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The Gauntlet.com interviewed ENSLAVED guitarist Ivar Bjørnson and bassist/vocalist Grutle Kjellson (a staunch Warwick amp advocate and endorser) last month in Chicago.
The Gauntlet: Well, these are comparable digs. A nice backstage area, but a little more urban I guess.
Ivar Bjørnson: Right. We had been playing at The Pearl Room.
(Grutle Kjellson emerges from dressing room wearing an "In The Court..." King Crimson shirt and sits next to Ivar)
The Gauntlet: Wonderful shirt. I approve very much.
Grutle Kjellson: Thank you.
The Gauntlet: Well. Welcome to Chicago. How many dates of the tour are you into? Is it a fair bit in?
Ivar: No, the sixth.
The Gauntlet: You know, that's almost the same as when I got you the last time around [with Dark Funeral]. So, how has it been so far? It's kind of a different package than it was the last time.
Ivar: Very different package. It's been—(pauses and picks up recorder) let me just move this…dead center.
The Gauntlet
laughs) Thank you.
Ivar: I think this is, for us, the optimal package.
Grutle: And people have been requesting this package for ages, both our fans and the Opeth fans. So finally, we made it happen.
The Gauntlet: And did that have something to do with now being on Indie Recordings?
Grutle: Well, not really. Both of us, especially Mikael Åkerfeldt, had been pushing for years to get us on the bill together, instead of bands they've toured with who are a little different from them. I think it’s actually the perfect billing for both the bands.
Ivar: And I guess both bands are not really related to other bands in the genre—where Opeth comes from the death metal scene and we come from somewhere on the outskirts of black metal, or whatever.
Grutle: The Norwegian extreme metal and they come from Swedish extreme metal.
Ivar: Yeah. But at the same time, there are no real relatives. So that's how those two bands keep coming up, I guess.
The Gauntlet: Absolutely. When I heard this tour announced, it was amazing. Since, as you say, Opeth and Enslaved have helped define what metal can be for fans and a lot of other bands. Speaking of tours, the last time we spoke [Ivar in January of ‘07], you had yet to go play India. So I'm curious to hear how that went, the Great Indian Metal Fest.
Grutle: It was amazing. The first show we did was a small showcase with Indian journalists and, not record companies, but watchmakers or something…? (Looks to Ivar)
Ivar: Yeah, watches. They made a special edition called Heavy Metal and they had us pose with these watches on.
Grutle: Yeah, yeah. And we got these watches that still work perfectly—they're good watches—but they're so heavy (mimes a weighty bracer around wrist)
The Gauntlet: (Laughs)
Ivar: And a motorcycle company.
Grutle: Yeah, yeah. A lot of weird things happened there (laughs). We had this press conference with the director of…which company?
Ivar: Timex, actually. Timex India.
Grutle: And also with the Great Indian Rock festival boss. And there were no questions. Well, two questions at first. But after the press conference was over all the journalists were like—(makes a beeline and thrusts out fist holding imaginary recorder) “I want to ask a question.” It was weird.
The Gauntlet: (Laughs) They waited until it was over to come talk to you?
Grutle: Yeah. I guess that’s the thing they do in India.
Ivar: That was the showcase, and then we did the Great Indian Rock Fest.
Grutle: That was insane. Eight-and-a-half thousand people.
Ivar: --plus two thousand people outside with no tickets.
Grutle: Yeah, at least. And the people, too: women wearing saris and guys wearing turbans and Darkthrone, Enslaved, and Venon T-shirts (laughs).
Ivar: And they were all sober. There was no alcohol there. But they were so crazy, and when we were on stage we could feel the whole crowd moving. Everything was crudely built, so when the crowd went—(headbangs)—we could feel the stage moving.
Grutle: They even had a huge catwalk.
The Gauntlet: Wow. Sounds like quite an experience.
Grutle: Oh, yeah. A fabulous trip.
Ivar: It was great.
