HERCULES
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 15th June 2011.
Norwegian classic rock band Hercules have been getting plenty of good press for their latest album Rockwaves, so we thought we'd better find out what all the fuss was about.
Lead singer Vemund Moss answers questions...
Hi Guys, thanks for taking a moment to answer these questions. What’s the history behind Hercules?
Vemund: Hercules started out 12 years ago with a bunch of friends just playing cover songs. I then started to write my own songs and we recorded an EP in 2000 called Nice Try. We used to be a six piece band but for the last five years have been a four-piece band with two guitars, bass and drums. We all come from the same small town called Fåvang and we all still live here except Tormod (rhythm guitar) who lives in Oslo. Our bass player Simen is an electrician, drummer Lars is a carpenter, Tormod is an ergotherapist and I work at a sawmill doing sales and office work. So that means we all have daytime jobs. There`s quite a gap in age among the band members, Tormod being the youngest 29 years old, Simen 31, Lars 37 and me 41 years old, but the age difference doesn`t matter cause we`re good friends and the chemistry in the band is great.
How did the band form, and what’s the background of the various members?
Vemund: My early influences were Status Quo, Dr.Feelgood, Boston, Blackfoot and other classic rock bands from the seventies. I guess we all basically have the same taste in music with some minor differences, Lars is a big Springsteen and Lynyrd Skynyrd fan, while Tormod plays a lot of country rock like Brad Paisley and Keith Urban. I listen to different kinds of music but mainly classic rock and I`ve been a massive Quo-fan since I was twelve years old. There`s lots of great bands out there,we saw Carousel Vertigo from France recently and they were bloody good.
Did you know what sort of sound Hercules was destined to have at the start, or has it developed a lot since you began?
Vemund: We didn`t set out to have a certain sound, I guess our sound is a result of how we`ve developed over the years, and we have become a really tight band with our own signature sound. It`s nice when people say they hear different influences in our music, people say they hear Lizzy, Aerosmith, Foghat, AC/DC, ZZ-Top, Quo, Wishbone Ash etc. I would say we have developed our own signature sound, by that I mean we draw inspiration from all our heroes from the past and then add our own, I think that makes the Hercules sound, a guy in Holland said about Rockwaves it`s 40 years of rock crammed into one album. I think that`s a great compliment. Our rhythm section has a great groove and add two driving guitars we`re pretty tight.
Tell us about your latest album, and how it’s performing in terms of reviews, sales and airplay...
Vemund: Our new album Rockwaves has got some really great reviews, we don`t have any official distribution on it, it means we sell mainly through our web-site http://www.herculesband.com/ and cdbaby.com which also means we don`t sell in huge numbers, but pretty good as an indie-band with no label. We get some radio airplay on national broadcast in Norway, two famous Norwegian radio DJ`s are Hercules fans so they have given us lots of promotion and radio play. Also we sell quite a few CDs in Europe, mainly Germany, Holland, UK, France and Belgium. We`ve also had some airplay on some classic rock radio stations in Europe which is great.
How do you go about writing your songs? Talk us through the construction of a typical track...
Vemund: Songwriting can be a pain in the ass, but also much fun when it flows and you`re on a creative high. Mainly I start with a riff or a melody and take it from there, writing a few lines of lyrics, it can be a verse or a chorus but most of the time I start with a verse and the the chorus comes later. I used to write all the lyrics myself for the two first albums except two songs but I find it more and more difficult to write good rock lyrics. I became friends with a guy in Holland called Jan Leentjes and he has written most of the lyrics for Rockwaves, we have developed a great friendship and work well together. It can be that he has a lyric that he sends over and then I try to put music on it. Other times I can have a verse or two written myself but then I get stuck, send it over to him and he complete the lyrics. He has written the lyrics for eight of the songs on Rockwaves and he writes really great rock lyrics in an intelligent way, they`re high class, good rhymes and lines.
Where do you look for your lyrical and musical writing ideas?
Vemund: The inspiration for songwriting can come from out of nowhere really, I don`t go places to get inspiration but I`ve noticed if you`ve been off music for a few days you get kinda hungry when you pick up the guitar again. On several occasions the good ideas or riffs come right when you take the guitar out of the stand, plug it in and just play a few chords or licks and you go; Hey that was great, then you have hurry to get it recorded on the old beat up cassette player before you forget it ha-ha. Coming up with riffs and melodies is very much in the moment.
Do you do anything unusual or special in the studio to get your sound?
Vemund: We don`t set out to get a certain sound in the studio, but of course we try our best to get the drums and bass to sound good, then the guitars is just mainly plugged right in, we don`t use any effects, our music don`t need that except maybe for a wah-wah in some solos maybe. Our recording engineer is great and it`s amazing that he got such a good sound in the very little basement studio in his home, we squeezed ourselves in there, bass and drums in his bedroom and Tormod and myself in the control room.
Talk us through your existing touring/gigging plans...
Vemund: There`s not much touring plans at the moment except from a few biker festivals this summer in Norway, we played the Crossed Guitars Festival in Holland recently which is always great fun, there might be some plans for France next year but nothing confirmed yet, it`s hard when you don`t have a deal or a booking agent.
What is one of your live shows like? What should fans expect from one of your performances?
Vemund: I think people that`ll see us live will have great rock`n`roll experience, with a kick-ass performance, good catchy songs played with passion and intensity and infectious groove.
Anything else you would like to mention?
Vemund: I think that`s it, thank you for your attention and keep rockin`.
Thanks again to Vermund for his time.
