist”), but nothing really came of it. Instead I ended up joining Theodor's other band, Gnasher, on bass because they were short of a bassist, (and we're still playing together).

But I’ll always be a drummer first and foremost. So when Theodor hit me up a couple of months later to see if I wanted to play drums with him, Miriam, Simon, and our old bassist Nikolai, I was really excited. They’d been talking about starting something up, too; we met up and everything just clicked, musically. Early on, I’d say our main influences were Trapped Under Ice, Backtrack and early early Turnstile, and generally just "bouncy" hardcore.

S: Miriam and I were at Outbreak 2023 and met our old bassist, Nikolai, in a queue for a coffee stand. We talked for a bit and found out we both were based in Trondheim. I’ve been playing in bands my whole life but had kind of given up on playing in a hardcore band because the scene in Trondheim has been so small that I just haven't found anyone to gang up with. Nikolai introduced Miriam and I to Theodor who does vocals in Gnasher, and Theodor in part introduced us all to Johnny. When we first started out we didn't really have any plans other than being a hardcore band. The first EP was really us trying to find out what type of hardcore we wanted to write and play.

5. How does one earn their punching permit?

DK: One does not simply earn their punching permit

6. Your debut LP Life Is Beautiful came out the last day of July, and it’s outstanding. What was the writing and recording process like?

M: The writing process was a long one! The first songs we wrote for that LP were written around the time when we released Punching Permit, so we’ve been sitting on some of this material for years, then on the other hand we had songs like “Abolitionist,” which just about made its way into the tracklist mere weeks before we headed into the studio (and I’m so glad it did!). We wrote a lot of songs during those two years, even went back and rewrote a lot of them, and ended up scrapping quite a few along the way as well. Ultimately I’m happy it was such a long process as the result ended up so much better than it would’ve been if we had rushed through it.

T: Almost the entire way through, until the late edition of songs like “Abolitionist” and “Dead Dogs Don’t Bite,” we originally envisioned it as an EP. As we added more songs that were all in contention for the release, all of us felt very strongly about a handful of songs already on the record, so much so that as we added those later songs, we couldn’t find any more to cut. That’s how it eventually became an album.

We recorded the instrumentals with Thomas Berdal out in Orkanger, about an hour outside Trondheim. The vocals we did at Simon and Miriam's home office, on and off, for a couple of weeks. Personally, I find recording vocals in a non-studio setting to be a lot less stressful, and allows for more deliberation during the course of the process which ultimately brings out the best in the vocals both lyrically and performance-wise.

J: Thank you, glad you liked it!! It went pretty smoothly, despite a few hurdles. Like Theodor already mentioned, the original plan was just to do an EP. Then at the last minute, I wrote all the instrumentals for “Dead Dogs Don't Bite” and “Will 2 Give” while home alone in my underwear. I sent them over to the guys, and we all realised it had to be a full album because we couldn't bring ourselves to cut any of the tracks.

“Dead Dogs” started with me messing around with that opening drumbeat on my electric kit at home. I tracked it into my DAW and threw on this stupidly simple guitar riff that just bounces between the open low D and the first fret, D♯. I added a couple of other riffs I’d had bouncing around in my head for a while, and the rest of the song just flowed from there.

“Will 2 Give” started with me humming the intro riff in the car on my way home from work. I wanted something a bit different from the other tracks, something slow and dragging. As soon as I got home, I recorded the guitar part I had in my head, laid down some drums, added a couple more stupid riffs, and that was it really.

I also wrote the instrumentals for “Static.” Not much thought behind it, I just wanted a hard and energetic intro song.

Other than that, the rest of the songs followed our usual formula: Simon sends me a riff, and I work on the drums/maybe add more riffs. Then we hash it out together and finish the tracks off at rehearsal. Except for “Figure Four,” that is. Miriam wrote the riffs for that one, and it’s honestly my favourite track on the album.

