Susperia Interview

Interview
Memnock
Susperia

Lineup:
Tjodalv (Kenneth Åkesson) - Drums
Athera (Pål Mathisen) - Vocals
Cyrus (Terje Andersen) - Guitar
Memnock (Håkon Didriksen) - Bass
Elvorn (Christian Hagen) - Guitar

Susperia Promo Pic

9/29/07
Interviewer: Karma E. Omowale

I’ve been ensnared by Norway’s Susperia blackened rock n’ roll since infected by “Chemistry” (the opening track of Unlimited) back in 2004; I was hooked ever since, guess one would have to be considering this phoner took place at 6:00 AM CST!! But going back to the situation at hand, when the announcement was made that the band would tour here in the States with Edguy, their fans were ecstatic. MANY have impatiently awaited the arrival of Susperia’s longship to dock our shores. Along with hordes of others, we were crushed to learn that the band’s maiden convergence on the States would be postponed indefinitely. How could this be?! To put it mildly, the band was highly disappointed as well! Read on as bassist, Memnock (Håkon Didriksen) shares his side of the story, talks about the band’s new album, Cut From Stone, how downloading has directly affected the band, as well as tackling a host of other topics…

Karma: I have to say that I have been a huge fan since I heard the opening riff to “Chemistry”…

Karma: I along with hosts of others were very disappointed that you were not able to make it over for your first tour with Edguy.

Memnock: You know, it’s all down to the financial thing! For us Norwegians to go over to the Americas it’s so expensive and we were expecting a bit more, hmmm… [searching for the right word] financial, ummm…different pockets, [let’s] put it that way, and they didn’t follow through. Being in a situation where we kind of promised to go on tour but nobody could give us the money to do it, even though they said they would. And you can imagine, we were totally devastated, because this was something we REALLY looked forward to do! But again, this was something we didn’t have any control over. I just have to say I’m sorry about it because like I said, we wanted to go but you know, money is always an object.

Karma: Understood, considering it’s expensive enough for you to record or live in your own country…

Karma: So now we’re talking about five members, plus crew, gear, etc. It would have to be astronomical for you to travel here…let alone try to absorb the majority of the cost yourselves.

Memnock: It is, it is; but that’s the way the music industry works these days. You have to bear in mind that over 60% of record sales have dropped because of downloading and that is in Germany alone, one of the biggest music markets in the world. So the record labels are really going, “Okay, we can record the album, touring on the other hand, we’ll have to see about!” And I got told that we were downloaded over 20,000 times alone the first week of the release of Cut From Stone. So we’re losing a lot of money here! [Scoffs]

Karma: Wow! I’m sorry to hear that. I hope that at some point in time, record sales will pick up for you…

Memnock: …yeah totally but that’s just business now days. This industry has to adapt to the fact that kids nowadays think that music is for free. You know, we will get there eventually because it’s not like people don’t want Susperia, it’s just that they’re used to not paying for it. So we’ll just see what happens in the future. [Said in a very high Norwegian inflection]

Karma: Absolutely! Tough break with Tjodalv’s leg, (no puns intended)! What happened?

Memnock: Yeah, yeah, the drummer broke his leg, it was kind of freaky. He was out, you know, doing his thing just walking around with a couple of boxes of whatever and he just skidded on a lump of ice. It was

springtime, there was just this little lump of ice…

Memnock: Yeah! You have to imagine that it was in a parking lot and he actually managed to step on that single one [patch of ice]! It’s like, how stupid are you? [Laughter ensues] He was like, “Sorry dude, I didn’t see [it]!” He basically broke both bones in his leg.

Memnock: Yeah, oh man, he was devastated because we were going on tour with WASP! When he started off as a kid, he was a big fan of KISS, WASP… you know, all those bands and you know he played in Dimmu Borgir for a few years…

Memnock: …all of those guys were like, “If we ever get to go on tour with WASP, we will be in heaven!” That was Dimmu Borgir back then, you know. Then all of sudden Susperia’s going on tour with WASP and he can’t go!

