interview with Ørkenkjøtt
How was the band formed? It begins with two people meeting.
Can you tell about your band?
Yes, the band is sort of a workspace where we bring different ideas from our experiences in the world.
Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? We’re all from Telemark, Norway, a county with tall mountains and deep forests where you find lots of farming traditions spread around smaller towns and cities. It’s known for having rich musical traditions and is home to many folk musicians. For metal fans it’s also known for those seeds.
What was the ambitions of the band when you started? Play live as much as we could.
Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? It’s leaning towards progressive rock with heavy riffs as the basis, blended in with Arabic tones and creamed with Norwegian lyrics sung in the powerful voice of our prophet. We have sometimes called it desert rock.
Where was your first gig? It was in Notodden, either at a cinema or the local youth club in a bunker.
Where was the latest gig? In Oslo, as part of releasing our two song EP this year, 2013.
Who writes your songs?/ who writes the music who writes lyrics? All ideas we lay out become the building blocks we use to ensemble a piece of music as creatively as we can. So we write on the songs together with the main contributor being the lead guitarist, Simen. Christian has been writing most of the lyrics, but as with music we also present our views and sometimes make changes to give the feel and meaning of the poem more color.
Who has the best since of humor in the band? The one who doesn’t laugh.
What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? A good thing is that we tend to follow our intuition a lot, and it’s been working good for our own development and understanding of what we do. There have always been challenges for the band, being five guys with different lives, and we might be looking at the greatest one yet by suddenly being four. I feel we are in our own evolving genre.
Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? We chose to play metal, cause we listened to metal, but it never had to be metal, so eventually it became many songs in different genres. They are about to become real.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? Almost strictly own material, but we did a David Bowie cover not too long ago, made it a kind of an Arabic spacy rock song.
Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? We have one album out, our debut from 2012 called “Ønskediktet”, which kind of describes the things I’m talking about.
Do you have any clips on YouTube? There are some, and a few on our channel along with our album in CD quality for listening.
How old are you?/What got you started in music? At what age did you start playing? I’m 26. Just playfulness. Started at the age of 16, and the year after started Ørkenkjøtt with Simen.
How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? Around 15-18 I think with this band.
What year was the band started? 2005.
Best/worst gig you've played? I have mostly good memories from all the places we have been playing. Playing worn down shitholes has its charms too I think.
What places will you be playing in in the imidate future? None, unfortunately.
Where have you played from then till now? We’ve played mostly in Norway and did a European tour with some really unique and magnificent metal bands from Scandinavia and Spain.
Is it always the same songs live? We try to include new materials live when we can, and some improvisational numbers.
What has been the best/most promising gig so far? Either the ones where we manage to make much out of nothing or the ones we have the opportunity to put a lot of effort into the stage appearance and create more visually spectacular shows.
Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? The biggest tour yet was called European Progressive Assault. We were part of the support acts for local friends in Leprous, which has put out some outstanding works with their previous albums. We opened every night followed by Loch Vostok from Sweden, which makes brilliant music for mind expansion, and Persefone from Andorra who are equally great in every way. It was a really special trip and a very real feeling of how it is to play in a band.
How big crowds do you usually play for? Some hundred people when we have put a lot of effort into single shows both in production and promotion. When supporting other bands or playing festivals it tends to vary a lot. But usually I feel that those who come see us get a fun experience since many of them always come back for more and even brings along new faces when we’re in town to play.
What are the plans for the rest of the year? Let things work out by aiming for new goals.
How do you get psyched up for a gig? Let go and let everything happen.
What are your goals with your music? Finding out what it has to say and discuss its meanings with other people.
When did you decide to go all in for the music? When the snakes got high.
Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? I think that’s like the shifting sands.
What are your sources of inspiration? The mystery of how things want to bond and make new things.
What's the first step when making a new song? Jumping in.
What would be your dreams for the band? To evolve into something we can’t predict that we still recognize as what we want.
Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? Mastodon, Zeppelin, Misfits.. so many, but I guess it’s mostly rock based music.
What do you hold most dear? Life.
What would be your greatest fears for the future? That reality will become so complex that you automatically wind back to factory settings. That won’t happen, the future looks good.
When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? It’s the recurring dream of not understanding how to play a single note.
Have you been part of any other projects? Some minor projects with other friends that also enjoy creating music.
Have you been in any other bands? Not anything like Ørkenkjøtt.
What would you do if there was no music? Perhaps there was no sound at all?
How important are your fans? They are very important. The people who follow us are key to make this whole thing work by being part of the whole experience and I’ve befriended a lot of them over the years.
Do you have any webpages? Facebook and YouTube are the main ones we use.
Would you like to add anything else? I’ll think about it.
Describe your show, visually and musically You’ll see and feel many colors, in lights and shadows. We try to give our shows a direction, like a journey, but keep it open and full of surprises along the way. It’s a rock’n roll show for sure.
How do you view the musicindurty of today? It’s there, but no necessity for reaching out with your music.
What advice would you like to give other bands? Try to put away the concept of what a band is or is supposed to be. Maybe that won’t take you to the top, but at least you’ll get further with some originality. Bands that get far are usually able to think of new ways to improve, or have someone to think for them.
What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Finding out what the obstacles are.
What is best/worst with playing the clubs? I like cold beer after a really sweaty show. Clubs are nice like that.
Tell us about upcomming gigs and why we should be at them? If you get the chance, don’t miss it.
What is your favorite crappy instrument? The snake.
What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band? Sometimes personal life gets in the way of making something happen with the band the way we want. Things don’t always fit. But the band seemed to have a will to live and have gone through lots of dark periods. Very much thank to our lead guitarist, whose been a constant driving force for keeping the band alive through fire.
Whats your Pre-show ritual? One of the most important rituals has become getting dressed and putting on the makeup. It’s sort of like a transition for us, were we give ourselves up to the night lands of Arabia.
What Won't you spend money on? Nothing.
What do you feel a band should spend their money on? We spent it on makeup and jewelry. But investing in recordings and music videos isn’t stupid either.
Do you have anything to add? Yeah, thanks for asking and posting this on your blog. And to your readers, I hope you’ll go search our music and figure out for yourselves what it’s all about!