Norwegian rocker Toggo Ultrarock has released his new single “Creepy Wonderwall” to the wider world. The emotionally charged Oasis cover is a dark and haunting version of the original with the sincere and unique vocal delivery that only Toggo can conjure.
Toggo Ultrarock was happy to share questions and answers regarding his new hit single as well as his life and career. Togo’s goal in his own words is “ To leave the world irrecoverably inspired by his music and persona”, and he’s well on his way to accomplishing that……
What has been people’s reaction to “Creepy Wonderwall?”
I’ve worked with other songs before obviously, but I have never gotten a reaction like the one I’m getting for this. It’s just absolutely insane. Within an hour it had 1000 views and everyone I played for just kind of freaks out. I’m really excited about promoting this, I have a funny feeling about this one.
What inspired you to do a cover, because I know that you are a really great songwriter?
Don’t get me wrong, I already have another track original and fully produced. But when I started working with Johnny Santoro, he played me the demo of this track and I said “oh my God you’ve got to be kidding me, please let me do this live.” So, he produced the tracks and we started doing it live and people would always freak out over this song. T I’ve always wanted to release it. Everyone has such an emotional reaction to it, so I just had to release it before I did anything else.
What do you hope people will take away with them from your version of the song?
There is no message or anything behind this, it’s just that I loved the shit out of this track when I heard it, and I knew I had to do it. Like I said,everyone has this really good reaction to it. So, it’s one of those things where it’s just a great track. It came together perfectly with the production, with the vocals and everything. It just makes people happy to listen to it.
I feel like you put a lot of emotion into it…. I mean all of your songs you do with passion and emotion, but I feel like there was just a little extra something in this song.
I did. I think I was going through some stuff with my girlfriend Ann back then, and I really channeled it to that song. She is actually the girl on the cover.
During this pandemic a lot of artists admitted to being a lot more creative, I guess because there was nothing else to do but focus on creativity. How was it for you?
Same thing. It hasn’t really given me a choice. Everyone was just bottled up at home. So I have been super creative, not just with my music but with my business and with everything.
Why has there been such a long time between releasing “Cannonball” which was so awesome and this song?
That’s a really, really good question. I think honestly, I’ve been in this dark period of…I don’t know what to call it. Then a couple of years ago I moved to LA and that took a huge amount of time. I lived in Airbnb‘s for four months and then I had to get my kid into school, but then I still wasn’t able to pull myself out of this until a few months ago. When I got my head out of my ass I decided it was time.
You are such a great musician….it’s almost like your afraid to become famous…I mean you’re already a superstar….
Not on A conscious level but subconsciously there is some fear of success because I have managed to sabotage myself a couple of times. When I did self-inventory and I’ve discovered that I literally turned down three record deals. One time this guy even created a whole record label for me and got me a publishing deal, and I still managed to turn him down. At the time I thought I was being very rational, but looking at it in retrospect I was absolutely insane. But the good thing is I feel like I finally come out of that. Between moving here and starting a new life, I feel like I am blossoming again and moving past that. I am more active and more productive than I have been in my whole life.
Will you be touring in support of this single?
I don’t know if I could call it touring in support of the single. I don’t want to get out there. Before Covid happened I was assembling a band and we were going to start playing, but then the air got punched out of me because of Covid. Now all of a sudden it’s like boom it’s back. Playing life has become this like foreign thing. What I am focused on first of all is spreading the word about this song and getting it out there online as much as I possibly can, instead of going the opposite route. You know I’ve done that before where you struggle on an indie tour and there’s three people that show up because nobody knows you. Since promotion is what I do, I’m going to work really, really hard at it and try and build up way more of a buzz before I go to the touring route. We will start playing locally in LA.
So, if you could help me ask you any question on the planet what would you want me to ask you?
“Toggo, I’m going to give you $1 million where and when would you like me to drop it off?”… that’s a fair question….
If you look at it from the outside, I would share a lot of things that a lot of people never get to experience…. From the things that I’ve done musically to the house I live in, the car I drive. So, I kind of got a head start living the rock star dream without actually becoming a huge rock star. I think the question is based on that one advice that I have to give to someone else In my position? I think that I am in a good position to say that because I’ve had so much stuff sabotaged, but also because I’ve managed to make myself completely financially independent. The answer is twofold. The first piece of advice is never, ever, ever sell-out. And I know that because I feel like I’ve sold out for a lot of years, trying to fit into a certain image and trying to make the song extra radio friendly. If you look at the most popular bands of all time for example, like the Beatles, Guns N’ Roses to Zeppelin. What they all had in common is that they didn’t give a flying fuck about radio hits .They just rolled with what was in their hearts. Most of them were convinced that it really wasn’t going to work. I just saw this thing with Paul McCartney and one of the most popular songs that they were convinced that it would not work became one of his biggest songs. When you come from pure authenticity you don’t give a flying fuck how many plays you get on the radio, that’s when you produce your best stuff. The second word of advice, don’t get distracted. Stick to what you believe in and work on it every single day. Don’t get distracted like I’ve gotten distracted. Don’t wait a bunch of years getting distracted.
What does this song that you’ve just released mean to you personally?
Like I was saying earlier I was in a vulnerable or bad spot romantically when I was recording it. I just pulled everything painful inside of me out. The funny thing is until you brought this up I completely forgot that I had done that. Then I go over in my mind how this song is, and I think oh shit… I was a ball of emotion when I recorded that and that’s how the emotion found its way in there. I think also that that’s why it has such an impact on people. There are certain songs where pain really helps to bring out the emotion.
Well then you must be in pain a lot of the time….
Romantically it’s been 7 years so she’s been helping me. Somehow magically every time I’m recording a new song something fucked up has happened between us.
Stream “Creepy Wonderwall” on Spotify here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0C2pSfJCURl0HIKTfboaIS?si=8TGfmcmFQEOl0QHUnsS09A&dl_branch=1
Download “Creepy Wonderwall” on Apple Music here:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/creepy-wonderwall-single/1572775325
Follow Toggo Ultrarock on the web:
Website: http://toggoultrarock.com/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/toggoultrarock
YouTube: https://youtube.com/toggoultrarock
Facebook: https://facebook.com/toggoultrarock