The Gauntlet: And definitely different from the American experience…
Grutle: Different from everything else we’ve ever done.
Ivar: They were not only hospitable—you know, you get that everywhere. They’re hospitable at the House of Blues in Chicago. But there was something different in the fact that they’ve not gotten a lot of bands down there. They listen to all these bands, and we were one of the first Scandinavian bands to go down there and play for these people. And it was going both ways, because we were so grateful and blown away to fly for twenty hours and meet people who tell you that your songs and your career have really meant something to them. So we felt totally grateful to them and they were really grateful to us for coming there. The whole thing was a big cliché, but at the same time a big tribute to the concept of clichés. They’re clichés because it’s true, you know?
The Gauntlet: So it seems evident that you’d be inclined to go back, given the chance.
Ivar: Oh, we’d love to.
Grutle: Absolutely.
The Gauntlet: On a related topic—another new experience—you’re with Indie now. I’ve read a little bit about how you followed guys who had been at Tabu, but aside from that, how has it been working with a new name?
Grutle: Well, the most important thing is that they’re pretty young, so they believe in the stuff they’re doing. They’re enthusiastic and decided to only sign their favorite type bands, so they really want things to work out in the best possible way. Now it’s very difficult to release albums because of all the downloading going on all the time, so it’s been very difficult to actually sell an album, a product, you know? But they just want to make things work and are really on top of technology and stuff like that. I think that independent labels, like Indie Recordings, are suffering not half as much as the bigger labels. Metal is not the genre that suffers most from the downloading conflict, anyway, because it still has a very…
The Gauntlet: --loyal fanbase.
Grutle: Yeah, exactly.
Ivar: And I think also that they are people who aren’t looking for work—they’re working to change something. The whole idea of having a career is secondary.
Grutle: Yeah. They’re into it because of the music.
Ivar: When you mention a lot of the hardships of bigger labels, it’s the fact that they’re facing a shift in paradigms among listeners, where it’s not so much about the product but philosophy, lifestyle, and attitude. So these smaller labels, I think, will survive indefinitely.
The rest of the interview is here:
The Gauntlet: Well, these are comparable digs. A nice backstage area, but a little more urban I guess.
Ivar Bjørnson: Right. We had been playing at The Pearl Room.
(Grutle Kjellson emerges from dressing room wearing an "In The Court..." King Crimson shirt and sits next to Ivar)
The Gauntlet: Wonderful shirt. I approve very much.
Grutle Kjellson: Thank you.
The Gauntlet: Well. Welcome to Chicago. How many dates of the tour are you into? Is it a fair bit in?
Ivar: No, the sixth.
The Gauntlet: You know, that's almost the same as when I got you the last time around [with Dark Funeral]. So, how has it been so far? It's kind of a different package than it was the last time.
Ivar: Very different package. It's been—(pauses and picks up recorder) let me just move this…dead center.
The Gauntlet
laughs) Thank you.Ivar: I think this is, for us, the optimal package.
Grutle: And people have been requesting this package for ages, both our fans and the Opeth fans. So finally, we made it happen.
The Gauntlet: And did that have something to do with now being on Indie Recordings?
Grutle: Well, not really. Both of us, especially Mikael Åkerfeldt, had been pushing for years to get us on the bill together, instead of bands they've toured with who are a little different from them. I think it’s actually the perfect billing for both the bands.
Ivar: And I guess both bands are not really related to other bands in the genre—where Opeth comes from the death metal scene and we come from somewhere on the outskirts of black metal, or whatever.
Grutle: The Norwegian extreme metal and they come from Swedish extreme metal.
Ivar: Yeah. But at the same time, there are no real relatives. So that's how those two bands keep coming up, I guess.
The Gauntlet: Absolutely. When I heard this tour announced, it was amazing. Since, as you say, Opeth and Enslaved have helped define what metal can be for fans and a lot of other bands. Speaking of tours, the last time we spoke [Ivar in January of ‘07], you had yet to go play India. So I'm curious to hear how that went, the Great Indian Metal Fest.
