As live guitarist for TAAKE and with his band ORKAN as support act, Gjermund Fredheim is on „double“ tour right now. Nevertheless the Norwegian guitarist found time in between to answer our questions and talks openly about personal dramas in the band, his inspiration for ORKAN and how the banjo came to Taake.
You’re on tour right now – how are you and where are you right now?
Good, thank you for asking! Right now I’m on the ferry to Dover. I play double shifts on this European tour, with Taake and ORKAN. The first four days are over, ready for playing in London tonight.
The infosheet about „Elements“ starts with „Having fought their way through cancer and rare, crippling muscular diseases, ORKAN are now ready with the follow up to 2015’s “Livlaus”. That sounds heavy – could you give us a bit more details on that?
First, between writing the music and recording, Sindre got cancer and had to battle his way through chemotherapy and surgery. He was still sick during recording, but did a great job and have since recovered completely. Then, just before the vocal tracking, Einar won the lottery and was struck by a rare, one in a million aggressive muscular disease. He actually was stuck in a wheelchair for a short while before the medicines kicked in. But, Einar is also back stronger than ever!
Glad to hear that you have fought those diseases successfully. In which way would you say did this experience influence you when it came to writing the songs and lyrics of „Elements“?
Well, I guess that it did not really affect the composing of the album, but we got delayed quite a bit, and of course the feeling in the band was pretty special when we started the recording.
What is this album, what are the lyrics about?
The lyrics are mostly describing dealings with nature and describing some of the places we like to spend time in. Some songs go further into personal views on some of the elements we have to deal with on our and other peoples personal views on life, and the world we live in.
The artwork is fantastic, I’d say. Here was this picture taken, and why is it the perfect artwork for this album?
Thank you, I am really happy with the artwork as well! I think the picture really fits the music on the record. I love hiking, and the Norwegian nature is very important to me, so I wanted that in the artwork. The picture is taken by Atle Helland at Hardangervidda, a beautiful mountain area that divides the west and the east of Norway.
Musicwise, it’s a very strong, very coherent album, with a clear direction I’d say – how does a typical song evolve, what aspects do you focus on?
I usually work at different songs at the same time. I build up a bank of riffs and puzzle it together. Most of the long, more melancholy riffs are made in one period of time, and the more crazy, dissonant riffs are made in a different period. Sindre also made some riffs for the album and I think we have quite different style, but everything blends together nicely.
The last song, „Heim“, is quite different – how did that come?
Yeah, I wanted to do something different. The guitar parts came to me really fast, and we actually kept the two main guitar tracks from the demo. It was an instrumental in the beginning, but I’m really happy that we spent the time to make it into something bigger. It was a special moment in the studio for us. We had no idea that Einar could sing like this!
To be honest, the album reminds me a bit to Taake, where you’re involved as a live-guitarrist. In which way would you say that your work with Taake influenced the style of ORKAN?
A lot of people say that , but I don’t think so myself. I have been in Taake for many years now and that leaves a mark, of course. I think Hoest is a great songwriter, but I have no intentions trying to sound like Taake or any other band for that matter.
At Taake, you’re only involved as a live-musician, as far as I know. But at least once you had a huge impact on a taake-release: when you recorded the first banjo-solo for a black-metal-release ever. Could you tell us the story behind this outstanding song, who’s idea was it and how did that come into bein?
Yeah that was fun. (laughs) Hoest asked me if I could play the banjo on a small part of the song. I sort of were on a roll there , so I doubled the length. When he came to the studio he liked it so much that we had to add even more to it. I think that song has something extra, and I’m involved in quite a few songs on that album and I love playing those songs live.
The last Taake-Tour in the US was quite unsuccessfull, so to say. What happened?
It is way to easy to be tough behind a computer nowadays, and when antifa sent threats to promoters everything collapsed. Too many of the promoters backed down, so in the end it was impossible to get the show on the road.
Thank you for the interview! Please let us do a short brainstorming in the end of this interview. What comes in your mind first reading the following terms:
Germany: always good to be back!
Reindeer: great eating and great for coverart!
Black Metal: Helnorsk svartmetall!
Norway: my favorite place to be
Your favorite album at the moment: Nick Cave/Warren Ellis soundtracks
ORKAN in 10 years: fat, bald and bitter! No, really I have no idea! (laughs)
Once again thanks for your time. The last words are yours:
Check out our new album! It was hard work, but the we are really happy with the final result!
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26. Oktober 2018 Moritz Grütz
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