Smag På Dig Selv Talk New Album Musical Memories And More

Smag På Dig Selv (SPDS) have released their second album ‘This Is Why We Lost’ and will tour the UK in May 2026. We sat down with the band here:

Who is in Smag På Dig Selv, how did you meet and what do you play?

The band consists of Thorbjørn on bass saxophone, Oliver on tenor saxophone and Albert on drums. We met in the local hippie town in Copenhagen called Christiania, where Albert and Thorbjørn grew up.

 

What is your earliest musical memory?

Oliver remembers when he found out there was something called the pentatonic scale. He had an Easter egg made of cardboard material and he started playing the black keys on the piano and it suddenly sounded like something.

Thorbjørn’s brother was really good friends with the local star Lukas Graham who used to be a gangster rapper. So he got the tracks for free. He burned the records on cd and sold them to his friends at school.

Albert grew up with jazz music as his Granddad was one of the founders of Christiania Jazzklub.

 

When did you begin songwriting?

The band started when we were booked for an exchange with Russia and we needed a drummer. We called up Albert, who was the only drummer we knew. He said yes to joining us on tour if we wrote some songs together beforehand. So in two weeks we rehearsed and wrote 5 new tracks and went on tour to Russia.

 

You have your new album ‘This Is Why We Lost’, out now. How did you want to approach the making of the album?

We wanted to create an album that pushed the limit of what a band with 2 saxophones and one drummer could sound like. On the new album we were trying to show that we wanted to take our music, and ourselves, a bit more seriously. So, we like to say that we, musically speaking, are the age of 18 now. On the old album, we were the age of 14, and now we are the age of 18. Also, the fact that “Our Mothers Made A Punk Band” is at the end of the album is like sending us on a journey to become musical adults. Most of the album was recorded after a long period of touring with summer turning into fall, so the mood automatically became darker.

 

Where did you record the album and who produced it?

We recorded the album in the legendary studio Grapehouse in Copenhagen. And it was produced by our good friend Carmen Tynell alias TMI Tammi. We wanted a producer that was far away from us aesthetically to challenge the songwriting. And write inside the compromise of the pop universe.

 

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?

Our mothers came to record their song on the album and that was a fun day in the studio. And it was a big experience seeing them doing their first recording session ever. Being all nervous and recording to Metronome. The moms have the same kind of roles as we do in the studio with Oliver’s mom being the conductor, Thorbjørn’s mom being the fun one and Albert mom being the nervous one.

 

Did you use any particular instruments, microphones, recording equipment to help you get a particular sound/tone for the record?

For the saxophones we used Viga tools intra mike. Which is a quite special trenchcoat mike that brings a lot of closeness to the saxophone recording sound.

 

Which of your new album tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

A: “Our Moms Made A Punk Band” is probably the happiest

B: ”Vik’s Rawcore” is probably the angriest

C: “Like A Word I Never Knew” is probably the most reflective

 

Was it a difficult album to write?

There was definitely a lot of experimenting on it. We took a lot of chances which also can make the song writing harder because you are not writing on references that you have heard before. For instance, the track “This Is Why We Lost” was an attempt to make saxophones sound like a Church organ.

 

Who designed the album artwork?

Our talented Brazilian friend Gabriel made the artwork focusing on a photo by our other good friend Gleeson, who’s a great photographer. We’re very happy to have such talented friends.

 

One of the tracks is the single ‘Like A Word I Never Knew’. What was the story/inspiration behind the track?

The album was recorded in 2 very different periods of this year. “Like A Word I Never Knew” definitely marks the darker and serious part of it. When we went to record the final part of the album summer had turned into fall and we had played the season’s last. We went into the studio with a more mellow energy, and we were unable to be ironic. This track resembles what we tried to do on this album the best. We wanted to write something you could play as part of a trance set but still get carried away by the melodious story being told through the track.

 

Do you have any visualisers to accompany the album?

No, unfortunately not.

 

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

We grew up in Christiania, this small, hippie town inside of Copenhagen. It’s like a little village that the hippies occupied in the ’70s. It was a former military base, and most of us grew up there. Albert is a second-generation Christianite – the name of someone who grew up in that little town there.

 

Do you have any live dates planned in the UK/Europe in 2026?

Yes, we have just started our tour and will play all over Europe and the UK this spring and summer.

 

What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?

We hope to leave the audience happy, angry and confused at the same time!

 

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?

We used the new Boss Slice pedal v2. Which we midi sync to the drummers click. Which allows us to go full techno trance computer saxophone overload maxing!

 

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?

The Lord of the Rings. Because we could make it so epic!

 

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

We would like to recommend our friends’ band miaw and Debbie Sings because they represent the best of Copenhagen and it slaps and is original!

 

What makes Smag På Dig Selv happy and what makes you unhappy?

Greece and the Mediterranean countries make us happy.

It makes us unhappy when the music doesn’t slap.

 

 

Feature Image Photo Credit: Stefan Klapko

Smag På Dig Selv will tour the UK in May 2026 at the following venues/festivals:

16/5 Rough Trade, London, UK

20/5 Hug and Pint, Glasgow, UK

21/5 Voodoo Daddy’s, Norwich, UK

22/5 Shindig, Charlton Park, UK

23/5 Bearded Theory, UK

 

The new album ‘This Is Why We Lost’ is out now via Stunt Records.

 For more information visit: https://www.instagram.com/smagpaadigselv/