RSS
Interview
Deutsche VersionInterview mit Vulture Industries (29.12.2010)
HH: Hello and greetings from Munich. How are you? Lets start this interview in the beginning. Vulture Industries was found 1998, what was the intention for it?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: It's more correct to say that Vulture Industries was formed in 2002/2003 on the remnants of DRG. The years prior were with a different musical direction, line-up and name. I don't really know what the initial intentions of were as I didn't join before 2002. As I joined to take over the vocals and Kyrre took over for the previous bass player, the musical direction of the band changed quite drastically. Since we neither liked the band name nor felt it fit with the new musical direction we decided to change it to mark a new beginning. The old material was gradually exchanged for new ideas that fit our creative desires better. Thus nothing of the pre-Vulture Industries material was ever released under the new name.
HH: So we can say, 2003 was the founding year of Vulture Industries, but it took four years for the debut album. What happened during this long time?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: We recorded 2 demos/EPs and worked on finding our direction and identity. I think it's a good thing that a band goes through the demo stage before starting to release albums. Nowadays much of the world suffers from information overload. The notion that every band should start releasing albums as soon as they have written enough material to last 35 minutes doesn't do much to help. I think there are too many releases these days, and things are not being filtered properly. I'm fine with ignoring most of the bad stuff being released, but it's still noise stealing focus.
HH: You received great reviews for the debut and I think, for The Malefactor's Bloody Register it will be the same. Did you expect this reactions and how do you handle them?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: Considering that the album is more complex and difficult to get into than our debut we were expecting more polarized reviews this time. As a general trend the reviews have been extremely good though. There are of course some bad ones, but that's natural. I prefer bad reviews to mediocre reviews. We're not making music for everyone, so if people don't get our music I'm fine with them not liking it. I prefer that people have a definite opinion about our work, that it's not just something that can slide by unnoticed.
HH: I think, The Dystopia Journals was more straight while The Malefactor's Bloody Register sounds more complex. Some songs even sound like soundtrackes. Was this your intention? What are the main differences between these two albums in your point of view?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: Our intention was basically just to make a new album. We didn't want to make the same album again. Therefore we spent some time feeling our way around new ideas and seeing what we felt worked. It took a while, but after approximately one year we felt we were on the right track.
I'd agree that The Malefactor's Bloody Register is more complex. On the top of being more complex the production also leaves room for more detail in plain view. Therefore there is more information to process instantly. On The Dystopia Journals the main melody lines and driving element lay more apparent while the details were obscured and only visible to the acute listener. The Malefactor's Bloody Register also turned out more metal than The Dystopia Journals, with TDJ often tending more towards hard rock.
HH: In your music you combine lots of different styles and sounds. But what kind of sound/music sounds is still terrible in your ears?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: I tend to dislike very happy music. Gospel music, some of the commercial American country music and modern music made for kids are the worst for me. Some traditional lullabies are good though.
HH: What are your songs about (unfortunately I don't have the lyrics)? Could you please tell us something about the "message" of the songs? Are they only fiction or are they referring to reality ?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: The theme of the album is humanity seen through the legal system, from different perspectives. The cover image represents the coldness of the law, with the character representing the scale, with noose weighing more than laws and noble intentions. The lyrics are fictional stories relating to reality.
HH: What are your inspirations, your influences?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: Very many! I think most things in life can inspire music. I especially find walking stimulates my creativity, so I always have some medium of recording ideas with me.
We have very varied tastes within the band and this is part of what makes us what we are. Our tastes and esthetic preferences colours the way we approach our music and our respective instruments. On my own part my favourite artists of all time are Tom Waits and Devil Doll.
HH: What is the process of a songs' creation? Is everything ready when you're entering the studio or are you working out the songs just inside the studio?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: Our song writing is a very fluid and intuitive process. We don't set out to make anything particular, we just go along with the inspiration of the moment and feel our way around to what works together, and feeling right for Vulture Industries. For this album we had most of the ideas and basic structures ready when we entered the studio, but we willingly left a lot of threads loose. The intention with this was to maintain a feeling of spontaneity and catch some early takes instead of having everything rehearsed into soulless formalisation.
HH: Are there any plans to support the album by touring? Will this tour lead you to south Germany?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: We just did a eleven day tour through large parts of Europe. We visited Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, Slovakia, Romania and the Czech Republic. We had a great time and got great feedback from fans, promoters and press so we're looking forward to heading back onto the road next year. We are currently looking at options and hopefully the ones we go with will also lead us to the south of Germany.
HH: If you should describe your music as a meal, how would it look like, how would it taste?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: A kind of soup with a lot of strange bits and pieces in it. You should be careful with some of the bits cause they are hard to swallow and can break your teeth. Every spoonful tastes different, but you keep on eating eager to find out how the next one will taste like.
HH: We have come to the final part of this little interview. I have a couple of so-called or-statements. Please choose one of each. You do not have to explain your choice; you may of course if you really want to. It is just some silly thing I came up with and I would like to see if and how it works.
God or satan?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: Satan
HH: Run or walk?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: Depends on who is chasing me, but in general something in between. I'm a fast walker.
HH: Left or right?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: Depends on where I'm going.
HH: Optimist or pessimist?
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: Optimist
HH: Thank your for answering my questions. The famous last words are up to you.
Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen: Dead men don't laugh