Sondre Lerche has come a long way since playing at clubs in his hometown of Bergen, Norway. Signed to Virgin/EMI Records at the age of 16, Lerche went on to record seven albums, including the soundtrack to “Dan in Real Life.” He is currently on tour promoting his latest record, Heartbreak Radio, and will perform in Chicago Feb. 19. – I was lucky because I had an older sister who worked a lot of the rock clubs, and when I was 13 or 14 I started getting the hang of songwriting. I had been trying for a while, and I really wanted to go out and play, but at that age you are too young to play at most of those places. So it was really lucky for me to have a sister that worked at these places because she would vouch for me. I could come whenever they had open mic nights and play a couple of songs and be escorted home really late. – I had this need or compulsion to share the songs that I wrote. It was a crazy drive that I had so I was lucky to be able to find a small platform to be able to express that at such a young age. – Growing up that was the one thing that I was really fascinated by. I liked being on stage and performing, I just needed to figure out something to do up there. – I felt that I might be good at playing the guitar, but as it turns out I was quite a terrible student. But I found that just being good at the instrument felt too much like a sport to me, and I was not interested in sports. So I continued to try and make music. – That’s where I eventually found my voice. I liked to write and I felt maybe if I can write something that I like then that will be reason for me to be on stage. And eventually that is how I started singing. – I do remember one gig that I would love to be able to do over. It was probably my first real big festival gig. I was playing in a tent for like 15,000 people. Which was crazy. I didn’t at the time, or even now, have the habit of playing for that many people. – I was jumping and dancing everywhere and barely singing in the microphone. And then the first song, this being a festival of course, someone threw a hamburger up on stage and it lands right in front of the microphone where I am supposed to stand for the next hour or so. – And for the rest of the show the floor is covered with Thousand Island dressing. It’s slippery as hell and I am like Bambi on ice and I can’t stand still because I am so excited. But I have to stand still because I might fall. The concert was recorded for the English radio so after the gig I had to go and listen to it. I felt it went terrible, and it did go pretty terrible, and then I had to listen to the whole show over again. That is what happens when you are too excited and young and have got this Thousand Island-problem.