Enslaved was formed in 1991 out of the Ashes of Norwegian Death metal band Phobia. Like so many of the bands around in Norway during the early 90s Enslaved have progressed their sound a lot, and we decided to ask them some questions about that.This interview was conducted by Long Haired Asshole with additional questions from Parasite and Anders P. Jørgensen. The interview was answered by founding members Grutle Kjellson and Ivar Bjørnson.
1. Our readers will no doubt know Enslaved from the older black metal days, and into the days of the Viking metal sound, but for those who aren't familiar with what's been going on with Enslaved lately, Could you give a short introduction to what's happened with Enslaved over the last few years?
Grutle: I guess the biggest change soundwise, came along with the release of “Below the lights” (Recorded 2002, released 2003). We changed the line up quite drastically and cut off some “dead meat” in the songwriting. We got things a lot more structured after a period of experimentation (“Mardraum” and “Monumension”), and sort of kept the good stuff from the experimentation days and the elements from our early days. I would say that we transformed our older ideas into a new era for Enslaved. After the release of “Below the lights” we got hold of Cato Bekkevold (Drums),Herbrand Larsen (Keys/Voc) and Arve “Ice Dale” Isdal (Lead guitar. He actually also play the lead parts on “B.T.L”). They have stayed with us ever since and have without any doubts contributed a lot to develop our sound both on recordings and live. We are stronger than ever!
2. You've just released Vertebrae which has already won you a Norwegian Grammy. What are your thoughts on this?
Grutle: It was actually released more than one year ago, but what´s the hurry?!! Hehe… I think it it´s cool to win a Grammy. Acknowledgement is always cool. I don´t give a rats ass if some people find it untrue or not very metal or mainstream/whatever….. The Grammy parties are a different story though…not very rock´n roll…hehe. But still, we appreciate winning the awads a lot!!
3. You've taken a swift change on the last two albums, would you say you prefer your music now or the music you made over ten years ago and before? How would you say the band's sound has changed over the past decade? Was this a natural development, would you say?
Grutle: I think it would have been awfully strange if we´d appreciate what we did 10 years ago rather than the music we make nowadays!
Although I really enjoy a lot of the stuff we made in the early days, I find it hard to imagine us looking backwards and make a “Frost II”, to put it that way. For Enslaved, development has always been the driving force. We can´t stand the idea of copying ourselves, and we are prettty simply trying to make our own favorite music at the present time. Also we have never been afraid of taking inspiration from other musical genres. We are music lovers, not genre lovers, so there´s no limits for what we can include in our music really.
4. I've noticed that there seems to be a lot of Pink Floyd influence to your music as of Monumension and onwards, are they a big influence to your writing and approach ?
Ivar: For me they are very important in all aspects.. It has been one of my top five favorite bands since I was 11 years old. I guess I was more concerned about not “mixing” those kinds of influences into our music in the early days. Around the time of “Mardraum” these self-imposed shackles started to dissolve, and personally I think we maybe went too far on the mentioned “Monumension”. Then, from “Below the Lights” onwards I think we got a lot closer to the ideal balance. I guess “Vertebrae” is the album with the most blatantly outspoken PF influences, and I think it fits the album. Some people hate it, but this is my life’s work; not a popularity contest – let the man-dolls in the biz deal with that.
5. The area you live in (early on in Haugesund and now Bergen) is known for its forest surroundings and hills, have these surroundings inspired the way you write music in anyway ? and how?
Grutle: Yes, It has inspired us a lot I think. Apart from the northern parts of Norway (above the polar circle), the western part were we live has got the most gloomy climate in the whole of Scandinavia. It rains more than 200 days a year, and it´s dark and windy. That is undoubtly colouring the way of writing music, and everything else you do for that matter!!
6. How have the lyrics and philosophy of Enslaved evolved over the last years with the progression in the style of music you have written? Did you start of writing traditional anti-christian lyrics and progress onto viking mythology based lyrics with the style of the music, or was there more to it for Enslaved?
