1. Greetings to Oslo! How is the snow doing in the Norway? When looking outside of my window I’m seriously thinking about getting a winter boots and clothing because the snow hit our country pretty hard and not everyone was expecting it. White snow is not just responsible for the change of tires but also for the change of mood, for it looks a bit strange in still autumn landscape. That leads me to a question, how do you personally feel during this season change and how much is this factor influencing your spirit and music you’re composing?

Hi

There’s no snow in Oslo just yet. It snowed a little bit a few days ago and the air is getting crisp and clear and cold. I love the winter. It always has a nice effect on me when autumn arrives with its exploding beautiful colors that are the death and slow rebirth of nature. The different seasons don’t really have any effect on my writing at all though. I find beauty and gloom and stupid people in any season...

2. ”Skandinavisk Misantropi” is going to be out very soon and it’s quite anticipated release I guess. I have an opportunity to hear your effort thanks to your label. How long have you been working on this material? It’s easy to notice that you’re willing to harness on the potential of the already released tracks such as Slow Pain Coming. Was it easy to include them into a current concept?

I have been working on this material, as well as other material, since 2005 and my writing always evolves and changes its metabolism like any living organism, because to me this is organic, and parts of the processes are sometimes out of my control. So everything on the current album has grown into this particular piece of music. The earlier versions were pretty much finished, and yet unfinished songs. But now they have their final form. Yet there is still potential for much variation and improvisation in a live environment.

3. Skitliv’s recordings always had to offer an interesting amount of guests. Together with David Tibet of Current93, Attila Csihar also appears on the new album. Your music has always been experimental and it also had a specific mood and technique. What can the listeners expect from such varied line-up and what can they look forward to? I dare to add a one sub-question – What do you personally think about this cooperation? Can we also look forward to more guests in the future?

I think that to not expect anything whatsoever is the best way to approach any kind of new material. Still, there is the gloom to anticipate, and the beauty in apocalyptic material. Personally the cooperation with all my guests has been an honor for me, as well as a great experience. I am always open to guest appearances and there might be more. I already know that I will work more with David in the future, and of course Kvarforth, is a permanent member of Skitliv.


4. Even though Skitliv is a fairly new group it already has a significant and unmistakable manuscript which is strongly present on “Skandinavisk Misantropi”. So I think that it might be good to ask you about the future planned material and if you’re going to change your recent sounding. So what can we expect from Skitliv in future? I know it is a bit early to ask but my curiosity demands it.

I am very happy with the way we sound now, but I can never be stuck in one particular way of working, or one particular way of presenting material. I am not the one who will only speak when spoken to. I follow my own convictions and what I feel is the best way to express whatever emotion or mood I try to convey. I have started working on new material,and of course it’s still very heavy, but I am trying to get even closer to a wall of sound. A wall of sound that as of this moment only exists in my own head.

5. Maybe you won’t agree but the album’s visuals were always important to me. A good-class booklet is an inseparable part of the whole art so I would like to dedicate a few words to it. New album’s cover art has a very strange and unsettling effect on me. An overall chaoticness and the red photo design acts a bit enigmatic and I’m still discovering new details and elements of it. So what does that decently clothed man with the akordeon in nicely arranged room represents? And if it is not a secret who is the author? Does this photography hold some story or some interesting facts?

I agree that artwork for album is generally VERY important. I have tried to make this cover fit the music and feelings as closely as possible. The front cover is my Nietzcshean way of commenting on how I feel organized Christianity views life in general. I found the picture some years ago and I know who this person is but that is all I will say. 6. It is wrong to affirm that your creations are unknown in this genre and culture. But You are as the man sometimes cloaked in mystery. A good listener might be able to discover some of your images and thoughts from the art you were somehow responsible for. Although it is a very clichéd question what do you find inspiring? Don’t you think that the inspiration might be sometimes a bit binding or too conclusive?

Life. From the Bowery bums to the high society fuck heads creating plastic people for a plastic universe. Capitalism. Religion. I think I have to quote Wittgenstein:
"Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muß man schweigen."

7. This double-question is focusing more on the non-musical spheres of art although it still relates to an “inspiration” thing we spoke earlier. Let me ask about your favourite literature and its authors you like to read and rest with. What is your general relationship with the Book itself and its artistic or testifying value? The second part of the question is about which musical interprets you like.

I could name very many authors here so let’s go for the ones that fascinate me most for the time being: Blaise Pascal, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Stanislaw Przybyszewski, T.S.Eliot, Count Stenbock, Edvard Munch (yes, he wrote a lot), Stieg Larsson, The Bible, Ted Hughes, Aleister Crowley, Jaegwon Kim and Roald Dahl. My relationship with a book differs according to what kind of book I am reading. From being sucked into a black hole of something I cannot touch, to just total relaxation and fulfilled enjoyment. I don’t even know where to begin with music. I like music if it’s true. Everything from the darkest noise, to the most beautiful pop song. My favorite album right now is "Foot Of The Mountain" by a-Ha. It’s pure pop-magic.


8. Back to the “Skandinavisk Misantropi”. I would like to ask if is the recording an outcome of a single or more impulses. To put it clearly: Is “Skandinavisk Misantropi” a straight reaction to some momentum of your life or it reacts on the recent happenings?

It’s a depiction of my life from 2004 and leading up to its completion, and of my world-view in that period.

9. An arrival of the new album is surely a time full of preparations and tuning. After this phase are you going to play some gigs or even a tour? If yes I wonder if you’re willing to play here. It would be a great experience to witness Skitliv on the Czech podium. What do you think about live performance in general?

I want to go on tour with Skitliv and it will happen next year. I would very much like to play in your country. I enjoy performing live particularly the improvisation that can be done, and the energy it gives and takes. I hate the shitty backstages though. I am planning some very special one-off gigs.

10. Thank you very much for interview and time you dedicated to my questions. I hope that wasn’t vain because for me it is surely a honour and reward. As it is a tradition of our redaction the last sentences are just Yours.

Odium Humani Generis