The Norwegian singer has a whole slew of new releases for his North American audiences, most notably a retrospective of sorts entitled The Gathering. In addition, there is a covers record along with a follow-up the highly successful collaboration with Symphony X vocalist Russell Allen. I spoke by phone with Jorn recently to talk about all the records and to get acquainted with this amazing singer.

antiMusic: I'm sort of new to you…I haven't had the opportunity of hearing Masterplan very much in the past. And my introduction to you was with Ken Hensley's record last fall. And I'm thinking right away, who the heck's this guy? He's got just an amazing voice. And then all of a sudden, I'm getting all your recent records. I'm sure you hear this 20 times a day, but you've got just one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard.

Jorn: Well, thank you Morley. I've been around for many years. But you know the America market was never really that big, with this kind of music. I mean, in general hard rock music has been difficult. I mean Canada's actually better than the us with hard rock music because you have some song classics, hard rock bands to show for it, from the old days. But in general it's been difficult, in the States and Canada. I think in South America has been OK. But the best countries for hard rock and metal have definitely been Europe and Asia, but you know I've been around for many years. So now I've done, I don't know how many records, it's been probably 20, 30, 25 30 so far. And you have to be interested in hard rock music and you have to follow up on and be a dedicated fan in a way. To know what's going on with new artists, because I mean we have Metal Hammer the big magazine, and we have Rock Hard, and all these magazines are huge in almost al the countries in Europe so mean, for people who buy these magazines and search the internet, it's easy to sell records to these people and for these people to know. But you know, if you never followed up on the hard rock or metal scene in Europe than you probably wouldn't hear about some of these artists. And I guess that's why you never heard what I'm doing because most of the time we've had a lot of good features in these magazines and the records, some records sold very well. It's just that Canadian and American markets didn't really take notice…I don't think even the records have been distributed over there. Maybe only import. But I think it has changed now, which is a positive thing. (chuckle) It's very good.

But, also, when I started my own thing, the Jorn concept, I never had the same kind of backing either for those records because they have been something I did on the side, when I was in Masterplan. And some of the bands in the past, so, it's just slowly, starting to come together, you know, because now I'm only focusing on that and after releasing a couple of records in a short period of time, I feel that things are getting more established now. And I think that's going to be something I'm going to continue doing in the future, and recording albums under the Jorn banner. It's more my style and it's back to the roots, classic hard rock. I was influenced by all these great bands of the 70s. Dio was a big influence. Paul Rogers of Free and Bad Company, David Coverdale was a big influence. Even American bands like Kansas. When I was a kid, I loved Kansas and I bought all their records. But I guess with the Jorn concept; I'm more back to basics. (laughs)

antiMusic: You've got several records out right now. Let's talk about The Gathering first. This is a collection of some of your older cuts. Were you just trying to get your material in front of North American audiences you may have missed out first time around?

Jorn: Yeah, well kind of. It's kind of like that. It's also sort of re-releasing it as a fresh thing because some of these early records, they are not really that well known. And I felt one of these songs were really good and they deserved a second chance. And instead of putting them, taking like one or two on each new record I did in the future, I felt maybe it's better to gather them together and release them with a new cover and maybe remix or re-record some of them, and make like a mixture of a compilation and anew record sort of. So it's kind of both things. I think too many people it's a new album, but to the older fans it's you know, like a best of compilation.

antiMusic: Any reason these particular songs were chosen? Do you feel they are your strongest or is there something tying them all together?

Jorn: I think I chose the songs that suited the style and the direction I was going for. I tried so many different musical landscapes that I felt I had to find some direction so that people could identify with me as an artist. Because most of the time people would ask: who is this guy, what's his true, genuine style? And this was because I did so many things. I experimented with my voice, singing everything from melodic oriented rock songs to more of black metal oriented stuff. Then I suddenly went into more classic hard rocking sections here and there. And I used my voice maybe more than usual. Suddenly you have that folk element and then you have the Freddie Mercury influence here and there and then suddenly comes a little drop of David Bowie, you know? I was really crazy with that and then suddenly Robert Plant drops by and flew off again. I guess coming out of the '90s was really difficult because in the '90s people never took an interest in technical singing or in classic hard rock so I think for me it was more about trying different ways to discover myself as a singer. The same thing with the bands and the musicians I worked with. I think we all tried to find a direction, you could say. It was a learning process, an experimental time, where we tried different things. And I think with The Gathering, I just wanted to use the classic elements of my roots and pick songs that I feel get to the point and that really show an identify, and show a singer that…I think people would want. I think the time was right to do that, because people like to know what to expect. And also as a singer, I'm a better singer when I sing like that; I don't have to push my voice in the same way. I can do it very natural. That's also one of the reasons.

antiMusic: My favorite cut on this record is "House of Cards. They lyrics paint a bleak picture of the world. What was your mindset while writing this song?

