NORWAY TRIPLET
Written by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 2nd December 2009.
There's something in the air in Norway, and it isn't fermenting trout. There's a new wave of great music sweeping out of the country, so we thought it only fair to shoot some questions in the direction of the newbies (and the not so new-bies) and see what they had to say for themselves.
In the hotseat are Kent Helset, drummer of To Cast A Shadow, Billy McBarbie, singer in Slömber (Naked Hollywood Records), and Terje Eide, main man of On The Rise (Frontiers Records).
How did your band get started?
Kent: Stian, Marcus and I are childhood friends. We met Gunnhild a few years back while she was studying music at a school in our town, and invited her to guest perform on our debut album and a year or so later got her to join full-time.
Billy: Slömber first time met during an open stage-night in the town where we all went to college. The other guys were in one band, and I was performing with another. It all went well. I got lucky with this girl I had been checking out earlier, and it turned out that she was friends with Randy Roxxx who now plays guitar in Slömber. They were in search of a new singer, and I was in search of a more permanent band. We did a few gigs playing covers of Guns 'n' Roses and what not, but as soon as we started writing our own songs we knew that this was what we'd have to do.
Terje: On The Rise started as a duo, but today it's only me plus musicians who enjoy making albums like our new release Dream Zone.
How long have you been going?
Kent: The three guys have been playing music together since elementary school. We've kept playing a bit on and off since then. Periods of studying and living abroad have put us on hiatus at times, but we always got back together and somehow kept developing in pretty much the same direction musically. But it was firstly 2-3 years ago, when we added a female singer to the mix and took the name To Cast a Shadow, that the band truly became the entity as it appears today.
Billy: We started out in March 2004, so it's been over five years now. In those years we've worked our way up the chain, played tons of gigs, started our own label Naked Hollywood Records (named after some killer porn-movies), released two records and toured Europe twice. A couple of guys have quit the band during the years, but the new ones have always added more fuel to the fire. The current line-up features Eddie D'Lizard on bass and vocals, Vinnie Trashcan on guitars and vocals, CoolCat Casey on drums and vocals, the mentioned Randy Roxxx on lead guitars, and myself, Billy McBarbie, on lead vocals.
Terje: Since it all started in 2002.
Where in Norway do you come from?
Kent: We like to call it the Heartlands of Norway...to be a little more specific: the town is called Hamar and is situated in central Norway.
Billy: We have our HQ in Trondheim in the middle of Norway. It's one of the biggest cities in the country even though only about 150-200.000 people live here. After five years rehearsing at numerous colleges and sound checks we finally found our own rehearsal-space here, and I'm also running the label from my flat. We originally come from different villages all over the country, but Trondheim is our home now.
Terje: I come from Bergen. It's on the west cost of Norway.
What is the music scene like in your home town/city?
Kent: Fairly happening for a relatively small Norwegian town. A lot of metal bands and gigs, and a couple of clubs/venues where the metal-heads can get together to listen to and perform music.
Billy: The city has an old reputation for being the rock capitol of Norway, but there aren't that many great rock bands around anymore. In addition to us there's probably 4-5 other bands worth checking out, but non of us gets that much attention. The A&Rs are driven by radio playability, and rock in its traditional way doesn't cut it anymore. Or so it seems.
There are a bunch of smaller clubs here which aren' hard to get gigs in, but if you want to get any media attention and get further than the city limits; then there's only a couple of medium-sized clubs which again are very hard and expensive to rent. It's pretty much the same all over Norway; the media doesn't care to write about bands in small venues, and the medium-sized clubs won't let you play there unless you got any media going on... It's kind of sad actually.
Terje: Inspiring and colourful. The creativity and environment is really great.
Describe your band's sound...
Kent: Dark, somber and melodic. Like one of our very favourites, Black Sabbath, we only use guitars, bass, drums and vocals. Unlike the typical doom/goth sound, we have no synths or violins...so a fairly organic sound I suppose.
Billy: British webzine Glitzine described us as "the rawness of Motörhead, the attitude of a young Guns 'n' Roses, and the riffs of Mötley Crüe. A hybrid of the best from all the last decades of rock", and that is pretty spot on, I think. There's also the whole scandi-rock thing from the 90's, with the mix of punk and rock 'n' roll which has had a great influence on the drive and attitude in our music. It's just raw, sexy rock 'n' roll!
Terje: As it's written and described by rock magazines and fans around the world, On The Rise boasts influences from the likes of Toto, Nelson and Boston with elements of the typical Scandinavian melodic rock.
What other groups influenced your band?
Kent: It all started with hearing Black Sabbath...and of course Zeppelin, Purple and Hendrix. But we later had an epiphany when we discovered The Third and the Mortal...and shortly after My Dying Bride, Anathema and Paradise Lost. Bands from the early Norwegian Black metal scene, along with Seigmen, also had an impact. Likewise Tool and Type O Negative a little more recently.
Billy: We come from a lot of different places influence-wise, and there's a lot of opposites lying around as well. Pantera is a band some of us like, but I don't know whether you can hear it on our sound. Some of the guys were even into grunge in the 90's, but God forbid we ever get close to that. Ha, ha.
I guess it's obvious to namedrop a couple of bands like Gluecifer, Backyard Babies and Turbonegro, even though some of the guys can't stand them. Guns is already mentioned, and there's also a great Norwegian band called Backstreet Girls which has been around since 1984. I grew up listening to and worshipping these guys, and now they're all friends of mine and fans of our band. Great guys.
