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On a Boat with Lukas Graham

On a Boat with Lukas Graham

4:09·By Gemma G
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About this video

All aboard as YH embarks on a chill boat ride around Austin during SXSW with Danish band Lukas Graham, where frontman and namesake Lukas Graham Forchhammer tells us about the inspiration for and process behind writing their hit single "7 Years". Plus the guys talk about how they all first met and some fave foods from their native land!

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Young Hollywood

This is something I've been looking forward to. I'm on a boat, motherfucker. Take a look at me. What's like the Denmark, what's what's like their, what is your guys' like food? What is something that's like a specialty? What's the

Lukas Graham

Different dishes with pork, but the probably the open-faced sandwiches with like rye bread. Rye bread, fish, like pickled stuff, right?

Young Hollywood

Yeah, pickled stuff. A lot of pickled vegetables. Yeah. Music-wise, Lucas, when did you like first start singing? Was there somebody that inspired you?

Lukas Graham

When I my mom says I was singing in kindergarten.

Young Hollywood

You were in choir class?

Lukas Graham

Then I went to choir in in school. And then started writing poems and rap music when I was like 12, 13.

Young Hollywood

And you guys all met in school or you met in the same same school?

Lukas Graham

high school. Same high school. Yeah.

Guest

Where Lucas grew up was kind of the nicest neighborhood of Copenhagen, but also you could say it is a little bit rough. It's like Christiania, I don't know if you've heard about it. It's an amazing place. So it's like

Lukas Graham

It's where we started playing. Yeah.

Young Hollywood

One day soon, I'll be 60 years old. There's a there's a line about 60 years. It's like your father passed away and he's He's soon I'll be 60 years old. My daddy got 61. Remember life and then your life becomes a better one. Is that like something that's special to you that line?

Lukas Graham

Well, you can say not anymore in a certain sense. Uh, it's three and a half years since he passed, but when I wrote this song, it was only a year and a half since. Right. And like professionals talk about what you call a cycle of grief, and that's basically two years after somebody you really care about dies. You need to live those two years to have two years without the person. So you have two years to reference your life in like a birthday without them.

Young Hollywood

I've heard about this.

Lukas Graham

New Years without them all that. And I was kind of approaching that year and a half mark when it kind of feels like it's over, but it's not really. And then you still have a couple of things you need to resolve or whatever. So when I wrote the song, I just couldn't look past 60. In a certain way. It's a good reference. You have to stop the song at some point, otherwise soon I'll be 100 years old. I'm stuck in a my old people's home. Nobody ever visits me because all my friends are dead.

Young Hollywood

You have a passion for uh, drum and bass.

Lukas Graham

Yeah. I like I like drum and bass.

Guest

It was so funny when we started playing and and things started blowing up in in Denmark. We had our Facebook page and uh we were getting a lot of uh a lot of followers on that page. And Lucas would just keep posting like uh drum and bass. links to uh to drum and bass tracks on YouTube. To a point where people were just commenting, Lucas, I really like your music. Would you please stop posting drum and bass links?

Young Hollywood

Football or soccer. What do you guys call it in Denmark?

Lukas Graham

Soccer. Soccer.

Young Hollywood

Your football, football call it soccer over here just so you guys can understand it even like your football has very little little to do with foot foots and balls. feet and balls or feet and balls.

Lukas Graham

Yeah, just balls.

Young Hollywood

It's more like a hand egg or something. A very big egg. Handball. The samples or the sounds that you put on Seven Years, big, like the the the opening of the 8mm. The 8mm. Just give it a little spice.

Lukas Graham

Well, it's a guy called Pilo that's basically our executive and our our yeah, emotional guide, like he puts on like little samples and sounds. He's used to like, It's like movie. Yeah, he used to do movie scores. Recording the right like gunshots for the right Second World War movie scene and recording the right rustle in the wind and stuff. So he So it's like very theatrical the way he produces his music. He definitely helped the story. Definitely in the song and puts that you can you can feel that.

Guest

We got the salad, but nobody got the salad. No. Nah.

Young Hollywood

Yeah. I waited in a long line to get that, guys. I'm not gonna lie to you. We didn't go to Texas to eat salad.

Timestamps are approximate — click one to jump the player.

PEOPLE MENTIONED

  • Lukas Graham Forchhammer

    Frontman and namesake of the band Lukas Graham, discussing his music and life.

  • Pilo

    Described as the band's executive and emotional guide, responsible for sound samples in '7 Years'.

FAQ

What Danish food specialties does Lukas Graham mention?+
Lukas Graham mentions open-faced sandwiches with rye bread, fish, and a lot of pickled vegetables as specialties from Denmark.
When did Lukas Graham start singing?+
Lukas Graham's mom says he was singing in kindergarten, and he later went to choir in school before writing poems and rap music around age 12 or 13.
Where did the members of Lukas Graham meet?+
The members of Lukas Graham met in the same high school in Copenhagen.
What inspired the lyrics about turning 60 in '7 Years'?+
The lyrics about turning 60 were inspired by Lukas's father's passing, with the song being written about a year and a half after his father died, as he was processing grief.
Who helped produce the sound samples for '7 Years'?+
A guy named Pilo, described as the band's executive and emotional guide, helped produce the sound samples for '7 Years', using his background in movie scores.

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