LIKE FATHERS, LIKE SONS

In 2023, Avkrvst emerged from the Norwegian wilderness with a top-notch debut and an impressive record deal. As they ready their second album Waving At The Sky, co-founders Simon Bergseth and Martin Utby explain their familial ties to progressive music.

- Matt Mills

Avkrvst (pronounced “aw-crust”) were born to play music together. The dark prog newcomers’ founding members, lifelong best friends Simon Bergseth (vocals/guitars/bass) and Martin Utby (drums/synthesisers), are the sons of two musicians from Norwegian experimentalists Tammatoys. When they were as young as seven years old, they knew they were going to follow in their fathers' footsteps.

“We always had this vision,” Bergseth tells Prog on a video call from his home in Oslo, “and we kind of made a pact that, when we grew up and got as old as our dads, we were also going to start a band.”

The pair took a bit of time to follow up on that promise. However – after they assumed the Avkrvst mantle and recorded their first album, The Approbation, both aged 28 – they hit the ground running. Prog hub InsideOutMusic (home of Dream Theater, Devin Townsend and Leprous) released the debut in 2023 and propelled them to international attention. The goodwill led to them amassing a live line-up and playing festivals, including a main-stage set at the 10,000-capacity ArcTanGent Festival in Bristol. The band's journey from non-existence to notability was so quick that it seemed like they'd sprouted out the ground fully-formed.

“We weren't supposed to release The Approbation at all,” Bergseth remembers.

"We weren't signed [when we wrote and recorded it]. We made it for fun. All that material was just off the top of our heads, and we didn't record anything more or less than those tracks."