There's no need fort an intro for this interview. When you get all 4 members of a band to fill out an interview, you pretty much get everything you need to know (you also get a nifty mutli-colored interview, see below). So without wasting any more of your time with my useless drivel, I bring you: The Guards of Metropolis [applause]
FoundryMusicRob: So what we have here is 2 girls from Norway, and 2 guys from California. The temperature difference alone boggles the mind. When a place is called the “Arctic Circle” you don’t exactly picture it being warm even in the warmest months. What was the weather shock like when you all first startfed traveling together?
Kristin Blix: Norway is actually in the current of the Gulf Stream that flows from the Gulf of Mexico to Northern Europe, which makes Norway's climate very similar to that of Oregon or Washington State. We lived in LA for about two years though and that was my first experience with 100 degree weather. In 2005 we went on a U.S. tour in August and September and I don't think I have ever felt heat like we did in the South. I even got sweaty taking showers!
Silver Sørensen: What was weird for me was traveling around the US and experiencing that it’s warm outside and turns dark at night…
Jason Carter: Norway's not really that cold.....it only looks cold, like in the movie "The Empire Strikes Back". When we travel to warmer parts of America, we drink lots of slurpees and crank up the AC.
Charles Normal: It's kind of sketchy in Norway to drive over mountain passes through 6 feet of snow when it's dark at 2:00 in the afternoon, but I prefer it to being in places like Louisiana in the heat of the Summer. When it's freezing cold you can always put on more sweaters and thicker gloves, but when it's 105 degrees and humid there's really no escape.
FoundryMusicRob: It’s hard to make a living when you’re doing honest work, especially when it’s creative work like music. What has been the biggest influence to keep going even if you have to live off Cheerios, and not just get, what some people call, a “real job?”
Kristin Blix: My band inspires me. I think of us as a family. We have been living together since we first started, so when we had nothing but oatmeal and Top Ramen to eat there was always a very strong sense of us being in this together. At one point we worked removing chewing gum and stickers from the walls of a club in L.A., cleaning the bathrooms, etc. but would then headline the very same club that night. We also got very creative in how to get food to eat. We would throw parties after shows and tell people to bring their own beer and snacks and then when they weren't looking, we'd stash half of it for ourselves to eat the next day.
Charles Normal: Generic spaghetti and Quaker Oats can become tiresome after awhile, but on the other hand I haven't set my alarm clock for several years and I don't own a suit and tie. I get to travel all over the U.S. and Europe and work with music in studios and on stages with creative people. I have no mortgage payments, no credit card debt, and no boss. I think I'll pass on the whole "real job" concept, thank you.
Jason Carter: I've kept my day job. I make money off of other musicians dreams... it's an endless supply.
FoundryMusicRob: What songs from Alligator get the best response when you play them live?
Kristin Blix: "Postcards From Heaven"... everyone seems to like that one, and "Don't Wanna Be Like You" although people sometimes get offended and think I am singing about them. We also do a song that didn't make it to the record called "I Am A God". This song always creates strong reactions and is fun to play live.
Charles Normal: It really depends on the crowd we'ref playing to. If it's a venue full of mohawks and leather jackets our faster stuff gets a bigger response than if we're playing a grange hall in Iowa full of turnip farmers. "Perfect World" and "Postcards From Heaven" always seem to be well received though. Even by the turnip farmers.
Jason Carter: The applause meter typically has very little fluctuation from song to song. I'd have to say it probably has more to do with what Blix says before the song that determines the response after the song.
FoundryMusicRob: Assuming that probably something like 80-90% of our readers are from the U.S., you’d be hard pressed to find any of them that would be able to pick out and name some of the Scandanavian influences in your music. What are some of the musicians that you listened to in Norway that Americans would have no clue about… until now?
Kristin Blix: My big sister was a huge fan of an underground Punk / Rock band in Oslo called Raga Rockers, and I used to sit outside her door and be very fascinated by this loud, raw rock band. The lyrics are cool, but I don't expect people to be able to understand a language that only about 5 million people on the whole planet can speak. I am sure most people have heard of AHA and ABBA. I used to listen to ABBA a lot growing up. My mom and dad had all the vinyl and I would sing along with headphones.... not the most pleasant thing to listen to for everyone around me, I'm sure! I would recommend that you check out Nood, Sister Rain, Bel Canto, Røyksopp, Span (MassDistraction).... for those of you who know Norwegian: Lynni Trekreem and Bjørn Eidsvåg for great lyrics.
Silver Sørensen: I’d say we’re somewhat influenced by ABBA and perhaps Dum Dum Boys. I’ve also listened a lot to Motorpshyco, Madrugada, Mari Boine, Kaizers Orchestra, Alf Prøysen, Gåte, Animal Alpha, Bermuda Triangle, Kings of Convenience, Minor Majority, Thomas Dybdahl, Biosphere, Annbjørg Lien, September When, Jaga Jazzist, Big Bang, Magnet, Turbo Negro, Bugge Vesseltoft, Anja Garbarek, Unni Vilhelmsen, and of course - A-HA
FoundryMusicRob: You have a dog named Cloee in some of your pictures from your last tour. Is she the rabid tour bus guard dog that eats the legs of people that try to stalk the band? Because that would be pretty cool, ya know?
Charles Normal: She was pretty good at protecting our gear when we'd stop at truck stops or restaurants in the middle of nowhere. I don't recall any missing body parts or bleeding stalkers. I don't think any intruders would be that frightened of her though. She's a Golden Retriever after all... about one notch below a Basset Hound in terms of ferocity.
