Vreid (en)

Vreid has released a new album in 2011 and has toured around the world to promote it. When the band was in LA on September 9th 2011, to play at The Whisky A Go Go, SOM has met Jarle Kvåle to talk a little bit about the band, albums, tours and much more. Check it out!

interview VreidYou guys are finishing your “A Black Path of America” tour. How was the tour in general?
Yeah, we have been really satisfied. There have been many great shows. We had fantastic shows in San Francisco, Montreal, Seattle, Edmonton, to name a few. It has been overall a good experience. The only bad thing that happened was the bad weather, you know? We had a storm in Toronto; the New York show got cancelled because of the hurricane. There have been a lot of tests during this tour but we still got to do most of [the] shows.

Any highlights?
Yeah, I think that actually the Montreal show was a highlight of the tour. We have played two times there and both times it was fantastic.

Comparing this tour to the first one you did in the US, how different are the concerts now?
Yes, I see that we got more people coming for us at the shows. The last time we toured here it was a big festival package and there were many other bands that people came to see. This time we are the headliners, we are selling more CDs, merchandise and stuff like that. So, that’s a great appreciation for what we do.

Any plans for the rest of 2011?
Yes, we are actually doing a full Norwegian tour in November with Einherjer and Kampfar. And then we go to Russia for the first time in December. That’s going to be exciting, we never played there. It is always great to go to a new country.

What about 2012? More tours?
There will be more tours but we haven’t decided yet. But now we are actually starting to work on this new music. So, we will probably start recording in the first half of 2012 and release it [a new album] in the autumn.

Is there anything you could tell us about this new album?
We have 4 or 5 songs ready. But these songs may change before we record them. Some of the songs are extremely rock orientated, very inspired by the early 70s’ stuff. And a couple of the other songs are the most extreme we have done so far. So, this is the “pro” of being in a band. You start writing music and see how it develops. I think it will be a very diverse album but I have no idea of how that will end up yet.

You guys have released “V” in the beginning of the year. Are you guys satisfied with the results?
Yeah! Absolutely! We’ve done a European tour, a Norwegian tour and a lot of festivals before coming here [North America].
interview VreidIt’s the best selling album of us so far. Even though we see the sales dropping all the time we are actually increasing our sales. So, that’s a good reaction to the album.

We have done a lot of shows, it has been our most successful headliner tour so far. So… so far so good (laughs).

Many reviewers have raved your latest album. We know their thoughts… but how would you describe this latest work of yours?
I think it is pretty much based on our previous albums, it’s nothing radically new. I guess it is more varied than the other albums. It is hard to describe. It is like the puzzle “adds up”, or something like that.

We just try to continue music without thinking of how we should make it or how people will react to it. This time around everyone seems to be embracing it. That’s a good thing, I guess (laughs).

Is this your favorite album so far?
Yes, I think so. The last two albums, both Milorg and V, are the most complete album we have done, I think. It has been over a year since we have finished mixing it [their latest album V] so for us it’s an old album already. We really enjoyed how it sounds and worked out, and we really enjoyed playing the new songs live.

About your music: this is not your first album that has brought attention to the metal world. You guys have been having positive feedback for a while now. How does it feel?
I try not to put too much feelings and emotions into reviews. But still, of course, when you get a lot of good reviews, it is a positive feedback, so you feel you have done something correct in a way.

It is a good acknowledgement of what we do but if people don’t have good reviews [of their albums], we can’t focus on that. We have to focus on our music and enjoy what we do, that’s the main thing.

Do you consider yourselves as “innovative”? Would you say that you are also innovating the black metal scene?
Well, that’s hard for me to say. It would be “bold” of me to say that we are innovating it [the black metal scene].

But, we try to innovate our own music. We try to put new elements into it because then it will feel “fresher” to us. We don’t like to do the same thing over and over again. And it seems that people have that opinion: that we kind of put different music elements into a black metal sounding music. If people look at it that way, of course it is nice to us, but we are not trying to create a new style or anything, we are just trying to develo
interview Vreidp our music.

But, do you think that your music will bring new perspectives to other bands?
If they do, it would be absolutely great. It is the same thing when I listen to different bands: if they have a new “fresh” thing or new “angles” or new ways to express their music, I get inspired by that. So, if we ever do that to other bands it would be great.

Any negative reactions so far?
No, I don’t think so. We try to adapt different things that we like and we have a broad music taste within the band. We like everything from 60s’, 70s’ rock to metal, some of the guys like techno or whatever, you know?

Some people might think that if it is a black metal band it should kind of limit itself to black metal. But, first of all, I have never viewed us as a black metal band. We have a lot of black metal elements, but we just write music we like and then people have to describe it how they want.

Do you think that because you are doing this in Norway it is easier for you? Are Norwegians more open-minded (for innovating types of metal)?
I don’t think that Norway, as a country, is more open-minded. I think it’s something within the music culture that has grown over the last 20 years. People want to do their own things and explore new things.

Is this “innovative” type of metal a new tendency?
I think so. But, I think it has been there all the way. Maybe in some periods [of time] there are not so many things happening but there are other periods that there are. What we do, when I look back, we are a more extreme version of what Elvis and The Beatles have started. And it has been growing and growing. For me, a lot of the more extreme metal scene in Norway seemed to be stagnating in the late 90s’. But, over the last 10 years there have been so many things growing and that’s good to see.

So, looking into the future: what are your plans? Any goals?
No, we don’t really set that many goals. It is more about [how to] keep writing music. It is about getting the music better and better on our own. Besides that, we like to tour a lot, so we would like to set a lot of good tours in the future.

Any messages for the SOM readers?
Of course we would like to thank all the people that came to our shows in North America. Touring here is a really great experience for us. The energy among the fans and people at the shows is amazing.

Interview done by Deesse_de_la_nuit

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Ma2x - 07 Outubro 2011: Nice interview ! Thank you ;)
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