The Roseline during one of their many adventures in Norway

For reasons we still don’t quite understand, The Roseline is a hit in Nordic countries. When they’re not winning over audiences in Lawrence, they’re on tour in Sweden and Norway, where they have a large and enthusiastic following. How else would you explain their decision to tour some of the coldest places on the planet in the middle of Winter?

Earlier this year, they stopped by Moskus in Trondheim, Norway, and were given the gift of a live recording from the venue. The album, mixing several songs from their discography, is now available on Bandcamp.

We talked with The Roseline’s Colin Halliburton about what it took to get to their snowed-in location on tour.

IHLM: You seem to be reluctantly very good at social media. Following along with the tour looked like heaven on Earth from a nature-lover’s perspective. Can you describe some of your favorite moments from this particular tour (doesn’t have to be nature related)?

CH: One of my favorite moments from tour was a day off where we went hiking in a magical forest outside of Hultsfred, Sweden. The forest floor was covered in this soft, spongey layer of lichen or moss and it was just so beautiful and it felt so good to not be in a van, or bar, or hotel room. I remember saying, “the ground is sooo smooshy!” And Heidi [Gluck] said, “yea, it’s…POOSHY”. I like “pooshy” better. Seems more accurate for some reason. I digress.

Another great moment that’s more music/tour-related was the very night of this recording. The night before we were supposed to play in Oslo, Norway and our agent let us know the venue canceled due to “poor ticket sales”. It was like the third show of tour or something and definitely kind of took the wind out of our sails (sales hehe). Then we arrive in Trondheim and find out it sold out like a month prior. Egos back intact! Let’s rock! Lightly! Moskus was just such a pro club — everything from the promotion to the sound to the hospitality to the recording capabilities, etc. 10/10. Will return.
The Roseline run into snow trouble in Norway

IHLM: Not everyone decides to tour one of the snowiest places on Earth during the winter months. I heard your van got buried in snow on the road. Can you talk about that day?

CH: Yeah we ran into some gnarly snow on our way to our show in Skogsnäs which is like a hippie commune that has been around for 50 years. We got stuck multiple times and Heidi (Canadian) took over driving because she’s the real pro in the snow. We eventually got to where we were staying but had to have a nice member of this community tie our van to his Volvo to get us unstuck again so we could get to the venue which was literally a yurt. Never a dull moment.
IHLM: Sometimes your lyrics are very connected to American (and Lawrence) politics, so it’s wild that you have such a strong overseas fanbase. What are your fans like over there compared to your fans here?
CH: The difference between our fans over there and here is mainly the fact that we have fans over there that exist in real life and we don’t here hehehe.
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