When SUPERSWEET's Tiffany Tondut went to iv Datarock, we weren’t expecting the accompanying pint of verbal slurry that ensued. After just one drink and a bit of sweaty Norwegian murkin fondling at The Borderline pub, Fredrik Saroea regaled us with anecdotes of sky-diving, self cloning, Michael Jackson’s nose job and how, when it comes to fist fighting, he’s a cry baby. Fredrik pleaded with us to omit his confession booth ramblings, but sweet as we are, evil always comes with a smile.
SS: Nice to meet you Fredrik. Do you mind sitting on this beer keg?
Fredrik: I'd rather sit on a chair. [We get seated]. Ask me what I am doing.
SS: Ok. What was Datarock doing this time last week?
Fredrik: We were jumping out of a chopper in Norway at the extreme sports event we were playing at. They charge £1,000 pounds a go but we got it for free. It was a tandem jump and wasn’t scary at all. I was gravely hung-over from the day before. They were like, ‘do you wana jump?’ And I was like, ‘yeah ok!’. We landed, I went to sound check and played a gig to 3000 people. It was amazing up in the mountains. Everyone should do it.
"NO ONE IS BUYING ALBUMS ANY MORE, SO WE CALLED THE ALBUM RED. THE ALBUM IS JUST A PROMOTIONAL TOOL FOR THE TRACKSUITS. IT'S ALL A CLEVER PLOY..."
SS: I bet that cleared your head for the gig!
Fredrik: Actually, the audience was so happy they decided to empty fire extinguishers on us. No one could breathe! it was a white cloud that drifted onto the stage. We said ‘don’t do that again or we can’t do the show. It’s poisonous you know!’
SS: The tourism posters for Norway read ‘Driven by Nature.’ Please explain…
Fredrik: It’s true. Norway is driven by oil, economically driven. I’ve lived in 42 different countries and Norway is the best, extraordinarily beautiful. We spend all day swimming in the lake between the fjords. Bergen is the nicest city. It’s tiny, with a small music scene, and known as the City of the Seven Mountains.
SS: What’s Datarock driven by then?
Fredrik: Datarock is driven by nature. Electricity generates us by fossil fuel.
SS: Do you always perform in your trademark red tracksuits?
Fredrik: Yes. Always. Which is very handy because we don’t even have to show up ourselves, we use random actors. Sometimes we do shows in 3 different continents and no one even knows…not one of us has anything to do with Datarock. That’s why I keep my glasses on. I have many different brothers that look similar. I cloned myself.
SS: Right…So which one am I talking to now?
Fredrik: Number 48 [Laughs]
SS: Alright no 48….
Fredrik: Do I miss Michael Jackson? Yes I do. We dedicated a show to him at the Bergen Opera. We played Michal Jackson and hugged each other. We lowered a screen and played Childhood. [Pause] That’s humorous, you know. It went down well. People were touching each other.
SS: Touching each other?
Fredrik: Yes. And pointing their index fingers. It was very emotional when we got the news.
SS: Did you ever want to be Michael Jackson?
Fredrik: Er…no. But I did want his nose though! If I had all the money in the world, that’s exactly what I’d want my nose to look like. For the most media profile surgery, that’s what you gotta do.
SS: What about surgery besides the nose?
Fredrik: I’d do what Victor Carlos did. I would go to sex change. Victor Carlos became Wendy Carlos, and then he recorded on keyboards in the 60s. I would wear panties underneath my tracksuit. Perhaps I’d want to be more like Janet Jackson. Or Latoya. Or the father, because he’s so masculine. I like violence. He was a bloody good manager. You shouldn’t forget that. This is so bad taste. You’ll have to edit some of what I say.
SS: Errr. No we won’t. So back to the red tracksuits…
Fredrik: I have 550 of them.
SS: God, they must turn everything pink in the wash!
Fredrik: No. They’re an oil-based paint. They’re usually so silky that we can’t wash them with anything else. So they go in separate washes. Well you know, sometimes we don’t get to wash those tracksuits. We do quite a few shows, so after each wear they’re pretty much soaking wet. Actually, we just had a few made, and we sold them to fans. Nobody wanted to buy the album, but they wanted to buy the suits. No one is buying albums anymore. So we called the album Red. The album is just a promotional tool for the tracksuits. It’s all a clever ploy…
SS: “You have a dance battle where a Datarock gang meets the bad guys, and have a dance off, and then everybody becomes the Datarock gang.” Who’s your favourite gang out of the following: The T-Birds from Grease; The Young Guns; The Red Triangle Circus Gang from Batman Returns?
Fredrik: It’d have to be that one of course. The Red Triangle Circus Gang.
SS: But the Red Triangle Circus Gang is evil.
Fredrik: Yes. But there’s always something good inside of everyone.
SS: Did you start off evil?
Fredrik: I started off nice. Then I was exposed to drugs, and electronic music, and women. I’ve never been in a fight, though. No hang on, I have.
SS: Really?
Fredrik: It was broken up by a girl. It was a close friend of mine, and we were fighting. It happens… no one got hurt. But someone became a cry baby. I might have been the cry baby. I wasn’t.,… leave all this out though. I’m not a fighter. I’m a lover. A lurverrrrrrrr. Oh yeah.
"KETIL ONCE MADE LOVE TO A GIRL IN THE SAME ROOM AS ME WHILE I WAS SLEEPING. I DIDN'T WAKE UP. IF I WOKE UP, I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE PRETENDED I WAS ASLEEP."
SS: Ok Mr. Lover man. What kind of tattoo would you get?
Fredrik: It would have to be on my knuckles. "Datarock" In Times New Roman! No, I’m just kidding. It’d have to be Helvetica Noir in font 12. Nooo, actually our logo.
SS: My god you memorise fonts.
Fredrik: Hahahahahahahahahahaha.
SS: Before we finish off, tell us anything you want.
Fredrik: Ok… Ketil once made love to a girl in the same room as me while I was sleeping. I didn’t wake up. If I woke up, I probably would have pretended I was asleep.
SS: Was this on tour?
Fredrik:. No. He slept with my wife. While I was at home.
SS: That’s a bit sick.
Fredrik: Does it help that it was in Los Angeles? I’m married so I can’t do anything like that. I’ve been married 4 years. I even have a kid. And another one coming in August.
SS: Congratulations! Well....That’s a very happy end to a rather surreal interview. Let's cut now while we still have our sanity.
Words: Tiffany Tondut
Photography: Eleanor Harvey