Good afternoon, thank you very much for agreeing to answer these questions, what does all this for Bergen?
Greetings, Are from Galar here at your service!
1. Galar started as a band in 2005, at that time with Fornjot and Slagmark, why did you decide to create Galar and referred the group name?
Actually, Slagmark and Sveinung B. Johnsen started the band as early as 2004, and it was one year later that I joined the ranks. We needed to have a band because Marius had an overflow of catchy guitar riffs. That and the fact that we didn’t have any luck with girls, so all in all, why not form a band! Haha, and besides, we wanted a band to express ourselves musically. Marius and I have had bands in the past, but the urge to play metal was something we couldn’t resist. The band name Galar is taken from a dwarf in northern mythology. He and his brother Fjalar kills the giant Kvasir, and from his blood they make the mead of bards, which gives anyone who drinks it, insane poetical skills.
2. In 2005 edit your first demo and the following year the first full-length "Skogskvad" comes after a silence of nearly four years, how evolves the sound of the band in the first two issues regarding "Til alle heimsens endar ”?
I think our albums have a continuous line where each one is more mature and complex than the predecessor. Til alle heimsens endar, from here referred to as TAHE, has a better production and with more emphasis on the orchestration than Skogskvad. You can say that the songs are in general more complex on TAHE with excessive use of strings and piano arrangements.
3. "Til alle heimsens endar" I think he really meant to Galar a big step forward, especially in finding their own sound, at the time of the publication of that album were you aware of the impact it would have?
I remember we thought to ourselves that it would be fun reading the reviews and feeling anticipated about it. Of course we liked the sound ourselves, but we didn’t know wether it would flop or make it, so it was fun that it got such good feedback from fans and critics.
4. And we come to "De gjenlevende", similar to the previous album, if possible with a more epic sound, satisfied with the final result?
We are very much satisfied. Once again, Bjørnar E. Nilsen and Conclave & Earshot Studio have done an excellent job with mixing and recording and everyone involved have stretched themselves to make the best Galar album so far!
5. With regard to the sound of Galar, he is very present in the black of course, but also the classical and folk music, though described as folk-black metal your music seems a aberration, what are your main musical influences and as you describe the sound of "De gjenlevende”?
The sound of ”De gjenlevende” are the sounds we bring together from our very much different musical worlds. Marius and I have different approaches that makes the blend of the album.
On ”De gjenlevende”, we wanted to explore the classical side a bit further than the previous albums, and decided to incorporate that to a larger extent in our musical expression. Regarding the sound of the album, we have always appreciated contrasts, mixing harsh blasting metal with beautiful melodies and calmer passages, and we have tried to perfect that to the best of our abilities on “De gjenlevende”.
6. For the recording of the album have again Conclave & Earshot studios, what do you offer these studies you find yourself at ease writing on them?
We find Conclave & Earshot very easy to work with and since we know them it makes for an easy collaboration. We know what we’re getting and we like it.
7. How was the process of writing and recording the album? It is very difficult to capture the epic and developments of your music, that is, you are very perfeccionistass?
We've developed a way of writing that works surprisingly well, given the fact that we don't physically live in the same city any more. We have quite clear roles in how we work and how we contribute in the writing process, which also makes the goal clear. It’s a lot easier when you know what you aim for, and we have a dialogue all the way up to where we go in the studio to record. Marius does the dirty work and I get to play with my vocal lines and make the string arrangements. Hehe. Given the nature of how we write, it pleases the perfectionist in us, because we get to dwell on ideas longer than a band that works in a live environment. It’s like a game of correspondent chess, where the two players can really contemplate on their next move.
8. As for the lyrics has always maintained a narrative centered on the mythology and history and here the lyrics to "De gjenlevende" hides a conceptual history, what can you tell us about the conceptual story? What inspires you to write about it?
Yes, that’s right, “De gjenlevende” is a concept album which draws its inspiration from Pan-European folklore, ontology, and elegies. Jorge Blutaar (Drautran), our lyricist, set out to portray the transition of the harsh season of winter into spring, and how the seasonal changes challenges mankind, beasts and plants equally. The winter has historically been a hard and merciless period in this northern region of the world. Surviving it to see the return of spring, for animals and humans, were not always so certain. Being a tiny human in the hands of fate, doing everything you can to survive a long and hard winter, still not knowing if food would last, when and how illness would strike, or wild animals kill your herd, certainly makes you humble. We wanted to make our own contribution to this subject of human struggle. It's just recently we sort of learned to control our surroundings, up to a degree of course. It seems like nature is finally taking its revenge on us for that. But regarding our own contribution, I think it's interesting to dwell with this feeling of being left over to forces bigger than yourself, to accept the common man's limitations, and to acknowledge the power of the elements.
9. What bands can cite as influences recognizable sound Galar?
I think you can say that bands such as Borknagar, Windir and Vintersorg etc. were early inspirations for Galar, though I feel that we have managed to successfully "move away" from our early inspirational sources, and managed to create our own unique sound mixing classical music, black metal, and a bit of folk.
10. Galar is not a band that was very lavish live despite having a stable drummer and bassist live, how to be the echo not offer many concerts?
It’s hard to do live shows at the moment, since I’m not living in Bergen and we haven’t had a full line up until recently, but we did our first show in about four years when we played at this years Inferno festival in Oslo on April the 1st. What will happen in the near future, we don't know yet, but we're definitely looking to do more gigs to support the new release. For the first time we have sort of a steady live line-up, which makes it a lot easier to prepare for live shows and such, and we hope to take advantage of that more in the future.
11. Coming from Bergen guess I've been aware of black scene from an early age, how were your beginnings in music and why did you decide to devote yourself to it?
Marius and I started our musical collaboration when we played ska-punk together in our home town of Sandefjord 15 years ago. He made the guitar riffs and I made the catchy ska-like melodies on my trombone. After that we moved apart to different cities, but when we both moved to Bergen, the opportunity was there to create Galar and that’s how it started. Regardless of genre, music to us is a creative outlet and a way to express ourselves. Plain and simple.
12. The cover is provided by Robert Høyem, why you choose to work with and how the cover relates to the music of the album?
That’s right, Robert Høyem from Overhaus did the artwork. We've known Robert for severeal years, and he also did the artwork for our first two albums. He knows the band, our style, and what we want to achieve with our musical expression, so the decision to work with him again was fairly simple. «De gjenlevende» is a bit more black metal oriented and aggressive than our previous efforts, and the lyrical concept is a bit darker as well, and we wanted the artwork to reflect that.
13. For this occasion accounts with Dark Essence Records for the release of the album, are you satisfied with the work done by the record label?
Dark Essence has a good network and knows the channels well. They’re a good match for Galar.
14. What are your plans in the future to Galar, upcoming releases, publications, concerts?
We have started writing some new material and we'd also like to do more live shows. Playing a few of the bigger festivals in Europe would be something we'd really like to accomplish, and we'll have to work on trying to achieve that.
15. Thank you very much for taking the time to Black Metal Spirit, if you want to add something for the followers of Galar, this is the place. I hope the questions are to your liking.
Thank you for your questions! If you'd like to check out our music feel free to pay us a visit:
- 300gsm Jacket With Reverse Side Printing- 140g White Vinyl- 250gsm Cardboard Insert- Artwork By Gaamalzagoth- Vinyl Mastering By Patrick W. Engel/Temple Of DisharmonyPLEASE NOTE: "The winter falls over the land" plays on Side B while "The gates of eternity" plays on Side A
HAZTE CON ÉL EN : BLACK METAL SPIRIT STORE O DISCOGS
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario