Interview with Martin "Marsen" Fischer of Long Distance Calling

"Post rock", "atmospheric rock", "prog rock/metal" are terms often come up when describing Muenster, Germany's Long Distance Calling.  It appears there is no general concensus on what they are so far, which, for many bands, is an awkwardly welcome position to be in.

If I had to describe them, the band could quite possibly be a metallic, more guitar-driven modern Pink Floyd.  In some ways, closer to Pink Floyd than many bands in the past have come, but at the same time, forging their own direction.

Much like Pink Floyd, Long Distance Calling's music feels conceptually driven, despite being mostly instrumental.  A "cohesion" in concept certainly exists that needs no words to convey.  However, with the recent inclusion of Martin "Marsen" Fischer (Fear My Thoughts, Pigeon Toe, Frankestoner Grafix) as vocalist, lyricist, and keyboard player, Long Distance Calling is seeking to expand the ways in which they express their concepts to the audience- currently to sold out crowds across Europe.

Martin "Marsen" Fischer, on stage, Sputnikhalle, Muenster, Germany

You’re not from Muenster, correct?

Southwest, Germany.

So then let me ask: LDC being from Muenster, how did you get in touch with them or them with you?

We knew each other for a while, since Jan works for Century Media records, the label Fear My Thoughts, my previous band, was on.  Janosh and Florian played in Misery Speaks, so we just crossed paths.  We played a Slovenian metal festival, got real drunk together, and got to know one another (laughs).

It’s always the alcohol that brings people together! (laughs)

That was a while ago, actually.  Fear My Thoughts had split up and I came over and they had advice for me such as how to get a record deal and what else to do.  Business shit, more or less.  They also came up with a graphic design job for me for an old record. 

So we were phoning each other once in a while and then they said “hey, we’re doing this new record and we need a singer”.  I guess they tried out a couple of singers before and then they realized that we had been on tour together, so they knew what I was doing from my Fear My Thoughts past. They just didn’t think of me before.  I liked their music, so I thought we’d give it a try.  I was not sure whether it was a permanent thing or just like guest vocals for about three tracks. 

Later on, they spoke about going live on stage, then it became more permanent from there.

So you are the permanent singer of LDC?

I guess so (laughs).

How far in the writing and recordings did you come into it?

Very late, unfortunately.  The songs were all written and had preproduction and they had all the structures totally written, so there was none of my influence coming into the songwriting.  So we just had those tracks and I just did my thing and sent them back to them and then we met and talked about it and tried new stuff.  I live 600km away, so we were sending things via the internet, but we then met and talked out the details and did the final stuff in the studio in September.

So did you participate in any writing?

I had some keyboard parts that were written according to the songs [that were already written].

(note: the album was released that day and I secured my copy after the show and interview and it reveals that “Inside the Flood”, “Tell the End”, and “The Man Within” feature lyrics written by Martin)

It’s been estimated by the band that only about 50% of The Flood Inside contains vocals.  How do you deal with the [stage] “downtime”, not only with the guitars, but also the vocals?

Well, the missing guitars are really a strange…  I see myself more as a guitarist and a musician than a singer, but I have a lot of electronic keyboard parts and there’s really a lot to do throughout the songs.  On each song, we have a keyboard section and a Hammond organ and we try to make it a bit more “analog”, but we still have samplers and I still have a lot of stuff to play.  So it’s a very challenging thing, actually, because I played keyboards in a band for a long time, but not on stage.  It’s very exciting.

You had a couple of warm up shows already.  How did they go? 

Absolutely great!  Everything just went perfect (laughs).

So it’s not as much of a challenge as you’re making it out to be (laughs)!

Yeah, it’s exciting because I have to deal with these new “instruments”.  It’s more exciting to me because I still don’t know how to move (laughs).  

To me, it seems like a larger gap to bridge between the instrument-based history of Long Distance Calling and bringing in a singer on a more permanent basis.  What was the process like in getting the vocal and musical concepts to work?

