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Waklevören: Interview
by ©Scarlet Metal and whoresofchaos.com
with
guitar player Bored
Waklevören is the very
talented:
Gorgon V: Vocals (ex-Fuck You All)
Bølla Brandt: Bass (Red
Harvest)
Bolt Bergsten: Guitar/Vocals (Red Harvest)
Bored: Guitar (ex
Trashcan Darlings)
Apollyon (13): Drums/Vocals (Aura Noir,
ex-Cadaver)
www.myspace.com/waklevoren
Scarlet: Skål and thanks for the
interview! Just want to take a moment here to express my gratitude to you-
thanks so much for having given me a rare 'glimpse' of an insider's view
of Elm Street & Oslo, which included many fascinating tidbits such as
the more humorous side of life as a musician there..
Bored:
Well cheers to you, and thanks for having me!
Scarlet:
Congrats! heard you guys played at Inferno Festival 2006...how was
that?
Bored: Well, we played at the opening day (thursday)
and the venue was so packed, they had to to close the doors. So to all of
you who didn`t get in, it`s not our fault :) The show was awesome. The
band sounded "great" and watching the crowd go nuts singing along was
quite a new sexual experience. And we were 'almost' sober onstage for the
very first time.
That was "not" a sexual moment....actually rather
frustrating.
Scarlet: Let's go back in time for a moment, how old were
you when you started playing and which guitar player really blew your
mind, 'addicted' you and made you want to play
professionally?
Bored: I started playing at the age of nine,
it was Kiss that changed my life. They were gods to me and looked cooler
than Superman and Spiderman. The album that really influenced me at that
young age and gave me inspiration was 'Destroyer'. Later on early
Metallica, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Sepultura, Voivod, Anthrax
and such bands would play a big role on how my guitar playing would
develop. If there's any guitar player that still means something for me to
this day, I must say it is Randy Rhoads, may he rest in peace. Not
only was he a great and visual guitar player, but he had a personality
that blew me a way.
Scarlet: What exactly does 'Waklevören'
translate to in English?
and please tell us a bit about the
band....
Bored: Waklevören is an ancient Norwegian word that
gives the impression of something being very unstable and
wobbling..like when one leg is shorter than the others on a table,or it
could easily describe the whole essence and feeling behind this band. The
gathering of this troupe started about three years ago, when me and Gorgon
wanted to get back to our roots and play some heavy shit again. We wanted
to make something special out of this, so we started to talk about who
would fit in, and after awhile Appollyon (13), Bølla Brandt and Bolt
Bergsten teamed up.
No one really ever thought that this band would
even end up playing one single note, including ourselves..but one
thing lead to another, and we ended up actually playing and not just
drinking. We had a longing to recreate the 80`s sound and that hammering
groove of bands like Anthrax, SOD, Crumbsuckers, Agnostic Front and
Slayer.
Scarlet: What do you believe are the key elements
behind the incredible sound of Waklevören?
Bored: It`s
all about the chemistry between the five of us and our common knowledge
and love for metal. We knew from the moment after we had made our first
couple of songs what direction this "project" would lead to. We had spent
a lot of time talking about what kind of sound that we wanted, but we had
no idea that it would end up this great. We all have different musical
backgrounds, but when we all meet up, get totally wasted and plug
in, we`re unstoppable. It provides so much energy, anger and
sickness.
With that in order..it all collides into making great
metal.
Scarlet: What I find most impressive about you
Norwegians(and Scandinavians in general) is the willingness to take the
time to discuss your bands and your craft, plus there seems to be
true comradery between most of you Oslo metallists.
Any comments on
this?
Bored: Hehe, it`s all about asskissing really....nah, I
don`t know.
The whole atmosphere within the Oslo metal scene today is
cool.
We hang out at our local pubs, chat, drink and have fun.
There
are great bands and there are shitty bands here as well....
it`s that
old cat and mouse thing: in the end you know who the fucking pussies are,
haha.
Scarlet: Are you conscious, or aware of, what affects
the progression of your guitar playing style?(please state exactly 'what'
it is in your periphery and environment that has caused
changes)
Bored: When I started becoming a stable guitar
player, my style wasn`t that much different from what it is today. I`ve
never practiced solos and I`ve always been considered as a rhythm guitar
player, which suits me just fine. But some stuff changed after I moved to
Oslo, got to see more gigs and got to know professional metal musicians.
