Interview mit Jan Even Åsli von One Tail, One Head

ONE TAIL, ONE HEAD was founded 12 years ago. What was the idea behind your bandname back then?
It’s a line taken from the lyrics to the first ever song we wrote, and it simply pointed cyclical patterns of death and rebirth, figuratively and literally, which from then on became the overarching theme usually present in some way or another in the words written for our music. We chose it because it sounded strange and even looked strange for a band like ours.

Your debut is called „Worlds Open, Worlds Collide“. What’s the album about?
Well, it’s themes are loose and suggestive, so it’s open for interpretation by the listener and will probably be different for anyone. For me it deals largely with doubt, broken illusions, shattered truths. It walks on an edge between certainty and uncertainty, control and chaos, reality and madness. Hope and despair are these worlds that are colliding, again and again, for me. The words are also mocking themselves, in a way. They seem at times grandiose and megalomaniacal, but doubt and fear of futility  always lurks behind, so there is this constant tension there. A sinister twist of dark and ironic humour, if you will.

What was the concept behind the artwork, how would you interpretate it?
It reflects the tastes of our bassist Tylden and myself, who chiefly brought it forth together during a long period of discussion and sharing ideas (him doing the actual hands-on work with his graphical skills, of course). We obviously wanted something that had a feeling of its own, and did not look like every other album layout in our little part of the metal underground. The dark red coloring very much hints to the atmosphere of our live performances, and the simple yet extremely classy (in our humble opinion) and very effective artwork by our dear friend Izzy communicates the contents of the album perfectly. We are very, very pleased with the outcome of it all. All formats look splendid so far.

With „Sordid Sanctitude“ there is a quite long instrumental on the album. Don’t you think, vocals could have added some extra energy here as well?
I rather think it provides some much needed space to breathe and gather oneself. The vocals are hyper-present on this record, and while they are superbly well-executed (again, my humble opinion) having a vocalist constantly shout and scream at you for up towards 50 minutes does not fit my idea of the dynamic balance the construction of an album should have. „Sordid…“ also deepens the mood and broadens the horizon of the record with its experimental guitars and bass patterns and an in general rather strange atmosphere. But hey, I’m pretty biased.

You’ve been on tour with Taake for some weeks now – what memories and experiences did you bring back from the tour?
It was all in all a great experience, extremely rewarding as a means of making our last mark and quite emotional in the sense of feeling the end directly on our skin. We actually did some of our best live work ever on this tour, and that feels very good. A lot of supportive energy in the crowds throughout Europe, much more than we expected to be sure. We also had the privilege of forming strong bonds of friendship with members of all bands, which is by my understanding more than you can expect, really, so our eternal gratitude goes out to Taake, Bölzer, Orkan and Slegest for being their excellent selves.

The tour was both your first big tour and your last. With what feelings did you play the last shows?
As mentioned to whole thing bore the tinge of heartache, but besides that, we did our job every night, no holds barred, giving our all, not sparing anything. That has always been the same for us, and these being our last shows does not change that.

What made you decide to bury the band right now, when you had international success with the album and the tour?
We are pulling in different directions within the band, both in terms of creativity, methodology and outlook. We want to express ourselves in different ways. Simple as that. When our hearts are not in the same place, it’s better to make this album our definitive statement and move on.

Isn’t it also unsatisfactory to have worked so long towards something, and now that success is coming, to only be able to savour it so briefly?
There are many ways to define and measure success. One is to sell out shows, be popular and so forth, another is to create an expression that is truly your own, and yet another is to feel truly aligned with what you are creating, all aspects included. They are legitimate ways, all of them. It’s just that we care more for the latter, you know? And ONE TAIL, ONE HEAD was always a goal in itself, not a tool to achieve another. Life is short and it is what it is.

I had the feeling that you were very well received by the audience. Do you already regret the decision, or is it still certain that this tour was the last thing we will have heard from ONE TAIL, ONE HEAD?
No regrets. As of now, this is the end. I see what you’re hinting at, and a lot of people did just flat out not believe us when we said we were quitting, and I understand that, in a way. Out of experience, I think it is a rather stupid thing to say „never“. That said, this has a pretty definite feel of finality to it. One thing is the reasons already mentioned, another is the personal life changes we all go through in our private spheres. The hyper-physical and ridiculously extroverted nature of ONE TAIL, ONE HEAD was very demanding and I think it was rather obvious that it would not last forever. As humans we all struggle to let go of things, but sometimes it truly is for the best.

If ONE TAIL, ONE HEAD is dead now – where do you see your future as a musician? Will you concentrate more on VEMOD again, or maybe start something completely new?
VEMOD is at the heart of my very being, and therefore at the heart of my musical future as well. I’ve been working on it for more than half my life, so unless I’m stricken by serious illness of some sort, those interested will hear much more from this little universe we have created. Of course, ending ONE TAIL, ONE HEAD frees up a lot of time, and who knows what will come in its wake. There are certainly impulses that does not necessarily fit within VEMOD, so the likehood of new projects are certainly there. I feel quite certain you will hear from all of the members of ONE TAIL, ONE HEAD in various new constellations, as none of us are done with music.

Thank you for the interview! Please let us do a short brainstorming in the end of this interview.
I’m sorry, but I don’t particularly like the idea of „short brainstorming“ around deeply complex human phenomena that individuals can spend lifetimes studying without even coming close to properly explaining. I hope you will excuse me for refraining from adding more shallowness in a time so desperate for deep thought.

O.K.! Nevertheless once again thanks for your time. The last words are yours:
Listen to good music, take good care of each other and be well. Thanks for your time.

Publiziert am 20. November 2018 von Moritz Grütz

Fotos von: Afra Gethöffer-Grütz