Karma: Well being in Norway one can pretty much expect that.

Oddleif: Yeah, but we don’t have polar bears running around on the back yard! [Laughter ensues] It’s not that bad!

Karma: Being “veterans in the metal scene in Norway”, how does it feel to have relatively little commercial exposure outside Europe? I am sure your name will get out there more with the new album [Waves of Decay].

Oddleif: Of course, we want to reach as many people as possible but it has been pretty difficult to be a band like us here in Norway because in Norway, everyone’s actually expecting bands to play black metal. It’s kind of difficult to get a big name for yourself in Norway playing this kind of music. It’s actually easier to get down to Germany and in Europe and also in America than it is here. So, we will just have to see, we’ll have to take it step by step. First of all, we are doing this for the love of it and for the love of playing heavy metal so we will just have to see how far it will take us.

Karma: That’s awesome to hear. What have been the biggest lesson learned thus far after releasing two albums? Which lesson will you not repeat again?

Oddleif: Well there’s a lot of lessons that you’ll learn during the way especially that you need to be 100% prepared before going into studio so that you don’t lose a lot of time trying to figure out what you need to do in the studio. I think that we managed to correct that this time on the second album. Also, when you are touring, there’s a lot of things going on that you [chuckles] need to learn your way around. So far, most of the experiences we have had have been positive. So far, we haven’t noticed a big setback or something like that. It will probably come at some time soon… [laughs] I don’t know.

Karma: Understood, well I wanted to let you know I love the new album, it’s truly outstanding!

Oddleif: Oh thank you!

Karma: There so much that is contained in each and every individual song. I read that Nevermore was an influence of yours, I heard it a lot in the first album as it’s nowhere near as prevalent in Waves…

Oddleif: …Well I think Nevermore is probably one of the smallest influences that we actually have but people try to name it because of the way I'm singing and how the vocal is. But the influences that we have in the songwriting I think is pretty much different from that. I know that people that try to review the album or try to explain the kind of music that we play tend to compare us to Nevermore, but that's just the way it is. Especially we feel that we have our own style and maybe it was more prevalent on the first album but hopefully after people have heard this new album and maybe the next, people will see that it sounds like Communic and not anybody else. We need to be compared to other bands so that people know what it's all about. And then I think Nevermore is the easiest way to explain what we're doing. Personally, I don't think it's that similar.

Karma: You spoke of other influences, who are some of them?

Oddleif: That's pretty difficult to say because we are three people in the band and everyone in the band is listening to different kinds of music. My own influences is the early thrash metal from well, I think it's the early American thrash metal that influences me the most like the early Megadeth, Testament and Metallica, stuff like that. Metal Church and that good old thrash metal from the early 90's that's my biggest influences. [Laughs] And also the progressive metal like Fates Warning and Queensrÿche and stuff like that have influenced me as a musician. But then you have Eric, the bass player, he's more into Rush, Manowar, Black Sabbath and Dio. And then you have our drummer [Tor] he's the youngest one of us. He's twenty-six and he's more into modern style like Pantera, Chimaira, and even death metal and stuff like that. When we are making music it's kind of all of the different styles that we have, we try to incorporate it to make our own sound. It's pretty difficult to say if there's one influence that you could put into the band, I think it's much more than that.

Karma: From what it sounds like, it’s better to have different influences coming from different members in the band.

Oddleif: I think it’s a good thing because then you can take all of these different kind of influences into the music and I am the one in the band that actually makes the songs but I don’t tell the other guys what to play; they have to figure it out in their own way. When I'm presenting the idea for a new song, they have to come up with the bass and the drum part for themselves. Then it's good to have some other influences that I would have maybe have come up with. Because when you combine all this kind of different stuff, it tends to get even better. I think it's good to have it diverse and combined but I think it also makes it more difficult to get everyone happy with the results. We need to work more to find that everybody, actually, is happy with it.

Karma: So now the next question is are you happy with the album?

Oddleif: I'm really happy with it! [Laughs] Looking back now, I don't think there's much that I would want to change but of course, we as musicians that have worked with the album for a long time, of course we hear something we maybe think we could have done better or stuff like that. All in all, I think it turned out as a really great album.