Memnock: He was like, “Why me?” [Hysterical laughter] Yeah, poor guy! We felt so sorry for him but now he’s back and he’s better than ever. It’s just, you know…it’s just [one of those things].

Karma: Exactly! Speaking of timing, it still floors me to this day every time I read that Peter Tägtgren believed in your project so strongly that he produced Vindication free of charge. How amazing is that!

Memnock: Back then when we released Vindication the music scene back then was, I don’t know, blacky. Everybody was black, black, black, metal and black metal. We all of sudden came out with something that was kind of fresh! It was after the old-school thrash metal Bay Area but still a new breed of thrash metal. And Peter was just like, “Wow, I really like this music and I really believe strongly in you guys! If you want to, I can produce it for free because it’s ME showing YOU just how much I believe in your band!!” And basically Peter is just a very nice guy!

Memnock: We knew him a little bit from previous recordings you know from Tjodalv and Dimmu Borgir and when I played in Old Man’s Child, blaabie, blabie, blaah… nothing more, nothing less, he just believed in the band. That’s cool! [Chuckles]

Karma: Indeed, it is! [In early 2000] you signed a four record deal to Nuclear Blast but you did not ever fulfill that contract, correct?

Memnock: We only released two records on Nuclear Blast, that was the first [Predominance] and the second one [Vindication]. After that, we just basically asked them to let us go because they didn’t believe in Vindication, Peter did!

Memnock: And they just said that we would tend to our own tour, and they would have to see what happens, blah, blah, blah… When a record label do things like that, basically they are just telling you, “Okay, in our opinion, you’re about [as good] as dead [to us]! You will just have to wait”

Memnock: And we were like, “No! This is NOT what we’re about in Susperia!” [Voice heightens with passion and anger, revisiting the experience] We want to tour, we want to be out there and show ourselves. We just basically kind of asked politely and they were just like, “Yeah, sure, no problem, we can let you go! No strings attached no problem!” We were like, “Whoa!” [Laughs] Then we went on to Tabu, you know, and we’re still there! [Snickers]

Memnock: [Pauses] Life is good…but as I said, record companies are struggling. Tabu is not a very big label.

Memnock: In which affects all of the bands if they don’t sell enough records and then you got this evil circle, where it never ends and you just keep on, you know, digging a bigger hole. So to be honest, I don’t know what position Tabu is in right now! If they’re struggling, if they’re building…I don’t know what they’re doing because I am just a musician here and I was told not to say anything bad about any record label. [Laughs]

Karma: How much musical freedom do you have with Tabu? Do you have total creative control over your work?

Memnock: Totally! They never, ever mess about with our music. They totally trust us, ‘cos the way we do it or tend to do it in Susperia, that we meet up in my dungeon way up in the woods and we don’t record, we just create music. If Tabu were to try to mess about with that, that would be like going into a marriage and saying, “Okay, I need now to stand in the middle and see how you work!” NO WAY… [We both laugh] will you try to mess about with our work. When we’re done doing that, then we send them demos and if they go, “Uhh…it’s okay…” Then it’s like, “It’s okay? Tell me what you don’t like.” Then they’ll go, “I don’t like that riff maybe…” Then we will argue, not argue but you know talk amongst ourselves and with Tabu. But mostly, and I mean really mostly, we get what we want. Tabu only sometimes gives us advice, you know, they’re not telling us what to do. They might say, “If you were to do this, that might be cooler.” And if we don’t agree, we don’t agree.

Karma: In the past, much of your lyrical content questions organized religion, Christianity, etc. What is your official stance on religion/Satanism as I have read you are not Satanists yourselves. Are you spiritual at all i.e. believing in a higher power?

Memnock: Definitely! Personally I can speak for myself, I am very much in to Taoism. I am passionately into what some martial artists Jeet Kun Do which was created by Bruce Lee.