I think because I knew the guys already, it wasn’t so far away.  It’s not that far from Pigeon Toe, either, nor from the music I listen to.  I think I kind of dug what they wanted and the concepts and the fact that we didn’t need to talk about it too much was a sign we really connected.  Another positive thing might be that they haven’t worked with a singer before, so they don’t have a comparison. 

And they’re very open to it (laughs).

Yeah (laughs), and they say “this guy sings?  Great!”

Plus you’re actually there, in front of them, not on another continent or in another country.

Exactly (laughs).  The perfect singer!

Typically in fusion and jazz fusion (the background of Martin's band Pigeon Toe), there’s a lot of room for improvisation in live settings.  In a live setting, do you have creative freedom here?

Absolutely.  The room for it might be small right now because I’m checking out my space and how far I can go.  The plan is to eventually be able to jam and expand a song to have a two more minutes of a jam session in between.  It will be possible if we put all the sample stuff together and play it with the synthesizer or keyboard or whatever.

Right now…I try to come up with little stuff and exchange things.  I think it’s a long way until I get to where I want to be, but I think each show I don’t really know what I’m going to do and I don’t have a plan (laughs).

Sounds scary (laughs).

Yeah (laughs).  I have my certain parts where I know what I’m doing and I can always rely on them, but then there’s so much space in their songs because Long Distance Calling is actually a guitar band and the electronic stuff is in the background. It doesn’t really take up a lot of space to go here and there and stretch out a bit.  And those guys really seem to appreciate it.

What is the conceptual basis of the music of the new album?

It has more or less a definitive concept of “The Flood Inside”, which is a journey through human emotions.  It’s very personal in one way and very abstract in another so everyone can identify with the music.  When you listen to the music, you have all sorts of pictures and images going on.

To me, the concept is that of a journey.  It wants to take you to the top of a mountain, but to each person, we didn’t want to draw the concept and say “here it is”.  We give little hints to allow each person to go their own way.

Album cover, "The Flood Inside" (2013)

For those who like categories, what is Long Distance Calling?

I’m not really a guy that categorizes.  We’re not really progressive because some might say that we’re not progressive enough and there’s some metal influences.  Some people want to describe it because it helps them identify.  To me, it’s just great rock music.  “Atmospheric” is a great word.  It’s really hard to tell.

Have you seen metal fans in the audiences so far?

Diverse, actually.  We’ve done two shows and we’ve been together during festivals [in the past].  I think we might be for metalheads that are a bit more open-minded, as well as people who had Pink Floyd in their backgrounds.  I don’t think the young people are really into us.  The songs are really long.

We all have ADHD right now.

Absolutely (laughs).  When a great riff comes up, they might wait two minutes before it starts rising. 

So what to expect in 2013 and beyond from Long Distance Calling?

This tour and I hope we can start songwriting during it, actually.  Some festivals, probably more than before because having a singer might make us more interesting for them.  Another tour, maybe in Sept/Oct.  A lot is going on for this album and we have to get out there.

If you don’t like what’s on the record, that’s fine, but to see us live is something different.  To me, Long Distance Calling was always a band that you needed to see live.  The energy and the fun they have on stage is really what this band is about.

Are you primarily a music writer or a lyricist?

Both. 

So we’ll see influences from you in both ways in the future. 

Yeah.  I’m really happy that I’ll be there from the beginning for the next record and probably because I’m a keyboardist and I like the analog style, like the Hammond organ.  Probably that will somehow be influenced. 

What challenges have you had coming into the band and working on old and new material?

The challenge with any band is to get up on stage and be as good as you possibly can.

LDC has had a few internationally-renowned guest singers. For instance, John Bush.

Yeah.

Have you already tried out “Middleville”, the song John appears on?