Grutle: Our lyrical “platform” has always been the norse mythology/mystisism with a twist of rage towards the monotheistic world wiew of christianity among others. As we have gotton older and more experienced in life, our lyrics has gotten more deeper and philosophical and not so straight forward as they used to be. More or less similar to our music one can say. On our earlier releases it is easier to pinpoint the inspiration, while they are perhaps a bit more methaphorical nowadays. However, they are still full of mythological references.
7. Following on from the last question, Where do you stand on a religious and philosophical point of view today?
Grutle: I would never concider myself as a religious person, cause religion for me means total obediance , like in the before mentioned monotheistic religions. Such obediance is very far from human nature in my world. In the ancient cults they had no such religious systems that we see in todays religions. They based their life upon advices rather than rules and everything was circled around self development and individual thinking. I try to transforms these ideas into modern life.
Grutle: I guess the biggest change soundwise, came along with the release of “Below the lights” (Recorded 2002, released 2003). We changed the line up quite drastically and cut off some “dead meat” in the songwriting. We got things a lot more structured after a period of experimentation (“Mardraum” and “Monumension”), and sort of kept the good stuff from the experimentation days and the elements from our early days. I would say that we transformed our older ideas into a new era for Enslaved. After the release of “Below the lights” we got hold of Cato Bekkevold (Drums),Herbrand Larsen (Keys/Voc) and Arve “Ice Dale” Isdal (Lead guitar. He actually also play the lead parts on “B.T.L”). They have stayed with us ever since and have without any doubts contributed a lot to develop our sound both on recordings and live. We are stronger than ever!
2. You've just released Vertebrae which has already won you a Norwegian Grammy. What are your thoughts on this?
Grutle: It was actually released more than one year ago, but what´s the hurry?!! Hehe… I think it it´s cool to win a Grammy. Acknowledgement is always cool. I don´t give a rats ass if some people find it untrue or not very metal or mainstream/whatever….. The Grammy parties are a different story though…not very rock´n roll…hehe. But still, we appreciate winning the awads a lot!!
3. You've taken a swift change on the last two albums, would you say you prefer your music now or the music you made over ten years ago and before? How would you say the band's sound has changed over the past decade? Was this a natural development, would you say?
Grutle: I think it would have been awfully strange if we´d appreciate what we did 10 years ago rather than the music we make nowadays!
Although I really enjoy a lot of the stuff we made in the early days, I find it hard to imagine us looking backwards and make a “Frost II”, to put it that way. For Enslaved, development has always been the driving force. We can´t stand the idea of copying ourselves, and we are prettty simply trying to make our own favorite music at the present time. Also we have never been afraid of taking inspiration from other musical genres. We are music lovers, not genre lovers, so there´s no limits for what we can include in our music really.
4. I've noticed that there seems to be a lot of Pink Floyd influence to your music as of Monumension and onwards, are they a big influence to your writing and approach ?
Ivar: For me they are very important in all aspects.. It has been one of my top five favorite bands since I was 11 years old. I guess I was more concerned about not “mixing” those kinds of influences into our music in the early days. Around the time of “Mardraum” these self-imposed shackles started to dissolve, and personally I think we maybe went too far on the mentioned “Monumension”. Then, from “Below the Lights” onwards I think we got a lot closer to the ideal balance. I guess “Vertebrae” is the album with the most blatantly outspoken PF influences, and I think it fits the album. Some people hate it, but this is my life’s work; not a popularity contest – let the man-dolls in the biz deal with that.
5. The area you live in (early on in Haugesund and now Bergen) is known for its forest surroundings and hills, have these surroundings inspired the way you write music in anyway ? and how?
Grutle: Yes, It has inspired us a lot I think. Apart from the northern parts of Norway (above the polar circle), the western part were we live has got the most gloomy climate in the whole of Scandinavia. It rains more than 200 days a year, and it´s dark and windy. That is undoubtly colouring the way of writing music, and everything else you do for that matter!!
6. How have the lyrics and philosophy of Enslaved evolved over the last years with the progression in the style of music you have written? Did you start of writing traditional anti-christian lyrics and progress onto viking mythology based lyrics with the style of the music, or was there more to it for Enslaved?
