My neck is stiff and hurting like it never has before, my knees and arms are completely bruised, my ears are still ringing with echoes of lyrics running through my mind. Last night I went to see a band originally from Stavanger, Norway at the O2 ABC2 venue in Glasgow.
Kvelertak was founded in 2007, and since their breakthrough in 2009 where their songs at one point were played at Norway’s equivalent to the BBC, their success is steadily rising. On tour now, they have played several places in Norway and Europe, as the headliner. The band’s name means ‘chokehold’ or ‘stranglehold’, and most of their songs are in Norwegian. They are not entirely metal, not entirely rock’n’roll, not entirely punk rock, but they seem to have drawn and blended the riffs, attitudes and musical sense from several genres the band members are attracted too. Although they all are somewhat covered in tattoos, have either a beard, long hair, (or both), as Jenny Kristine Haga Nielsen, Anthine Moen and I interviewed two of them yesterday afternoon, we got the impression the roaring music is not reflecting their personalities at all. Marvin Nygaard (bassist) and Erlend Hjelvik (vocalist) are friendly and welcoming, and very down to earth. We were welcomed into the backstage area, and we started a casual conversation in Norwegian, and blended our questions into it. As we explained before we started questioning them, we did not intend to ask the same old boring journalistic questions like everyone else does and tried to mix it up a bit. We are students from student radio, and during our shows our main goal is to have fun.
It felt natural to speak Norwegian and I did not put the recorder on, it may seem silly now in the aftermath of writing this interview, but it felt like a conversation you would have with friends, and I did not want to ruin the casual feeling of it all. Therefore, this interview is from what we remember, and the notes Anthine wrote down, translated into English.
We started off hesitantly with the first question, which undoubtedly is the most unserious one.
Air3 Radio: What’s your favorite color?
Erlend: Black! If that counts as a color, that is... Yes, black.
Marvin: I don’t know. [Erlend points out that Marvin has a yellow T-shirt somewhere.]
Marvin: Yellow, I suppose then.
Air3 Radio: During our show we talk a lot about food. What’s your favorite food?
Erlend: Home made pizza!
Marvin: I’ve eaten a lot of Thai food recently, but sushi is the best.
Air3 Radio: We love sushi too! We always have to go to Glasgow or Edinburgh to get hold of proper sushi...
Marvin: Where, where in Glasgow?!
[He looks desperate for a moment.]
Air3 Radio: Do you wear earplugs during your own shows to not go completely deaf?
Marvin: Yes and no... I do but...
Erlend: ... I’m...we are waiting for a couple of specialized earplugs. My ears are ringing a bit.
Air3 Radio: What’s your favorite festival to play?
[They say a range of big festivals in Norway, like the Øyafestival.]
M&E: Let’s say Slottsfjell, so that Kjetil will be happy.
Jenny and I say we saw them at Øya, and I saw them at Slottsfjell in 2010.
Air3 Radio: We were discussing guilty pleasures during our last radio show, do you have any?
[Both struggle to come up with something, I mention Justin Bieber but Marvin is cringing. Erlend mentions the playlists Marvin has for their parties, with a sly smile. Marvin retorts that that “den musikken er jo kjekk då” (that music is nice though). They finally come up with something.]
Marvin: I’d say Tears For Fears... that kind of 80’s rock.
Erlend: I don’t know, really, Dire Straits.
Air3 Radio: So, you’ve been touring for a while now, played shows in Norway and Europe. What was the best moment of the tour so far?
M&E: Phil, the bassist of Toxic Holocaust, keeps lighting his farts. The first time was really funny. Definitely the best moment.
Air3 Radio: What’s your favorite fictional character?
Erlend: Conan, he’s a proper man.
[Marvin hesitates.]
Erlend: You were about to say Donald Duck, right?
Marvin: Well, yes. No. Goofy is cute!
Air3 Radio: What’s your favorite animal?
Marvin: Chimpanzee!
Erlend: A dog. They’re easy to get hold of.
Air3 Radio: The most brutal moshpit you’ve ever been in yourself, as a part of the crowd?
Marvin: Purified in Blood, many years ago.
Erlend: Gallows was really cool, not that brutal of a moshpit, but still a really sweet show.
[Whenever we have been to their shows in Norway, the crowd is merely a mixture of people from all kinds of musical styles and age groups. So the question leads to their fan base:]
Air3 Radio: Weirdest fan you know of?
Erlend: This one guy made us mead once. [One of Kvelertak’s songs is called “Mjød” which means mead]
Marvin: One guy gave us a “fenalår” once.
Erlend: Same guy who keeps tweeting us, sending us thank you letters, giving us whiskey...
Air3 Radio: What’s your least favorite thing of being on tour?
E&M: The tiredness, not being at home, missing our families. [Still, when we mention homesickness, Erlend denies it’s not so much homesickness, just the fact that they are not at home, at least after a while on tour.]
[Kvelertak is not only probably, but is in fact one of the biggest bands in Norway at the moment. They are played on the radio, songs are used for commercials, and they have a huge fan base.]
Air3 Radio: What’s the difference between the crowd here and in Norway?
Marvin: It differs from country to country, doesn’t it? Some crowds and nationalities are more like the Norwegian crowds.
Erlend: We tend to play for the underground-scene a lot more abroad than in Norway, though. Leather vests and Jean-jackets, those kind of people.
[More into the Norwegian aspect of the band, most of their lyrics are in Norwegian, although not always understandable when they do perform their songs.]
Air3 Radio: What’s it like to sing in Norwegian abroad?
Erlend: It works well, who’s able to understand it anyway?
Air3 Radio: Does the name Kvelertak create any difficulties abroad?
Erlend: There have been some misspellings... Other than that, not really!
Marvin: It’s cool; we are that band with the weird name.
[In fact, O2 ABC had spelt their name wrong on the big poster with all the upcoming gigs. “Kvelerta”.]
[I had asked people on Twitter if they had any questions for Kvelertak, and this was asked:]
Air3 Radio: How did you come up with the name Kvelertak?
Erlend: I don’t really remember, we all kind of contributed I guess.
Marvin: I think it was Bjarte.
[They released their debut album in 2010. As fans, we are eager to know what is going on in the future.]
Air3 Radio: What are the plans for the next years?
Erlend: We are going to have some time off and relax at home in Norway, a proper Christmas vacation. We’re going to Australia in February to play a small tour there with a festival that travels around, and two gigs in Asia. Then we will hopefully record songs for our new album during the summer.
By the end of the interview, Marvin managed to get hold of sushi and left, and it was time for us to leave and wait for the actual gig. I certainly look forward to the next concert with Kvelertak, as this was one of the highlights of my semester.