We wanted it.  It was an option, but I have to say that I’m not as good as John Bush.  This guy is just an awesome singer and I don’t think I want to hear a song that is so special with his voice.  I don’t think if I don’t want to hear the song with a different vocalist…

More songs with lyrics in the future?

I’m not sure, we might stay with that “50%”.  I think we’re going to start writing the songs first and see if they need lyrics, then decide if they are better with or without lyrics.  I don’t think we’re going to be a 100% vocal band because, to me, I love the instrumental stuff.

In that way, you fit, as you’re an instrumentalist and a music writer, so you seem to understand their methodology.

Absolutely.  I also see myself most as a keyboardist than a vocalist.  Then there’s those three songs that I actually sing on.

What can we expect from your other band Pigeon Toe (fusion/prog band featuring Norman Lonhard of Triptykon)?

Pigeon Toe is writing the next record.  We hope to release it this year, but it’s not certain.  We’ve already booked the studio, which will be with V. Santura (Dark Fortress, Triptykon) at Woodshed Studio.

Then possibly a tour.

Everyone seems to go to Woodshed Studio these days (laughs).

Absolutely (laughs). 

What can we expect to be the musical direction?

Well, it’s hard to say…

Do you guys even have a musical direction (laughs)?

Right now (laughs) we have a couple of ideas and we have 3-4 songs that we are working on and I showed it to a couple of guys I know because it’s always hard for me to explain and they said “this is absolutely Pigeon Toe” (laughs).

Pigeon Toe, featuring Martin "Marsen" Fischer

So basically what to expect from Pigeon Toe is that we won’t know what to expect?

Yes (laughs).

Where do you expect the music industry to be in 5-10 years?

5-10 years?  I hope that there will still be a place for bands like Long Distance Calling and Pigeon Toe and others because these are bands that have an audience that appreciates music that still comes out in a physical format.  Things have changed.  Everything is getting faster with the internet…

I don’t know a lot of people anymore that have records.  A good friend of mine was the guitarist in Fear My Thoughts and he sold all of his records-maybe 800.  He said that he just didn’t need the physical record.  You can just buy the music, which is a weird thing for artists.  Like me, I like the cover art.  Pop and chart music will be even more superficial than now, but this music that is so intense will still exist.

The music will always exist, but the format…no one knows…

Right, no one knows.  In a way the live shows will be the same.

What’s your equipment list?

(indicates visually it’s very large)


Ok, so what’s your favorite guitar?

Gibson Les Paul Custom because it’s very expensive!  When I bought it, I was really happy to buy one that didn’t cost as much as a new one because it’s 30 years old and it’s very heavy…

There’s this one scene in Jurassic Park when a guy picks up binoculars and another guy asks if they’re heavy and he replies “yeah, and expensive!”.  So heavy things, to me, are always associated with “expensive”.

The guitar sounds great and it’s never been out of tune and looks great. 

That’s the guitar we see you with in the Pigeon Toe pictures, right?

Mostly, yes.

And will we see you on stage here with it, or will you purely handle the electronics?

Mostly the electronics, but the idea is if in the future there’s room for more guitar sounds, then why not?

www.longdistancecalling.de/
www.facebook.com/longdistancecalling
www.twitter.com/avoidthelight
www.superballmusic.com/artist.aspx?IdArtist=298

Related:
www.pigeontoe.de/index.html
www.woodshedstudio.de/
www.facebook.com/frankenstonergrafix (artwork of Martin "Marsen" Fischer)
www.triptykon.net
www.darkfortress.org/

Related

Swallow The Sun live here

Amorphis live here 

Orange Goblin live here

Attic live here

Victor Griffin's In Graved live here 

Kadavar live here

Valient Thorr here

Krakow live here 

Valborg live here

Solstafir live here

Audrey Horne live/interview here

Bison (Bison BC) here

Kalmah live here

Triptykon live here

Long Distance Calling live/interview here

Nachtgarm (Negator) here

sG (Secrets Of The Moon) here 

Interview With Audrey Horne

Norway's Audrey Horne is a band that was recently offered to me for an interview and under good advice, I accepted.