Memnock: Bruce Lee was also very spiritual; he had a lot of philosophy in which I strongly believe in. Do whatever you can in life to become a better person, never giving up, never being afraid of challenges. Never turn your back on problems, kind of…and I [am] trying to honestly express myself at all times, which is very hard to do. And that has now, kind of the past five years have become my religion, if you want to call it that. This is what I believe in, this is what I think is important for a human being. When it comes to the other guys, one of the guitar players is an atheist; he don’t believe in nothing except for humankind, humanity, blah, blah, blah. I know that Tjodalv is not a Satanist even though he played in Dimmu Borgir; it’s more like he don’t care! [Chuckles] He lives his life and he’s happy about it. I think I’m the only one that has, kind of a religion.

Karma: I’d like to touch on something you said a bit ago, you said that you have issues expressing yourself. Is it religious expression or are we speaking of something deeper?

Memnock: A little deeper than that, it’s more because I feel in life or humanity nowadays, let’s put it that way tend to wear a big mask which is okay by me but the point is, a lot of people go, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree…” “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do what you do…” “I see what you see…I know what you mean…I know what you feel…” but deep inside of them they’re like, “No, I don’t really believe in what you’re saying but it’s an easier way out.” But I have never believed in the easier way out; I believe in if you say, “I do NOT believe in this!” When you do NOT stand for your points, because I think that’s just wrong!

Memnock: People are afraid of that because it tends to give them a conflict. But a conflict can be positive if it’s done in a way of which you’re not yelling, screaming, just arguing basically. Many people say, “Why are you always telling me this when everybody else agrees?” “Because I don’t agree!” “Yeah, but why can’t you just agree for once?” “But I don’t, sorry!” [Chortles] “Give me a reason to agree!” Then they have to think about their point of view, and if they’re realistic about their own point of view, they might convince me.

Memnock: Yeah, you can’t just come and tell me, “This is what it is, this is how it is, this is what its like! Don’t ask questions!” I go like, “Don’t ask questions? What!” You know what I’m saying?

Karma: I know what you mean! It all boils down to possessing passion, you just can’t go through life not committing, not believing in anything just for the sake of agreeing with another…You can’t go through life being a “yes man” or you shouldn’t be! Just to go along with everyone else and just because they “say so”, then that’s no life at all!

Karma: Okay, now moving back to your music; logically, when creating a song must you stay within certain confines of the “Susperian” standard or do you make music that feels go to you?

Memnock: Well, that is always a tough question because some will say, “Oh, I can hear that typical Susperia, that’s a typical Susperia thing.” But then again, we don’t sit down and think, “Hmmm, how can I make this album sound like the previous album in that way that it’s Susperia-ish?” We don’t that, that is why some of the albums are different but still, you have this redline through them all. So when it comes to Cut From Stone that was a very, very hard process of the band because when we made the album, we had some domestics. We didn’t agree on in which direction to go, we didn’t agree on bass lines, guitar lines, vocal lines, drumming… Everything was a big argument.

Memnock: It was because at that point we were so, hmmm…how to put it without sounding… We were so eager to make a better album than Unlimited because I feel that Unlimited is one of our strongest albums.

Memnock: And Cut From Stone is a very, very, very strong album but still it’s a very big difference between those albums because Cut From Stone is more epic kinda way of making music. A lot of melodic things, a lot of big sounds, like movies, blah, blah, blah… In that process, every single one had a say in it which is hard when you’re five different persons. But at the end of the day, we agreed!

Karma: Naturally, you would have since you released the album. [We both laugh]

Memnock: Well everybody’s happy with Cut From Stone but the process was hard.

Karma: Going a little further with the concept of you saying it was hard to come to terms with the direction as a unit however, your sound has continually progressed throughout your career. With this being your fourth album, you’re continually producing a much more mature sound. Having said that, do you think you have gotten to the point that you have defined the Susperian sound?

Memnock: Definitely! I think that we’ve already made two or three new songs for new album already. We’re hard working persons! [Laughs] I just think that the new album will be in the same regions as all of the albums you have heard so far BUT it won’t be the same. As I said, we will stick now most likely to this way of making music because this is something we feel comfortable about. We have understood, that this is something that people can relate to, they can say, “That’s what Susperia sounds like.” But there might be some songs in which are TOTALLY different, because we felt like it! But basically it will be now, this way of making music. You get what I’m saying?

Karma: Yes, I do. [Hoping they can agree faster next go round though!] What do you attribute to this strong progression as musicians?

Memnock: Uhhh, we’re getting older? [Laughter] I’m 33 now…oops! It all down to being more experienced. We have worked for a longtime together, we’re stronger as a unit, then again that reflects on the music. Also we have been rehearsing, I have been rehearsing a lot by myself, the guitar players [Elvorn & Cyrus] have done their work, our vocalist [Athera] has been working hard with his voice. You know, everybody’s done solo things just working to progress as musicians so then when we meet up… [Shifts gears] Like when Tjodalv broke his leg, he hadn’t rehearsed with the band now for a half a year. And we had our first rehearsal two weeks ago and when he did we’re like, “Uhhh, did you actually break your leg? Or did you lie to us because you’re playing drums like never before!” [Laughs] It was just amazing because he has grown also as a musician; he knows totally what to do in the music because he’s so into Susperia. When you get a new member, we won’t get a new member but if you get a new member, they have to adapt to the way of thinking, the way of playing, the way of feeling, the way of grooving…everything! So does that answer your question? [Chuckles]

Karma: Actually it did! Because you have been a unit for so long, you have been able to gel and adapt to one another. I can totally understand that. What’s most interesting to me about the album is that I detected 80’s “influences” contained in the album. No matter what it is, your music is mysteriously haunting. Riffs, licks, and hooks are always memorable.

Karma: Would you say that there are 80’s influences contained on the album?

Memnock: Of course, I mean since I’m 33 I grew up in the 80’s. [Laughs] I’m getting old, man! [Sighs]

Karma: No, they never shared that with us here in America. They said we never aged past 30!

Karma: Figures, they lie to us about everything else here! [Laughter ensues] Back to interview!

Memnock: [Laughs hysterically] Yes, okay, back to the question… [has hysterics] Okay, I’m trying now! [Laughs again, then composes himself] We grew up with bands like Testament, WASP, Judas Priest, and so on and so forth. And of course, when we were young, we wanted to be like those guys. If you know what I mean!

Memnock: “Whoa, look at them!” and they would give you Headbangers Ball back then!

Memnock: Of course, we’re inspired, it’s almost impossible not to be since we’re playing in the kind of band that we are, a little like thrash metal inspired by Bay Area blah, blah, blah.

Karma: Well asides from the obvious inspiration, I'm hearing more obscure music like The Mission [alla “Serpent’s Kiss” in “Distant Memory”] as well as some Cult, now it very well could just be my ears and my ears alone.

Memnock: [Shocked] Really? This is the first time I’ve ever heard that. Cool! [We both laugh] I mean yeah, that’s a good compliment!

Karma: Who and or what served as the biggest influence over the creation of this album?

Memnock: Wow! That’s a tough one! [Pauses] Wow! What to answer. You got me there! [We both laugh]

Memnock: Man, you know I’m not used to people getting me to shut up! [Laughs hysterically] I never do that, I talk for hours! [Chuckles] The main influence for the music and the overall package?

Memnock: We just love music! It’s not like one song was inspired by the devil or the other by god, you know.

Karma: The cover of the album entails many pictures of you guys, denoting the many layers of the album itself…is there a corollary? Was it intentionally meant as such?

