The Burden is Theirs…Alone

You know every once in awhile there's that one band that comes along and just smacks you in the head and you're just hooked? Without a doubt, for me this is what happened with Green Carnation. I was not really aware of them prior to February of this year. I knew they were a prog-band of sorts from Norway but that was it. That all changed when I was called on to review their latest work, The Quiet Offspring. 

From the first few notes, I was sucked in. The entire record is brilliant. There are moments of cutting guitar and slamming raucous musical collision courses. As quick as you can blink, songs morph into passionate melodious juggernauts that leave you gasping. Every song would qualify as the best or among the best of any other record. The amount of talent within the ranks of this band is staggering. 

Green Carnation began in 1990 as another project by Tchort (Terje Vik Schei), a metal-head who liked the more brutal side of the genre. Tchort joined Emperor for a time and then moved on to Satyricon and Carpathian Forest, among others. Green Carnation was shelved for the time being until about 1998 when he revived the group, recording a record, Journey into Darkness. The other musicians had kept their other positions with alternate bands and Tchort was forced to put together a new band for his next project. 

Light of Day, Day of Darkness, was a tour-de-force…a one-hour, one track masterpiece, completely written by the guitarist. This record really brought the band to the attention of prog-fans everywhere. Retaining most of that lineup, the band followed that up with Blessing in Disguise, switching gears on fans with an emphasis on shorter, less-atmospheric songs.

Then they dropped the bomb, The Quiet Offspring. From the first few chords of the title cut to the haunting strains of "Child's Play - Part II", the band, again featuring new members because of the mounting tour schedule, brought every ounce of their diversity to the fore. Or did they?

October 2004 found the band polishing off their newest record, The Acoustic Verses, due for release in January of 2006. As a teaser, Green Carnation put together a four-track sampler with two cuts from the upcoming record as well as two extra tracks. The record is as much of a 180 degree turn from the last record. This sampler, The Burden is Mine…Alone features tender vocals, acoustic (natch) instrumentation and….more awesome songs.

The band made this available for the first time at their only North American appearance….ever…this past October (look for a review coming soon), Toronto, Ontario Canada at the Day of the Equinox festival. Some people are good in the studio. Some people are born to be live performers. And I'm here to tell you that this band is equally massive at both. The band shrugged off jetlag and wailed through a set that will live in the hearts of the crowd that was there forever.

Besides Tchort, they are led by their hugely personable and immensely talented singer Kjetil Nordhus. The band also features: songwriter with very few peers and bass player Stein Roger Sordal, guitarist Michael Krumins, keyboard player Kenneth Silden, and drummer Tommy Jackson.

Most of the members have several things on the go. Tchort divides his time between Green Carnation, Carpathian Forest, as well as Blood Red Throne. Kjetil also assumes vocal duties in Chain Collector and Trail of Tears and Stein also has a side project on the go. It seems like everybody either teaches, or contributes to other bands or records. A few months back Tchort and Kjetil founded SubLife Productions, a label, booking agency, and management company. Talk about over-achievers. 

I have been fortunate enough to speak several times with Tchort and Kjetil and have found them to be among the most friendly and professional musicians I've ever dealt with. I have also communicated briefly with Tommy and Stein and must include them in that category as well. I am proud to call them all friends and I remain in awe of their blinding talent.

It was a privilege for me (are you getting tired of me gushing yet?) to speak with Tchort and Kjetil a few days after the Toronto show to get an advance sneak-peek on the new record and to reflect on the past year.

TCHORT 

antiMusic: 2005 has been a jam-packed year for you. What have been some of the highlights? 

Tchort: My son started school this year and I taught him to ride his bike. Spending time with him is always a highlight! In the world of music, I would rate the formation of my own production company, Sublife Productions, to be one of the highlights of 2005.

antiMusic: How has "The Quiet Offspring" fared world-wide to date? 

Tchort: Very well. I am once again surprised by the excellent reviews the Green Carnation albums get from media and fans. It surprises me because the fans are so open minded to give our music a chance even though we make it hard for them, by changing style from each album. Someone used the term "Quality music for Quality people". Could I use that phrase in this case? I think so.

antiMusic: Tell us about your new EP, "The Burden is Mine…Alone" --- when and where it was recorded. And will this material be on your acoustic album due out next year? 

