EMQ’s With Øresund Space Collective
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with Denmark based Progressive Space Rockers, Øresund Space Collective. Huge thanks to their Synth Player, Dr Space (Scott Heller) for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
Dr Space (Scott Heller) and I play synthesizers. Øresund Space Collective (ØSC), started in 2004 as a Space Rock jam session band with members from Mantric Muse (DK) and Bland Bladen (SE). We got our first record contract and album out in Jan 2006 and it has been going great for years now. We released our 44 album in July this summer and have played all over Europe the last 20 years, sadly, fewer gigs after covid times but we still make and release a lot of music. Great fun…
How did you come up with your band name?
The name comes from the fact that our early music was all created going back and forth across the Øresund (the body of water between Denmark and Sweden) bridge to jam in the two band rehearsal rooms. We had no name to start but came up with the name when we decided to play our first concert in Feb 2025. Since the band was really a collective of like minded musicians, we thought this name worked well.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
The collective has been based around Copenhagen but we have musicians from Norway, Sweden and Denmark and I now live in Portugal. The Metal scene is big in both Denmark and Sweden, with many great bands but we are outside that genre. We play Space Rock and are usually booked alone (since we play long concerts 2-3hrs) or with other Psychedelic Rock bands.
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
Our latest album is called “Orgone Unicorn.” It was released in July 2024 on the US label, Lazers Edge. It is our 32nd studio album and 44th album. It is a great double LP, double CD (with bonus and extended tracks) with a proggy, experimental vibe. We are very proud of it. There is a really trippy video for an edit of one of the tracks that features sitar by the amazing KG Westman.
You can see the you tube video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isr1Owqmu_Q
Who have been your greatest influences?
I have a lot of influences but personally Alien Planetscapes, Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Black Sabbath, Fela Kuti, Ozric Tentacles, Allman Brothers Band. As for the band, we all share a love for Space Rock.
What first got you into music?
It was the kids in the neighbourhood I grew up in California and New Mexico. We had these great Classic Rock radio stations (KMET, KLOS, KRST) where I heard Zeppelin, Trower, YES, Camel, Sabbath, Bad Company, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, etc…
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
If I dream big it would be Frank Marino or Zakk Wylde but to be more realistic, White Hills from New York. There are new members of the collective nearly every year so they all bring their own influence, which helps us to keep evolving our sound and making it fun.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
I think the Bonnaroo festival (https://www.bonnaroo.com/) would be one of the coolest as this could expose us to a lot of people who are into the jam band scene in the USA and that is a crowd that I think would like us a lot but we have failed to reach.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
One of our biggest fans in New Zealand (Don), sent me a very cool pair of shoes!!
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Thanks for coming along on this musical journey with us and for your support and dedication as it is so hard to earn money in this musical world today and without you, we could not continue to make new music all the time like we do… Tusind tak. Obrigado, Merci, Danke… Kiitos.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
It would have to be Jimi Hendrix. He revolutionised rock guitar and music and I am sure he would still be interested in jamming and pushing music forward. He would come back and be very sad about the state of the world and humanity and find it hard to believe how fucked the world is and might disappear again but it is worth a try…
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
Making new music with new and old friends, playing live for people. This is what keeps me going in this crazy world, where the future is so grim at the moment… I guess these days, I hate Spotify and streaming music that steals our music and art and gives the people who create it so little back. I also hate that it is so hard to get enough money to make a tour happen anymore and even break even. After covid everything changed and has become too expensive but are offered the same fees barely covered our costs (if it even did) and so we can not play live much anymore. Also since I live in Portugal, I have to travel long distances to airports and planes, etc… it is all so crowded and always late, etc…
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
I would force Spotify to pay the artists a reasonable amount of money per stream. Currently they pay the artists about $0.04 per 10 streams. So you have to have 1000 streams to earn $4. If we could earn say $40, this would be much more reasonable. The arrogant Swedish bastard that runs the company would still earn $50,000,000 a year, just not 1 billion!!! Greedy fucker! He would be nothing if everyone withdrew their music and demanded better pay but they have us all suckered! What can you do???
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Black Sabbath – “Master of Reality.”
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
For sure not downloads… I collect vinyl, CDs and have more than 5000 tapes so I love all those formats. For sound, if you have a really good stereo and turntable, vinyl will always sound the best if it has been properly produced and mastered. If you have a reasonable stereo, cds and tapes and if you listen to FLAC or Wav files but not MP3, will sound great…
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
One of the most memorable I ever played was with the Danish Stoner Rock band called Gas Giant. We played this basement club, Illses Ericka, I think it was called in Leipzig, Germany in 2002. The band played so awesomely and the entire room was so into the show that I felt an energy and euphoria I had never experienced before. Wow… With ØSC, playing the Roadburn Festival in 2010 was one I will never forget as well. Such a great response and so much fun…
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
Science (I have a Phd In Endocrinology), writing about music and growing chillies.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ozzy, Bill Ward and Robert Plant.
What’s next for the band?
We had our 44th album, Orgone Unicorn out in July 2024. The next studio album, Alotta hella down in Estrella, will be out this spring. We have a DVD from the Crescendo Festival in France 2022 out too, and the album Relaxing in the Himalayas on vinyl. It was previously a bandcamp subscriber CD. We will also have a 20th anniversary concert in Copenhagen, Denmark on April 11-12th. This is going to be very special with lots of old members and a killer light show, special merch and poster display etc.. Lots to look forward to.
What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
http://oresundspacecollective.com
http://oresundspacecollective.bandcamp.com
http://drspace1.bandcamp.com
http://doctorsofspace.bandcamp.com
http://www.spacerockproductions.com
Http://auralhallucinations.bandcamp.com
https://estudioparaisonasn.wixsite.com/my-site
Time for a very British question now. As an alternative to the humble sandwich, is the correct name for a round piece of bread common in the UK either a Bap, a Barm (or Barm Cake), a Batch, a Bun a Cob, a Muffin, a Roll or a Tea Cake?
I have no idea but my wife is English so I could just ask her!!!!
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thanks for this chat and I hope you have a great year and that some of the readers of your web site will find the time to check us out as I think we are a great and unique band that a lot of people will like. We cross a lot of genres in our all improvised music. Peace….
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