Jorn: Yeah, I think it's very easy; it's not really that deep. It's more about sitting in the hotel room, watching the TV and zapping with the remote, and that's how this song came about. Looking at the work, and tired sitting somewhere, lonely, in a different country, just looking at the people, and some kind of reflection on life and what I see. .it's not really that deep. It's basically, I'm just taking in what I see, and I'm trying to channel that into the music. I think the lyric is very simple. If find cool symbolic elements to use to make a good statement and to create a picture so that people can visualize it better then that's what I'm going to use.

antiMusic: My other favorite song is "My Own Way". What can you tell us about this song, either what it's about or something about recording it?

Jorn: Well, that's a more, I think the whole song is very much influenced by The Police and I think you can hear a lot of influence of Sting actually.

antiMusic: Is that right? I'll have to listen to it again.

Jorn: Yeah. The way of singing and the way of phrasing. It reminds me a little bit of that kind f expression, so if you hear it again, and if you think about it, you might find it, find the same thing. Yeah, I think when we did that song, I was actually thinking about…when I sang, I was thinking "wow, it reminds me of something" because I started doing it really natural. Then after a while I was thinking wow this is really great. But then I was thinking, this reminds me of something. What is it? And then after a while I discovered, wow, it's like some kind of old Police song or something, the way of phrasing and expressing it. But you know the lyrics and everything is in the whole concept of the song. It's what it says. "To find your own way home." It's where we all go in the end. (chuckle)

antiMusic: "Big" sounds like more of a departure from the rest of the material. A bit more American-oriented. Would you agree?

Jorn: Yeah. I think that song is kind of ironic; the lyrics and everything. But still it's kind of serious, reflecting my own situation at the time that I wrote it. I think it was just kind of an overview of my life and career at the time. Things started to happen and people would write great stuff in many parts of the world and I would be like "wow, I'm getting famous in other countries and all over the globe soon and it was kind of like ironic to write it. At the same time it was serious. It's a little bit of both, that song. So it I think it's a cool one. Also why it's a little bit American oriented, I think it's because when I did some of the arrangements for that song or the melody it reminded me of a band that I grew up with, an English band called City Boy. And when I did the lead vocals I started hearing some kind of crazy back up shouts on the chorus and I'm thinking wow maybe I should go for more of a City Boy oriented touch?

And I tried to do some, similar thing on the chorus, like a witch kind of (laughs) background vocal kind of thing. But it was kind of spontaneous. So I think City Boy was produced by Robert John or Mutt Lang

antiMusic: Oh is that right?

Jorn: Yes. Most of the City Boy albums…I mean, City Boy was actually Mutt Lang's debut, you know? I don't know what he did before but I think that all the City Boys albums in the '70s were probably Mutt Lang's.

antiMusic: Wow. I didn't know that.

Jorn: It was his kind of learning process. I think that's where he discovered a lot of stuff as a producer because he did all the City Boy album from I think '75 '74 or something and all the way to '81 or something. So then he started by the end of the '70s, beginning of the '80s he started to do bands that sold quite a lot. And some of his albums were massive success. But I think that was kind of his beginning as a producer and he did some great stuff with those albums. And I was really a big fan, and I always say that a band like City Boys has some incredible material. And I think they're comparable to queen. You can say they were a crossover between Sweet and Queen.

antiMusic: Yeah, that's true. I can see that.

Jorn: And I think they have the same quality, but probably, or definitely they didn't have the same following, at least not business-wise. So, I don't know what happened, you know, maybe it was the focus of the band, maybe not, or the business or whatever. I think when other bands decided to adapt to the development of the '80s, then some other bands just continued in the same way and they kind of disappeared. And the ones that couldn't manage through the '80s and part of the '90s, they just disappeared.

antiMusic: Sure, it's just natural selection, only the strong survived.