This band is a bit of a strange example in that it's a hard rock band with a bit of sleeze attitude and a 70s and 80s arena rock feel.  They have members of Enslaved and Sahg in their ranks, two drastically heavier bands in different ways.  They are on a label that primarily focuses on metal.  Their audiences appear to be primarily metalheads.  Yet they play hard rock.  Modern hard rock while harking back to their influences of decades ago.  Their 2013 album "Youngblood" is an excellent display of bringing the hard rock sound of a long-gone era into the current one.

They were quite possibly one of the best live bands I've ever seen-extreme metal or not. Not taking anything away from Solstafir and Long Distance Calling, who put on excellent to amazing performances that night, but Audrey Horne quite possibly stole the show for me.

Reminiscent of old David Lee Roth-era Van Halen, Audrey Horne's performance was filled with relentless movement, kung-fu cross kicks, and band members interacting with the crowd.  Despite the fun, the music was tight and expertly executed.

Vocalist Torkjell Rød

Drums Kjetil Greve

Guitar Thomas Tofthagen

Guitar Arve Isdal

Bass Espen Lien

Interview with Torkjell Rød:

How is Audrey Horne different now when compared to earlier eras?  I noted the band now is on Napalm Records.

A lot of things are a bit different, we have a new label, as you mentioned.  Music wise, we also changed a bit.  Most people say we changed quite a bit, but in our own minds, the change isn’t so great because it’s been an ongoing process for years now.

We’ve spent years and years now playing with bass players and keyboard players in and out and it’s basically been me, Isdal, Thomas, and Kjetil, the drummer. We’ve been in place, then we had people playing bass and keyboards on and off.  When we recorded our previous album, the self-titled one from 2010, we asked Espen (Lien) if he wanted to play bass.  He replied “yes” and then we asked him if he wanted to also help us out live and we offered to even pay him.  So we did that and at some point, he stopped charging us and at some point he was a permanent member of the band.

(Espen in background laughs)

So he kind of came in the back door.

Espen: (laughs) You owe me a lot of dough!

Torkjell: (laughs) I know!  I’ll never be able to pay you all that money!

If I may ask- for those who might suggest it, did Napalm suggest a change in musical direction?

No, they didn’t suggest anything.  Basically, when we signed with them, the album was already made.  They never told us what to do and what not to do.  We’ve always been very strict about that.  They can decide on business and promotion, but not when it comes to the music. We have to do what we want to do.  This band would last two weeks if we started to make music that wasn’t comfortable for us to play.

So the change in music was our own decision.  Actually, it wasn’t a decision. We just wrote and recorded everything differently from what we’re used to.  Normally Thomas and Isdal write most of the stuff, then I write the lines and then we record it.

Listening to the discography, it didn’t seem as much a radical change in direction as it seemed part of an ongoing process from the beginning.

Yes, very much so.  So I think this change in music was the result of a change in writing, rather than sitting at home writing music.  We went into the rehearsal studio, all of us, and wrote music like this (stands up and simulates playing guitar), which makes for a totally different type of energy.

During the process, we realized that this was way more old school and a lot more classic hard rock.

Absolutely.

You know, on "Youngblood", I’m even finding old school David Lee Roth Van Halen

and it made me wonder about your influences.

Van Halen (Torkjell raises a fist to Thomas) is definitely one of our influences (another member in the background utters “yes”).  Especially those two guys there (points to Thomas and Isdal).

What shines through is definitely bands like Kiss, Van Halen, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Scorpions, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy…all of that old school music that we grew up listening to. 

You guys have some of that 70s and 80s “arena rock” sound thrown in.