Karma: Yes, it is an awesome album! Now as far as the timing's concerned, your songs are rather lengthy. [Laughs] Is it something done consciously or…

Oddleif: Yeah, the songs have turned out long; it is actually [pauses] we don't try to make them long. It's just that when we’re creating the songs, we get all these different kinds of ideas, [voice amplifies] "oh we have to use this"! And then we make something new, "Oh we have to put that in as well" and in the end, it's just a long song that actual doesn't feel like it's that long.

Karma: You have a point.

Oddleif: Hopefully, people won't feel that way themselves when they are listening to it, because for us when we were are playing the songs it actually feels like three or four minutes or so. [Laughs] We feel that the song is flowing in a natural way. I can't see myself going, "Hey, we have to stop the song because now it's four minutes". So we have to make the songs complete until we can end it and also we tend to have quite long lyrics so we need long songs to get everything in there.

Karma: Speaking of your lyrics, what do you draw from when you are creating them?

Oddleif: I often find myself influenced by the television and just watching something without extra thinking about what I'm watching. A lot of my influences on this album like lyric wise is coming from how I see the media work these days and how humans [chuckles] are influenced by the media and how the media work. I think it's pretty inspiring what’s going on and how the media works; how people actually believe everything, they see on the media. Everybody's more concerned about what kind of superstar is dating who, [we both laugh] instead of watching what's going on in the world today.

Karma: Must be very interesting seeing the media as a double edged-sword, from both sides of the spectrum as being a bad thing and a good thing…it's also a good thing as in exposure for your band. [Chuckles]

Oddleif: Yeah sure, we need the media! [Laughs]

Karma: In this case it's like a three-fold thing, you too are the media considering you are propagating…in a sense.

Oddleif: There's so much manipulation, there is so much corruption, how can you actually believe everything that's said?

Karma: Oh, I understand that completely, as you shouldn't!

Oddleif: Because what people see on the news or on the television, that's what they believe and what you are writing, that's what people believe.

Karma: True.

Oddleif: So that's the power of the media. Pretty inspiring, don't you think?

Karma: Definitely! So as far as the production of the album you used Jacob Hansen [Illdisposed, Raunchy, Mercenary] again…

Oddleif: …we recorded it in the same studio [Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark] as the first time so it was pretty much the same kind of recording, in the style that we used the first time because we were so happy with the recording and the sound production, so there was no big need for changing producers or studios.

Karma: Do you have a favorite song off Waves of Decay and why?

Oddleif: Oh…it's pretty difficult to pick one but uhm…I have [laughs]…it's difficult. I think it changes from day to day but I think "Watching It All Disappear" is a pretty cool song that actually is good in explaining what kind of music that we are doing. Going from quiet mellow parts (soft parts) to, into quite aggressive parts in the middle and then in the end breaking it all down again, and that's something that we like to do. That song explains what we are about but there's a lot of good songs on the album. I actually like every song on the album especially "Frozen Asleep In the Park" is a really good song and "Fooled By the Serpent"…so it's pretty hard to pick a favorite.

Karma: "Watching It All Disappear" really does encapsulate every element you possess…it is a beautiful song. It really highlights your best.

Oddleif: Yeah, it's a song that if people are wondering what we are playing that's a good song to put on because then you get it all I think.

Karma: Definitely! As far as the cover art [done by Anthony Clarkson] is concerned, it truly speaks volumes, as it really represents the album very well. How much involvement did you have in the creation of it?

Oddleif: He got the lyrics and had to make something out of it. He also got a small idea we had, what the artwork should contain and stuff like that. He got the lyrics and our idea for the artwork and he just made it so much better [laughs] He did an amazing job with it so we are really happy with it.

Oddleif: Yeah, it's cool to see people take their own ideas out of it and make something new about it but that you can actually see yourself, "Yeah, this is what it's all about!"

Karma: Well on a personal note, I have a couple of quick personal questions for you.

Oddleif: Okay.

Karma: If not music then what?

Oddleif: Probably more working! [Laughs]

Karma: So what do you do?

Oddleif: I run my own company. I have a graphic design artwork company. If I didn't play music, I would probably just work more and I would hate that!

Karma: Now what do Tor and Erik do?