Jorn: Yeah, I mean a few bands managed…like Rush, still make good records. Last year they came out with this record called Snakes and Arrows, which is really good. There's this song called "Far Cry", which is the opening track for that, which reminds me of the old days. It's like: wow, these guys are still making dedicated music, which I'm really impressed with. Some bands managed to continue with a certain ideology throughout the '80s and '90s, while other bands were in it for the money or for the more commercial aspect. I think that's what happened to Queen. They became...they sold themselves. They made a foundation with what they did in the '70s because that's what they get the biggest credibility for. But then they started doing stuff like "Radio Gaga"...

antiMusic: Yeah, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"...

Jorn: Yeah, yeah. And "I Want To Break Free"…so of course it's not exactly Rock and Roll, and it's really…it depends on how you see it. If you love Elvis Presley and you think he's the greatest ever, then you can say that singing songs like "I Want To Break Free" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a brilliant thing to do and it shows the aspect of being a true artist. But then again if you look at it from another perspective, then if you are true devoted or dedicated hard rock core fan, then of course, you don't really like what happened with some of those bands in the 80s because then you would say, well what happened? But then again, bands like Queen were lucky to cross over to both worlds; they still maintained all the fans that enjoyed the '70s, more experimental records. And then they managed to cross over to new markets. People that would never play songs like "Bicycle Race" or stuff like that and all these crazy songs that they wrote. But I think that's the whole trick with the music industry. It's either you make it or you fall hard. I think that's what happened to many bands. But anyway, enough said about that. (chuckles). I get carried away sometimes. I'm known for that.

antiMusic: No that's fine. It's interesting to hear your perspective on different stuff. Speaking of other bands, you also have a record of cover songs, some that you have previously recorded. Why did you decide to put them out as a complete record?

Jorn: Actually, it was the record company that wanted to (laughs) do that. Some of the songs were leftovers or bonus tracks from the past...a few of them. Then I recorded some new tracks as well so basically I just wanted to use some songs as a special edition or something like that. I was also thinking of incorporating some of the songs of The Gathering but then the record company decided, or suggested that they would rather separate the covers from the original Jorn material and they asked me if would be willing to record a couple more tracks. That's basically what happened, so it was a compromise, with the label. So definitely from their side I can see their perspective. I mean, to them it was a chance of having two products (laughs) instead of one.

antiMusic: Most of the songs make sense in terms of selection. One of the choices really surprised me and that was "Naked City" by KISS. Are you a KISS fan? Why this particular song?

Jorn: Yeah, I like the song I guess. It was spontaneous. Of course when I was a kid I liked KISS. I think their record called Unmasked was probably one of their least selling albums but here in Scandinavia that album was really popular. In fact, I think that album was one of the most popular albums that KISS did, at the time, at least here in my country. Because I remember when I grew up, everybody bought that record, and it was kind of cool because it was kind of the cartoon…ah, sorry, the comic thing, on the front. It was in the middle of the bubblegum time you know.

antiMusic: Yeah, I mean "Shandi" was the single off of that, wasn't it?

Jorn: Yeah, yeah. It was the beginning of the '80s and we liked the record. I think that record in general had some fantastic songs on it. Really one of the best songwriting they ever did I think. I think "Naked City" was slightly different from the other songs. It had some jazz, west coast, I don't know, some kind of reggae (laughs). It had a mixture of all those things and it was definitely not a typical KISS songs. I think I just liked the song and wanted to check it out.

antiMusic: Well it came off really well. It really stands out. I'm a big KISS fan so I liked it…

Jorn: Well I never thought of it. When it was finished I was just thinking, well, it's not bad. But to me, it's like, sometimes I'm really happy with it when I do a cover song. Other times, I feel like, well it's okay. You know when you do covers, it's like some movies. Some originals are no bloody good, you know? (laughs) You just wish you could do a better version or as good, but sometimes it's almost impossible because people did something that was just breathtaking and you can not make it in the same way. And I can hear that when I do stuff. But then again, other times, I discover, suddenly, there's a song that just totally opposite. It's almost better that the original, or at least as good, in a different way. Sometimes I added something. I remember there was this one song called "Are You Ready" which I'm really happy with. I felt originally this song was more rocky, and the expression was more rough. But then we took this song and made it more metal and it's on the record called The Duke, two years ago. Again, the opposite thing happened. People say it's as good as the original, or they even prefer to hear rather than the original. Sometimes you can nail it.