Tchort: The EP was supposed to be a single from the new album, but we decided to do something more out of it (we are known to release quite long albums already) so the EP contains 2 songs from the upcoming album and 2 songs that are exclusive for the EP release. I think the 4 songs make up a very good release from us and it's our first non-full length release. The songs were recorded in Brown Sound Studio, the studio of Stein Roger Sordal (bass and vocals in carnation).

antiMusic: Please fill us in on the four songs and how those four came to be on the record. First, The Burden Is Mine…Alone 

Tchort: This was the last song that done and it came out as such a strong song and I wanted to use it as a single from the new album. It's actually a live recording done some years ago but it sounds great!

antiMusic: Sweet Leaf (what's this really about, Tchort? ;) ) 

Tchort: That's a song I wrote last summer, sitting outside in front of my house playing an acoustic guitar for the first time since I was in the 9th grade (besides some studio recordings). It was a high string guitar and tuned differently so I was sitting there playing with it and wrote the song during this session. What it's about? You tell me ;)

antiMusic: Transparent Me. (Tommy's writing now? Wow. Who knew? 

Tchort: Yeah, he proved to be a multi artist too hehe. He did drums, percussion, wrote 2 lyrics and wrote one song for the acoustic album(s).

antiMusic: Six Ribbons 

Tchort: That's the theme song from a quite popular TV series that was aired in Norway when we were younger. We came across a CD with the song when we were recording The Quiet Offspring and everyone knew the song right away when it was played, and we decided to record it as a cover song if we ever were to record an acoustic album.

antiMusic: What else can you tell us about "The Acoustic Verses", as in who wrote what songs, etc., and are they all in the same vein as the EP songs? 

Tchort: There are 7 songs on "The Acoustic Verses" (one of them being a 15 minute long song, with three different parts, so basically there are 9 songs on the album) and everyone contributed on the writing. Stein is doing some lead vocals and Stein and Kjetil are doing some duets that sounds really cool (Sweet leaf). Michael wrote a song as well, and so did Kjetil. The album turned out really good and I am very happy that it sounds great put together on one album. That was also one of the reasons why we decided to put some of the songs onto the EP, because they made the album sound too diverse and split up. Now it fills out completely and sounds great.

antiMusic: With Tommy now writing songs, it seems every member of the band has a hand in the material. Is this more difficult or easier to prepare a record and keep everybody happy? 

Tchort: I would say it's more difficult, because we don't write the material together. It's hard to make everything fit together when you sit in the studio and everyone comes up with their different songs. But in the end, using the EP as well, we came up with a great result and I am happy that we once again managed to make a great album, using all the band members' creativity.

antiMusic: You recently made your North American debut at "The Day of the Equinox". What can you relate about your experience in Toronto? 

Tchort: It was great! We had such a blast and it was fun to play the whole LODDOD again. It's been some years since the last time we did that, and we were only 3 left from the line up that recorded that album, so I was anxious to hear what it would sound like live. The people behind the festival were great and really professional. We had a good time in Toronto, and we met a lot of really cool people. The North American audience were really nice to us and the people were much more friendly and open minded than what we might have expected before going there.

antiMusic: Are there plans for further touring by the band in North America in the foreseeable future? 

Tchort: Yes, we are working on a tour in North America around March 2006!

antiMusic: Green Carnation has grown from a death metal affair into prog-metal and is now embracing more pure rock material. Has this band followed your vision from the beginning or has it taken on a life of its own? 

Tchort: I would say that it has taken on a life of its own, but its time to show who is the big daddy and bring the sound of this band home to its original ideas, and I think you will hear that from the next album after this acoustic release. That release kind of zeros out everything we have done in the past, and its back to basic and see what we can about it.

antiMusic: You recently started Sublife Productions. What was the original idea behind the label and booking agency? 

Tchort: To finally make some money! Haha no, it's to have something to do after the band activities. I can't see myself have 100-180 travelling days each year for the next 10 years, like I have had in the past 5, and I also want to push some of the local bands. There are many great bands from here and I want to use my contact network to expose some of them to the world outside.

antiMusic: Do you have employees or have you taken this on along with the other 12 million things you do? 

Tchort: It's basically Kjetil and myself, handling this together with the 24 million other things we do.

antiMusic: How on earth do you manage to sort out all your activities with all your projects? Do you have a set amount of time with each band per year? 

Tchort: I used to try to do it like that, but I found out that I just had to cut down on hours of sleep each night, and work for 18 hours a day.

antiMusic: Have you ever had any major conflicts schedule-wise that was as a result of impatient band members? 

Tchort: Not really, but I often have to re-schedule tours and gigs due to over booking or bigger tours crash with club gigs, festivals, etc.

antiMusic: Have you set a time-frame to complete the long-talked about "LODDOD" sequel? 

Tchort: Long-talked about? Hehe I mentioned it the first time AFTER I had written most of the material, which was just some months ago :
I hope to begin working on the demo in December when I return from the Blood Red Throne tour in November.

antiMusic: What's the game plan for end of 2005-2006 for GC so far? 

