The dog remains in the photograph. Pedro Carmona-Álvarez and Lars Heinz are with her. Fredrik Ferden is not in the photograph. (Photo by Eva Lene Gilje Østensen)
If you ask which band is Norway's best-kept secret: the little-known Sister Sonny or the instantly accessible Demonstration Tapes , just answer "yes!" According to Bandcamp, Demonstration Tapes, formed in 2023, "consists of Fredrik Färden, Lars Heinz, and Pedro Carmona-Álvarez—all former members of the '90s band Sister Sonny, which released albums between 1998 and 2007 before falling into a coma.".
It was, as usual, a productive period after the coma. Lars Heinz became a theater manager, Fredrik Farden a TV show buyer for a network, and Pedro Carmona-Álvarez an award-winning writer and poet. («Yes,» says Fredrik, «he’s the famous one.») Then they hit upon the idea: wouldn’t it be great, with America’s 250th anniversary approaching, to record a song for each state of the United States? “It sounded like a typical idea we could do,” says Pedro. “It’s big enough to accommodate anything, and yet it could serve as the basis for the whole project.”.
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Last November, The Tapes released their first 14 songs on the incredibly catchy and charmingly quirky album First Amendment . Every track sounds like it was written by a different band, and the album could easily pass for 40 minutes of high-quality college radio from 1985-1990. "It's a good period," says Farden. "When you say it sounds like different bands," adds Heinz, "it's because when we write music, we don't have a standard formula we follow." "And," says Carmona-Alvarez, "there's no censorship between us. It's all about, 'Yeah, sure. Why not?'"«
The trio, who performed at SXSW in 2000 under the name Sister Sonny, haven't visited most of the states they write about. But they feel they know them well nonetheless.
«"It might be difficult for an American citizen to understand how deeply American culture is woven into our daily lives," says Carmona-Alvarez, "but there are no subtitles here, we study English in school, and most people speak English. So there's a sense of familiarity. At the same time, we perceive American culture through our own lens. So it feels a little strange.".
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