by Kenneth Morton

Enslaved recently performed a show at The Avalon on tour as a co-headliner with Opeth. In Hollywood once again in support of their magnificent Vertebrae opus, we spoke with front man Grutle Kjellson a few hours prior to their set…

When you came here in Hollywood and played here for the first time, was it everything you expected it to be and less?
I think my first time in Hollywood was 10-11 years ago. We’ve played here like 6 times. It was very exciting to be here, but you get used to everything. I like LA – it’s a nice city in many ways. It’s far too hot for me! America in general is too hot for me.

What kind of weather is ideal for you?
Everything below 20 centigrade is suitable for me.

Vertebrae is your 10th release. Did you think you’d ever get to 10 albums, and how does this one compare to your previous ones?
We never think in terms like that – no plans to release 10 or 20 albums or anything like that. We do this basically to enjoy ourselves and to try and make your own favorite music for the time being. And that’s what the philosophy has been about all the time – try to develop in music, lyrics, arrangements – on all levels actually. It’s still fun, so I don’t see any end to it.

You keep changing and progressing your sound…
…otherwise it would be pointless for us. We could never release the same album all over again – it would be the death of Enslaved. Although in some ways, I admire bands that do that. How the hell do they do it? How can anyone release ten similar albums, all equally boring? What’s the motivation?

Is there any concept or story behind the Vertebrae title?
It’s kind of a universal title for all the lyrics. It’s about in early time, they were referring to a person with a strong metal health, they would say he had a strong spine or a strong backbone. It’s actually a really common metaphor, especially in Norway. When you talk about a weak person or a bad person that was a person with no spine. It deals about mistakes humans make – the mistakes we have done and are still doing constantly. I mean look around us – something is not right! It’s about trying to preserve that strength that is there, although it is very, very much hidden sometimes. But we have a strong potential, and all the lyrics kind of deals about trying to dig up potential in both a physical and biological way in your own mental, psychological health.

Some people have compared this new one to the works of Pink Floyd. What do you think of Pink Floyd and that comparison?
Never heard of them. (Much laughter) Obviously almost every guy in the band is certainly into Pink Floyd. I personally listen to a lot more other bands then to Pink Floyd. But I guess those bands I’m listening to have also been listening to Pink Floyd, so could still find comparisons there. That’s kind of a complement – when someone compares you to Pink Floyd, that’s obviously a sign of quality.

You’ve gone far beyond the Black Metal genre in your music. What do you think of Black Metal today, and do you still even listen to it?
I listen not that much to the new stuff. I think the formula has been used too many times. I think it’s been repeating itself over and over again. I don’t listen to that much of what’s going on right now, but I still listen to the classical stuff like Bathory and Celtic Frost and those German thrash metal bands Sodom and Destruction. Also early Darkthrone and Mayhem. I also listen to new Darkthrone, but that’s something else more like rock and roll – and they’re still great. It became too many copycats in the mid-90’s, and I kind of lose interest in the whole thing. I think if you only listen to Black Metal, it would make you a bit narrow-minded. It’s not that exciting when you hear 300 evils albums – I mean how evil can it get?

When you listen back to your early Enslaved albums, what do you think of them now?
I feel proud of what we did back then. I do not listen that much to them – I’ll have to admit that. Sometimes when I’m at parties and someone puts on the old Enslaved albums – I go “It’s not too bad.” There are some good songs – lack of production, budget yes, but still charming somehow. On the first albums we were pretty young – had no experience, but there’s a lot of guts in there I think. The first album was a mini-album we recorded in 92 – I was 18-19 years old at the time.

What was it like playing in India?
We did two shows in 2007 in India. It was crazy! The first gig was just a showcase gig with some record company people – and some people from Timex – the watch company – because they were sponsoring the festival we were playing at. And some journalist. It was kind of crazy, because we played the one-hour set and the equipment and stage was shaking – the frequencies went absolutely bananas and I was shocked from the microphone. The funny thing was, after the gig was over, a guy came out from underneath the stage and (was yawning) - he had been sleeping the whole time. The festival was great – it was called Great Indian Rock Festival in the center of New Deli – it was an outdoor festival with a fucking catwalk too! Eight and a half thousand people came too. It was pretty cool – they have loads of metal heads over there – metalheads with denim shirts and turbans.

Tell me about your other project Trinacria and how it differs from Enslaved.
It differs a lot. It’s more like drone / noise, repetitive stuff – a little more theatrical and static. We have two crazy women from a Norwegian noise act called Fe-Mail. I was about to say She-Mail (much laughter), but it’s called Fe-Mail. We did a small tour in Norway, but it’s a little bit difficult to tour with that kind of band because there’s so much equipment and so many members. We’re going to do a festival in Holland next year.

Do you have any messages for Enslaved fans in the Los Angeles area?
I have a message for everyone else – become Enslaved fans!!!

ENSLAVED links

ENSLAVED on Myspace: The Official Myspace Page for Enslaved!
The Highwire Daze Home Page: Return to the Main Page!

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