I think when we wrote the songs and recorded them, we noticed there was a very old school vibe to it.  We basically said that we’re not going to make a retro album or walk down memory lane, but we wanted to make a modern rock album where we didn’t hide the influences.  If you don’t set out to copy someone, you should absolutely wear your influences on your sleeve with pride because this is who we are. 

Music has always been the most important thing in our lives and it’s shaped us as people.  So we said “fuck it” and just left the influences on our sleeves. 

At the same time, my background…I have a huge pumping of pop music through my heart.

A lot of metal fans aren’t going to be happy to hear that!

I don’t care (laughs).  I listen to all kinds of music and I’m influenced by all forms of art.  I don’t see any reason to have it all fit together.  It’s not as if you like this, you should like these types of clothes or certain types of books.  I’m influenced by basically everything from Tom Waits to Slayer to Rick Springfield to Fleetwood Mac.  As long as it’s good music, I really don’t care.  If it’s good, it’s good.  I’ve always been a sucker for pop music.  And I think that’s what makes the sound of Audrey Horne.  We’re a modern rock band and we have influences from classic rock, but I think the way I write melodies and lyrics might be a bit different from the classic rock bands.

What do you find yourself listening to lately?

Lately I have a copy of the new Norwegian band Kvelertak.  Fleetwood Mac, Rick Springfield, for god’s sake (laughs).  And also I bought a lot of old stuff like a lot of old UFO albums and some more pop and country.

American country music?

Yes. I just saw Justin Townes Earle live and they were amazing.  Like I said, as long as it’s good music, that’s all. As a musician, you’re interested in art in general. 

I work as a tattoo artist and I get into a lot of tattooing of graffiti and I’m very interested in American popular culture, tunes, and movies and stuff like that.  All of those things, you somehow subconsciously bring them into the music.

Speaking of visual art, could you tell us about the album cover for “Youngblood”? 

I made it (laughs).  In fact, I’ve done a lot of artwork for other bands and the guys in the band approached me and suggested that perhaps I should do the cover art since I do it for other bands.  I always felt that it was a little too close to home and I wasn’t sure if they’d like me to do it or not.  Then we decided that I’d do it and we fooled around with some ideas. 

During the brainstorming, they said that I should make a drawing of the band and I think Isdal came up with the idea to just use the heads.  So I started drawing it and I realized (smiling) that this would be very rock ‘n roll and Kiss.  But anyway, I made it because our music has gone from a darker, more mysterious and more depressing place towards feelgood, classic hard rock.  We wanted colors.  So I made it and the others wanted to use it.

For previous albums, people really haven’t talked about the artwork.  It’s “just there” and nobody really talks about it.  I’ve read shitloads of reviews for this album and it’s either “love it” and “it’s cool”, or they just fucking hate it (laughs).

I read a review where one guy said he loved the album apart from the (laughs) “abortion” of an album cover.  Of course, when you make something and read it, it’s personal in a way, but I don’t sit around and moan over stuff like that.  We have a lot of our audience and press from the metal scene and I guess it’s not their cup of tea, which is perfectly fair.

We made artwork we liked and we felt was fitting for the album.

Are there hidden meanings we can look for?

No, there aren’t any hidden meanings.  When you play together as long as we have and work together and live together on the road, it becomes really intense, like a marriage; you love each other and hate each other at points.  You have to make compromises.  There’s five of us and not everyone can get their way all the time.  Even though we can fight like cats and dogs, it’s always a good thing being in a band like this because the moment someone from outside the circle comes in and points a finger and puts you down, and even though we can fight like hell, we automatically become a unit and stand up for each other.

So I wanted to make something to show that we are a unit.

There is that unity concept in the art.

Yeah, on this album, everyone had input in the writing of the music, where normally Isdal and Thomas write the music and I write the lyrics and melody lines.  This time we all went into our rehearsal studio together.  That was kind of important because everyone in the band got more of a feeling of ownership to the music.

The band has grown much stronger as a result of this album so in a way I wanted to do that [regarding the artwork].  It’s difficult for people to see that, but it was important to us to underline the fact that we feel like a strong unit.

