Interview

HADES

Vendredi 23 novembre 2012

Hi ! How are you ?

Jørn Tunsberg : I'm fine, how are you ?

I'm okay.

J.T. : That nice. Welcome to Bergen !

Immortal

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in the early nineties, so you've been in this scene for a long time.

J.T. : Yeah, I started playing guitar when I was around fourteen-fifteen. I started a band called Abyssal

Abyssal

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when I was fifteen. We used to rehearse in my room. Then I started to get to know some people. At the time there was very few people into metal at all which I knew about. And I met this guy from Arna in Bergen. Now he's known as Demonaz. By the way he was at Garage where we've just been. We started a band called Secrecy where I played the drums. He did the vocals and guitars. We had another guy playing bass guitar. We changed the name to Amputation. This was around 1987-1988. And then we met Olve (Abbath). He was then playing in a band called Old Funeral. We started to hang out together. The Old Funeral drummer, called Padden, started to play with me and Harald (Demonaz) in Amputation. We released two demos. Then we changed the name to Immortal

Immortal

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. Padden was out of the picture. It was me, Harald, our drummer from Bergen and Olve. We released a promo demo in 1989-1990 I think. Then I quit Immortal

Immortal

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and started the next day in Old Funeral. I played there for a year. Inbetween that, I was getting in touch with Remi, the drummer of Hades

Hades

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. We started to talk about playing a different kind of music, a different kind of black metal. Because at that time, a lot of people were playing like very blast beats. The faster, the better you know. We wanted to play slow, have more atmosphere into it. So we founded Hades

Hades

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in late 1991, beginning of 1992. So it's been a long ride with several artist relations.

So you've been in Hades

Hades

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for more than twenty years. How do you explain such longevity ?

J.T. : It's pretty strange. The years pass by. Me, Janto and Remi, we know each other very well. We fight a lot. We're kind of the same guys. We know each other almost too good. We know what the other guys expect. If I make a guitar riff, I know if they will like it or not before I play it for them. It's been a very bumpy ride, but also very creative. It's like the first rehearsals we had. When you are eighteen, you're very into everything. Twenty years later, you're not supposed to be that much into music anymore. But we are still into it, just like when we started rehearsing. We are like kids when we are rehearsing. We fight, we're like "Fuck off ! I hate you !" and drinking beer. It has always been the same.
We had one session guitarist for two gigs, a second guitar player from 1994 to 1998 and another guitar player from 1993 to 1994. Apart from that, we've been a three-piece all all the way. It's still working.

You released your last album in 2001. How come there hasn't been anything else since then ?

J.T. : There are a lot of reasons. We are finished with the pre-production for the new album. We recorded three songs. We've been in touch with different labels to release it. The plan now is to decide which label will release it. We ordered the studio time in April 2013. We will spend the spring and summer recording the new album and we will also make a music video. In the early fall, we will release a single and the music video. The album will be released in the late fall.
We will record most of the album here in Bergen and do the additional work and the mixing part in Marseille, in France.
We are ready.
The reason it took so many years is because of a lot of stress, a lot of personal stuff for all of us. Both Remi and Janto got children. I started playing in Dominanz

Dominanz

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three years ago. And Janto played in a rock'n'roll band called Bourbon Flame. It took a lot of time. Remi just wrote a book about reptiles and amphibious. Years passed by, we never had time and we weren't ready. We would never release anything before we are ready for it. We're not the kind of band that releases an album every year and goes on tour afterwards. We just need to be efficient again. We want to do it when it's ready, that's it.

In April you'll be recording the album but you also have a gig planned in Germany. Are there any more gigs planned in Europe ?

J.T. : Not yet. We are still negociating some gigs in Eastern Europe and some festivals. But I imagine we will play maybe four or five gigs tops next year before recording the album.

And are you planning a tour afterwards ?

J.T. : Yeah. We will start a tour around November-December next year.

Can you tell us a bit more about Dominanz

Dominanz

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, your other project ?

J.T. : Yes. It started out for me personally three years ago as a session guitarist. A friend of mine was nagging me all the time if I wanted to join him on the guitar and I told him I didn't want to do anything other than Hades

Hades

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. After a trip to Poland, he convinced me it was worth a try. I started out on a few gigs in Poland and in Bergen as a session guitar player. Then I got more and more involved. Things I couldn't use in Hades

Hades

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, I use them in Dominanz

Dominanz

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. We released the debut album last year. I didn't appear so much on it, only two or three guitar riffs, harmonies and stuff like that. Over the past year I got more and more involved. We are finished composing the second album. The songs are written. We are going to record in the spring before I go to the studio with Hades

Hades

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. So next year is a busy year, very busy. I think it will turn out great. It's nice to have a lot to do.

Is there anything you'd like to say ?

J.T. : I would like to say : Watch out for Hades

Hades

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! We will be in your town !
And thanks for the interview.