Terje: I was influenced by lots of acts from the 70s, 80s and even 90s in the AOR and melodic rock genres. There's so many names I don't know where to start.
Tell us about the latest album...
Kent: Our first and so far only full-length album, All Alone, is a collection of 9 gloomy tracks. It was first released in Scandinavia June 2007, but has since become available in the rest of Europe, Japan, and the US. It was recorded at Hamar Recording, mixed by Leon Music, featuring artwork by Matthew Vickerstaff (My Dying Bride) and distributed by Indie Distribution and Plastichead.
Billy: Our last album "Dirty Drinks and One-Night Stands" was actually recorded in the spring of 2008. Due to a studio break-in all the recordings were stolen, and we had to start from scratch again. When our bass-player quit during the same period, it wasn't that fun being in Slömber for a moment. Well, we got back up and did the whole thing all over again, and we we're finally able to release it this September.
We've recorded and produced the album ourselves, and it's all done on a very low budget. I think the whole production, including mastering, photography, print and all, got to about 4,400 £. The sound is a bit rough, but it's a product of 100% rock 'n' roll. Since we're pretty much on a tight budget in everything we do, not having an overproduced and expensive album makes the whole band more genuine I think. That doesn't mean that we don't want some rich uncle to come give us 10 grand to do the next one. Musically it's a very aggressive album, and as Glitzine mentioned; there's a lot of attitude on it. The lyrics are inspired by the classics "good bitch who got away, and bad porn who stuck". You might find some explicit words lying around, yes, but not that many you haven't heard before. Ha, ha.
Terje: It's been a nice challenge and a joyful journey. Something that is quite important in the process of making an album. I'm happy how it turned out with every song. The arrangements and the production was easier to fulfil than I expected it to be. It's been a long road to walk, but rewarding.
Anything on the new record you are particularly proud of?
Kent: The consistency of the songs I think. I have difficulty picking a particular favourite of the 9 tracks. In retrospect I don't think there are any songs that we have regret putting on there. The Death of Me seems to be a crowd pleaser though...
Billy: I'm not the guitar-player in the band, but I'm really proud of some of the stuff Randy Roxxx managed to pull out of his sleeve. For some songs he comes up with some melodies and makes it all very laid back. On some of the others it's pure magic. We toss him into the recording-room, then we whip him for about 30 minutes criticising almost everything he plays, and then; Boom! Magic. I recommend you listen to some of the solos in "No One's Fool", "Corvette Widow" and "Livin' in the Gutter". It's candy for a rockers ears.
Besides that we're all really proud of the whole sound on the album. We owe a lot of it to the guy who did the mastering, cause he managed to take off the sharpest edges and made it kick in all the right places. It's now pure punk rock 'n' roll from the first to the last riff.
Terje: Just the fact I managed to complete it, and that it turned out so well!
What's it like being at one of your live gigs?
Kent: Pretty dark... We like to turn down any bright lights and use candles on stage. Musically I think we are an attuned and dynamic band. The fundamentals of the music are somewhat innate after having played together a lot, so beyond that I think we like to keep some spontaneity in our live sets, and try to play off each other, which hopefully can generate something out of the ordinary.
Billy: To attend a Slömber-show is like being run over by the airport express-train - Not a pretty sight, one hell of an experience!
We put our honour in always giving 110% on stage. People pay to see us, you know, and I'll be damned if some bloke came up to me one time and wanted his money back because we sucked. On our last tour I threw up twice after getting off stage, I nearly passed out in the middle of the set once, and our drummer actually did pass out in the middle of our show in Stockholm, Sweden. All times we got back to life and never called it a show until the last encore was done.
After all this we're now considering only giving 65% on stage, to maintain our own health. Ha, ha. It's not only important for us to provide a good show performance-wise, we also wanna sound great. And for what I've heard from fans all over Europe, we are one of the tightest bands they've ever seen perform with such energy.
Terje: On The Rise hasn't been brought to the live rock stage yet...but hopefully it'll be a joyful moment with lots of good vibes to share and rock the night away together with the audience.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Kent: Touring the world? With clairvoyant abilities still eluding me, it’s hard to say. But I think as long as we are writing and playing music we'll be content. Hopefully though, a devoted audience will want to hear it...
Billy: There's numerous answers to this, I guess. We could be working double-time at the local factory to support our whining wives and children. We could all be dead after crashing our shitty band van on some icy Scandinavian road. Or we could finally have reached the point where we headline our own sold-out tours in 20.000 seat arenas. Time will show which one it is, but I sure hope it's option two or three.
Ha, ha. Go buy "Dirty Drinks and One-Night Stands" on the web, and we'll see you on the road!
Terje: Writing music and helping out others. Still making albums. Maybe enjoy some live gigs with friends and colleagues around the world.
There you go. Lovely bunch of guys, and thanks again to them for their valuable time. Check out the links below to find out more about the bands and their albums. Then go and see them live if you get the chance...or Norway will come round your house and hurt you.
To Cast A Shadow:
http://www.myspace.com/tocastashadow
Slömber:
http://www.myspace.com/slomber
Purchase: CDbaby
On The Rise:
http://www.myspace.com/ontherisemusic
Purchase: Amazon UK
