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Paul Voza prides himself on being organised and structured. And by his personal admission he isn’t feeling both of these issues on the time of our dialog. It’s two months earlier than the brand new cocktail menu is scheduled to launch at Himkok, the Oslo bar the place he heads up theR&D aspect of issues. And if you realize something concerning the latest menus at Himkok, you’ll know that one thing intelligent, cool and groundbreaking is within the offing.
It began 4 years in the past once they collaborated with multimedia artist and photographer Olav Stubberud. The subsequent 12 months they upped the ante once they teamed up with famend illustrator Esra Røise and launched the primary cocktail menu to discover the NFT house. Final 12 months they stored the arty theme however took it in one other path once they partnered with clothier Eline Dragesund who interpreted the brand new menu in a full catwalk assortment. So the large query for Himkok followers is, what subsequent?
Cue drums, cue bass, cue vocals, cue an incredible roster of dwelling grown expertise – the theme for Himkok’s 2024 cocktail menu is music!
We all know, we all know, music and cocktails has been performed earlier than. However not like this it hasn’t. In true Himkok fashion, there’s extra to this menu than merely choosing tracks to accompany the brand new drinks. They’re going large. And once we say, large, we imply extra-large. What number of cocktail menus are you aware the place a serious file label commits to eight of its artists participating in a menu launch, with unique tracks created particularly to suit the temper, fashion and flavour profile of 13 new drinks? We expect the reply is none.
After we heard, there have been so many questions buzzing round in our heads however once we sat down to talk to Paul, we needed to begin with…
How did the music theme come about?
Keep in mind final 12 months, I instructed you that our aim was for artistic individuals to return to us with concepts for menu collaborations? Properly, that’s what occurred! Anja, one of many individuals who was serving to us with the style collab instructed us that she had an concept contact at Sony and we took it from there.
Which in fact led on to the remainder…
It’s all nicely and good having the thought however how did you get log off?
Anja put us in touch with this superb man known as Jonas who’s accountable for advertising new developments and new requirements. Our first assembly was again in December. We talked a bit, pitched the challenge and he completely liked it as a result of it actually represents what Sony likes to do with a brand new, uh, upcoming artists.
Your popularity will need to have helped?
Sure. Himkok is a really robust identify and we’re famend for our professionalism. After we went to that preliminary assembly we had all the things lined up: the thought, the idea, all the things – simply as we did with the briefings for our earlier menus. I assume they inquired about us somewhat bit too, they usually signed off on the challenge immediately.
What concerning the artists, have been they conscious of Himkok?
Really, no. The primary time we met up with the artists, 95 p.c of them hadn’t been to Himkok. For us, that was truly implausible as a result of our core enterprise is centred round 22-35-year-olds. Give it some thought, the bar is already 10 years outdated, which signifies that the individuals who have been coming once they have been 25 are actually 35 – a lot of them now have children and don’t exit on a regular basis. So it’s essential for us to do issues like this, as a result of as Norway is a particularly darkish market, it’s tremendous robust for us to maintain attracting new individuals, particularly after a decade.
What number of artists are on board?
There are eight in complete, starting from up-and-coming bands by means of to the very well-known. As with all of our tasks, all the artistes are Norwegian.
Are you able to inform us a bit about them?
Certain, we’ve got two 19 year-olds, one is a hip-hop artist known as Destina who’s presently a viral sensation on TikTok, the opposite is Linnea Ruud, generally known as LilNeya, who fuses dance, hip-hop, R&B and reggae. Then there’s Mari Bella, who was the youngest winner of Idol Norge on the age of 15. She’s now 18 and is a nationwide success after participating within the Eurovision Tune Contest’s and that includes within the charts on various events.
We’ve a home music DJ known as Mat Duo who collaborates with a few of the coolest artists in Norway, in addition to a five-piece indie band known as PandaPanda. Swingklubben are a mixture of occasion music and dance bands mixed with humour and storytelling.
The 06 Boys are all about summer season vibes and good instances and are favourites at festivals throughout the nation. Kapteinen is an indie/pop act whose songs stand out by means of their catchy melodies, energetic orchestration and poignant lyrics and final however in no way least, we’ve got Erica Norwich who has a sort of Rihanna fashion. She’s one other TikTok star – her tune Til Lillebror noticed her climb into the Prime 20 on the Spotify streaming charts and seen her notch up over two million streams to this point. All in all, it’s a terrific cross part of artists and we’re actually excited to see what they provide you with.
