On the run up to the release of their album 'This Is Not The End', Mads Baklien of Spielbergs took us through some of his inspirations. The record is due out on 1st February, and the band head out on a UK tour to support the release between 11th - 15th of the same month.

The Get Up Kids

I think I discovered The Get Up Kids when I was fifteen or something, I was mostly into punk and hardcore, and my older brother brought home the ‘Four Minute Mile’ CD. I was blown away by the noisy and kind of aggressive hardcore-like playing style paired with the uplifting chords, guitar lines and emotional vocals. I had discovered emo! Then ‘Something To Write Home About’ came out, and I was an instant fan. This also led me to check out a lot of similar bands such as The Appleseed Cast and The Promise Ring and things like that.

Donald Duck

I’m a massive Donald Duck fan. I have a pretty extensive Donald Duck comics collection, mainly of Carl Barks and Don Rosa stories. I read the comics over and over and never tire from it. It’s just a bottomless source of good vibes and adventure. I also like the classic Donald Duck cartoons from the 30’s and 40’s. Fun fact: The title of our song ‘Daisy! It’s The New Me’ from our Distant Star EP, is a direct Donald Duck quote from the classic cartoon ‘Cured Duck’ from 1945. A great little short you can check out on YouTube!

Cheap Trick – ‘Surrender’

This must be as close as you can get to a perfect rock song. I always come back to this song. The melody, the playing and the synth, everything just fits perfectly together. And the chorus is just beautiful. And the lyrics are hilarious!

Twin Peaks

I was too young to watch Twin Peaks when it first came on television in 1990. But the last five years or so I have just become obsessed with the old show. The mix of eerie darkness and melodramatic kind of cornyness, the focus on coffee and cherry pie. And the music of Angelo Badalamenti! Perfect! I like to have a couple of brandies, sit back and just drown myself in the atmosphere of the show.

Milton Nascimento / Lô Borges – Clube Da Esquina 1

I accidentally came over this album a couple of years ago and I cannot stop listening to it. It’s tropical, psychedelic, complex and beautiful. It’s like an organic prototype of “Merriweather Post Pavillion”. I find I get more inspired by listening to music that is not so similar to the more poppy kind of indie-rock music Spielbergs is about. I have listened to that kind of music for such a long time that I feel like I have it in my bones. So whenever I discover strange music that inspires me, it’s like I’m able to filter that inspiration into Spielbergs songs or something like that.

Björk – Vespertine

I have been a Björk fanatic forever. I saw her at the Norwegian Øya festival some years ago and I can hands down say that it was the most perfect multimedia concert/show/performance I have seen my whole life. She had a big Tesla coiI hanging over our heads which her musicians played with a midi keyboard, and lightning shot out of it making the most brutal bass sound I have ever heard. Brilliant. I saw her at an airport once many years ago, and she looked like a fairy godmother or something. I fell in love with her right there. I was ten years old I think. The ‘Vespertine’ album is very special to me, and I use to have it saved on my Spotify when I’m flying, so that if the plane goes down, I can pop it on my ears and die a peaceful death.

‘This Is Not The End’ is available for preorder here.