Kristin Blix: Cloee can be very protective if she feels we are in any kind of danger, but normally she is more of a creative soul. In fact she performs on the record. She was in the studio when we were recording "Exhole" and ended up doing percussion... meaning she was scratching herself in tempo with the song so we hit the record button and got her part on tape. We all are very proud of her. I like to think she can relate to the song. We’re not paying her any royalties though. Cloee toured the U.S. with us and our two pet rats. They all got to eat regional cuisine from everyplace we went. Apparently rats are crazy for Coney Island hot dogs AND chicken gumbo.
Jason Carter: She's a golden retriever.....need I say anymore. Goldies are bred to be people friendly, yet sound ferocious. The only time she can get ferocious is if you're trying to hide a piece of chocolate cake from her.
FoundryMusicRob: If you were on the road and overheard some shady looking characters talking about a plot to blow something up in the name of Allah, who is the first person you would call?
Charles Normal: Who is Allan and why would anybody blow something up in his name?
Silver Sørensen: I don’t know this Allan character, but he sounds like a nice guy.
Kristin Blix: I really miss Allan. He blew up all the balloons at my birthday party.
Jason Carter: I've got three Alan Jackson albums.
FoundryMusicRob: Are you tired of my dopey interview questions yet?
Charles Normal: Not at all, I have nothing better to do while my Top Ramen is boiling.
Kristin Blix: Are you tired of my dopey answers yet?
Jason Carter: I'm just trying to complete my answers in three minutes or less.
FoundryMusicRob: Here is an important question to test how much you guys like each other, if the band were to lose a member tomorrow, would you still be Guards of Metropolis?
Charles Normal: Our drummer Jason is the only key component in our band, all the rest of us are totally expendable. I mean, listen to his snare drum skills!
Silver Sørensen: I really doubt that. We’ve all been living together for years now and you can’t really replace a brother or a sister.
Jason Carter: If you lost an eyebrow would you still look good? Absolutely no, the Guards would cease to exist.
FoundryMusicRob: I’m the kind of person who is never 100% happy with my work, I always go back and critique myself into insanity. With the album about to be released have you had any last minute panic attacks about the way a certain song sounds, or about a lyric here and there?
Kristin Blix: Yes. I have been nervous for awhile, but now it's out, so it's too late to worry. A well-known musician friend told me to try and enjoy this feeling because it won't be the same with album number two. I have been very nervous indeed.
Charles Normal: I haven’t been nervous as far as the music is concerned. I'm more of a stickler for catching spelling errors in our CD booklets before they go to the printer. I can't stand typos. I can't even eat at restaurants that offer "taco's" or "nacho's" or anything with a misused possessive apostrophe. Sloppy music and lyrics I can live with. Just don't offer me any chicken finger's.
Silver Sørensen: I know what you mean. I’m a bit of a perfectionist too, but I’ve come to the conclusion that nothing is perfect, everything can be improved. So at one point or another you just have to let it go. The making of Alligator took quite a while so at some point we were all so sick of it that we just wanted to get it done. Now that it is though, there are a few things, lyrically especially, that I wish we had changed…
Jason Carter: I think for the most part we are all perfectionists which makes it difficult for anything to get done at times. Many creative individuals have that problem. There comes a time when you just have to put your creation to rest and move on.
FoundryMusicRob: Norway is home of many of the best Black Metal bands, but is Black Metal as mainstream there as us naïve Americans think?
Kristin Blix: Yes and No. There is a really good creative music scene in Norway and its capitol city Oslo. I don't like to put labels on music.... If it is good music then it it doesn't really matter to me what genre it is in. But to answer your question, most Norwegians will know that there is a black metal scene, but it is underground and it is small compared to the rest of the music environment.
Silver Sørensen: The funny thing is that most Norwegians have no idea of how big some of our Black Metal bands are in other countries like the US and Germany especially. Norway have a very diverse music scene and Black Metal is definitely not considered mainstream.
Charles Normal: This week's top 20 singles list at http://lista.vg.no includes Fergie, Green Day, and Timbaland. No upside-down crosses in sight.
Jason Carter: Black metal has been met with considerable hostility from mainstream culture, mainly because of the misanthropic and anti-Judeo-Christian attitude of many bands. This iconoclastic ideology is typical of black metal bands. Additionally, a few black metal bands have been known to have associations with church burnings, murder, and National Socialism. Black metal is generally seen as an underground form of music, in part because it does not appeal to mainstream tastes and because its musicians often choose to remain obscure. That's from Wikipedia.
FoundryMusicRob: If you had to sum up the statement you are trying to make with Alligator in just a few words, what would you say?
Kristin Blix: There is no grand statement hidden in the record...it's just a document of how we felt at the time we wrote and recorded it. The last cut, "Alligator", is a poetic synopsis of the whole process, from creating a record to releasing it. It even has a line that says "the record states the way I feel" and "the finished mix, the units fshift, my Alligator", so I guess that about sums it all up.
Charles Normal: Yes, my statement is this: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is the public health agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture responsible for ensuring that the nation's commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged.
Silver Sørensen: The Guards of Metropolis; So easy a caveman can do it.
Jason Carter: Alligator is a beautifully crafted fine fragrant bouquet of musical hooks and harmonic ideas that make up what we consider to be modern pop-rock.
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