Memnock: Well we wanted first of all since we called the album Cut From Stone we wanted the whole CD cover to look like it was stone. In Norway, we have this park [Vigelandsparken] where we have statues that are merged in together, they look like kinda that picture on the front [cover]. We just had a [idea] let’s make something look like a statue because if it’s cut from stone, that could be a statue. And a statue is something that stays for years, and years, and years!

Memnock: So that was the basic idea, this is our statement; we are here to stay as a band! This is our forth album; we won’t let anybody, you know sweep our feets away and say “Sorry, as a band you’re crap!” “Go away; leave the scene for somebody else!” No, that’s not happening! We also got told when we started out, “Oh, it’s a new project or side project!” bullshit, we have said from the beginning, this is not a project! The members in the band will stay the same for all albums that we will release. If someone quits in this band, then I think Susperia will quit!

Memnock: This is how hard we feel or how close we are in this band. Because this band, they are my brothers. [Voice elevates] That was a big cliché, oh my god! [Laughs] Anyway, that’s not very metal…

Karma: …but you know what, it’s how you feel period. That’s a wonderful thing!

Memnock: It is! But that is how strongly we feel about this band so, we feel now like we are cut from stone; we’re here to stay. If it comes for a while, we’ll still release albums. Knock on wood somebody should get so sick that they couldn’t ever tour or whatever again. We would still make him write lyrics or play…I don’t know, whatever. [Frustration fills his voice] [Sighs] But to change members, you know permanently, that is NOT what we want to do.

Karma: There you go. Are there any songs off the new album that you fear you would not be able to perform live?

Memnock: New songs? No, we never make music that we can’t perform live because that is too cheesy! [Laughs]

Karma: [Laughs] I hear you. Speaking of hearing, it’s nice to hear the punishing sounds of your bass especially on “Release”!

Karma: But it just seems to be buried in the rest of the album as it’s not much of a driving force as in Unlimited or is it just my ears?

Memnock: Well uh, it should basically…it’s the bass line. [We both laugh] Ah yes, sorry!

Memnock: I try to make it as much as you know that is pulling the music like they should do. Not to talk, and again, I try not to say anything bad about anybody BUT somebody did the mix on bass and I wasn’t there.

Memnock: Which is never good! And I feel like I would have loved the bass to be right in your face kind of and drag the music more. This is not what happened and okay, I’m gonna kick some ass, because I’m a martial artist!

Karma: [Laughs] Well I guess you also know going forward to prevent having to kick ass, you will be there for the mix next go round. It’s all a learning process.

Karma: What was the most difficult song for you to write/construct off the album, and why?

Memnock: “Distant Memory,” it’s a reason why that song is so difficult. It’s because “Distant Memory” again, Pål, our vocalist Athera, had just broken up with his girlfriend and he was so heartbroken. I never, ever, seen one of my friends so heartbroken before. And when he started to write the lyrics for this song, we just felt like, okay, we had to give him music that would justify that kind of a lyric.

Memnock: Yeah, you know, that’s the way we work. When we started off, first of all we had a couple of riffs and we were like, “No, no, no! This is not even close to what I was feeling…” blah, blah, blah, and then we did the process again… This is why we had this arguing back and forth. “No, no, no this just does NOT justify what I’m feeling!” So “Distant Memory” was definitely one of the toughest ones.

Karma: Can I share my favorite song with you? It’s “Distant Memory” . I remember when I first head the song it truly touched me almost to the point of tears as it’s filled with emotion, longing and pain. The way Pål sings the song and now understanding the backlog, it all fits together like pieces in a puzzle.

Memnock: Exactly, that’s good. Then he had done his work and we have done our work, kind of. Cool, thank you.

Memnock: That’s is the biggest compliment one can get from any person actually. Thank you very much!

Karma: No, thank you very much! So now what’s your favorite song off the album?

Memnock: I love “More,” I love “Brother,”…I have several favorites actually. Of course, “Release”, I like “Under”

Memnock: Cool! It is, “Brother” is a good song! It is, we were talking about making a video for that one because it could be a good story. Have you seen that series, what’s it called Brotherhood or something?