Tchort: We are doing a mini tour in Finland in the end of November. We are also promoting the new album in December and working on booking more shows in 2006. We have scheduled a European tour in the end of January/February and then a USA tour in March. After that I am going on a two month long tour with Carpathian Forest.

antiMusic: Anything else we should know about GC?

Tchort: Check out our website for news and updates and also upcoming competitions where you can find out about the new releases, a date with Tommy and a divine night session with Michael. Woho.

 http://www.greencarnation.no
http://www.sublifeproductions.com

Thanks for the interview!

* * * * * * * 

KJETIL

antiMusic: You've had a busy year with two releases from Green Carnation (and another imminent), and one each from Trail of Tears and Chain Collector (or soon to be). What was your favorite part of 2005?

Kjetil: Yeah, this has certainly been a very hectic year for me personally. On top of all this, me and Tchort have established Sublife Productions, our own record label, which has taken a lot of effort as well. But you won't hear me complain at all. This is all down to a great desire I have towards music and the stuff around it. 

You ask about my favourite part of the year. I haven't had time to think too much about that, but obviously the trip to Canada was very special. The response Green Carnation received both before and after the show, will never be forgotten. And I think our gig in Toronto will live forever, both within the band and for some of you guys who attended the show.

antiMusic: How are you able to divide your time between all your projects? How do you decide who gets what from you at which time?

Kjetil: We have been trying to plan the activity with the different bands quite a long time in advance. That helps a lot. But, of course, with three different bands to think about, that isn't always that easy. Luckily I haven't had to do too many compromises when it comes to priorities just yet, and I hope I won't be forced to take too many decisions of that kind. Hopefully I will be able to work in periods with one and one band also in the future.

antiMusic: Green Carnation tours very infrequently. What can you tell us about your show in Toronto, which was your first show on North American soil?

Kjetil: Yeah, I've already touched into that. We knew about the show in Toronto for a long time, and it was certainly something all the guys really were really looking forward to doing. Both the local promoters, Andreas from The End Records did a lot for building up expectations for the show, so we did feel a fair bit of pressure on beforehand. We knew that, because of all the attention around it in both the U.S. and Canada, this was going to be one of the most important shows in the band's history. But we were up for the challenge, and looking on it today, we did succeed. We had a fabulous time in Toronto, and we'd love to come back.

You comment that we haven't toured too much previously, and that's something I agree on. We want to do something with that in 2006. We actually postponed our plans for recording yet another record, because we will basically have three different products to promote in 2006 (The Quiet Offspring, The Burden is Mine...Alone EP and The Acoustic Verses). We have always had so much great response on our live shows, and gigs are the most effective way of promoting your band, so it would be stupid of us to record yet another album instead of promoting what we already have. So we're extremely optimistic for next year, and I hope we can at least double Green Carnation's number of shows to date in 2006.

antiMusic: What can you tell us about your new EP, "The Burden Is Mine…Alone"?

Kjetil: It's kind of a teaser for our forthcoming full-length album "The Acoustic Verses", which will be released in January, consisting of four songs, two which will be found on the full-length, and two exclusive ones. Basically it's released through Profound Lore in Canada, and the thought was partly to make it available for the first time on The Day of the Equinox, and partly to generate some interest for "The Acoustic Verses". We've already had some great feedback on it, and that makes us even more optimistic for the full-length album. So it's certainly exiting times.

antiMusic: Where will this be available for purchase?

Kjetil: Profound Lore is releasing it in North America, but I don't have too many details about their distribution and stuff. For Europe, Sublife Productions is taking care of it. We want to make it an exclusive thing over here, so we won't push it too much, but rather have it as a part of our merch when playing live, so that people that come to our gigs have the chance to go away from our gigs with something extra. Also we haven't had the time to promote it properly over here, but I'm glad Chris and Profound Lore seem to be doing a great job with it in North America.

antiMusic: Stein is singing one song. How did he come to be doing vocals?

Kjetil: Stein is a fantastic singer, but that has been a bit "toned down" in Green Carnation up until now. "The Burden is Mine...Alone" is a very special song for Stein, and it was natural for us to ask him to sing on it. And it works out great, I think. He's also doing some additional vocals on the full-length, and the acoustic album was an ideal opportunity for us to expand and vary the vocal-parts of the band. 

antiMusic: Are the songs on the EP indicative of what will be on "The Acoustic Verses"? What are some of the highlights from this upcoming record?

Kjetil: Yeah, I would say it's a good indication of the full-length, but obviously there's a bit more variation on "The Acoustic Verses". I think that's actually one of the highlights on the record; the variation within quite strict frames. Also, typically Green Carnation, we've worked a lot on the right melodies. I think there are a lot of quality songs with quality melodies on there, and I am quite optimistic that the people into the band will love this album, even though the songs are wrapped in a different way.

antiMusic: Now with Tommy writing for the group, do you ever find it restricting in terms of putting forward your songs when the whole band contributes?