Grutle: Our lyrical “platform” has always been the norse mythology/mystisism with a twist of rage towards the monotheistic world wiew of christianity among others. As we have gotton older and more experienced in life, our lyrics has gotten more deeper and philosophical and not so straight forward as they used to be. More or less similar to our music one can say. On our earlier releases it is easier to pinpoint the inspiration, while they are perhaps a bit more methaphorical nowadays. However, they are still full of mythological references.
7. Following on from the last question, Where do you stand on a religious and philosophical point of view today?
Grutle: I would never concider myself as a religious person, cause religion for me means total obediance , like in the before mentioned monotheistic religions. Such obediance is very far from human nature in my world. In the ancient cults they had no such religious systems that we see in todays religions. They based their life upon advices rather than rules and everything was circled around self development and individual thinking. I try to transforms these ideas into modern life.
8. You've also had many line-up changes over the years, why is this? Would you say it is harder to find musicians interested in playing your new direction of music or the older styles Enslaved was involved with?
Grutle: We´ve had a steady line up since 2003/2004, and we are very satisfied with all our members. After the departure of Roy and Dirge in 2002, it was quite hard to find suitable replacements cause we wanted musicans that could add something more than the “usual”. We started to look a little outside the extreme metal scene and after a while we got hold of three brilliant musicans that had a lot of different musical experience, and different from me and Ivar´s extreme metal background. I would say it was a very wise move, although it took some time!
9. Black Metal I hear is Norway's biggest musical export, why do you think this is?
Ivar: We are quite strong in all the “sub”-genres; electronica, jazz, contemporary music, noise ambient and so on. I think the Norwegian spirit, if such a thing exists, is quite tuned into individual thinking and living out the dream of being different and independent. Due to the historical scarcities (Norway was one of Europe’s absolutely poorest nations before the oil was discovered in the early 70’s) and rough living very far apart from each other it might have been a necessity to conform and keep your thoughts to yourself. This could have created a lack of balance in our minds and finally this has found an expression through music. Also we’ve had a particularly “un-glamorous” version of Christianity up here – the Pietism has oppressed vitality and free living to the extent that it had to explode in an anti-movement at some time. And it did. Finally I think the Norwegian Extreme Metal bands are very good at what they do – they focus and work hard. Most of us anyways, hehe.
10. When you started your sound was undoubtedly black metal, and black metal has always been surrounded in controversy over satanic lyrics and murder, were you trying to distance yourself from this ?
Ivar: We were never Black Metal, and we have been clear about that since day ONE in 1991. For us and the Norwegian scene at the time, the foundation of a Black Metal band is Satanic. I still think that way – for me Danzig is more satanic than any band singing about everyday life with a Black Metal “sound” as you call it. So yes, we were indeed closer to the Black Metal bands in the early days in terms of sound, but we were never and will probably never be a Black Metal band as there is no Satanism here.. That is out of respect for both us and our fans, as well as the actual Black Metal bands and their fans. Being genuine is more important than whatever trends are selling at any time. The ironic thing is that I sometimes think we’re “Black Metal” in spirit with all our harmonies and Pink Floyd tattoos than a lot of the shallow stuff that are stamping itself with the Black Metal seal of approval these days hehe.
11. Let's take a step or 2 back in time, to the band prior to Enslaved, Phobia, a dark and heavy death metal trip into the obscure. What happened back then when the band demised, and how had you changed personally and mentally since the new incantation Enslaved had changed from death metal, into black/viking metal?
Ivar: I think there is some kind of connection to our previous question here. We started Phobia and had a great time, being influenced by Death Metal like Autopsy and Morbid Angel (which we still are 100% into) – but I think me and Grutle grew tired very quickly from the shallowness; the lack of real commitment, the lack of a direction, a concept. The other guys were more or less having a good time and dreaming of naked chicks backstage and free parties. Not being patient people me and Grutle dismantled the band and started something of our own, determined to inject meaning and direction into the band. We were the same people but the band was us, and we were the band.
12. Later on when Enslaved's atmopshere turned darker, did you draw on inspiration from the same sources as with Phobia or did they come from somewhere else?