antiMusic: Absolutely. I would definitely say that about "Cold Sweat". I'd forgotten about that song until I'd heard on here. It was like, wow, that sounds 20 times better…sorry to Phil…

Jorn: Yeah, yeah. Well, of course, I mean. It's no discussion. The original will always be the original, without discussion. But if you're open minded and if you can actually hear the different development of what's been done to the song, then, then that's okay. That song came out good. I also feel that the version that's on there of the Michael Schenker song, the opening track "On and On" I think that's also something that came out very strong.

antiMusic: Absolutely.

Jorn: And the cool thing is that instead of sounding like the original, it's sounding now like a Jorn song. So when people listen to the song and they tell me, play that Jorn song, that song called "On and On", I love that song, it's really one of the best songs you ever wrote. And I say, "I didn't write that song." What? It's on…?? No it's not. It's a Michael Schenker song. So sometimes you can get lucky.

antiMusic: "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" is another interesting selection. City Boy never caught on here. At least not in a big way. You mentioned being a big fan. I guess that explains this song's inclusion?

Jorn: That was a no brainer... Definitely. Well actually, I was thinking about making a record to honor that band and to really just pick out the best 10-12 City Boy songs that I enjoyed growing up, that was the first idea. And it never happened and then I just okay, let's finish at least one song and then use that song. That's also one of their best records, The Day The Earth Caught Fire…" it's the title track of one of the best albums they ever did. Also a great production by Mr. Mutt Lang again. So I would still love to do that. I'm always full of ideas and thoughts about things I'd like to do. There's always some cover songs I'd like to do. even some bands I would like to pick 10 songs from and, not trying to adapt them to myself, or to steal their work, but to honor them by doing it. But then again, so many people do these tribute albums and most of the time it's either Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden or all these well known standard kind of bands.

antiMusic: Yeah, the obvious ones…

Jorn: Yeah, the obvious ones. The problem is to get the record company interested. It's very difficult when you say, hey I'd like to do a Jorn record which is a tribute to City Boy (laughs) and then it's like "wow." It's difficult to get them interested in doing that. I had the same thought about, you remember 10cc.

antiMusic: Yeah, yeah, sure.

Jorn: They have all the same elements, only a lot poppier. But they also have some great tunes. And I was thinking wow to do that with a little bit different arrangements would be really cool as a tribute to them, and to those great songs. I mean the same thing when I mention Kansas. I also have that in my mind; that wow it would be cool to pick out 15 Kansas songs. Because you can't pick 10 because they did so many great songs that if you only pick 10 people are going...... they would get pissed off because you still need to, you didn't record the best ones because they did so many records that band and all the records are strong.

antiMusic: Now you've also got another record just put out in North America. It's the collaboration with Russell Allen. First off, how did the previous record The Battle come about and how did you get paired with Russell?

Jorn: It was an idea that the record company came up with actually. At first they asked me if I would be interested in doing a collaboration with another singer. And they suggested Bob Catley of…

antiMusic: Oh, of Magnum

Jorn: Yeah. And I knew Bob as a friend because we sometimes hang out and drink some beers when we meet at festivals around Europe. And we used to be on the same label before as well. And then what happened was Bob was not able to do it because he had this reunion thing going on with Magnum. And yeah, the record company asked me if I would be interested in doing it with Russell. And I had already met Russell in the states once before at the festivals. And then I said, yeah, why not. So it was basically like this. It was the idea of the record company to make it happen. I mean Russell is a great singer, so it was easy for me to say yes and also it was interesting to try something new, working with people who take responsibility. And it's cool to see what happens when I'm not writing, and producing, and mixing everything myself, or being a part of that process. So also I thought it would be cool to just be a singer and come into the studio and try to adapt my voice to the material. And make some money from it. (laughs)

antiMusic: Sure. The bottom line. It doesn't hurt. The first time must have been favorable...you did it again.

