Sauropod Roaring At The Storm

Meet Oslo-based Norwegian trio Sauropod. Fiery sonic outbursts melding punk and indie rock - driven by powerful melodic hooks. Direct and forceful, aggressive and sweet at the same time. Lead singer Jonas Røyeng’s Cobain-esque growl coupled with bass guitarist Kamilla Waal Larsen’s blistering Kim Deal-inspired bass lines make Sauropod sound like they’ve come directly from the alternative explosion of the early 90’s, creating a sound that is both crunching and melodic.

After meeting in high school, Jonas Røyeng (guitar, vocals), Kamillia Waal Larsen (bass, vocals) and Jørgen Natland Apeness (drums) all moved to Norway’s capital Oslo, which is where Sauropod was formed. It’s music that has the power of the West coast US punk scene with inspirations such as Mudhoney, Nirvana and Green River and more recent additions such as FIDLAR, with a distinguishable Norwegian charm. The band have built quite a fan base over the last year across Norway due to their explosive energy on stage and this reputation led to an impressive slot on this year’s Øya festival line up & Norwegian label Riot Factory signing the band.
Speaking about how they chose their name, Sauropod commented that it was a “happy accident” as it sounded right for them. It also just so happens that ‘sauropod’ dinosaur is a big-long necked herbivorous creature & the band is made up of three vegetarians wanted to make a sizeable name for themselves with their powerful grunge punk sounds.

Inspired by everything from early rock’n’roll to classical composers, electronica & hip-hop, the band get the ideas for what music to make from a variety of places. All of these inspirations are ever so apparent on the diversity of ‘Roaring At The Storm’. From the fast catchy riffs of ‘Headphones’ to the more laid-back twinkly tones of ‘Running Song’ to the metal heavy growling of ‘Fugue’, this is certainly an album that clearly shows what this Norwegian trio are capable of. Sauropod’s forthcoming debut record ‘Roaring at The Storm’ was produced by Hasse Rosbach who was impressed by the band’s live show at by:larm festival, the album was record was recorded at the late Albatross studo in Oslo. Making songs is an organic process for Sauropod, with the band saying “We’ve never made songs in the studio or at the computer like a lot of songwriters do, we try to make them work immediately in the room we’re playing in. Of course that’s probably what any rock band does”. There’s a spontaneity and freedom to the way they record, which keeps the album fresh throughout.

‘Roaring At The Storm’ is a debut that has all the elements of 90s grunge mixed with modern pop-punk to create a record that simultaneously manages to be aggressive and sweet. The pounding riffs are direct and powerful grabbing your attention from the album opener ‘You and Me Should Leave Together Tonight’. In the band’s own words, the album is “noisy melodic, frantic & europhic” and we’re definitely not going to argue with that.