Todd & Karen
... is the moniker under which Norwegian Øyvind Berge and Cork-native Ina Verdi-Ruckstuhl release their quirky, ironic and melodious indie – often set in the imaginary world of Beardsley Boulevard.
Who are Todd & Karen ... ?
We are a Norwegian-Irish indie pop duo, consisting of Øyvind Berge from Norway and Ina Verdi-Ruckstuhl from Ireland. We met as colleagues, working at the same international primary school in Kongsberg, Norway.
Øyvind grew up in the Telemark region, famous for its skiing traditions and folk music and played in some bands there. In 2005 he recorded a Norwegian folk album with his band Sugar Plum Fairies, which gained some attention on the radio and won a culture award. Later he has released lo-fi singles under the moniker Sir Øyvind Berge & His Imaginary Orchestra, and he has worked with his good friend, the Norwegian producer and versatile musician, Paul Bernard.
Ina was born in Switzerland, but grew up in Cork, Ireland where she attended the Cork School of Music. Later, being a violin player, she has spent time in several constellations performing classical music, both in Ireland and in Germany.
Despite our musical background, we have come together via our love for British pop music in the vein of The Beatles. That’s where we feel most at home and are able to let ourselves go. And as for the band name...who are Todd & Karen? It's a long story. We were originally called "Quirky Haggis". Someone close to the band said "oh my goodness, you're trying way too hard. You might as well just call yourselves Todd & Karen." So we did. Haha.
Who inspired you to make music in general and what were your first steps into music?
We’ve both been steeped in music from early on. Øyvind comes from a musical family consisting of folk musicians and brass band people. His first foray into music was via the brass band in Fyresdal, when he was 9 years old. Soon after, he started experimenting with guitar and would make ad-hoc combos with a few like-minded at school, using the lunch breaks in the music room rather than going outside and getting fresh air.
There was a short lived band called “No Distortion” that was going to make it big on mostly awful, acoustic Guns’N’Roses-covers, for instance. Ina’s father ran a music school in Ireland, which ensured her having music around her from an early age. She was taught to play the violin from the tender age of 6 and from there she also managed to sneak in the piano and, eventually, the ukulele.
"Cosmo Crowd'' sounds like a great reminiscence to the wonderful BritPop days , what's the story behind the song?
As is often the case, it started as a bit of a noodle and a hum on an acoustic guitar. Øyvind was sat around just playing for fun and this melody came around. The chorus came out of nowhere, but initially he imagined it as a bit of a Simon & Garfunkel-esque fingerpicking song with harmonies.
However, it often turns very Beatleesque very quickly with Todd & Karen and it didn’t take long after the verses kept materializing, before it got more Britpop sounding. First and foremost, we sound more European than American, and have no plan to try to sound anything else. Secondly, the chord structures we end up utilizing are quite British sounding.
We’re massive fans of the Britpop bands of the 90s. Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Suede, The Divine Comedy…they’re amazing and a huge inspiration. We listen to them all the time. So it’s no wonder we bring some of that with us.
Our producer, Sigve Høghaug, has a lot of musical knowledge and is himself a bit of a afficionado when it comes to music of the 60s and 70s (check out his project Bløtt Køl on the streaming platforms, there’s our plug!), so he further emphasized the Beatles and Electric Light Orchestra feel to the song.
What's the hardest challenge concerning songwriting?
The ideas keep coming fast and furious at the moment. We’ve probably written enough songs for a double album, so it’s more about getting around to record all the songs we want to immortalize.
But I think we struggle with different things. Øyvind comes up with about 150 melodies a day and a lot of titles and choruses when he’s in the right frame of mind, but writing lyrics for verses can take some time.
Ina is quite good at writing consistent lyrics from A-Z, but struggles to find time to write music at the moment as she’s just had her first child.
The best and worst thing about being "Indie" is ...?
The best thing is the freedom to do exactly what you want and just follow your every whim, without the worry of needing to follow a strategic plan. The worst thing is that you don’t have the budget in place to give your grandest ideas wings. Which is a shame, because we have a song that would suit being recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall with The London Symphony Orchestra.
The Indi scene in Kongsberg is ...?
Full of a lot of promising bands and artists. The music scene as a whole is thriving. There’s a well-known festival here, the Kongsberg Jazz Festival, that has attracted quite a lot of famous bands and artists through the years – jazz and otherwise, and they also let some of the locals have their start performing there.
We’d like to mention acts like the highly eclectic and genre-fluid Enslave The Zombie, Gavin John Baker and Sightseers as some acts to check out. Way Down The Rainbow is another local band that seem to be going places.
So there’s a lot of good stuff about. None of us really come from Kongsberg, so we’re a bit on the fringes that way, but we keep an eye out for the good stuff.
What’s next for you?
We just signed a deal with the Danish indie label Sublime Exile Recordings. They were just named the “Most Unique Record Label” at the Scandinavian Business Awards, so we’re excited to start working with them.
We’ve released three singles so far; “Mr. Beardsley”, “Barbara Barbara Barbara” and “Cosmo Crowd”, and the plan is to record 2-3 more tracks and release our debut EP towards the end of the year. We’re really excited about that!
Otherwise, we’re always on the lookout for cool projects and collaborations, so if anyone like what they hear, get in touch with us and we’ll see what we can do. But at the moment, all eyes are on the EP prize.