Grutle: It was amazing. The first show we did was a small showcase with Indian journalists and, not record companies, but watchmakers or something…? (Looks to Ivar)
Ivar: Yeah, watches. They made a special edition called Heavy Metal and they had us pose with these watches on.
Grutle: Yeah, yeah. And we got these watches that still work perfectly—they're good watches—but they're so heavy (mimes a weighty bracer around wrist)
The Gauntlet: (Laughs)
Ivar: And a motorcycle company.
Grutle: Yeah, yeah. A lot of weird things happened there (laughs). We had this press conference with the director of…which company?
Ivar: Timex, actually. Timex India.
Grutle: And also with the Great Indian Rock festival boss. And there were no questions. Well, two questions at first. But after the press conference was over all the journalists were like—(makes a beeline and thrusts out fist holding imaginary recorder) “I want to ask a question.” It was weird.
The Gauntlet: (Laughs) They waited until it was over to come talk to you?
Grutle: Yeah. I guess that’s the thing they do in India.
Ivar: That was the showcase, and then we did the Great Indian Rock Fest.
Grutle: That was insane. Eight-and-a-half thousand people.
Ivar: --plus two thousand people outside with no tickets.
Grutle: Yeah, at least. And the people, too: women wearing saris and guys wearing turbans and Darkthrone, Enslaved, and Venon T-shirts (laughs).
Ivar: And they were all sober. There was no alcohol there. But they were so crazy, and when we were on stage we could feel the whole crowd moving. Everything was crudely built, so when the crowd went—(headbangs)—we could feel the stage moving.
Grutle: They even had a huge catwalk.
The Gauntlet: Wow. Sounds like quite an experience.
Grutle: Oh, yeah. A fabulous trip.
Ivar: It was great.
The Gauntlet: And definitely different from the American experience…
Grutle: Different from everything else we’ve ever done.
Ivar: They were not only hospitable—you know, you get that everywhere. They’re hospitable at the House of Blues in Chicago. But there was something different in the fact that they’ve not gotten a lot of bands down there. They listen to all these bands, and we were one of the first Scandinavian bands to go down there and play for these people. And it was going both ways, because we were so grateful and blown away to fly for twenty hours and meet people who tell you that your songs and your career have really meant something to them. So we felt totally grateful to them and they were really grateful to us for coming there. The whole thing was a big cliché, but at the same time a big tribute to the concept of clichés. They’re clichés because it’s true, you know?
The Gauntlet: So it seems evident that you’d be inclined to go back, given the chance.
Ivar: Oh, we’d love to.
Grutle: Absolutely.
The Gauntlet: On a related topic—another new experience—you’re with Indie now. I’ve read a little bit about how you followed guys who had been at Tabu, but aside from that, how has it been working with a new name?
Grutle: Well, the most important thing is that they’re pretty young, so they believe in the stuff they’re doing. They’re enthusiastic and decided to only sign their favorite type bands, so they really want things to work out in the best possible way. Now it’s very difficult to release albums because of all the downloading going on all the time, so it’s been very difficult to actually sell an album, a product, you know? But they just want to make things work and are really on top of technology and stuff like that. I think that independent labels, like Indie Recordings, are suffering not half as much as the bigger labels. Metal is not the genre that suffers most from the downloading conflict, anyway, because it still has a very…
The Gauntlet: --loyal fanbase.
Grutle: Yeah, exactly.
Ivar: And I think also that they are people who aren’t looking for work—they’re working to change something. The whole idea of having a career is secondary.
Grutle: Yeah. They’re into it because of the music.
Ivar: When you mention a lot of the hardships of bigger labels, it’s the fact that they’re facing a shift in paradigms among listeners, where it’s not so much about the product but philosophy, lifestyle, and attitude. So these smaller labels, I think, will survive indefinitely.
The rest of the interview is here:
Saw him last year with them.