Interview with Edvard Valberg of Honningbarna

As a unit that utilizes their sounds as a means of cultivating a will to live that is creatively abrasive and ever-defiant, Honningbarna presents their epitome of balance between aggression and joy on their newest release Soft Spot, which is their seventh full-length. On this album, Honningbarna wouldn’t “go gentle into that good night” just like what Dylan Thomas had said. They are rebuilding, dismantling, and unapologetically persisting– just as they’re supposed to.

Every time I listen to Honningbarna’s music, the idea of pure chaos and danger that transcends the boundaries of time and space always crosses my mind. It’s as if they were trying to save the world and have fun at the same time while making some dangerous music. The themes of Honningbarna’s songs throughout their years of musicianship may vary, ranging from metaphors regarding Icarus, artificial intelligences and Übermensch, to acts of revolt against the bourgeoisie.

Widely known as one of the bands with the strongest live performance energy in Norway, they have succeeded in gaining an ever-growing audience through their chaotic and boundary-breaking live performances.

With the arrival of the album Soft Spot, they aim to relentlessly show up in times of resistance and subversion; finding joy in aggression and expressing organized chaos on their own terms. The sounds of Soft Spot represent the ever-dynamic life that Honningbarna lives, and loves to live. As for technical terms, the production process of this album was done by Erlend Mokkelbost who also has worked with them on their previous releases. They are always meant to be ungovernable and revolutionary, never bound by external forces of constraint– there’s no one stopping them.

First of all, congratulations on the release of Soft Spot! Could you tell us about the initial inspiration behind the creative process of this album — both in terms of musical style and its core concept?

— Thanks! I don’t really think there was a very clear initial inspiration other than wanting to make cool stuff. It’s much later in the process you actually start to see some shapes of concepts. I think that’s good – to let the music steer the concepts, not the other way around. Also, you need some experimentation in the start to get a feel of what’s working, what doesn’t and what you want to continue with. And I mean, that’s sort of what’s fun about this stuff. If you want to create new stuff, you actually need to go do it, and that means you have to go off the path you were on and be open to new stuff.

You’ve described this album as something that captures both aggression and joy. Is there any specific song on this album that embodies this balance best?

— I think they all do it in different ways. Like “Heute ist mein tag” is what Blümchen says as some ecstatic joy, but it’s also probably what those guys that did 9/11 were thinking when they hijacked those planes.

Do you believe in the notion that pop culture —especially in this context, music— can be an effective medium to help spread words and acts of resistance?

— Yes. But it can never be the only thing. And you have to have pop culture that is able to resist being swallowed by the same pop culture.

What do you think distinctively differentiates Soft Spot from your previous releases?

— I think it goes further in both directions – both in tenderness and in cold aggression.

Are most of your lyrics open to interpretation by listeners, especially on Soft Spot?

— Sure! Lou Reed said that “just because I wrote it doesn’t mean that I know what it’s about” and I kind of like that. It’s often that I’m unsure about what the texts really are about, but thankfully there are many journalists that confidently enlighten me.

What are your usual ways of keeping the creativity, destructiveness, and liveliness of your materials intact in terms of craftsmanship?

— By doing it, really. Being alive is more than enough.

After Soft Spot, what’s next for Honningbarna? Do you see yourselves evolving even further, or is there a certain core to your music that will always stay the same?

— I don’t think there is a contradiction between evolving and keeping some core – I mean, isn’t that what people do? If we stop evolving we become a cover band of ourselves, and that sucks, but I think at the same time there is a will in Honningbarna that has lasted from when we began.

Last question; I know 2025 has barely entered its third month, but are there any recent releases from this year that caught your attention already?

— Oh, I’ve been so fucking fixated on finishing Soft Spot that I have barely heard anything these two months. Oops!

Soft Spot is now accessible on streaming platforms. Following the release of the album, Honningbarna will be touring across Sweden and Denmark later this year.