Groupe:

Audrey Horne

Date:

17 Juin 2016

Interviewer:

Didier

Interview Arve and Toshie (face to face)

Hello, we met with you, Toshie, at the same place three years ago. Really happy to talk to you again.

Toshie: Thanks.

We already presented the band at that time, has the lineup been pretty stable?

Toshie: Yes, same guys.

So since we met, you guys released a follow on to the excellent "Youngblood", "Pure Heavy". How did this go?

Toshie: It went really well. It sounded well, it was received well. We invested a lot on it.

Were they both commercial success from your point of view?

Arve: We don't really know, the same maybe. They don't really tell us stuff like that. It's all a big secret. We just know it's doing good.

How did you work on "Pure Heavy", knowing that you had to come up with something new and at least as good as "Youngblood" which was very good?

Toshie: We worked the same way as for "Youngblood". In fact when we wrote music for "Youngblood", we recorded it, and then we kept on writing music, and then we also recorded it. So it was pretty much the same method for both. The only real difference was production wise, because we changed producer.

Arve: Yes it's a little more produced album. "Youngblood" was more or less us, playing live in the studio, with very few overdubs, just to keep that live energy. We still recorded live for "Pure Heavy" but added a few more things afterward, such as guitar line, or keyboards, just to have a bit of fun with the production.

Isn’t this aspect of writing music quite stressful? To be better than your previous album?

Arve: You always want to be better than your previous album and do something different. And there are songs that are of course different between "Pure Heavy" and "Youngblood", but we wanted to release a new album faster, not every three years or so, because we were in a very creative period.

You guys stayed with Napalm Records, I guess this means you were happy about it?

Toshie: Yes, we are very happy with that.

I was not able to make it but my colleague Phil did see you in Marseille late 2014. He was really impressed by your live performance. Do you think live performance is the most important thing when it comes to Rock’n’Roll?

Toshie: It's a little bit of both live and studio. It's really two different things. As a band, what we like the most is the live show, because you get immediate feedback from the crowd. But we also like making albums because that's really where you make your art, in a way. Then you take your art out on the road and have fun with it. So there are two different things and they are both equally important. And I remember very well that gig in Marseille, we played there two times already, in two different places. The atmosphere was great and we had a lot of fun there.

You are back to Hellfest this year for the third time, but strangely enough earlier than before.

Toshie: Yes I have a message for the Hellfest. Dear Hellfest, there is no logic in this, this is our third time, we played earlier, we had a shorter set but you payed us more money. If you pay us more money we want to play more, and we want to play later, so next time, pay us even more money but please put us later with more time. Thank you!

How did your set go this year?

Toshie: It went well. And of course the guys were disappointed to play so little but I told them, it's like in wars. You have those long, and endless battles, where soldiers die of exhaustion, not really killed by the enemy, and then you have those guerilla attacks, you go in, you kill a bunch of people , and you leave. Once again, we are not supporting killing people [laughters] but that's the analogy. With such a short set, you operate in a guerilla mode, you go and give everything you have.

Arve: We always love to play Hellfest. It's a great festival. It was raining, but hey we are from Norway, this is not really a problem. We are going to stay the whole weekend and enjoy a lot of bands.

So you are still touring to promote "Pure Heavy" these days? Did you manage to tour all over the world?

Toshie: No we are pretty much done. We do some summer festivals, then a few more shows in Norway and that's it, we go back writing some new material.

We talked about this three years ago, but did you manage to get more attention from your home country, Norway, which is the home of extreme metal?

Arve: Yes, rock 'n' roll is growing in Norway. Lots of good new bands of all kinds, not just extreme.

Toshie: In fact, the extreme metal scene is far more popular outside of Norway than inside. When Arve plays with Enslaved, he has a big crowd in Norway but an even bigger one outside of Norway.

Arve: Norway is a small country, with a few big cities where all the bands play, then nothing much outside of those cities.

So what else is in the pipe for you guys?

Arve: Festivals, then a few more shows, then back to writing.

Toshie: We have had a DVD in the plan, for quite some time. We have been talking about this for five years now, so maybe next year...

Arve: Our label said you have to get better at playing live then you can release a DVD...

Really?

Arve: No, just kidding [laughters]

Thanks a lot, I’ll leave you the last word for our readers…

Toshie: We want to come back and play more in France, so we will after the next album. Thanks.