About Stream of Self

I chose the name because I liked it ;). It was only after landing on the name, I realized the initials of the name was kind of cool too, and easy to play with.
Lately I’ve been practising production, taking different courses and classes, and have been focusing on finding my «own sound».

Who am I?

I have always loved to sing, and I vaguely remember having shows in my bedroom for my collection of stuffed animals, miming to Beatles, Elvis, and other oldies I found in my parents limited collection. Until I was about 17-18, my desire for singing was a well kept secret.

I didn’t really have the patience for «normal» school back then, and at some point I worked up the nerve to apply for a spot in the music classes as a vocalist at Sunnhordland Folkehøyskole.
To explain the concept for non Norwegian readers, put simply, you pay a small tuition fee to escape real life for a school year. They participate in different activities, some for all, some for your class and particular subjects. Learning by doing. The main point is really, no grading, no exams. It’s an alternative to the formal education system where the students leave home to live at the school (boarding school). Almost anyone you would ask that has taken a year on one of these schools (there’s a lot of them spread around the country with different subjects), would say its the best time of their lives. I wrote a song about this year that will show up on the album. I could probably write a book about that year, but will restrain myself to say that a forever burning spark was lit in me that year, and singing will always be a huge part in my life in one way or another.

When I got back home, I joined a band called «Indian summer». I remember we went into some studio, and made a cassette with three or four songs on it. I could have gone up in the attic, and dig into a thousand boxes just to make sure, but I’m not doing that. That band ended as most bands do….The drummer there, Petter Lein, is today in the band Ghost Avenue, small world.

A few years after that, I applied and was accepted into the bachelor program at Napier university, Edinburgh, Scotland. It turned out I was not quite cut out for that kind of school either. I met a lot of great people from all parts of the world. I lived in an apartment building there called Morrison hotel, with other international students.

I lived in Lillehammer for a few years, and during that period I got to know Stig Lognseth. I think it was 2013-14, and it was the beginning of what was to become Sideproject number 1. Stig is a good, laidback guy and easy to work with. I believe we share the same mindset towards how we approach making music. He also plays lead guitar on a lot of my songs on the coming album, and I use and abuse him, lending his experienced ears on all mixes.
So far we have released two songs, «All mine today» in 2018 and «Corner of the bar» in 2021. On «All mine today» Stig called upon a few of his friends to play synth, bass and drums. The bassplayer and the keys guy, I have briefly met once, the drummer not at all. The bassman Christian Hoff also appears on WWG1WGA, and is currently involved with the project «Eyes».

What artists inspired me?

Ooooh, too many to mention or to remember them all.

Lets just narrow it down to decades for now, and just name a few. Most of my favourite artists had their prime in the seventies and it’s still the decade I will go to the most, to find «new» music. I am a Pink Floyd nerd, no doubt. Valle Hovin in 1988 was my first concert ever. A friend managed to get us in because as his father was a fireman or something. I was 15 at the time, and to put it mildly, I was completely blown away by the magnitude of the production, the songs, Gilmours guitarplaying, you name it. The most perfect thing I had ever witnessed.

But no rules without exceptions. As a kid, growing up in the eighties, there’s no way around that there was a lot of different music from that period, that is still with me today. Duran Duran is to me worth mentioning, because a lot of their songs were a big part of the soundtrack of my life those days, and I think they are still relevant today, and I love the «All you need is now» album.