MUSIC FEATURE: Five Minutes With…LÜT

Photo Credit: Hans Marius Mikkelsen & Ørjan Nyborg Myrland

Norwegian punks LÜT are back with their enthralling new album Mersmak, cementing themselves as ones to watch following their critically acclaimed debut Pandion. We caught up with the band to find out more, including their influences, ambitions and plans following the release. 

Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself and your band.

LÜT is a rock band with screamo vocals, made entirely of people loving pop music. We’ve played together as LÜT since 2015, but all the other guys (except me) have been playing together as The Wolves since 2010 ish!

How did the band form and how long have you been together?

In 2015, The Wolves were playing a legendary festival in northern-Norway called Rock mot rus (“rock against drugs”). My band called Capital of Illinois had some fellow members with The Wolves. We got there together by a huge boat, crashed at their hotel rooms and drank together (hehe). At 3am, after sharing a bottle of Smirnoff North (note. pre-COVID), we started talking about starting a hardcore-band. Even though we’re not a straight up hardcore-band these days, that’s how it all began!

Can you remember the first time you realised you wanted to make music?

Hmmm. No, I don’t think so. But I think I’m a bit weird on such things. I am a guy who loves to do a bit of everything. For me, starting a band wasn’t really about me needing to make music, but more of a lust for doing something that eventually could become bigger than myself. And that’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Probably a reason for me never being best at anything, hehe.

Who and what are the band’s main influences?

I don’t know if we really do have one or two concrete influences. We all listen to a lot of different music, but of course there are some pointers – even though I feel we have made our own sound on this record. I think our biggest inspiration as a band is the position you can get out of doing this. The role you can play in people’s life through music is huge.

What do you aim to achieve as a band?

We really want to be as big a band as we can be. As I was talking about over here, we really want to be able to inspire people after us! And I think the only way to do that is through really hard work.

For those who are yet to see you live, what can they expect from a LÜT show?

You can expect to be hit over your whole body by a wave of energy! We take pride in being as energetic as we can during our shows, and try to fill up the whole crowd with smiles of joy!

What’s next for LÜT?

Well, we released our second album Mersmak on 12th February! It has been a long way to get here, so it feels good to finally be here! A bit angsty, but it feels good. I really hope we’ll be able to play some live shows again, but I don’t see the point in LÜT live in front of 50 people sitting in chairs now. BUT! We are working on a live-recording/documentary of the band these days. Maybe you can see it in theatres near you during 2021? Watch out – thanks! 

LÜT‘s new album Mersmak is out now via Indie Recordings, available to stream or purchase HERE.