Jorn: Still, I would never do it if I didn't think it was something that would have a certain quality. If I didn't feel that I could contribute something, if it was only to do a job, it had to be good. And it had to be a strong record or else I wouldn't do it. And also I think because the first one came out good and different from everything I'm doing, then I thought, why not do the next thing. And when you don't have to do everything yourself, the process of creating it wasn't really difficult. It was in between everything else I was doing, it was easy to work on the album in between and just enter the studio and do it. It's modern times, just sending the files. Yeah, so it was good to receive the album and then it's finished, and then wow it's sounding great without having to do anything. That's also a challenge, personally, because I'm usually kind of picky with the sound and the production, so I was kind of nervous to get it. Then again, nothing to be nervous about, the outcome was cool…

antiMusic: Absolutely it's an excellent album. "Master of Sorrow" is just excellent. You got a fantastic vocal on that one.

Jorn: Well, thank you. Actually that's one of my favorite songs actually on both records. Yeah, it's a really good song I think. It's a strong one. Yeah, definitely.

antiMusic: How do you go about dividing up the vocal duties for each song? Do you just hear it and know who would be better for each or does Magnus have a preference for a certain guy when he is writing.

Jorn: First I received some demos at the very, very early stage. And I just heard some melody lines that he had ideas for, that he sang himself, and then he also sent me the same stuff without anything on it. And then I was looking at it back home, checking out alternative solutions that would be better for me to do melody wise. Lyrically I was changing stuff around, adding and removing. Doing things the way I felt, just to make sure it's something I can stand for, which is also very important. When people hear that it's still very dedicated and solid and powerful, and not just something that two singers did just to get paid.

antiMusic: You also have a live record that was released last fall in Europe. I assume it will be over here in the not too distant future. Is it from one show and what can you tell us about that show that made you want to put it on tape?

Jorn: Yeah, actually this was in Atlanta, Georgia

antiMusic: Oh, ProgPower?

Jorn: Yes, the whole show is actually from that festival. I had headlined the gig in 2006. And you know it was just accidental really because all the bands at the festival were offered to have their show recorded since the promoter of the festival would normally have a professional team anyway to both film and record it. And I was thinking, "wow, lets record the show and if it's a potential record or DVD then we'll use it for something." And I think it came out quite good. And we actually played another 45 minutes, almost an hour, longer than what's on the live CD. Because what we did, we removed some of the stuff from the whole thing because we played a lot of songs, then we had this guest thing going on with guests coming on stage at the end of the show, different guitarist and singers.

Just to make sure the whole concert on cd didn't get to be too long, we just had to cut it down a little bit. So we removed some tracks from the whole thing but in general we tried to keep the whole concert as honest and true as possible. And then again, it's a limit to how much music you can put on a cd. It was either way: either we had to cut a lot of other stuff to fit the playing time on the cd, or we would have to have 3 cds. So it was either way: remove some of the weakest songs, or some of the songs that didn't really fit in with the Jorn concept the same way because I played some stuff from my past and some of the songs we removed. I also did a song from the Russell album. We did different stuff that never really belonged to the Jorn concept or that concert. Normally we don't do that kind of song. It was just like a request from the states and a request from the promoter. In the end when I listened to the whole concert, it was kind of like, well what's that song number 9 doing there? It's really doesn't fit.

That kind of melodic American kind of style in the middle of that classic hard rocking European thing going. So I was thinking just to make everything come more to the point, the best thing was to take out some of the songs. We have a double cd., and I'd rather not remove drum solos or guitar solos from the concept because I think most people like drum solos and stuff like that. And that's also one of the things, one of the elements that I work with. I still feel that the world needs a guitar hero.

antiMusic: Me too. Whenever I go to shows and you don't get any of that, I just think back to some of the shows I've seen through the '80 and '70s and you miss that kind of stuff.

Jorn: The world is fast, everything moves faster so I don't think necessarily that's good or worse…It's a limit of how much you should cut down on, to come down to the point. Ok, I can understand experimental bands of the '70s playing 10 minute long songs. Maybe sometimes it's a little bit too much except for the especially interested. But I can understand why bands today would like to remove more of those instruments points? And come to the point. But of course there's always a limit to how much you remove before you lose something vital. I think we're left with the classic hard rocking double album, true to the hard rock style.

antiMusic: Excellent. Can we look forward to DVD release….

