When the Covid-19 lockdown began back in March, many of us were unsure what would happen over the next few months. Would this pandemic last for weeks? Would it take the entire year? What would we do in the interim?

As the live music industry has come to a halt, millions of creatives around the world have been forced to ask themselves these same questions- in addition to wondering how they would keep their careers and creativity moving in a time when all of the normal resources and forms of live connection came to an immediate stop.

But for artists such as Ask Carol, a Norway based alt-pop duo, the lockdown wasn’t as scary as initially feared- as it opened their minds and schedules to new outlets of creativity they never previously had time to explore, and allowed them to hunker down and focus on their music in a deeper, more unique way.

We had a chance to chat with Ask Carol as part of our latest edition of the Quarantine Questionnaire in order to learn more about how they are handling their newfound “downtime” and what they hope to accomplish in the coming years. 

You can read our full interview below, and be sure to check out the band’s latest single and music video “Do It in LA,” out now.

Second Society Report: How are you holding up during this insane year that is 2020? Hopefully your friends  and families are staying safe and healthy!  

Ask Carol: We are safe and healthy here in Auma, Norway. This is a very small place, only about 100  people live here, and the nearest city is 3 hours drive away. We have stayed here almost the entire time since the lockdown in March. It is pretty easy to stay safe here, because we are the only ones our age here, and there are 100s of meters from our studio to the next house. Luckily we were both here in the studio when the lockdown happened, so we were quarantined together and got to work on our music.

But before, in March, we had just been on a tour in  the Philippines, and the week after we arrived home they announced the lockdown. Can’t  imagine what would have happened if we were on that tour a week later!  

SSR: Did you have any big releases or tours that were put on hold because of the  pandemic? How has that affected the band? (could be personally, financially, morale  wise, etc.)  

Ask Carol: Yes we had some trips, meetings, tours and concerts planned, but everything has been put on hold. In April we were supposed to meet a big shot management in LA, amongst other things, so that was kind of a bummer. Hopefully travels will be possible again soon, and to look at the bright side, we’ll have more time to prepare something cool for them.

The situation is what it is, and no tours or concerts will happen for a while, so we have  chosen to look at this as the perfect opportunity to focus on our debut album and recording new stuff. We had planned to do some recording this summer anyway, so we try to find the positive in this otherwise hopeless situation. Now we have our third single for this year coming up in a few weeks.  

SSR: How have you been spending your newfound “downtime” while the world has been  essentially shut down?

Ask Carol: Well, we have found lots of things to do. We made our first ever real music video, filmed in the forest around our studio, we have learned to make animations, which we used to make our first lyric video “Do It in LA,” and we have set up a webshop with some self-designed merch. Just to name a few things. As no  traveling has been allowed, we have spent a lot of time trying to learn mixing and some audio engineering, which is very necessary when we can’t travel to a studio or visit with mixing engineers.  

SSR: Have you picked up any new hobbies while quarantining that you’d like to share?  

Ask Carol: Yeah, as mentioned, we’ve started animating and making sort of cartoon-ish stuff. It’s completely new to us, but so much fun! You have so much info available on YouTube and other places nowadays, we can sit for hours and hours watching tutorials on how to draw, animate, how to use After Effects, make video effects and so much cool stuff. When we find fun stuff to do, time really flies, even with so much free time. There has actually never been a boring moment, we always have something to do.  

SSR: Have you worked on any new releases during this time? Any that are already out or  that we can get a sneak peak of?  

Ask Carol: Yes, we have already released two singles since the lockdown (“Run With You” and “Do It in LA”) and we just finished the next one today. That one will be released in early  November, we’re so excited! It’s a little different from the last two, and this one we have  tried mixing ourselves.  

SSR: If already out- what was the inspiration for the release? Have you written any songs  specifically about the state of the world right now?  

Ask Carol: The last song we released was “Do It in LA.” In April this year, we finally got set up for a  meeting with some big shot management in LA, which we had been working towards for a  long time. We were supposed to fly in around the middle of April, but we all know what  happened… So, with all travels out of the question, we were stuck in the middle of  nowhere, with internet-speeds from the 90s. “What do we do now?” we thought. In need of a distraction from our frustrations, we made this song, “Do It in LA”. Half satirical comedy about the shallow, plastic fantastic society, half an honest testimony to us dreaming ourselves away to sunny Californ-i-a, and LA. Everyone has an opinion about the celebrity scene, but who hasn’t dreamt of being a Hollywood star? A contrast to our often more melancholic music, we needed some feel-good music in our not so cheerful times. This song, “Do It in LA,” is what we ended up with. 

SSR: How has it been being an artist in a time when you cannot tour? How have you been  working to promote your music and expand your reach?  

Ask Carol: We have had to think a little differently. We have been used to touring a lot, we’ve toured in Japan, South Korea, Philippines and more, so we did have to change the way we work and promote. We have always made lots of short videos about nature and other stuff. Suddenly, everyone started doing it so there was more competition, more artists fighting for people’s attention. Not just artists, but normal people started doing it too. Of course we have continued with our short videos, but now we are also going to release more songs, more often. With touring out of the question, releasing material is the best way to stay in touch with fans. If we can’t give them concerts, we’ll give them new songs!  

SSR: Do you have any words of advice for fans that are feeling particularly bummed out  about the live music world coming to a halt?  

Ask Carol: Well, nobody knows exactly what will happen, but this too shall pass. There will always be music, and we’ll find a way to have live concerts again. We and many other artists use social media to put out material, and many others also release music more often now. Hopefully that will help us all get through this, and we’ll all be ready when the live scene  opens up again. Btw, playing an instrument is a very nice way to pass time and if you miss going to concerts you can have your own concert in your room, and jam with the best (on YouTube, Spotify, etc) 🙂  

SSR: When the world returns to a safer spot and we are able to (hopefully) attend live  shows again- say in 2021- what do you hope to achieve?  

Ask Carol: We want to tour a lot! There’s so many places we want to go, and play, wanna meet  people and share our music, discover new music. It is one of the best things with playing in a band, the touring and traveling.  

SSR: Is there anything you wish your fans would know about you or about the current  state of the music world?  

Ask Carol: We very much look forward to meeting you at your local venue when all this is over! After so long with no live music, touring or concerts, everyone will be starved of live music. There will (hopefully) be a surge of live music happening, and it will be great. 

You can follow Ask Carol now, via the social media links below, to stay up to date on all things new releases, and be sure to check out their latest single “Do It in LA,” out now.

Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / YouTube / Website