Oddleif: Erik doesn't work at the moment and Tor, he's a mechanic and he works at an automobile workshop or whatever it's called. So we still need our daytime jobs and stuff like that. It's a pretty expensive country to live in; you need to get your money in some places. You have to work. [We both laugh] That's a good thing because I can't actually see myself not working because I like to wake up early in the morning and go to work and then when you're done with work, you can get home and concentrate on other things.

Karma: And with that mindset it leaves you without worrying about other things when you have steady employment.

Oddleif: Yup, that's true.

Karma: I cannot live without the following…

Oddleif: That would be my family, everyone around me, so that's pretty much important. Oh, and my guitar. [We both laugh]

Karma: Naturally.

Oddleif: But you can always get new guitars, you can't get a new family.

Karma: Yes, this is very true. Spiritual or religious?

Oddleif: Uhmm…I've been grown up in a religious home but I don't see myself as religious…well not spiritual either. I think that believing in yourself is a good start.

Karma: That is key. As far as the afterlife, do you believe in it?

Oddleif: I actually don't know what to believe. I think nobody knows actually and I don't have an answer for it. I actually don't know. But I hope that you just kind of…falling asleep I think and never waking up again, but I don't actually know. [Laughs] I try not to think about it too much.

Karma: Fair enough. Whom are you listening to these days? What's in you CD player these days?

Oddleif: Uhmm…actually I don't know! [Chuckles]

Karma: Okay! [Laughs]

Karma: Okay, well who is your favorite underground band?

Oddleif: There's a pretty cool band I actually noticed on the internet called Betrayal. I think that was pretty cool; it was kind of in the vein of old Megadeth. I think that was a pretty cool band; I downloaded all of their demo songs from the internet ad the name was Betrayal.

Karma: Where are they from?

Oddleif: America I think.

Karma: Here's a couple of role reversal questions. If you could commission another band to cover a Communic song, whom would do it and which song would you choose.

Oddleif: Oh, eh… [laughs] that's pretty difficult. Any band that could cover one of our songs?

Karma: Yes.

Oddleif: Maybe Fates Warning and that would have been cool to hear them play "They Feed on Our Fear" off the first album.

Karma: Ahhh, interesting choice, that would be pretty cool to hear that. [We both chuckle]

Oddleif: Yeah, it would be pretty cool but I don't think we'll see that happening!

Karma: I don't one can never tell about these things, Oddleif! If you could interview a band or an artist, who would you interview and what would be one thing you'd like to know about them?

Oddleif: Well it would have been cool to interview Warrel Dane may be and I can ask him about all those things that people say I am comparable to him, so I have some questions for him about that.

Karma: Okay. There you go. And here's the last role reversals question, do you have any questions for me?

Oddleif: Yeah…uhm… [Pauses while making thinking noises] [We both laugh] You're a writer; do you write for your own purposes?

Karma: Yes I do.

Oddleif: Do you earn money for it?

Karma: It's for my own personal love and no, I do not earn money for it.

Oddleif: Cool!

Karma: I guess it's just like from a musician's standpoint.

Oddleif: [Laughs heartily] Exactly!

Karma: It's all for the love of it. Well it's a great payoff, I get a chance to geek out with the bands I love and talk to them about their craft.

Oddleif: That's cool to hear, that's the way it should be!

Karma: Peering into the crystal ball, what can we expect from Communic in the future?

Oddleif: Well, I'm not that good in foretelling the future but what I know is that we are gonna do some pretty cool festivals in the summer, and then in the winter time we are working on first doing a tour and then a bigger tour.

Karma: That's awesome!

Oddleif: So hopefully we can get down to America as well.

Karma: I'm counting on it!

Oddleif: And find some big millionaire that will pay for the tickets! [We both laugh]

Karma: Like I said before, stranger things…But just in case, we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Oddleif: [Chuckles] Then we will just continue to write new music and hopefully will be able to record another album again in not too long time. We'll have to see how much touring we get going and how much occupied we will be. But hopefully we can get another album out not that far in the future. But right now we are focusing on getting out there and playing live and meet up with the audience and try to expose or get exposure for the band on festivals and playing live as much as possible.

Karma: Are there any special messages you have for your fans?

Oddleif: Well hopefully we can get out there and meet the fans we have managed to get in a live situation and that's what it's all about, playing live.

Karma: There you go! Thank you very much Oddleif, I appreciate the interview.