The producer, Magnet, I tried looking him up and he seems either a bit elusive or most of the info is in Norwegian.  Can you tell me about him?

The reason we chose him was because we wanted to record the music as “live” as possible and get as much of that live energy into the recording as possible.  So we talked about producers and we came to the conclusion, in order to get that live feeling and get the most out of the band in the studio, we had to get a producer who was familiar with and understood playing live and the concepts around it.  He’s an amazing musician and released a bunch of albums as “Magnet” and released a bunch of albums with other musicians and we’ve always admired him.  His music is so far away from ours; half electronic, half acoustic, and very dreamy. His music is a crossing between Van Zandt and Bjork and so on.  It’s very intense and very beautiful and as far away from us as possible.  However, we’ve known this guy for years and he grew up with the same kinds of bands as us and was in bands that were Thin Lizzy-inspired.  I also worked with him previously in a different band.  I suggested him to the other guys because he’s so talented and has an ear for music. 

A producer’s job is to get as much out of a band as possible and help them focus and prioritize what is and isn’t important and he’s very good at that.  He understood that we needed to have balls and energy and fuck it if someone was a bit off. 

And the album sounds exactly like you wanted?

Yes.

The guy who mixed the album (Jørgen Dupermann Træen) is also very talented and works with several major acts from Norway.  He’s not a hard rock guy at all, but comes from a similar musical background as us.  He does more electronic, modern music today.  When we started recording we asked him to come in and he refused and said there was nothing for him to bring to the table and that this wasn’t his thing.  He said that hearing our previous albums.  Since he works in the same building as where we record, he walked by our door and we were doing I think “Redemption Blues”.  He came in and said that he thought it was like the first Iron Maiden album and so we talked a couple times and he still refused.  At some point, he came in and said the album kind of grew on him.

He and Magnet make the album sound the way it does.  And us, of course.

I recently interviewed Laakso (Chaosweaver, Kuolemanlaakso) and he mentioned being strongly influenced by Twin Peaks and Angelo Badalamenti.  I’m starting to get the impression that in Scandinavia there’s a big Twin Peaks following.  What is the significance of Twin Peaks for you?

Well (smiles), I’m very influenced by David Lynch, in general, not just Twin Peaks.  I just love the fact that you understand it, but there’s so much within his work that is totally not understandable.  I love movies where they end and I go “what the fuck?”.  Happy endings and all that are all well and good.  I love that, as opposed to my girlfriend, who finds some of these movies boring and says she doesn’t understand.  I ask her if she appreciates that there are things that you just don’t understand.  I think that’s very interesting.  Lynch also makes these weird universes within his movies.  I think he had some influence in Scandinavia maybe because the whole atmosphere and nature we relate to. You’re American, so you’re way more outspoken and you’re polite, even though you don’t need to be polite.  I think Norwegians, we don’t always say it like it is and if we don’t mean it, we won’t say it.  If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t say you’re a great guy.  We just wouldn’t comment.

I think the characters in Twin Peaks all go around saying weird things.  Maybe Scandinavians can relate to it and nature and in the show is very much like Scandinavian weather and nature.  When they showed it on TV in Norway, it was weird because we…when I grew up, we had “TV Theater”, which was a lot of Finnish, Swedish, and Norwegian theater made for TV.  It was dark and depressing and fucked up in every way.  It even became a saying in Norway, when if something was fucked up, it was like ‘TV Theater”.  I think Twin Peaks is a lot like that.  It’s weird and there are so many levels there and you don’t understand half of them and they don’t make sense.  You then realize David Lynch didn’t just put them there.  Everything is there with a purpose.  Even if it’s not understandable for the rest of us.  Like Mulholland Dr. It’s got a shitload of symbolic things and symbolic scenes that don’t make sense at all, but I think that’s what art is about.  You don’t have to understand it.  You just have to appreciate it even without understanding it.

