Datarock: The Revenge of the Nerds

Follow the live stream here from 00:30.

- It's not just a big deal for us, but also for the crew who made the video. To see it live for the first time with all the lights, the big screen and the setting. We've been working on this video for three months now, and we're really happy to show it here on The Gathering for the first time. I think those who showed up were very happy with what they saw.

Now it's all about tonight, and they're very excited to perform at TG for the first time ever. They have never been to The Gathering, but they find the concept really fascinating.

- This many people together, in a construction meant for The Olympics, to connect their computers and enjoy the holiday indoors. I think it's incredibly cool.

The first time the guys heard about TG, it was all about gaming and hacking, but they can see that it's becoming more of a arena for the industry and for cooperation between different fields. They think it's great to have a common area for interested and professionals to evolve and learn from each other. Not only from Norway, but from all over the world. "It kind of reminds me of similar events from around Europe and it's important for Norway to keep up and stimulate development for the future".

When we asked if they were gamers they responded;

- Naaaah, but we are very positive to the phenomena

Fredrik said they were to old to be gamers, but we reminded them that no-one is to old to game. Then Fredrik started a walk down memory lane, and told us that from his youth they used to play "Watch and Game", and that he hadn't been gaming since "Commodore 64". After that it was only music.

Photo: Carlo Ascani

Despite not being gamers themselves, their music is heavily featured in videogames. They've held an impressive 850 concerts in 36 different countries and across 6 continents.

- I think a lot of the reasons why we have been playing worldwide is because of the games, it is natural to assume that there is a link between where we play and the fact our music is known everywhere from games".

Revenge of the Nerds

On Instagram Datarock hash tagged #RevengeOfTheNerds, and we asked if they are a little nerdy. Fredrik tells us that one of the first movies he saw, like 50 times, was revenge of the nerds. It was a whole new concept in the 80's that the typical roles were switched, and the nerds became the heroes.

- So yeah, of course we're a little nerdy

From the monologue of the same movie they made the first verse of "Computer Camp Love", and we had to ask if they thought it was possible to find love at en event like The Gathering. Kjetil Møster replied "Absolutely, but love could be so many things".

The first time they played at an event like this was at a small LAN in Bergen with about 700 participants. There was no one attending that show, during the concert, a kid around 3 years old showed up to dance for a couple of minutes, and that was all the audience they got that night. They played for 700 luminous screens. After the concert Datarock, received a couple of mails from participants saying they did a good job.

- When we think about it, maybe it's not that bad. So now we are prepared to play for 5500 screens, but that's alright. Honestly we are very excited to play here and we brought wireless transmitters so if you're not coming to our show we will come to you!

Last but not least, we asked if Datarock have anything on their raider they really didn't want to share? "A Commodore 64 simulator". We do not know if this the truth, but we were charmed by this answer.

Follow the live stream here from 00.30.

Photo by Sigurd Sveen

Photo by Sigurd Sveen

Photo by Sigurd Sveen

Photo by Sigurd Sveen