So how does it work: did the artists select a drink they needed to work on or did you allocate the drinks to them in accordance with their fashion?
It was truly actually cool to see as a result of we invited them to the bar, they tasted the drinks they usually all selected their very own which cocktail they needed to create music for. It was like, “I need this one; I’ve had an concept for a tune and that is precisely what this drink jogged my memory of.”
And so they’re creating unique music for the menu?
Sure, it’s all unique music, which I discover completely unimaginable. When Maros Dzurus and I sat down with them, our first query was, ‘Is that this even doable?’ I’m not a singer. I’m not an artist – it could take me like 10 years to write down a tune. However they have been like, ‘No downside, we are able to do that.’
The drinks have been created forward of the brand new tracks, did you play music within the background whilst you have been creating them? And in that case, what fashion of music is your go-to?
After we’re in our prep room, we all the time play old-fashioned hip-hop.
Apart from the music, what are the important thing substances that come into play whenever you’re devising your menus?
We all the time supply regionally, our menus must be financially sustainable, we all the time put Norway in a glass and pleasure ourselves on prime quality at a great worth.
How does a challenge like this examine to these you’ve undertaken beforehand?
It’s utterly totally different in as a lot as there are such a lot of individuals concerned. That is the primary time that we’ve had an enormous firm like Sony concerned which has been superb however there are additionally parts that we’ve by no means needed to think about earlier than as a result of there’s a lot authorized stuff concerned. All the things needs to be authorised. They must get attorneys, every artist has a supervisor, in order that they needed to undergo all of the managers. After which the artists must approve the content material. It has to comply with the artist model identification. So it’s an enormous, enormous challenge. On a scale of 1 to 10, my anxiousness ranges are most likely at 10 proper now as a result of all the things is out of my management. I’ve been assured that all the things is on monitor and we’ll get to listen to the music very quickly. Like they stated to me, it’s Sony Norway, they ship on time
Inform us about a couple of of the drinks
In fact! There’s Smoked Malt, which we describe as boozy, smoky and umami. Like all of our drinks, it’s a celebration of Norwegian flavours and tradition captured in a glass. It’s wealthy, it’s intriguing, it’s smoky and shall be dropped at life PandaPanda, who will even be decoding Karsk, a clean, dessert-like cocktail that mixes Himkok Vodka and Aquavit with a Karsk, a conventional Norwegian drink blended with espresso and vodka.
We’ve one known as Carrot Cake, which is a twist on a well-known Norwegian dessert served at festivals and celebrations. It’s Fireball, fats washed with a carrot cake combine and it’s completely scrumptious, it’s actually like consuming a carrot cake. The artists completely liked as a result of it reminded them of their childhood. Mari Bella is recording a tune for that one.
Seabuckthorn is a candy, bitter and fruity drink with Buffalo Hint Bourbon, Cocchi Americano and a cordial made with seabuckthorn and brown cheese – tremendous easy however very tasty. That’s one in every of two that Erica Norwich went for, the opposite is Strawberry, a very fluffy, creamy and fruity cocktail made with Remy Martin 1738, Himkok Vodka and contemporary strawberries. Different drinks embrace Blueberry, Cloudberry, Thyme, Lingonberry, Liquorice, Peach, Quince and Raspberry.
We are able to’t wait to attempt them! The menu is launching on September twenty sixth, what do you may have deliberate for the large reveal?
We’re having a non-public live performance on the twenty sixth and shall be inviting company to pattern the cocktails on the bar. We’re additionally printing some vinyls and sending them out as a thanks to our supporters who all the time comply with our journey.
Lastly, why do you do that elaborate menu launches?
We all know we are able to make drinks, however doing issues like this, it’s all the time a plus for our followers, our neighborhood, our bartenders, they completely find it irresistible. With all these tasks we get to fulfill new individuals, make new contacts and these collaborations actually assist us past that, as a result of, as I discussed earlier than Norway is a darkish market. We are able to’t promote alcohol so we’ve got to be intelligent and artistic with how we get our message on the market. Fortunately a few of the artists have agreed to say some manufacturers within the songs and for us and the manufacturers participating, that’s actually enormous.
The Beats Meets Sips menu launches at Himkok on twenty sixth September 2024. Discover out extra @himkok.oslo
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