Grutle: We were totally into bands like Entombed, Darkthrone, Autopsy and Carcass when we played in Phobia and those influences are very significant on the Phobia-songs, no doubt! We brought with us some of those influences when we formed Enslaved too, yet they are not THAT visible. You can find some Death Metal influences here and there on our first demo tapes, but I think you will find more influences from bands such as Master´s Hammer, Bathory, Mayhem, Destruction, Sodom and Celtic Frost.
13. How much did the Darkthrone demos and Soulside Journey mean to you as a person and as a band? As I keep on making myself believe that I can hear traces of it in Phobia's material and later on in Enslaved, not directly, though in the way you built up some of the music, the suddenness of new elements and the dream-state like use of technical pieces.
Grutle: “Soulside Journey” is an amazing album, and I´m pretty sure that´s the album from that era that has been spinning around most on my record player! It meant a lot to us, both in Phobia and later in Enslaved. It sounded like nothing else emerging from Norway when it came out in 91. The technical playing, the dark sound, the complex yet melodic songs totally blew us away. It still does! It is one of my all time favorite albums. Darkthrone is an utterly great band! Both musical and personal.
14. Well, let's get back to Enslaved, I have a really hard time to pick out a favorite album by you, though Frost, Mardraum, Below The Lights and Isa are all fighting to get the top spot. If you had to pick out the Enslaved album that means the most to you and you find is the closest to perfection, what album would you pick?
Ivar: No surprise it is “Vertebrae” for the time being. The only surprise I can offer is perhaps that “Isa” is in the second place (so it is not ALL about chronology hehe). I think the common denominator is that “Isa” and “Vertebrae” have a production that fits the atmosphere of the music and lyrical concepts; the wholeness of those albums is something I am very proud. Also on the top three I would put “Hordanes Land” the MLP from 1993. Don’t get me wrong I love ALL the albums, but these three have something “magical” between the music, concept and production. I am pretty confident our next one is on that path too.
15 . As mentioned earlier, you seem tied to nature as a band, and the productions and sounds of the more recent albums have also gone in a more harmonic and organic direction. So how do you look upon the environmental tasks that we are put in front of these days, with global warming, the ice-melting at the poles, the overall state of the polluted earth and so forth, any thoughts on that, do you do anything to save energy, recycling etc. and how does it sound if one of Enslaved's new ventures would be, being the first CO2 neutral metal band around?
Ivar: That is a VAST subject, so I’ll only be fooling around with some thoughts here – not the entire chain of thought. I think a natural disaster, the natural holocaust would be very well deserved. Man has been putting himself one a false throne now for so many centuries; using monotheistic religion as an excuse to disband any personal responsibly (“God wants me to use plastic”). I really do believe in the global warming and the coming of very hard times – but I do not fear them; there are too many people and too much resources being spent. Some of us have to suffer, it is inevitable. How it happens or when I don’t know, but I think it is ridiculous when people act as if it isn’t happening. Myself I try to save as much energy as possible, I enjoy walking around Bergen as well as taking public transportation. Also my office is freezing cold all the time to save heating. Let’s see about the CO2 neutrality – not a bad idea!
16. Of the new bands that are popular in today's metal scene which would you say are the most individual in approach and sound?
Ivar: Hard question… I don’t know how new they are, but I like the Norwegian (!) Shining a lot – the experimental progmetaljazz band. They are due soon with a new album that is a lot more metal, a real breath of fresh air in a stale scene!
17. Any chance of a full U.K tour I know there are plenty of people here wishing for you to return?
Grutle: Absolutely!! We love playing in the UK. It has always been among our favorite territories! We seem to have a solid fanbase in UK, and our British fans (and the press!) always seem to embrace our albums! UK is awesome, thanks!!
18. You performed at Bloodstock this year, I personally prefer a smaller club venue as I feel it is more personal, and the crowd can connect more with the band and work of each other. How do you feel about festival gigs or smaller gigs? Which do you prefer and how do you approach each differently?
Grutle: I like both, and there should not be any difference in the performance! One should always act like you play in front of 20.000 people…hehe. But of course, in real life there is a difference. It´s of course extremely cool to hear the roar of thousands of people in the crowd, but the intimate and often energic symbiosis you can create together with the audience in a small club is simply magic!
