No Dial Tone

Meet Norwegian Vibeke Bruff Johansen (30) and American Kristina Dunn(32), the hottest DJ’s in Norwegian underground music scene.

After getting married in 2005, Kristina moved to Norway joining Vibeke whom already had made a big name for herself in the Norwegian club scene. No Dial Tone was formed where Kristina does the vocal mixing and Vibeke takes care of production.
No Dial Tone has not just made music for the underground club scene, they have also produced music for the fashion world. Oslo Fashion Week has been one of their customers as well as some Norwegian designers. Creating music for the fashion industry is definitely something they hope to do more of, and undoubtedly something we will be looking forward to.

We asked them some questions about their background, their thoughts of the Norwegian fashion industry and what they plan for the future.

Is creating music in Norway enough to earn your living?

V: It shouldn’t be too much of a problem living of what we make doing music only. But Kristinas passion and interest for food have given her a job at Kampen Bistro earning some extra money. I’ve been producing and doing this full time for the last year. There was a time where we took every play job, but for the past years we have been taking it a little bit easier and just enjoying life as it should be.

K: We have also been so lucky to get sponsored with clothes from Wesc, who should be a well known brand amongst our readers. We also get equipment from Canon giving us the opportunity to take pictures during our live sessions and DJ events.

How did you get the opportunity to do music for Norwegian designers? Whom have you played for and have you worked for foreign designers?

K: We have recently worked a lot with Nina Jarebrink. Actually, we’ve been working with her for the last 2 years. Producing a promo video and making music for her shows. Fam Irvoll is also a lady we’ve been doing a lot for lately. Josefin Johanson is a Swedish designer known for the Norwegian project Fashion for Fun. We have also participated in various events like Vanity Vintage, Flashdance, Byporten, Fanzine Magazine and Vixen just to name a few.

V: I must say that I would love to do a great production for a fashion show sometimes when they decide to take it up to the next level. I think its important to fokus on the music when it comes to fasion shows. Sometimes the music does not fit in with the clothes.

Image is a big part of how artists promote their self in the public view, what is your relation to fashion and image?

K: I’m very aware of how we look outside when we’re representing No Dial Tone, being a live set on a big scene or just doing a dj job in a club somewhere. We want an intelligent and modern look, but minimalistic. We’re really quite simple, with clean cut and simple colors. If we had to name a similar style, it would be something like Kräftwerk.

V: Kristina usually wears nice dresses, while I put on a shirt and tie or something clean. But we always try to look good on stage, and you would never see us in a hoodie or sweater on stage.

Do you have any favorite designer for the time being? Or style?

V: I usually just wear something from Wesc, I have the closet full of it. Cool laidback clothing with an edge. I have to say that my fashion knowledge isn’t just Wesc, but I just learned the names of a few cool designers Kristina told me about. Although I really loved the style of the late Alexander McQueen, but really it’s just the show and art that inspires me and interests me.

K: My favorite designers are Balenciaga and Karl Lagerfeld, but right now it’s quite hard to name one. Fashion isn’t really what we think of these days. But I must say that I get really inspired by the 60’s, Pierre Cardin and André Courrèges. I also like the clothes from the Norwegian designer Vatle. It’s edgy, futuristic and cool.

Vibeke, you have been modeling for Ford models in the states. Tell us a little about the experience and how you became a model.

V: Laughs..Do you really think people could be interested in this? Well, it all started when I moved to LA in 1999 together with my sister who was a model at that time. I got lucky and was picked up from the street. After doing some jobs I was contacted at a party by this lady representing an agency whom had lost a model with my kind of look. It was a lot of fun, and I really loved it at that time. Before I moved to US, I had educated myself as a hairdresser, and eventually via the modeling job I got a job for MTV doing hair for music videos and shows like “Rock the vote”.

Kristina, you have a degree in fashion. How did you end up in the fashion industry?

K: It all started when I was a kid, growing up with Nirvana and Pearl Jam – the grunge style, with cheap clothing like Fretex and secondhand stores. It was not until I moved to LA I heard about brands like Fendi, Armani and Luis Vuitton. I started working in stores for designers like Donna Karen, Betsy Johnsen and Giorgio Armani on Rodeo Drive. Having dressed girls like Tyra Banks, I eventually felt the urge for designing my own clothes and joined the Fashion Institute of Los Angeles. After graduating I worked for different designer houses as designer assistant. After moving to Norway I worked a while as a designer for Lene V. My background in fashion is benefical to have in the marketing for No Dial Tone and for the way we appear in photos and our image.

What are your goals for 2010?

V: We have plans of releasing a record, but can’t really tell anything more than that at this moment. But be sure to look out for it after the summer. Besides that we’re playing in 3 great festivals this summer, and we are just stoked to get this opportunity. We are also trying to focus our energy on playing more outside the borders of Norway, and are doing a cool festival in Poland also soon.

Foto: Steven Stieng
Makeup: Tomas Erdis Assistant
Styling assistant: Kristin Bergheim