Music Q&A: Highasakite

Norway’s Highasakite return to the UK, joining fellow Nordic nomads Of Monsters and Men on a full tour this month. They play Manchester Academy, 18 Nov and Sheffield’s O2 Academy, 27 Nov.

How would you describe Highasakite to the uninitiated?
A Norwegian five-piece band with a rich sound.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs-VUZrt6_fa_drvV4XAwcw

At home you are selling out arenas, dominating the charts and winning awards. How does it feel coming over to the UK knowing you will have to win new audiences over?
It’s motivating. It’s exiting to play our songs for new ears.

Is it reassuring to be heading out on your first full UK tour with Of Monsters and Men, given that you toured the US with them?
Yeah, we know what to expect. They are really nice and their crew is very friendly and helpful.

What did it mean to have the support of Bon Iver early in your career?
It meant a lot. He has an enormous following and it’s so kind of him to give us a shout out.

The band began as a collaboration between Ingrid and Trond, then grew. Do the main songwriting responsibilities fall to the founding members or has it become more collaborative? And how did the band evolve with each new addition?
Ingrid still writes the songs and lyrics. But we create the sound and arrangements together as a band with a producer. It started out as a trio on our first record here in Norway, and then we wanted the sound to grow and have more details, so we asked Kristoffer and Marte to join us a half year after we released the first record.

Antonia Charlesworth