19. Thanks for your time to do this interview, take the your time to say any last words, tell us What we can expect from Enslaved in the future, and any contact details you wish to give out to the readers.
Ivar: Expect a new album sometime in the 2nd half of 2010, and more massive touring. Also a new DVD should be coming after that… Check out our Facebook, Myspace and Twitter pages; for the more old school oriented there is of course still www.enslaved.no hehe.
Grutle: We´ve had a steady line up since 2003/2004, and we are very satisfied with all our members. After the departure of Roy and Dirge in 2002, it was quite hard to find suitable replacements cause we wanted musicans that could add something more than the “usual”. We started to look a little outside the extreme metal scene and after a while we got hold of three brilliant musicans that had a lot of different musical experience, and different from me and Ivar´s extreme metal background. I would say it was a very wise move, although it took some time!
9. Black Metal I hear is Norway's biggest musical export, why do you think this is?
Ivar: We are quite strong in all the “sub”-genres; electronica, jazz, contemporary music, noise ambient and so on. I think the Norwegian spirit, if such a thing exists, is quite tuned into individual thinking and living out the dream of being different and independent. Due to the historical scarcities (Norway was one of Europe’s absolutely poorest nations before the oil was discovered in the early 70’s) and rough living very far apart from each other it might have been a necessity to conform and keep your thoughts to yourself. This could have created a lack of balance in our minds and finally this has found an expression through music. Also we’ve had a particularly “un-glamorous” version of Christianity up here – the Pietism has oppressed vitality and free living to the extent that it had to explode in an anti-movement at some time. And it did. Finally I think the Norwegian Extreme Metal bands are very good at what they do – they focus and work hard. Most of us anyways, hehe.
10. When you started your sound was undoubtedly black metal, and black metal has always been surrounded in controversy over satanic lyrics and murder, were you trying to distance yourself from this ?
Ivar: We were never Black Metal, and we have been clear about that since day ONE in 1991. For us and the Norwegian scene at the time, the foundation of a Black Metal band is Satanic. I still think that way – for me Danzig is more satanic than any band singing about everyday life with a Black Metal “sound” as you call it. So yes, we were indeed closer to the Black Metal bands in the early days in terms of sound, but we were never and will probably never be a Black Metal band as there is no Satanism here.. That is out of respect for both us and our fans, as well as the actual Black Metal bands and their fans. Being genuine is more important than whatever trends are selling at any time. The ironic thing is that I sometimes think we’re “Black Metal” in spirit with all our harmonies and Pink Floyd tattoos than a lot of the shallow stuff that are stamping itself with the Black Metal seal of approval these days hehe.
11. Let's take a step or 2 back in time, to the band prior to Enslaved, Phobia, a dark and heavy death metal trip into the obscure. What happened back then when the band demised, and how had you changed personally and mentally since the new incantation Enslaved had changed from death metal, into black/viking metal?
Ivar: I think there is some kind of connection to our previous question here. We started Phobia and had a great time, being influenced by Death Metal like Autopsy and Morbid Angel (which we still are 100% into) – but I think me and Grutle grew tired very quickly from the shallowness; the lack of real commitment, the lack of a direction, a concept. The other guys were more or less having a good time and dreaming of naked chicks backstage and free parties. Not being patient people me and Grutle dismantled the band and started something of our own, determined to inject meaning and direction into the band. We were the same people but the band was us, and we were the band.
12. Later on when Enslaved's atmopshere turned darker, did you draw on inspiration from the same sources as with Phobia or did they come from somewhere else?
Grutle: We were totally into bands like Entombed, Darkthrone, Autopsy and Carcass when we played in Phobia and those influences are very significant on the Phobia-songs, no doubt! We brought with us some of those influences when we formed Enslaved too, yet they are not THAT visible. You can find some Death Metal influences here and there on our first demo tapes, but I think you will find more influences from bands such as Master´s Hammer, Bathory, Mayhem, Destruction, Sodom and Celtic Frost.
13. How much did the Darkthrone demos and Soulside Journey mean to you as a person and as a band? As I keep on making myself believe that I can hear traces of it in Phobia's material and later on in Enslaved, not directly, though in the way you built up some of the music, the suddenness of new elements and the dream-state like use of technical pieces.
