When Saints Go Machine
Rehearsal Space, Nørrebro, 2012
We haven’t even locked our bikes when we hear the first beats of „Parix“ coming from the backyard of a non-descript, slightly run-down brick building in Nørrebro. The Copenhagen-based When Saints Go Machine have their rehearsal room back there and are obviously already getting warm for the session. It’s not the first time our paths cross, two years back we put the four guys in a Viennese shop window for a take of their song Fail Forever. This time the set-up is way more complex and it takes a while until everything works how it should. Yet when the synthesizer-sounds of „Parix“ set in, the dimly-lit rehearsal room turns out to be the perfect place for this atmospheric session. Singer Nikolaj’s echoey, dream-like vocals reverberate from the walls and create an amazing live experience in their studio. The second song „Kelly“ – also from their highly acclaimed album „Konkylie“ – leaves no doubt why this band is on the way up – and not only in Denmark.
- Camera
- Michael Luger
- Sound Recording
- Bence Kováts
- Post production
- Michael Luger
- Photography
- Johanne Fick
- Artist
- When Saints Go Machine
Rehearsal Space, Nørrebro
From outside the place is rundown and trashy, but inside it’s bustling with creativity. The old brick building in Nørrebro was previously used as an artist’s studio (some figures and statues still remind of that time) and nowadays houses rehearsal rooms for bands like When Saints Go Machine. It’s in a way typical for Nørrebro, the multiethnic and always busy district northwest of Copenhagen’s center. Immigrant shops and markets, stylish cafés and bars, all kinds of entertainment opportunities for the creative class, but also remainders from industrial times and quiet residential areas create a vibrant – and sometimes explosive – mix. Nørrebrogade, the main street running through the district, has seen many riots, especially in the 1980s, but also as late as 2007, when protests against the eviction of a squatted house turned violent. On an average weekend day, though, Nørrebrogade as well as St. Hans Torv and the surroundings streets are filled with people and are still among the most popular areas for going out. For a more quiet side of Nørrebro talk a walk through Assistens Kierkegaard, Copenhagen’s most famous, park-like cemetery where people don’t hesitate to have picnics or sit together having drinks.