Crash! are an indie/punk/rock band from Ostfold, Halden in Norway. The band comprise of Vegar Neeb - vocals, Remo G. Munkeboe - guitar, Daniel Pedersen - guitar, Frode Neeb - bass, Stig Buckholm - drums. Crash! say of themselves on their official websites: "Crash! Is it punk? Rock? Pop?.................. Who cares? You probably already have your own opinion about the band and their music style if you’re reading this. It’s up to you to put them in a box. It really doesn’t matter as long as you like it and they enjoy writing those catchy songs." You may recognise them from last years Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix when they came a respectable third behind Guri and Jannicke Abrahamsen. The boys actually gained more jury votes than thw winner and runner up but lost in the televoting. Well Crash! are back in MGP 2008 with their new song 'Get Up' writen by Trond Holter, who also composed 'Wannabe'. The Schlager Systems speak exclusively to Guitarist Remo!SS: Firstly, thanks you for giving us here at The Schlager Systems an interview. Could you describe the Crash! sound to our readers in the UK who may not have heard you before?
Remo: Thx for letting us get the opportunity to introduce us for the UK music scene.Hmm, the Crash! sound… It’s kind of a poppy sound, but still a “dirty” rock sound on the new songs on the album.
SS: How did you guys get together to form the band?
Remo: I called Vegar (the singer) on his cell, and asked if he wanted to join and sing in a band I was forming. I had never talked with Vegar before, but I knew he was an awesome singer. He was thrilled to start a pop/punk/rock band. We formed the band (then called Already Taken). Already Taken changed name to Crash! least year when we decided to compete in melody grand prix.SS: We loved Wannabe! What was it like performing Wannabe in MGP 2007?
Remo: Thank you. Wannabe is a great pop/rock song, and it gets stuck on your mind as soon as you hear it. That’s a good thing. It’s awesome to perform a song that people love and sing along to. To stand in front of 5.000 people and 1.000.000 watching you on TV is a dream coming trough. And we can’t wait to do it again this year.
SS: Did the exposure in MGP 2007 make you household names in Norway or were you guys famous before?
Remo: We had a good reputation before mgp too. We did a 5 days Scandinavian tour and released a 6 tracks EP called: is this the end? We were more known in other counties then Norway back then, all thanks to myspace… BUT we exposure for real in Norway after we did the melody grand prix. We hope to go all the way to the top this year, and show the whole world what we can do.
SS: Why did you guys decide that you would put another song into MGP 2008? Was it coming so close to winning in 2007?
Remo: No it wasn’t. Trond Holter from WigWam was asked by MGP if he wanted to write another song to the 2008 Mgp. He said yes and wanted Crash! to perform the song. Crash! had been working 1 ½ year with Trond on our new album, so it’s a great time to release the album when MGP is coming up. Mgp 2007 opened up many new opportunities for us in the music industry in Norway, and we couldn’t get any better promotion for free. So we decided to say yes and compete in 2008.
SS: How important is the internet to bands like Crash! in gaining worldwide exposure?Remo: Crash! started out as a D.I.Y (do it yourself) band, spending all night and day on myspace and other web communities on internet to promote our band. I can’t count how many nights I felt asleep in front of my computer promoting my band, but it’s all worth it.Sites like youtube, myspace, facebook and purevolume + many many many more are a HUGE plus to band who wants to get their name our to people worldwide.
SS: What's the best thing about being in Crash!?
Remo:To play music and see that other people enjoy the songs we write. Tour around with my friends and meet new people in the music industry. We love to play live, and we are definitely a live band. We got a high energy on stage, and we just love to get the people in the crowd smiling. Our mission is to make them forget about their problems (if they have any) and make sure they have a good time at our shows. And Crash! does that. That’s the way I feel.
SS: Is it your mission to bring rock back to Eurovision?
Remo: Ha-ha, I wouldn’t say that. Our song (Get Up) is a good rock song with a power pop chorus that people sing along to at once, just like wannabe. But to bring rock back? I don’t think anyone can bring back rock more then Wig Wam and Lordi did. Am I right?
