00:00The music that ties us together, so yeah, yeah, everyone's in their own, completely ill.
00:11I thought we could start by talking about the Kriegskalder, also because it was the first video that we made
00:18and it was a very, very interesting journey, both to create the video.
00:29It kind of blended all the qualities of the group together, Kai's artistic talent and Chris's directing and editing talents.
00:43And yeah, we were all just very immersed in that process for, I don't know how long it took, but...
00:48It was something, you know, I remember we wrote, you know, the script towards this point where we needed a
00:56kicker for why this...
00:58The video is about this petroglyphs being attacked from another village or something.
01:03And we wrote this storyline that at one point, you know, there's something that needs to release like the pinpoint
01:12of the battle, right?
01:13And at that point, we have been pushing that scene so far that when we had to sit and animate
01:20it, we were just sitting in silence, you know,
01:22and because we started to actually get emotionally involved with these little...
01:27Little snail creatures.
01:28Little snail figures and stuff like that because, you know, we animated the whole thing ourselves, right?
01:34So we took this ancient petroglyphs and said, and frame by frame, I've never done animation before, you know?
01:40So it was just, you know, sit and move the arm one, you know, up and down.
01:44And animating that scene was horrible because I really, yes, I really liked, you know, these small cute characters, right?
01:52Little Bimpo Dotty.
01:53Yeah, they all got names.
01:54Yes.
01:54The heroine's name was Bimpo Dotty.
01:57Well, that's more, more like the common song name.
02:00Yeah, yeah, maybe.
02:01Yeah.
02:01Her nickname.
02:03Yeah.
02:04Yes.
02:04But the most fun stuff was to do the battle scenes.
02:07That was really, really, really funny.
02:09I think, yeah.
02:10I think this song also, like, has this, you know, most of the songs, most people don't know that, not
02:17the live version, of course, but the album version.
02:19Most of the things that you hear on the song is recorded outdoor, right?
02:24In our garden we had back then.
02:26And I remember that day when we were recording it because I was hanging up in the window recording a
02:31guy doing the full roar that makes this very deep rotating sound.
02:37And he was, like, standing there, you know, in naked chest, you know, and swinging this thing.
02:44And I think I was hanging up in the window filming from, and Maria was coming home and, like, what,
02:50what are you guys up to here?
02:53Well, what is going on?
02:54You know, and I think it was close by then, you know, I think that was one of the first
02:59songs you started, you know, adding your vocals on also, right?
03:02So it's kind of the whole thing came together with that song.
03:05And a lot of things about it really speaks to some stuff that just keeps on happening in history, right?
03:13And maybe also how we can prevent it.
03:15So it's as relevant today, I think, as it has been for thousands of years.
03:19It's a lot of foley, I like to call it foley, how we create the rhythms in this kind of
03:23material, and also how it's been taken live on a loop situation.
03:27But most of the sounds that sound like battle weapons and stuff like that is actually garden furniture and garden
03:34tools.
03:35You know, so like this, that is like the thing you would lay with your strawberries, you know, and stuff
03:41like that.
03:41I would definitely say for me, it is Afromon. It's not one of the super popular songs.
03:49But Afromon was, that was actually the first time we pressed the record button, right?
03:54I think so. But it could also be Slamslack. I'm not sure.
03:58Yeah. Originally, I came to record the poems.
04:07Of course, Afromon has a long poetry part. And Afromon was also, because in the beginning I'm not a musician
04:18to start out with, unlike these two guys.
04:21And like what I wanted to make was this like insane screams, right?
04:26So I was just in a recording booth and like screaming my guts out.
04:31And I think I ruined my voice two or three times. Like literally, I went out of the recording booth
04:38and I was at work the next day.
04:39I was still working as a tattoo artist and I was like, good morning. How are you doing?
04:44Also no sleep, because you're working all night, right?
04:46Yeah, and I had a little boy at the time, like, and I still have it.
04:50So what are you recording today?
04:52Well, I can't do much. What am I supposed to sing?
04:58If we talk about pieces that have defined where we are today, we also have to talk about Haku Skaldi,
05:06I think.
05:07Because it is where we really bring the Warriors out, which has become a growing part of our live performances.
05:22Something that just started with someone who was supposed to maybe be a little bit in the background.
05:27And of course, except from Haku Skaldi, where they are completely fronted, has slowly grown into being a very, very
05:33integrated part of everything we do.
05:36And it's a homogenic, is that the right word? Homogenic group within the group?
05:41Yeah, it's a group in a group.
05:43Yeah, yeah, yeah. That works individually, but very much a part of the fellowship.
05:50So the lyrics in Haku Skaldi is the same as Kris Skaldi. Just the same lyrics. Just shouted instead of
05:57song.
05:59And on the album and even the live version, it comes out of the other, right?
06:04And I like to think that this stone from where the lyrics is from is kind of like a preventive
06:12thing you put out, right?
06:14And you shout as loud as you can, you know, maybe to prevent a confrontation, right?
06:19On the album version, that is only Kai singing that, yelling that, you know, and I had to have him
06:25for a whole day in the vocal booth.
06:29Sounds like different people shouting for a whole day, you know, just, I mean, that was quite a session, right?
06:39Like, because he had to, you know, do like, you know, and anything in between, right?
06:46And I think, you know, that was one of the more fun days also, right?
06:52For sure.
06:52To go through stuff like that.
06:54When it was about to go live, for sure.
06:56I mean, then there was this, like, vision of, this, like, acoustic vision of a choir.
07:01Of course, like, I can't go out there and, like, use a looper and shout, like, nine times, then the
07:07song is over, right?
