main
index
waiver
read
contact
email
reviews
interviews

06-05-2006
Mindgrinder: Interview with guitarist Nitrous
by ©Scarlet Metal & www.whoresofchaos.com
 

Scarlet: Greetings Nitrous! Thanks so much for the interview..
 
Nitrous: It`s a pleasure to do so..bring on the Q's and I`ll cough up some A's.
 
Scarlet: What is Mindgrinder up to these days?
 
Nitrous: Currently new material is being reviewed and rehearsed for the next
studio session. Things are taking shape and looking good.
The band will also look into various options concerning recording, mixing
and production.Further on it's been decided that the next album will be recorded
without Nex, we wish him all the best for future plans.
 
Scarlet: Anything to say about the reviewers who compare you to Morbid
Angel? all I hear of Morbid Angel in Riot Detonator is some 'influence' but there's
also Slayer,Behemoth, Hate Eternal influence and even very very early Metallica
influence among others With Cosmo being in side projects like SCUM
etc etc there must be alot of delays? btw, Cosmocrator is exceptionally talented,
all the musicians are and the drumming is really incredible on this cd
 
Nitrous: As you have realized, Cosmo is a musical wonderchild
and great to work with in every way.
SCUM doesn`t interfere with MindGrinder in any way.
We all keep busy with other bands, cause we love to play.
Cosmos stuff has gotten way more international attention of course.
And Dan, the drummer on the 'Riot Detonator' album is an awesome talent.
Actually he is only 16 years old when it`s recorded,
or maybe he had just turned 17.... I don`t remember.
(He serves in the national airforce these days by the way)
Personally, I don`t understand the Morbid Angel thing either.
Actually I don`t have any Morbid A albums and don`t consider myself
influenced by them in any way.
But that being said I think what people are referring to is the use of
octave chords, which we throw in to the riffs now and then. Morbid Angel
was first to make it big with these kind of tones and set the standard in many way.
OK, there might be tons of other bands out there playing octaves ofcourse,
but it`s one thing that defines MA's sound...
Therefore, it might bring associations to Morbid Angel when people hear it in our music.
Actually the three of us are quite different when it comes to musical taste
and that`s probably why you`ll find so many different influences....and I believe
that`s what makes MindGrinder so strong.
 
Scarlet: From what I have read, metal impresario Samoth (of Emperor) is
quite the 'Renaissance man': accomplished musician, talented photographer
and creative director. I recently heard that he and his wife created the Pathetic
Submission vid. How influential or involved is he in the creative/artistic direction of your
bands and what is the process like? 
 
Nitrous: Regarding the vid, Samoth and his lovely wife Erin shot it, assisted
by my brother who shot the birdseye view of the drums, a genuine
stuntman(contortionist is better) that guy!. The vid was cut (edited) by Geir Gaasodden.
And yes, Samoth is a very creative person, highly organized and professional in all
aspects of his work. So far we have been very pleased with our
collaboration with Nocturnal Art Productions. During a writing process
we present him with ideas now and then, and he provides views, but he
never interferes in our music. There are several others that we use to
'test' out new material on.
Our music typically comes from Cosmo's work, me and Titan usually
contribute with a track or two. Cosmo's got a home studio were we go
through material and wipe out stuff that doesn`t meet MindGrinder
standards and then continue to work with the leftover material,
moulding it into compete tracks.
As a curiousity to the "sounds-alot-like-Zyklon" I can say in our
defence that the track "No names above the names" on Zyklons
Aeon-album originally was written by Cosmo for MindGrinder, but we
felt it sounded to much like Zyklon and it was then processed by
Zyklon in their preproduction and ended up on their album.
 
Scarlet: What are the other bands you guys are involved in now?
The "black n'roll" and 80' metal revival is going strong now, are you taking
part in it in any way?
 
Nitrous: I created 'Spider' back in 1999, in order to get more live action.
It`s a cover act that celebrates the heros of the 70's and 80s, including:
Kiss, Iron Maiden,Wasp, Motörhead, Accept, Dio, Thin Lizzy and the
list goes on and on...Cosmo's got his hands full of projects but
nothing that has seen the light of day 'live' or on cd yet. The first
priority for all of us is MindGrinder. Titan provides bass lines in
Spider, and shreads guitar in a thrashact called Evilizer, featuring
amongst others..Nex.
 
Scarlet:  Having already shared the stage with Testament, Zyklon, Behemoth,
Mortiis, Myrkskog, Disiplin, are the plans for MindGrinder to continue on as a 'live' band?
and how important is playing 'live' to your band?
 
Nitrous: We love playing live. I wish I was playing tonight!
There is a tour waiting for MindGrinder just up the road.
We will probably be heading out to the highway after the third album.
MindGrinder has been, is and will always be a strong live act.
We are eager to get back out there I can tell you that....
 
Scarlet: Both you and Titan handle guitars, I've read that your playing styles are quite different
How varied are your musical tastes? and how much music do you listen to?
 
Nitrous: We each have quite different tastes when it comes to music.
However there are some things that we strongly agree on: i.e.
Megadeth, Motorhead, Testament, Iron Maiden, Ozzy and King Diamond all kick ass.
And Emperor, of course! We all listen to alot of music frequently..I would say.
 
Scarlet: What's on your cd player right now?
 
Nitrous: Right now I`m enjoying Rainbow's 'Long Live Rock And Roll'
My personal favorite band is Accept, closely followed by Megadeth and Ozzy
Osbourne. Regarding current releases I`m totally blank, but I truly
love Megadeth's latest release and Ihsahn's fresh studio album is absolutely
worth it's money! I`ve got my heart firmly planted in the 70's and 80's
though.
 
Scarlet: Nitrous, we thank you so much for making the time for this interview,
and we wish you, Cosmocrator and Titan all the best in 2006 and beyond!
 
Nitrous: It`s been a pleasure....best wishes back at you!
 
www.MindGrinder.com
www.SpiderRocks.com
www.myspace.com/mindgrinder
Nocturnal Art Productions: http://www.nocturnalart.com