17. 2003 brought also one significant new in your life. You started to play as live guitarist of Satyricon. What part did it have on it your cooperation with Frost?

It meant everything of course. Frost heard my material at rehearsal and liked what he heard. I didn't know him from before so it would probably never happened with him onboard if I never had gotten the job in Satyricon.

18. You passed with Satyricon many concerts. Tell us, what do you see as the biggest disparity between fans, which come on „building stone“ of Norwegian black metal scene and on Keep of Kalessin?

It's hard to say. There are many fans that like both bands, but Satyricon has gotten more rock and mainstream fans now. At least here in Norway. But I also see that many doors has opened for Keep Of Kalessin after the release of Armada. And there's alot of people outside the metal scene that are true Keep Of Kalessin fans.

19. Nevertheless you stated on your MySpace profil, that your cooperation with Satyr – Frost is ending. Are your engagements to „home“ band so burdening, that you don´t follow live performances with Satyricon or it has other foundation?

Satyricon is taking too much time and I need to focus on Keep Of Kalessin now.

20. So, back to Keep of Kalessin. After „Reclaim“ you get just second time in the same situation – searching to new members. How did you stay to that – for the band surely – pivotal step?

I knew that I needed to find new members and I always had Vyl in the back of my head. He's a great drummer and he's also THE best musician I've ever worked with. He has such a great playing style and musical understanding that most drummers don't have. He's also an extremely talented songwriter. You'll hear that from all his upcoming albums being new Keep Of Kalessin album in 2008, Headspin (thrash metal) coming 2007 and Chton (death metal) coming 2007. He has written awesome songs for all these bands.

21. At the end you definitely spoke to Vyl, Thebon and Wizziac. Were they familiars, which cared for post in KoK or musicians, which you didn´t know until then?

I knew Vyl and Wizziac at that time and I also knew Thebon abit, but not as good as the other two. Vyl knew him better than me and suggested we should try him out. We recorded the entire album except the vocals before we tried anyone. We had to use some time to find our new vocal-style, but I'm glad we stuck in there and waited for Thebon to deliver. I think the vocals just lift the album into eternity!


22. Two years of cooperation brought desirable fruits as interpred by great album „Armada“. Are you with it still satisfied after one year, or you today see aspects, which you should yet work on, stay to it by other way?

There's always things that could be better, but as a total I'm still satisfied. It recieved great reviews all over the world. Some even calling it the album of the decade and the new Master of puppets. Some songs on the album turned out better than I had hoped and some didn't quite live up to my expectations. But I'm very happy with the total product.

23. „Armada“ is from my view strong above all in that stroke on gate, some directness and melodic links. What part took on it new members?

I had written all the material and Vyl and Wizziac helped out with some of the arrangements on the album, but I always had a very clear vision of what I wanted for this one. I think the whole unity that is Keep Of Kalessin makes it what it is today. Everyone contributes and makes it one of the best bands in Norway of today!

24. Thebon brought in music as third vocalist again different „ ingredients“. Tell us, which from trio Thebon, Attila, Ghash on microphone do you most like?

No doubt about it....Thebon! That is for Keep of Kalessin of course. I deeply respect Attila and his job in Mayhem. I also like what he did on Reclaim, but I think Thebon is the man that can bring Keep Of Kalessin into the future.

25. Do you feel actually line-up of Keep of Kalessin as the strongest in all its history?

Definately!

26. Common tour of Satyricon and Keep of Kalessin could enjoy also Czech Republic. We could see in sold out Abaton though big effort of band mild disillusion from KoK – mainly because of guming sound – and contrariwise perfect performance of Satyricon. Do you remember on this concert, or it was for you only one from many?

I remember it very well. It was actually one of the coolest ones on the tour. We also have video from all our shows on this tour and you can find alot of clips from this show in our new video for "Crown of the kings".
As far as sound issues goes, it's fucking hard to get a decent sound when you can't afford a sound engineer or even a stagetech to help you out. Changeovers are stressfull and it takes the focus away from where it should be....the performance. I am SOOO looking forward to the day when Keep Of Kalessin is able to shine in all it's splendour the way we want it to be. Good sound, lights, pyrotechnics, everything. THEN people will really get their money's worth! But it's a long road and we're still struggling as a support-band without the proper crew and equipment. But now that I've quit Satyricon we've started to use more time to solve our sound-issues and stuff like that. So from now on we can promise better shows than ever before!

27. All tour had 28 stages. Also, you played on that tour 48 concerts. In had to be unreal trying, hadn´t it?

Actually, the performances themselves was quite easy. The energy went into being my own tourmanager for Keep Of Kalessin, doing my own changeovers and taking care of all the shit that's going on on a tour. And also struggling with money that much. The tour ended up costing me about 15 000 dollars from my own pocket. I still haven't recovered from that! So you see....it takes alot of dedication, will, money and time to build a band. And in this day and age you won't get anything from your record label!


28. Which from that performances left in you the most positive and the most negative feelings and why?

I think Slovenia was kinda crap. Don't get me wrong, the crowd there is one of the best we've ever played for. It's just that without our own sound engineer the CD still kept going for two songs. So we were up on stage playing Wealth of darkness and crown of the kings while Wealth of Darkness and Armada was running from the CD player. I think you can hear this from some of the youtube clips. Shit like that happens almost every fucking night when you don't have a proper crew. Local crew normally don't give a shit about the bands. I remember good shows in Paris, Lyon and London. Especially the French shows were great! People know the band very well there.

29. So, you are going to came in our country again in terms of The Excess of Evil tour. Two performances two year successive are for Czech Republic big privilege. What do you know about our land? From any viewpoint…

I know that you have very beautiful women! :D
The Excess of Evil tour has been cancelled due to fuck ups from Metallysee. We have tried everything to make it happen, because we WANT to tour again, but it's impossible as we don't have any influence. It sucks! And I feel sorry for the fans!

30. What does the band plan after „The Exess of Evil“? What about new record? Do you work on new material? We're working on new material as we speak. 3 songs are finished and we have started rehearsing 15 songs! We're entering the studio on Sept. 1st to start recording. Album will be out sometime during the first halph of 2008.

31. Thanks a lot for your time, which you spend by this interview and I wish many successes in the future.

Thanks for the interview and the support!