When we started this band, we wanted to make music that didn’t need to fit in somewhere.  As long as it’s good and as long as we put ourselves into it and if people aren’t able to label it, it’s like a compliment.

When we came up with the name “Audrey Horne”, it was because the character sort of fit our music in a way; not easy to put into a category, was a bit mysterious, beautiful (laughs), we are beautiful.  We felt she kind of was a good pinup woman for our music in many ways.

The way I write music I just blacktalk when I start writing melody lines.  I just say stuff.  It doesn’t make any sense, but most of my lyrics, the finished ones, always starts with a line from that blacktalk because there’s always a word or a sentence that kind of fits in there and I use that very often as a starting point.  David Lynch, when he writes his stories, he uses his dreams.  When he wrote Blue Velvet, he said he had a dream of red lipstick.  He said when he woke up, he wanted to start writing about that as a starting point, which sounds rather weird or stupid.  He said subconscious stuff is the most interesting because it comes from a place that’s more true.  I like to write my lyrics in the same way, not that I’m comparing myself to David Lynch, of course, but it is, in a way, the same starting point.

In many ways, Lynch has influenced us a lot.

Also, the real world doesn’t make a lot of sense and it doesn’t have to, either.

No, it doesn’t make sense, the real world.  Artists, the most important job is to mirror the real world in a way and if it doesn’t make sense, the art doesn’t have to make sense.

Where do you think the music industry will be in 5-10 years?

That’s kind of hard to predict.  With the downloads and streaming, I think the music business got caught off-guard and instead of being proactive and doing something about it, they sat down and complained a lot about how things are going to hell and they don’t sell albums anymore. I went to a lecture with a guy that studies information technology and he said that it’s basically bullshit; people will still pay for music.  He said there was a period of time when people downloaded, but people don’t download for free as much anymore.  They buy it or pay for streaming like with Spotify. 

I think the music business will find a way to make money again because in every business there are ups and downs and usually they find a new way to make money out of it.  I think the industry will find a way to sell their products again and happily, you see vinyl sales going up.  That’s great for me because, in my opinion, that’s the best way to listen to music.  I think the music is too important to die and it’s too big of a business and too important to everyone involved, including producers, musicians, and labels to die off.  As long as people are willing to make music and people are willing to listen to music, there’s always going to be money in there somewhere.  I think the business will change a lot.  Everything in the last ten years has changed, for example the way we use our phones now.  Everything changes so much quicker these days.  So I think the business will find a way to change.  The business is changing and will change further, so there will be a way.

It’s a fun ride…

Yeah, it’s interesting.  When record companies sit around and complain about people stealing music, it’s not very productive.  The age of technology is here and the internet is not going to go away and neither will all the new technologies we use to make and listen to and promote music.  You can either join it or give up.

Embrace technology and modify the formula and figure out how to utilize it…

Yeah.

It’s a slow-going process, but I think the companies are figuring it out.

Yes, there’s still enough money in the industry, but now it’s distributed differently and power is distributed, which is good for the artists...

http://www.audreyhornemusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AudreyHorneOfficial

www.napalmrecords.com

Related:

Swallow The Sun live here

Amorphis live here 

Orange Goblin live here

Attic live here

Victor Griffin's In Graved live here 

Kadavar live here

Valient Thorr here

Krakow live here 

Valborg live here

Solstafir live here

Audrey Horne live/interview here

Bison (Bison BC) here

Kalmah live here

Triptykon live here

Long Distance Calling live/interview here

Nachtgarm (Negator) here

sG (Secrets Of The Moon) here 

Interview with Markus Laakso and V. Santura

On February 26th, 2013, Radio Sarajevo will air/stream a portion of an interview I co-wrote/co-produced with Emina Hodžić of The Aebyss Portal.  

