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Interview
Deutsche VersionInterview mit Transit (26.07.2008)
HH: Hi, how are you?
Jan: I'm pretty damn fine thank you, just putting my two kids to sleep - a perfect time to reply an interview heh heh heh...
HH: Congratulations to your album Decent Man On A Desperate Moon. What do you feel after finishing this album?
Jan: Danke shön! It's great to finally have it out, coz the process of making it started way back in 1999. Back then, I went for a one year journey to latin america, bought a guitar, started learning how to play it and soon found myself writing songs for the album. My original plan was to learn all instruments needed, but I soon realized that I needed more time. So, I'm still learning and as we speak I write an occasional tune for the next album.
HH: What kind of reactions did you receive so far?
Jan: Only very positive, more or less. There's been some great reviews from all over, and the few gigs we've played during the past year have usually ended up in more gigs and great feedback. I'm not in this for the fame or the money, but coz I love to play with my friends and all. Guess that reflects in the whole scenario of playing live.
HH: Can you tell us some things about the developing process of Decent Man On A Desperate Moon? When did you start to develop the idea of this record?
Jan: Jeez, it's been a long journey. The idea started developing about ten years ago. At the time, I was only singing, playing the occasional keyboard-tune. But I had a dream of writing my own stuff, and as already mentioned, record the whole damn thing on my own. When some of the songs started to come together, I tried to picture the album and how it would be. I wanted to create an entirety, with loads of dynamics, contrasts and experimenting, and still make all the parts flow naturally into each other. And then, when the majority of the songs were written, I booked some studio time at a friend's place (Christer Cederberg; Stille Opprör/Animal Alpha) where we started arranging the songs and experimented wildly. It was a great trip, proving that we had something going on. So I wrote some more, recorded, wrote and recorded and we kept on for almost two years. A great way of doing it, if you've got the time and patience!
HH: It's not your first music project. What is your motivation to start new projects consistently?
Jan: Actually, I never really started anything but Transit. All other stuff I've been involved with, have fallen in front of me almost by accident. Nowadays, I'm only dealing with this project, though I help out some other guys now and then. Right now, I'm thirty three years old, and it's been a while since I realized that a life without music is like a record without sound.
HH: In Transit you play with some musicians from other projects of yours. Is it an advantage to play with well known people?
Jan: For sure! I've known these guys my whole life almost. I know who they are, where they stand and what they're capable of. Besides, they're great to hang out and drink with hah hah hah! which to me actually is an important part of the whole band feeling. The pre- and afterparties, you know... Not to mention the electric moments on stage. Another aspect is that these people are so talented that the feeling comes right back no matter how long we've been away. A month ago, when we threw a great release party here in Kristiansand, we practiced for three hours the night before. We hadn't played together for almost a year and we even had to use a stand in drummer! So I guess you can easily imagine that I wouldn't swap these guys for the whole world.
HH: What are your plans over the next time? New album in process of planning? Or another project?
Jan: I've got a few songs lying around, and I'd love to hear them on a second Transit album sooner than later. I'm also the drummer in a band called Black Bone Chapel, but we don't do much nowadays. This summer, I'm going to visit In Vain in studio. They're about to record the follow up to the critically acclaimed The Latter Rain and I'm gonna do a small part on this one as well. Will be great, as this is a band with ambitions. They sure know where they're heading and I like that kind of attitude!
HH: Do you make any plans to start a tour with Transit? If that's so, will you come to Germany, too?
Jan: Hell yeah! I'd do almost anything to compile a small tour with this orchestra. We've applied for some showcases at PopKomm in Berlin this October, but we'll see what comes of it. Would have been a perfect place to kick off a round of concerts and hang outs!
HH: Are there special sources of inspiration in your life? How important is your family for your work?
Jan: They are the only people I see every day (with few exceptions), so I can easily say they stand out regarding sources for old/new input. To me, the best thing about kids is that while you follow their evolution, you sort of go back and re-experience some of your own childhood as well. You simply get to know yourself even better and from a different point of view. Besides, kids are brutally honest beings, and you just have to love that about them. Family aside though, I find great inspiration in life in general, hanging out with friends, listening to music/attending different gigs and so on and so on. And my life would never have been as interesting if I hadn't travelled as much as I've done throughout the years. We're actually planning a couple of years abroad with the whole family; China, Latin America, The Middle East are all interesting areas thus far, but we'll see. The most important issue is to get moving again. It's already been three years since my last grand excursion (Colombia, Equador, Peru), and I'm itching to get back on the road again...
HH: What is your general ambition behind your work?
Jan: To explore new fields in me, in music, in life. No more, no less. Oh yeah, there's actually another thing as well; to take my music to as many venues as possible, regardless size.
HH: In these days of file sharing and copyright infringements, what do you think: Is the music business at risk?
Jan: Of course it is and it's the best thing that has happened to music in a long, long time.
HH: If you don't play an instrument or write a song what are your favourite activities?
Jan: I should definitively answer fishing or something like that for recreations, but I'm afraid it isn't so. Right now, I'm restoring a 200 year old house that we're gonna move into pretty soon. I've been working on that house for about a year now on and off and I guess you can say that it has become some kind of a hobby through the past months. I'm also running Karmakosmetix (my own label) and I cherish spending some time with that on a regular basis as well. Not to mention my family. They're certainly my greatest hangout nowadays.
HH: What would you advise young musicians to do who want to become as good and as successful as you?
Jan: Hehe... As I do not consider myself either good or especially successful, I'm not sure if I'm the right person to ask really. However, it is in music as it is with anything else you lay; If you do it with your heart on the outside of your shirt, you cannot go wrong. If you believe in what you're doing, regardless what people say, you've already got a great base to operate from.
HH: Imagine, your music is a kind of beer. What kind of beer would it be and why this kind of beer?
Jan: It would be rich in taste, served semi-cold and it would be a Pilsener; not to light, not to dark. And it would have fucked up yer head massively while you were at it and given you good vibes the next day hah hah hah hah!!
HH: Thank you very much for your time! Any last words to the readers of Heavyhardes?
Jan: Right back atcha! To the readers: Enjoy summer, you fuckers!
Sophos