Grutle: “Soulside Journey” is an amazing album, and I´m pretty sure that´s the album from that era that has been spinning around most on my record player! It meant a lot to us, both in Phobia and later in Enslaved. It sounded like nothing else emerging from Norway when it came out in 91. The technical playing, the dark sound, the complex yet melodic songs totally blew us away. It still does! It is one of my all time favorite albums. Darkthrone is an utterly great band! Both musical and personal.
14. Well, let's get back to Enslaved, I have a really hard time to pick out a favorite album by you, though Frost, Mardraum, Below The Lights and Isa are all fighting to get the top spot. If you had to pick out the Enslaved album that means the most to you and you find is the closest to perfection, what album would you pick?
Ivar: No surprise it is “Vertebrae” for the time being. The only surprise I can offer is perhaps that “Isa” is in the second place (so it is not ALL about chronology hehe). I think the common denominator is that “Isa” and “Vertebrae” have a production that fits the atmosphere of the music and lyrical concepts; the wholeness of those albums is something I am very proud. Also on the top three I would put “Hordanes Land” the MLP from 1993. Don’t get me wrong I love ALL the albums, but these three have something “magical” between the music, concept and production. I am pretty confident our next one is on that path too.
15 . As mentioned earlier, you seem tied to nature as a band, and the productions and sounds of the more recent albums have also gone in a more harmonic and organic direction. So how do you look upon the environmental tasks that we are put in front of these days, with global warming, the ice-melting at the poles, the overall state of the polluted earth and so forth, any thoughts on that, do you do anything to save energy, recycling etc. and how does it sound if one of Enslaved's new ventures would be, being the first CO2 neutral metal band around?
Ivar: That is a VAST subject, so I’ll only be fooling around with some thoughts here – not the entire chain of thought. I think a natural disaster, the natural holocaust would be very well deserved. Man has been putting himself one a false throne now for so many centuries; using monotheistic religion as an excuse to disband any personal responsibly (“God wants me to use plastic”). I really do believe in the global warming and the coming of very hard times – but I do not fear them; there are too many people and too much resources being spent. Some of us have to suffer, it is inevitable. How it happens or when I don’t know, but I think it is ridiculous when people act as if it isn’t happening. Myself I try to save as much energy as possible, I enjoy walking around Bergen as well as taking public transportation. Also my office is freezing cold all the time to save heating. Let’s see about the CO2 neutrality – not a bad idea!
16. Of the new bands that are popular in today's metal scene which would you say are the most individual in approach and sound?
Ivar: Hard question… I don’t know how new they are, but I like the Norwegian (!) Shining a lot – the experimental progmetaljazz band. They are due soon with a new album that is a lot more metal, a real breath of fresh air in a stale scene!
17. Any chance of a full U.K tour I know there are plenty of people here wishing for you to return?
Grutle: Absolutely!! We love playing in the UK. It has always been among our favorite territories! We seem to have a solid fanbase in UK, and our British fans (and the press!) always seem to embrace our albums! UK is awesome, thanks!!
18. You performed at Bloodstock this year, I personally prefer a smaller club venue as I feel it is more personal, and the crowd can connect more with the band and work of each other. How do you feel about festival gigs or smaller gigs? Which do you prefer and how do you approach each differently?
Grutle: I like both, and there should not be any difference in the performance! One should always act like you play in front of 20.000 people…hehe. But of course, in real life there is a difference. It´s of course extremely cool to hear the roar of thousands of people in the crowd, but the intimate and often energic symbiosis you can create together with the audience in a small club is simply magic!
19. Thanks for your time to do this interview, take the your time to say any last words, tell us What we can expect from Enslaved in the future, and any contact details you wish to give out to the readers.
Ivar: Expect a new album sometime in the 2nd half of 2010, and more massive touring. Also a new DVD should be coming after that… Check out our Facebook, Myspace and Twitter pages; for the more old school oriented there is of course still www.enslaved.no hehe.
New DVD?!!!
ReplyDeleteYes!!!