SS: Are you a fan of eurovision?
Remo: You know what; I have never watched an MGP program in my life before I took a part of it in 2007. But that’s just me. I know Vegar watch it. I was actually going to watch this year, but now we are competing.
SS: Have you ever been over to our native Scotland?
Remo: Nope, we haven’t. Never as a band. I know Frode (bass) have been over there on vacation drinking some beer and whiskey. I hope Crash! get the opportunity to do that in 2008.
SS: Do you have a message for your UK fans?
Remo: We would like to thank everyone who shows a little bit of interest in our band and like our music. Buy our cd`s if you like Crash! and spread the word about Crash! to all of your friends. Please send us messages if you feel like it. We try our best to write back everyone who like out band.Ohhh….. Don’t forget to check out our new single “Get Up” January 7th. It will be out on our myspace page. www.myspace.com/crashofficialThanks Remo
The Schlager Systems
The party gets going!
Queen Carola and 'Cabaret' star Miss Liza Minelli star in 'A Classic Christmas Night' on December 7th-8th at Globen Arena, Stockholm and December 11th-12th at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg.
Sweet Sanna Nielsen can be heard worbling some 'Christmas Carols' at the Helsingborg Konserthuset on December 8th and 9th.
The atmosphere was fantastic and almost surreal. The sun shone down on us and an estimated 50,000 other marchers and the estimated 500,000 spectators! And you will never guess
then it was Pay TV's turn - oh my god, they need some good lyrics desparately, good camp dance routines though. Linda Sundblad descided not to give us some hi energy pop music but decided to woo the crows with piano versions of 'oh father' and 'bimbo' which really showcased her voice, and a great voice it is too!
Ru Paul was up next and the crowd were told not to take photos at the star's request, how diva-esque. So here's our exclusive picture! Three dress changes and a visable panty line
The it was the turn of the stars of the night, BANANARAMA!!!!!!! Keren and Sarah and their two dancers worked their way though their biggest hits and managed to whip the sometimes unentusiastic crowd into a frenzy! 
It was gay fun all the way with our two lushes. Bananarama were almost like a parody of themselves, remember Lananenenoonoo? 
But all-in-all great entertainment. Special thanks go to Shona and Big Ingrid, Sven and partner, Peter and Ben, Jonathen and everyone else who made our visit so exceptional.
We then walked into pride park and guess who was calling to us from the distance? Yes it was Anna herself, we rushed over to her and gave her hugs and kisses and wished her well for her performance. Anna entered the stage at 8.45pm to a delighted audience and sang two songs, her new single 'Dansar Mot Karleken' and the wonderful 'Samba Sambero'. Then a bunch of elegant drag queens entered the stage for a reprise performance of 'Samba'! 
Anna actually thanked us from the stage as well, which was very touching. We then proceeded to to Anna Book signing event, met her again and chatted for a time, did the photo thing. 
A great time had by all! Then it was off to the dance stage to catch Barbados performing. I think their show was live on radio. They sang all the hits including their recent hit 'Tid att gå vidare' which went down a storm. 
We then headed off to meet Barbados at their signing event, we walked in and introduced ourselves to the boys asked them for an autographed picture and blabbed some nonsense like 'we run a blog site, can we have an interview?', the boys looked less than thrilled to see us (don't know why, after all we were wearing kilts and were very drunk)! We actually really like the band's music, however on the night we were disappointed at their apparent disinterest in their fans during their signing. Barbados aside, the atmoshphere on Friday night, as a whole, was one of happiness and unity. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. The Vodka Systems are now getting ready to head of to the pride march waving our Scottish flags.
Army of Lovers were first to perform with their huge hit 'Crucified'
Next up are Alcazar without Magnus or (Mi Amore) Annikafiore ! Hurrah for Andreas and Tess and the new girl Lina Hedlund!
Martin Rolinski from BWO
Martin and Anna Marina Schiptjenko from BWO
Bodies Without Organs were last to perform to the cheering masses!
At the end of the set, a standing ovation for the man behind it all - Mr Alexander Bard!