07:09Yeah, we had actually, you know, before Castle Fet, we had a dress rehearsal, basically,
07:13where we made our private little event in a place that Maria worked at, that we have also done other
07:20music videos in and stuff like that.
07:22And we have invited, like, 50 people or something like that.
07:24But at that time, we hadn't assembled the warrior choir yet.
07:29So it was only me and Kai standing, you know, and trying to, and people were supposed to, like, believe,
07:36you know, how this would have become, right?
07:38The two-man army.
07:39Yeah, it was really, it was cool.
07:42But I think the energy there is really important, you know, and it talks to that you can achieve these
07:49bigger ideas and productions with very little means.
07:52Like, also, I had to stand for a day or something, just something like a million spears and I don't
07:58know what, right?
07:59But we, you can do that, you know, just use your imagination and go with it, you know?
08:04I think every album has one song, right?
08:06I produce an album like a song.
08:08So, like, taking a part out would be, like, which part of, I don't know, whatever song is your favorite,
08:14right?
08:16But I do think, I think we should mention Anuana. Anuana is a song that is a bit different compared
08:28to that, for instance, when we go, like, with Tenet, for instance, which we maybe also are going to talk
08:34about.
08:34I don't know, I can't choose.
08:42This is a song where we try to put it down as, okay, how do we make a song that
08:48just works as a song with a relatively open storyline for it?
08:55And even further for that song, how do we put it into a realm with a new film director?
09:03Because up to that point, we would have been making everything ourselves.
09:08And for us to go to a point where we kind of open up creatively and invite new people in
09:16to add to our universe was healthy at the time.
09:20But of course, nerve-breaking also, but also very rewarding in the other end.
09:25It was a beautiful way of the collaboration with the director from Trondheim, who just caught it.
09:37She just caught the energy of the song, at least what it means for me as well, because if we're
09:42singing in a dead language that no one knows the meaning of,
09:45we only know a few key words, lambda warrior, protector of the land, and a few others.
09:51And yeah, the way she interpreted that into being a young child born with the special powers to help her
09:57tribe through a difficult time.
09:59It's just, yeah, it's really moving.
10:01And it's one of my favorite songs.
10:03If I have to choose.
10:04Can you reveal what you think happens with her when she butts the head with the animal?
10:09In the end there?
10:10Oh, well, I think it's so beautiful to hear that it's a lot of different interpretations of that ending.
10:15But for me, I see the energy of the bull and her powers needing to merge to reach the final
10:27state for her to actually help the tribe.
10:30Yeah, so that's the level she needs to level up.
10:33I just think it would be so cool if the animator, the one where it's like from afar where you
10:37just see her go like, you know.
10:43Did you think career-defining?
10:48Oy, that's really, you know, Scythe is great. I think Norubo is great.
10:53Yeah, all of them are great. That's the question.
10:55I think Scythe is career-defining because it marks our entrance into the...
11:00But then again, making a song that plays the same backward and forward.
11:05Okay, Tenet. Yes, of course, Tenet is something we should talk about.
11:08Yeah, because that was very special. That took a fucking long time.
11:11I almost drove him mad with this song because he was listening to the same thing for months, you know,
11:19and it never stopped.
11:28So normally it begins, you know, it always begins with Kai coming with something, right?
11:33That we then have to build a composition around, right?
11:36Here, you know, I think you came in early that morning or something like that.
11:41Yeah, I just wrote it down.
11:42And so I just arrived at my desk and I had my coffee ready to open up everything.
11:47And in front of me, there's a little paper, you know, on top of my keyboard.
11:50And I'm about to type my password.
11:52I'm like, oh, what is this? You know?
11:56And...
11:57What? You know?
11:59What is this?
12:00And Kai's just sitting, you know, drawing, you know, in the corner, you know, like waiting, you know, for the
12:08start to happen, right?
12:09So immediately, this was, of course, amazing.
12:12You have a palindrome that reads the same thing.
12:14And I want to say this is before the movie came out.
12:17We had no idea.
12:18Yes.
12:18Way before.
12:20It was kind of fun, though, it came out doing all that.
12:23But looking at this, you know, like, okay, this is challenging because, you know, how do you represent a piece
12:31of music in four directions?
12:32Right? Like literally.
12:34So first thing is obvious.
12:36It should play the same backward and forward.
12:38You know, that became like the rule.
12:40Not entirely like there's different pieces, but every piece respectively will be playing the same backwards and forward.
12:46But then there's also the movements up and down.
12:50So whenever there is a up moving note, there will be a counter movement, kind of as you see in
12:57classical music and focus and stuff like that.
12:59Long.
13:00Long.
13:01I could go on for hours, so I will keep it short.
13:04Point is, it took two years to make.
13:07And we made our own algorithms based on different types of rune sets, I believe, that could then dictate new
13:15melodies, that could then dictate new lyrics, new languages and everything.
13:21That again, push back to this piece.
13:23Then every block derives directly somehow from that square.
13:28And we also added a couple of smaller Easter eggs there and there.
13:33Some of Kai's personal compositions and stuff like that.
13:38And all in all, that has been a travel.
13:40Also just to get it live has been extremely complicated, right?
13:44Because if something has to sound great going forward in time, how do you also make it sound great the
13:52other way?
13:53Right?
13:53Because often something that works in two directions can maybe kind of, you know, erase each other out and sound
14:01weird.
14:01Right?
14:01Yeah.
14:01And it is a written because of this, but it still have logic behind it.
14:06And it was also nice to, like we also did with Nikal on this album, to open up to other
14:13cultures than Nordic only.
14:16And Roman culture definitely had a big influence at the time.
14:19So, yeah.
14:20For sure.
14:21For sure.
14:22For sure.
14:23For sure.
14:31For sure.
14:31For sure.
14:31For sure.
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