I N T E R V I E W

Interview Toshie (face to face)

Hello Toshie, can you present the band to those of us who are not familiar with it?

I'm Toshie, and I sing in Audrey Horne. We are from Bergen in Norway. We have been together for eleven or twelve years now. We released four albums. And basically we are a hardrock band. Nothing more, nothing less, just hard rock really. We make albums and we tour, and we love doing this.

So you are from Norway, and you are not playing black metal, isn't that unusual?

No we are not. And actually I have never been a big fan of black metal. Of course there are some bands that I like but I never listened to it a lot. I grew up with Van Halen [he wears a Van Halen t-shirt], and Rainbow and Kiss. So we play music that is inspire us and that we grew up listening to. And even if Arve plays in Enslaved, the music we play is the music he grew up with, I mean Guns And Roses and Led Zeppelin, stuff like that, that what has inspired him a lot.

I guess it's a basic question but where does this name come from?

So I used to be in a band called Sylvia Wane, a fictional female name. So when we started this band, we were trying out some different names and then the guys said, Sylvia Wane, that was cool band's name because it's a woman's name and you don't knoz what to expect when you heatr that name. They liked that and proposed that we found another name like that. And at the same time, one of us, and I dont' remember whot it was, was watching Twin Peaks and came up with the idea of Audrey Horne. She's kind of hard to put in place, she is a bit mysterious, a weird character. And we all thought it was good. It's also good to have a name for a band that rings a bell in the back of people's head. They might not remember that they heard it from Twin Peaks but they might remember it. To be synical it was a good idea to have a name that get people to check out the band because the name remind them of something.

Is it your first visit to a Hellfest, to France?

No, we played in France several times and in Hellfest two years ago. But when we played Hellfest last time, we had a problem with our flight in Frankfurt and we were delayed so much that we arrived, got on stage, took a shower and left. So it wasn't too funny. And people later were asking: so how was Hellfest? And I had no idea, I just played there. So it's really good to come here this time and be able to hangout, because it's an amazing festival. The scenery is good, the backstage area is good, and the diversity of the bands is fantastic. From P.O.D to Def Leppard, to Immortal, so I like this festival a lot.

Did you come with your family or just the band?

No, just the band this time.

So how was your set?

I enjoyed it a lot. When I went off stage I told the other guys that it was the most fun I had on stage in a festival in a very long time. When you play 30 minutes, it's a really short set. So you can really put all your energy into it. No need for a slow song, you don't let the audience breath, you just do it like bang, bang bang. The energy was so good, and the audience was really into it, so I had a really, really good time. I think it was amazing and so did the other guys.

It was pretty early in the day but did you get a decent audience?

If you play a festival in Norway, then at 12am no one is going to be there. But we played in FortaRock last week in Holland, at about the same time and it was packed when we played. And the same happened here. So people seem to get up early and go see bands. In Norway, people party, and watch the last three bands and don't care about the rest. People are more into the music here. They are enthousiastic about what they are doing on stage.

How was the organisation of the festival?

It's really good. Like I said great backstage arae, good food, good drinks, and all the bands walk around, so you met people from other bands. Bands that you met before, bands that are friends, bands that you never heard of, bands that you admire. So you get to meet a lot of people and it's very relaxed. I met the guys from Korn for example. I was never a big Korn fan but I grew up with that band so... I also ran into the guys from Parkway Drive, which is a band I really love and most importantly that my wife really loves [laughs]. I have to get them to send her some video greating or something because she is way more into this band than my band [laughs].

So do you prefer to perform at large events, such as the Hellfest, or for a longer time at smaller shows, when you are the headline act?

Longer headlining set is always more fun because you know that everyone has come to see you. And when you play smaller club, the athmosphere is a bit different, everything gets way more intense, it's hotter, it's sweattier, the energy level is way higher. But at the same time, I love doing festivals like this. Because you get to play in front of a lot of people and then at signing sessions, once in a while someone comes up and tell you they have never heard of you before but you blew their mind. If you do a headlining show you are not going to get any new fans because everyone there is a fan already. At a festival you promote the band and get new fans.

Did you prepare a special set list for this event?

It's short we tried to keep it as intense as possible. We left out songs which were slower, or more progressive. We played a few from Yougblood too. Because you know before that album we used to write a song with Thomas, or another song with Espen, and then we made post production, and then you go in studio and record all the bits by bits starting with the drums and so on. But this time we  wrote everything as a band. Then we rehearse them really well and then we went in studio. And that album was recorded as live as possible. So all of the songs on Youngblood are far more suitable for the live settings than our previous songs. And we enjoy playing them live a lot more too. And of course it's our latest album so it's a good way to promote it.

We liked very much this album and gave it a great review, did it work commercially?

Thank youn! It's been our best selling album today. And in terms of feedback it's also been really good.

Did you attend any concert during your stay?

I went to see Whitesnake yesterday because I'm a huge Whitesnake fan. And it was good to see them. Of course David Coverdale is not as strong in his voice as he used to be. But I was telling my bass player, who was also telling me that he didn't sound as in the good as back in the days, hey its like running, you run faster when you are 25 than when you are 60. It's just a simple fact. I think they did an amazing job, and the band kick ass. Then I saw Def Leppard, and you know, they're good but... as a live band they are kind of boring, to be honest, but  I love their songs.

Did you get a chance to test the Muscadet local white wine?

I noticed the wineyard, but I have not yet tried it. I will because I love wine.

What would you like to say to the folks who want to stop this festival because it's satanical?

You know, in Bergen, were we are from, we had a black metal festival called Hole in The Sky, and people came from all over the world to attend that. And the Bergen police said it was the most peaceful and quiet festival of all. They said they had problems as jazz festival, pop festival, with people being too drunk, and fighting with each other, but at Hole In The Sky, nothing. Because the metal audience is more in harmony with each other. Sure folks are drunk too but they are peaceful, no fighting. And if being satanic is about being good to your friends and have a good time then I'm all for it.

Do you have any other dates in France, in Europe?

We have more festivals in Germany, in Czek republic, another one in France, I don't remember the name of it, and one in switzerland. Then when fall comes we will do a headlining tour un Europe for Youngblood and then we are going to start writing material for our new album. It's been about three years between every albums. But this time we hope to have all writing done by January and speed up the process so it's one year and a half since Youngblood.

Thanks a lot for you time, enjoy your time in Clisson

Thanks a lot it was a pleasure meeting you

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