Final part (4/4) with Claus Berthelsen (Naïve):

Catalogue revival, vinyl vs digital, and how Endurance (2020) + Take It In (2023) were made — on Naïve’s own terms.

Check out the episode website

We talk about how Naïve’s back catalogue returned to digital platforms and how vinyl releases helped spark a renewed momentum and a “second life” for the project.

Claus goes deep on format and intent: why digital access is brilliant, but the physical copy is a different kind of statement — tactile, fixed, and curated like a piece of art.

We also break down the newer albums: Endurance (2020) as a multi-producer patchwork and Take It In (2023) as a more unified record because Claus produced it himself building songs inside a consistent sound palette and even writing an ending track late in the mix to complete the arc.

We end on independence: language choices, refusing to compromise, and why Naïve is increasingly studio-first - doing the work when it’s right, not when the industry wants it.

Part 3 of our 4-part interview with Claus Berthelsen (NaïVe): soundscapes and aesthetics in the studio — plus the label collapse and legal fight that killed momentum.

Check out the episode website

Part 3 (of 4) with Claus Berthelsen (Naïve) — diving deeper into Naïve’s creative process and the turning point where momentum vanished.

We talk about building soundscapes in layers while protecting the core of the song, and Claus’ view of music as an aesthetic practice: the art isn’t playing the note — it’s choosing the next one.

Then the hard reality: a label collapse that froze Naïve’s recordings and triggered a multi-year legal fight just to reclaim the music — a delay that killed creative energy and effectively broke the band as a working unit.

We also cover the “nothing happened” moment after the album release: no gigs, even rejecting a Roskilde offer because the band hadn’t existed for years.

➡️ Next month: Part 4 closes the Naïve mini-series.

Song fragments, 4-track demos and the making of Fish

Check out the Naïve podcast website

In episode #24 of The Far Distance Band Podcast, we’re back with Claus Berthelsen from Copenhagen band Naïve to dig into the seeds of the music. Where did the songs on Fish actually start? Claus talks about melodies arriving on late-night bike rides, trying (and failing) to copy other artists and accidentally writing something new, and sketching early ideas on a battered 4-track cassette recorder with a tiny drum machine keeping time. It’s a tour through the messy, very human side of songwriting – unfinished ideas, lost riffs, and the rare moments where everything suddenly clicks.

We also get into the sound of the finished record: working with guitarist/producer Hilmar Hassig, recording in borrowed spaces, layering guitars and vocals, and obsessing over details until the mixes still sound fresh decades later. Along the way, Klaus shares stories behind specific tracks, small real-life moments that turned into lyrics, and why he still feels a deep connection to this music today. If you love hearing how songs actually come to life – before they become “classics” – this episode is for you.

Part 1 of our 4-part interview with Danish rock icon Claus Berthelsen (Naïve).
Origins, post-punk Copenhagen, soundscapes, line-up changes, and the “Marble Afternoon” legacy.

The Far Distance Band Podcast is back — and we’re kicking off with a 4-part deep dive into Danish rock history.

In Part 1, we sit down with Danish rock icon Claus Berthelsen — songwriter, singer, and radio host — best known as the driving force behind Naïve.

We rewind to the early years: Copenhagen in the early 80s, post-punk energy, changing line-ups, and the moment the name Naïve lands. Claus shares what it’s like to carry a catalogue that still sounds fresh decades later — including the legacy of “Marble Afternoon”, and why the band never quite became as big as the songs deserved.

If you’re into songwriting, band chemistry, and the stories behind the sound, this one’s for you.

Time codes: 00:04:16 Introduction

00:11:35 The early years

➡️ Next month: Part 2 drops (the next phase of Naïve’s evolution).

Naïveofficial site: https://naive.dk/

Naïve onFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/theoriginalnaive/

Naïve onInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theoriginalnaive/

Naïve onSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6FSDmz8mvH7FxYhDwsQBC6

Having bands in for band interviews is one of the nicest things about the podcast we have established. And this month we can present our first band interview with an established band that has released records and is touring regularly.

The Danish band Ring Them Bells is a band with their roots in indie rock music from the 90’s, but has developed over the years into something more nuanced. The band has references to Madrugada, U2 and Iggy Pop and is hovering in a space between punk, atmospheric rock, indie rock and pop music.

They just released their third studio album and we invited the lead singer and song writer of the band, Johannes Nidam, for a talk about how the album came about, the creative processes, how they work in the band, studio recordings and marketing, promotion and concerts.

It became a very nice conversation and enlightening for guys like Anders, Thomas and I that never came so far with Blue On Blue. This is great content and insights for any upcoming band to get an idea of how todays music industry works at the lower tiers of the system. Hint: no one is paying you a private jet!

Summer is here and The Far Distance Band Podcast will having a break until August. When we are back we are ready to share new Blue On Blue music with you and interesting band interviews.

We were supposed to have another band interview, but that crashed and then we decided to take a talk about Anders and his sample music he has been making over the last 25-30 years.  Anders takes us back to how he as a teenager started experimenting with cassette recorders to make sampled music through to the days of his first sampler to make more professional sounding electronic sample music back in the early 1990’s.

It is a wonderful conversation where Anders opens up the world of sampled music, how it works and how he is making his sampled music creatively.

Anybody with interest in sampled music will find this episode great with lots of insigths on how to make sampled music and how to find creative inspiration in the process of creating electronic music.

This summer Niels had the time to dig deep into Soundcloud to screen music and reach out to possible new guests for our Band Interview segment. He stumpled upon the Finnish band Sorot. Atmospheric instrumental music with very strong melodic base. He reached out to guy behind this one-man-band, Samuli Turunen, and he accepted the invitation to have a talk about his music.

It became a nice talk about how Samuli creates his music and how he works with his music idea seeds. But first and foremost we talked about his main inspiration: The whether. How the changing seasons influences his music and how he expresses the season characteristics in his music.

As an easter egg: one of us in the recording falls asleep during the recording – find out who!

We made a new song and it is time to have a talk about it after a handful of band interviews the last months.

We discovered a Talk Talk song from the 1984-album It’s My Life. It’s You being the last track on side B. The song intriqued me, Niels, and we ended up doing a cover version of the song. Whoever knows the song will understand we made a quite different kind of art work out of the wonderful piece of music when listening to our version

Anders and I here have a talk about the original song and the creative process we went through to end up with our own interpretation of the song.