Penitent is a Dark Ambient project from Norway which used to be signed to Cold Meat Industry, and is the brainchild of Karsten Hamre who is also involved with other projects like veiled allusions
This interview Was Conducted in April 2001
1. Firstly Would You Tell us about Penitent for the people out there who haven't heard of you before.
I`m Karsten, and I founded Penitent in august 1994. Prior to the start I were mostly writing poems, and I felt the need to add music to them as to strengthen the atmosphere that they carried in them. That is also why Penitent started off as a neo-classical darkwave act. We recorded and released our first and only demo in march 1995, and soon after we received offers from labels, which ended with us signing on CMI. They released our debut "Melancholia" in early 1996. Thereafter two albums, "The Beauty of Pain" and "As Life Fades Away", was released through Draenor Productions (a division of Napalm records). After that there were two albums, "Roses by Chaos Spawned" and "Maestro Beethoven", released through Memento Mori/Dark Vinyl Records. The last album of what could be considered the 1st cycle of Penitent, "Reflections of Past Memories", which is a collection of instrumental versions of older songs, are set to be released by Counter Attack Productions. Latest news is that Penitent has signed a two album deal with Ars Metalli. We have also managed to already record the first album for them, "Songs of Despair". Release date on that is not set yet.
2. Is there a specific Meaning of your band's name?
If you look into various dictionaries you can find at least to different meanings of the word Penitent. One says it`s meaning is awaiting or undergoing punishment, the others say it`s a repenting sinner. For me it`s just a word, but I think people will relate to the word different, depending on what you do with the band.
3. To you personally... what does the music you record represent? Was it Mainly recorded as a reason to get your emotions and poetry out of your system in a more detailed way than just mere words on paper?
The main reason for starting with music was to project the feelings and emotions of the poems in a best possible way, and with music you can do that in a more detailed way than it is with just words on a sheet of paper.
4. what do you use as inspiration and influences while writing the music and poetry?
Just about anything I`m surrounded by work as a source of inspiration and influence. It can be a film I just watched, a book I read, or something I just saw while walking around. All that surrounds me can inspire me.
5. In some of your music which i heard i have heard similarities to Devil Doll, Does the music of Devil Doll have a large influence as a reason for your recording music?
I wouldn`t say they are the reason for recording music, as I started with music before I had ever heard of Devil Doll. They might be a kind of inspiration when it comes to the fact that you should focus on doing what you want and not what the masses wants you to do.
6. on your most recent recordings the musical direction of Penitent has made a very large change from what it was in the past, is there a specific reason for this change??
There`s no specific reason behind the change, just that it felt like the right thing to do. With Bernt joining Penitent it became the direction that we felt was the one we wanted to take.
7. you have various projects next to Penitent, such as Veiled Allusions and Arcane Art, what do these projects represent?
These two represent different musical directions than Penitent. They deal with music that I feel would not fit in Penitent. They both have their lives on their own.
8. you have in the past release a book with your poetry, do you plan to release any other books like this?
I would love to release another poetry book, but there are no certain plans for it now. Nothing specific at all.
9. In todays music scene it seems to be a trend to release Box sets of vinyls and such, only a few months ago Hagalaz Runedance released a box with her book and such, would penitent ever release such a box with your albums on vinyl and a book of your poetry etc?
As there are some of the albums that hasn`t seen the light of day on vinyl this could be a good idea. Personally I like vinyl a lot, so a box set with a book of poetry in it wouldn`t be a bad idea I think. It`s mainly for fans and collectors.
10. I have read that you have worked on movies and such, are these ever going to see the light of day?
There`s work being done on a approx 25 minute long shortfilm. It will be a more musical type of film, meaning that there are no spoken dialogue accompanying the film only the music of Veiled Allusions. When I eventually sign a contract for Veiled Allusions I hope it will include the release of the film as well.
12. And finally what are the plans for the future of Penitent??
The plans are to record more albums and play live and most of all go on tour, but that will be after "Songs of Despair" has been released.
13. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule, Any final words you'd like to send out to the readers?
Thanks for the interview. For updates and news go to www.penitentmusic.com
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