Kjetil: I see the point, but I don't think it's been a problem for us to date. At least it's nothing we have discussed too much. Of course, when releasing albums quite frequently the last couple of years, your creativity is in danger of being put under too much pressure, and that way I am really happy that all our "newest" members, Kenneth, Michael and Tommy is contributing when it comes to song-writing. The quality of their songs speak for itself, really, and this is also helping the band to stay fresh, with constantly new challenges from within the band itself.

antiMusic: You have such a terrific voice. How do you maintain it? Any special tricks at home or on the road like tea and honey or special sprays (or just lots of Jager :)?

Kjetil: Hehe.. to be honest I don't take too much care of my voice. I think there must be something strong in there, because no matter what I throw at it, it doesn't seem to be hurt too much. Knock wood! On a serious note, I did use to take song-lessons, quite a long time ago, and I also think that my years of classical singing did a lot to my techniques, stuff that I don't think about too much anymore, but stuff that I guess helps me to do a lot of singing without really tiring.

antiMusic: As you know, I just got familiar with GC through "The Quiet Offspring" but after the concert gained a whole new appreciation for the older material. Is there a record or set of songs that you enjoy more than others?

Kjetil: The latest album often seems to be the most enjoyable, and I guess it's the same with me right now; I do really enjoy "The Acoustic Verses". Still, there are a lot of earlier stuff that I'm very much proud of. "LODDOD" is, and will always be something special, there are quite a lot of - I think - extremely good songs on both "A Blessing in Disguise" and "The Quiet Offspring". So you could say I'm really happy with all the GC albums I've contributed on so far, but right now I enjoy "The Acoustic Verses" the most.

antiMusic: Tell us about Sublife Productions. Why did you and Tchort set this up? And how are you ever going to find the time to work on it? Have you given up sleep?

Kjetil: You know - as the activity with my bands are quite on and off, there will always be a lot of time in between everything, and since I have decided to go for the music, I haven't had a day job for some time. It's the same with Tchort. We started playing with the idea a while ago, and we thought the timing for the record company would be the ideal timing for the band. We've been in the business for years and years now, and for a band like Green Carnation it means a lot to do the heavy decisions ourselves. We talked to the other guys, and we thought we'd give it a shot. 

Green Carnation is a good band to make your debut for, as a record company, but we have already signed contracts with other bands (which we're not in ourselves). Because there is a lot of unsigned quality still in Norway. We want to help some of the bands that deserve a bigger audience, use our experience for advice, and maybe they'll get the attention they deserve in the end.

antiMusic: What are your hopes and dreams for the label?

Kjetil: It's still very early days, but we have met a lot of credibility from all over the world when working with Sublife Productions and Green Carnation up until now. There are so many different ways you can see this business, I have been thinking it would be cool to live from Sublife Productions some time in the future, but my biggest motivation right now is to use my musicianship and my contacts for Green Carnation and our own bands' best. Me and Tchort have decided to make us very short time aims, and we've succeeded up until now. We will do a lot more organizational work within the next couple of months, and maybe the ultimate aims will pop up then.

antiMusic: Do you hope to one day just concentrate on the business side of things and just be a record exec?

Kjetil: That's not something I'm thinking too much about. But - of course - I don't see it realistic to be a touring artist for the rest of my life, and I do want to use my experience in the business for something valuable also in the future, so that might be an option, but hopefully not just yet.. hehe. 

antiMusic: What is the game plan for GC for rest of 2005 into 2006?

Kjetil: We have some gigs in Finland in the end of November. We are also these days considering some offers from Switzerland and Italy in December. But I'm not sure of that one yet. In January we hope to do some cool release-parties for "The Acoustic Verses" before we head out for a full European tour in January/February. We are quite optimistic about returning to USA for a full tour during spring. Summer festivals will be important for us next year, and maybe even follow up with another European tour in autumn. At least, this is what we're aiming for, but you'll never know in this game.

antiMusic: Anything else about GC I didn't ask that you would like people to know about?

Kjetil: Well - hard to say. I think we've touched onto a lot. This is - by the way - the very first interview I do ahead of "The Acoustic Verses", so you have some exclusive stuff here, Morley!!

Otherwise, to your readers - check out our albums, and come to say hi if we come to play near you some time next year!!

Cheers, Kjetil Nordhus

* * * * * 

antiMusic and Morley Seaver thank the incredible Tchort and Kjetil for taking the time to do this interview. If you're a Quality Person looking for Quality Music, pick up any Green Carnation record!

Preview and Purchase Green Carnation's CDs Online

Official Green Carnation website

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