The English-language interview was a true international effort, with all participants in different countries at the time.  Furthermore, a different format was used, which allowed Laakso and ”Uljas uusi maailma” producer V. Santura (Dark Fortress, Triptykon, Woodshed Studios) to answer questions more deeply than most interviews allow.

A longer-format version will appear at a later time, as will a transcript of the full interview.

Additional production assistance was kindly provided by Dzemal Bijedic of The Aebyss Portal.

For more information, please visit the Facebook event here

Direct stream link here

Note: please verify your local time difference.

“Kuolemanlaakso” doesn’t roll off the tongue particularly easy for most. However, such is the challenge band frontman Laakso took on in forming a doom metal band under this name.

Translated as “Death Valley” in English, Kuolemanlaakso is among one of the newer Finnish bands to hit the international dark metal scene. Comprised of members from several established and respected bands from Finland (Chaosweaver, Swallow The Sun, Barren Earth, and others), they aimed to create an album that intertwines their dark metal influences, particularly Triptykon’s “Eparistera Daimones”, with an undeniably Finnish sound- most notably in the Finnish-language lyrics inspired by poet Eino Leino. The resultant is a fresh-sounding, brutally dark album that is anything but plagiarized or a rehash of other bands in the subgenre.

In this in-depth, highly personal interview, not only do we speak to Laakso, but we also have ”Uljas uusi maailma” producer V. Santura (Triptykon, Dark Fortress, Woodshed Studios) as a special guest. Together, they paint a fuller picture not only of Kuolemanlaakso, but life in the music industry.

A longer-format interview, with minimal edits, will appear on Youtube at a later time.

Broadcast time (please verify your local time):

9-11 PM CET (Berlin/Sarajevo)
8-10 PM GMT
3-5 PM EST
2-4 PM CST
1-3 PM PST

You can listen to the interview online, wherever you are, following this link:
http://www.radiosarajevo.ba/media/player.html

Markus Laakso, Kuolemanlaakso

Album cover, Kuolemanlaakso's ”Uljas uusi maailma”

 Video for "Minä elän"

 

Monsters

Japanese Spider Crab

Reprise

 

ćevapi 

The Bicycle Capital of Germany

Spotted on a side street in the city center area of historic Muenster, the "bicycle capital of Germany".

"Show Master Dresden"

Hurricane Sandy

Remnants of Hurricane Sandy, as seen at Crab Meadow Beach, Northport, Long Island, New York.

It has been approximately eighty days since the hurricane touched down.

Further pictures from The Atlantic here.

Skyline

Spotted in NYC during a recent relocation back to the U.S., which ultimately revealed itself as a "visit".

Welcome

Two from the welcoming party at Pic du Midi de Bigorre.  They were surprisingly friendly, but very forward in looking through my trunk.

Tunnel

Taken during a walk through Berlin, Germany.

Currently, a period of flux exists, having moved from Germany back to the U.S. 

It is impossible to look through my photo collection without nostalgia, especially based on current circumstances.

I am not a nostalgic person.

Metamerism

From the observation deck of the Olympic Tower, Munich, Germany.  The two-story observation deck is at a height of 190m above the park, allowing spectacular views of the stadiums and their various, interconnected roofs, as well as 360 degree views of Munich.  It also overlooks the BMW Museum and BMW Welt just a short walking distance away.

Entrance costs are reasonable, tourist traffic in Fall is light, and one can spend virtually unlimited time on the observation deck.

Definition of Metamerism

Frames

Photo taken in Dresden, Germany, 2011, at Zwinger, at the entrance of the Rüstkammer.

The photo was a failed compositional and post-processing experiment that was shelved for over a year, until it was decided that the moment captured was more important than the technical aspects.

El Dia de la Boda

With the Guggenheim Museum in the background, Bilbao, Spain, Summer 2011.

From Mexican cinema, "El Dia De La Boda" (1968):

Sang

Photo of a stranger taken on October 7, 2012, in Times Square, NYC during an emotional visit to my home city.