7. Tell us about the meaning of the album title.

M: The album opens and closes with a sample from the movie Gummo (1997) that goes “Life is beautiful. Really, it is. Full of beauty and illusions. Life is great. Without it, you'd be dead,” and was something we decided on putting in there while writing the album as we feel like it sums up the album nicely. A lot of the songs are about political issues, in particular veganism and the injustices toward animals, but at the same time it is about doing what you can to make the world a better place for yourself and those around you and striving to do what’s right. The album has taken on a more PMA (positive mental attitude) compared to our earlier releases with songs like “Will 2 Give,” which is about staying open hearted and kind through hardships, and “Static,” which is a song I wrote about having the courage to change and keep striving to be a better person. The song “Inside Out” is practically a love letter to our friends. All in all I feel like the album title sums it up along the lines of: “There are a lot of things wrong with the world, but the fact that we are alive is beautiful in itself and it gives us an opportunity to try and make life better for those around us.”

8. Do you have any favorite tracks to play live?

T: “OGK” off our first EP is a definite favourite to play at hometown shows, but I’ve also recently taken to “Abolitionist.” It tends to pop off, and is also incredibly fun to play.

M: “Abolitionist” is probably my favourite. It’s a song I wrote when I was going through a particularly “angry vegan period” last winter and it still gets me fired up when we play it live. I usually start it off with a vegan on-stage rant as well, which always feels very cathartic. We have our good friend Vegard featured on it as well, so it’s a lot of fun whenever he’s at shows and can join in.

B: “Dead Dogs Don’t Bite” cause I feel real badass when playing the bass.

J: “Abolitionist” and “Dead Dogs Don’t Bite” for me. “Abolitionist” has those stupid Lars Ulrich-esque drum fills that I originally wrote as a joke and that stupid BPM drop at the end breakdown. “Dead Dogs” is just so much fun to play as a drummer.

S: Honestly, all of the songs from Life is Beautiful are so much fun to play. “7042” makes me super pumped, the small breaks on “Abolitionist” makes me happy and the last riff on “Dead Dogs Don't Bite” is just super sick to play live. Playing “OGK” in our hometown is always fun, we’ve played it so many times that it's boring to practice but it's always one of the highlights when playing it during a show.

9. What have been the major highlights of the band’s existence so far?

T: Playing Finland with Speedway is up there. Just the whole trip and the shows were a blast and we were incredibly well taken care of. Both the actual album and its release show also felt like huge milestones for us and the reception has been nothing short of humbling.

M: Yeah the album release show we had this August was incredibly fun. It is always fun to travel, see new places and meet new people, but nothing beats a hometown show full of my friends' faces. I really felt so much love and support from the crowd when we played that show and it was truly moving.

B: That I got to join my favorite local band!

J: FINLAND!! I loved Finland, the people we met and the food we ate was just awesome. Maybe it’s my bland Scandinavian palate talking, but in my opinion, Finland really has some great vegan food. Shoutout to vegaaninen riisipiirakka.

S: We received a message from someone after one of the shows in Finland that they’ve always been vegan-curious but seeing us made them do the switch. Playing songs about what you're passionate about and actually making a change makes me so happy.

10. What have you got coming up we should be looking out for, and are there any big “bucket list” things you’d like to accomplish?

T: We recently started actively working on some new material right now that we’re incredibly stoked on. Getting back into that whole process again has been very nice, seeing as it's been about half a year since we wrapped writing on Life Is Beautiful. Other than that, we’ve got a show with Escalate and Times of Desperation in Örebro this October that we’re really looking forward to!

M: I wanna make everyone go vegan.

J: I just wanna write and play music.

S: I'm excited about writing new songs! I feel like we wrapped up a chapter with Life is Beautiful and I'm excited to see where we go next. I’d love to play more shows outside of Norway, Sweden and Finland!

B: Tour to cities that have vegan milkshakes!

11. Thank you so much for your time! Any last words or shout-outs?

T: I’ve been feeling very thankful for the amount of support we as a band, but also Trondheim Hardcore as a whole has received from both people in and outside of Trondheim the last couple of years. It’s an honest privilege to have so many delightful people in our corner. Thank you to everyone who keeps pulling up to Drop Knee or TRDHC shows, it really means the world to us.

S: Go vegan, stay vegan.

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