Jorn: Yeah, well, it's there on the hard disk and I've looked thorough the material already and it looks cool. The footage is good and the band looks half young. (laughs) and it's definitely a great testament, or some kind of biography in a way to have. I would like to release it it's just that we did some covers there as well. You have, there's a Whitesnake medley at the end of the show. And we did a Purple song. And we did a couple of other songs as well. What has been the delay with the DVD so far has been the rights to use those songs. because you see rights to release it as a double cd wasn't really a big problem. But you have something called synchronization rights between sound and picture, which is totally different story. So, the second you…the same show is filmed and the second you want to have it, to put it out on DVD then you get in trouble unless you get the right approval. And what happened there was, I had a little trouble getting those rights for some of those songs, and to make a choice: either delay the whole DVD or take out the covers, or some of the covers, and release it with less material. Or put in some more of the other songs that I had removed to make it a full length DVD. I just felt this was the wrong thing to do. Either we release it as is, same as the double cd, it should be the same concert. If anything should be done it should be added to it instead, not removed. And I think the whole thing for me as an artist, the important thing, especially if you look at America, and Canada and other parts of the world, it's definitely important to me to show the diversity and to show me doing these songs. I think for my career as well, it's important for me as well to have some of those covers there as well. So I decided just to delay everything, and postpone the whole DVD. So what's going to happen right now, I don't know. Maybe it's going to be released by the end of this year. If not, if I can't find a solution to it, then I'll probably wait, and write a new Jorn album because I already have one coming out in May or June.

antiMusic: I was just going to ask you about that. What can you tell us about that so far?

Jorn: Well, it's called Lonely Are the Brave, and it's a classic hard rock record same as before, in a way. Same recipe as I always do, trying to write music with my guitar player. I'm not working with computers really. It's an old recipe, you know, working out the guitar riffs and creating or vice versa, writing lyrics, melodies, creating guitar for the opposite way. And we never make demos or anything like that. When there's a feeling in the heart and the music, then I already know this is something good enough to put on the record. And then we just rehearse a little bit, or I introduce a sketch to the drummer and them we just fool around with beats. But most of the time it's nothing to experiment with really because it's all very simple to understand once you hear the guitar and vocal melody, then you already know what to play, or at least within the frame of what's going to be. So yeah, it's a classic hard rock album and I think it's one of those albums that you don't get to hear too often in 2008. So it's not experimental at all. It's just to the point song-writing really.

antiMusic: People who know you know what to expect then..

Jorn: Yeah, yeah. They know what to expect, I think. They have those classic elements of the past. Roots of everything from Black Sabbath to Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Rainbow, it's all those elements. I'm kind of strict about not using keyboards these days…

antiMusic: Any particular reason?

Jorn: No, it's just the style and direction that the band has taken. It's just. it doesn't fit with keyboards, so maybe just traditional spice here and there but in general it's a two guitarist concept, with second harmony guitars sometimes. And I think keyboards don't belong in rock music in the same sense that it does in other kinds of music. I just feel some of the best records, don't have much keyboards on it.

antiMusic: Right. Like Sabbath.

Jorn: Yeah. You don't need it. I mean very few keyboard players know how to be smart keyboard players, to arrange with the right sounds and just bits and pieces that would give the band the right color. Most keyboard players would go beyond using horrible trumpet sounds combined with heavy metal grooves, you know? (laughs) or beats and I hate it. It's the worst thing I know. I even worked with a couple of bands in the past where we had, I mean even in Masterplan, my former band, we had some, a lot of keyboards actually. But it was good songwriting and good arrangements and the keyboard player is a great talent and everything. It's just I could never really get used to the whole keyboard package being present in the heavy metal music…somehow…so I guess then again we always come back to these classic elements which I never seem to leave. It's something I like and something just powerful and rough happens when you stick to guitars and bass drums and vocals.

antiMusic: Thank you so much for all your time. Now that I'm acquainted with you, I'm really looking forward to the new record.

Jorn: All right man, Thank you.

antiMusic: Thanks a lot for your time, Jorn.

Jorn: No problem, man. Okay. Cheers, bye bye.