Memnock: It’s about three brothers going off to war, or however many there were. I don’t know! [Laughs] But that is the story.

Karma: Considering that song is quite politically charged, is it based on a fictional story or is it loosely based on more current affairs?

Memnock: We try not to get in too much involved in politics because then people will say you believe in this or you believe in that… But it might be because when Pål writes a lyric, he can be inspired by what he’s watching on TV or what he’s reading in the newspaper but he hasn’t actually hasn’t said this is about this kind of a war or that kind or whatever. It’s just that this story is about a brother who’s killing another brother in war. So I don’t know, maybe.

Karma: Switching gears a bit, what’s the one thing that people wouldn’t know about you that you wouldn’t mind sharing?

Memnock: Ummm, that we do not sleep in coffins and drink blood? [Laughs hysterically] Actually, I got asked that question once.

Memnock: Yeah, of course I said yes! [Laughs] I don’t know, we’re a couple of guys that likes to have a beer and party on…but I guess that’s something that all of the metal dudes like to do so…

Memnock: [Chuckles] See, if you would have asked me some other kind of questions, I could have answered them! [We both laugh]

Karma: Are there any misconceptions about the band that you’d care to debunk at this time?

Memnock: Well we do NOT try to sound like Testament! Ev Susperia Promo Pix

erybody keeps telling us, “Oh you’re so great, you sound like Testament!” “You always try to copy Testament!” It’s like, “NO, we do not!”

Karma: Well if it makes you feel any better I do not hear where you’re copying them! So…

Karma: Okay, here’s a good question you can answer straightaway, who are you listening to these days? What type of music catches your ear?

Memnock: I’m a very big fan of Death actually so when I’m working out, I’m listening to Death and also I'm listening a lot to… I play in another band called Black Comedy, which will release their album soon.

Memnock: It’s a mixture between Meshuggah, Fear Factory, whatever kind of… and I really like that kind of music. And I now listen a lot to, now don’t fall off your chair, Heart!

Memnock: [Laughs sheepishly] Really! I listen to Heart. I love that voice, it’s so beautiful.

Karma: Nah, it just shows you have some diversity so that’s always a good thing! You can’t always listen to same stuff, you need to cleanse your palate every now and again!

Karma: Knowing you had done a cover of A-ha’s “Sun Always Shines on TV” [and Death’s “Lack of Comprehension”] now it’s your turn. If you could commission a band/musician to cover a Susperia tune, who would do it and which song would it be?

Memnock: Uh, I would like Testament to… [Laughs] How about Dimmu Borgir doing a cover song of us and I think they should try to play “Cut From Stone” because that is one of the songs that we feel like is the most epic. And if Dimmu Borgir wants to do it, I am a very, very good friend of Mustis the synth player. And when he’s doing something, it was just for fun one day, putting on some keys on actually “Cut From Stone” and it sounded absolutely fantastic!

Memnock: He had strings, he had choir, he had piano…I was like, “WOW!” So yeah, that’s definitely the one. If they were to do a cover of that song, with Vortex on vocals. Wow!

Karma: What does the future hold for Susperia? When can we expect to see you here in the States?

Memnock: Next year, we are working on it now! We’re even almost willing to sale our houses and do whatever we can to get over there because now is the time definitely! And our management and everybody are now working so hard to make it happen. Hopefully April/May of next year.

Karma: Well that’s good news indeed! Any final comments or special message for our readership?

Memnock: [Drops voice] Stay metal! [Laughs] Well, check out our album and you know, enjoy!

Karma: I as well as the rest of your American fans look forward to seeing you here in the States SOON. Takk, takk!

Thanks to Memnock for allowing me to capture this moment in time as well to his camp for making it a possibility! Here’s to hoping the black clouds have passed by and to a long and illustrious career!!