It inspired me to listen to other kinds of music, but I`ve always kept my
fascination for that old school riffing style. But when we talk about the
sound itself, eehhhh.....I`m totally useless. Bolt does the setup every
rehearsal and at every gig, while I try to find my picks and drink beer.
So now he has sold me his own amp that he has used for years. The sound is
kinda pre-installed, so I just have to plug in, play a riff and put on a
big fuckin`smile. As long as it sounds raw and dirty with a lot of balls,
I`m satisfied!
Scarlet: Do you read music/metal ezines,
magazines or fanzines?
Bored: When I was growing up I read a
lot of magz like Metal Hammer and Kerrang and some Swedish stuff. I didn`t
hear of fanzines `till I moved to Oslo. Where I grew up, we didn`t get
updates on such stuff at all. These days I don`t buy any of it. The
last magazine I read was probably something pornographic anyways- and when
it comes to ezines, I have no clue....I need some site info I
guess.
Scarlet: How do you feel about music
videos?
Bored: We`ve talked about making a video for one of
our songs, but we haven`t got to that point where we have decided which
song yet..and it`s important for us to make sure the video itself suits
our music. We have discussed some ideas, and if we end up feeling
satisfied with the result, then we`ll release it. And it`s gonna be cold,
dark, ugly and absolutely free of stupid posings with snakes
or naked
women, hehe!
Scarlet: Does this band have an actual 'brutal
agenda' as far as your next album goes? will it be the same killer
sound?
Bored: It will absolutely have the same sound and
essence as
Brutal Agenda. Thankfully our engineers were sober (I think)
so hopefully they'll remember the settings. It will be a typical follow
up, only better of course. And cheesy as it sounds, we`ve grown a lot as a
band, and we`re more aware of where we want to go. We`ll start working on
this album right after Red Harvest has finished their's.. June/july or
something. But you know us by now, and things never end up as we`ve
planned, so it will probably end up being released next year,
hehe
Scarlet: What keeps the both the peace and the high
energy of Waklevoren going?
Bored: We don`t stress. We work
in our own tempo and we only do things that are worthwhile for us. We`ve
turned down lots of offers, and we`ll keep on doing that. You'll never see
this band on tour or even play three nights in a row, `cause that would
sure as hell be the end of Waklevören!. To this day, it has paid off well
for us. The audience doesn`t get fed up or lose interest in the band, like
they do with lots of other bands that kill themselves playing way too much
'live' or by promoting themselves to death. Many might look upon us as a
bunch of major assholes but some actually know what we`re all about....and
I`m not going to judge any of them.
Scarlet: Just out of curiosity, what's in your cd player
right now?
Bored: Cocteau Twins: Heaven or Las
Vegas
October Project: October Project
Engelbert Humperdinck: Super
Hits
Entombed: Morning Star
Terrorizer: World
Downfall
Scarlet: Well, I have confession to make to you and
the band:
I enjoy screaming along to 'Brutal Agenda',
in my own New
Yorwegian subdialect- it's cathartic!
Bored: Well, that`s
nice to know. Pack your stuff and get your ass to Hole in the Sky Festival
in Bergen in August, and we`ll bring you onstage :) This I`d like to hear!
Hearing you sing in Norwegian is probably a lot better than hearing
Gorgon singing in English, hehe
Scarlet: Ooo takk
n'smakk!
Well, as the saying goes: "All good things must come to an
end"
and so I thank you for this intie! Any last
words?
Bored: Can I get that beer and that porn flick that
you promised me now?
Scarlet: You dirty tomcat!..but
nooo..håhå -
the closest thing to porn I have here is Darkthrone's
latest video,
and although there's alot of Norwegian wood
(forest)
...plus those two fetching skogkatts- call it a hunch
but
somehow I just don't think it's gonna do it for ya....
Bored:
No honey, that one didn`t give me any `wood` but godammit, it's a great
video!
sponsored by: http://www.moderndrunkardmagazine.com
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