ELITE (Interview April 2007)
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| With "Bifrost", Elite has released a masterpiece of Viking Black Metal last year. Thanks to the quality of its compositions the band could be the future leader of the new Norwegian Black Metal scene! I wanted to know more about this excellent band and I asked Bent (vocals) to answer my questions. First of all, thanks for accepting to answer this interview! Oh, and Vinteress told me to say you a big hello! He he… Hello there! And thank you for giving us the opportunity to answer. Let’s start with the European tour you have done together with Kampfar! How was it? Which feedback have you received during the shows? Which audience showed you the biggest interest? First of all I have to say that we couldn’t get greater guys going on tour with. Not only the guys from Kampfar, but also the arrangers of the tour – Jose and Nuno. This was our first tour with a nightliner, and will never do another one without. He he… We ate, drank, carried gear, ate, drank some more, played our show and slept. And that’s how the days went. We also had a day off in
“Bifrost” is already released since one year! Which memories do you keep of this past year? I will not forget our time in the studio. Working with a professional sound engineer was very interesting, and he really understood what kind of sound we where after. Since we released our album we have been on two tours. One with “Total hate”, “Insignium” and “Blodsrit”. That was kind of a low budget tour, and the comfort wasn’t that good, but we had a great time. We also got to see some real live porn with a fat guy and a whore at a pizza restaurant somewhere in a shitholetown of . That was bizarre. And totally unexpected, but very interesting.They eventually got arrested after one and a half hours. Hilarious..! I’m really impressed by the quality and the maturity of “Bifrost” for quite a young band! Are you aware that you have released a great album and that you could be considered as one of the best reference in the new Norwegian Black Metal generation? We didn’t quite expect that, but we knew that we made a good album, even thou we weren’t quite satisfied with all of the music. Elite is a somewhat a young band, but all of us have been musicians for quite some time. We have also been into metal since we where kids. Another thing is that we are quite dedicated and none of us are into drugs and other kind of shit that may mess up things for us. We all have real jobs and so on. Exept for Per… He mostly sit at home rehearsing on his guitar he he. We are really happy to have him with us, he is really good. Another thing is that we have known each other since the dawn of our life. Except our bass player. He is the youngest member, and took over the bass when TAF left to live in the states. To create a band like this have been a dream come true for us, so I think we will continue for quite some time. "Bifrost” is your best effort so far and I congratulate you for the quality of your compositions! Will the next album be in the continuation of its predecessor? I don’t want to say much about our next album. Only that the next one will be even better than bifrost. We are putting a lot of effort into this one.He he!
Ok, let’s go back to the past! What push you to choose Elite as a band name? This name can sound pretentious for some people! What represent it to you? The word Elite pops up everywhere when it comes to metal. I think TAF and Torgeir were drunk, and in lack of something to do at their spare time, they found out that they wanted to start a band. Elite wasn’t really meant to become a known band in the first place. But after a while things evolved and we just got stuck to the name. Now we think the name has helped us putting more effort into the music, and maybe one day it will make us become the elite. There are many things linked to our cultural past and so on that also make the word Elite ring a bit better in my ears! You haven’t released any demos, just 2 splits (with Carbon and Seeds of hate). Usually bands find a deal thanks to their first or two first demos. So how have you managed to find a deal with Agonia without any demos? You surely sent at least one rehearsal to the label, no? No. TAF and Torgeir used to travel a lot around In hindsight, what do you think of your 2 first releases (2 splits)? They where alright. Despite the fact that Phillip from agonia is a lying asshole, he helped us get our brand out in the world. Anyway I never listen to them and have never heard anything about them so let' s just forget about that shit. Ha ha In the end of 2004, was released “Kampen”! As a musician, I think this album will always remain special to you as its your first one! How people have reacted to it? People thought it was ok. I mean all of them at least liked the first song “Berserkerens manifest”. A lot of the die hard old school fans loved it. But for us it was just something we did just for the sake of doing it. If we haven’t got all the great feedback that we did, we probably wouldn’t continue as a band making albums and going on tours. No need to talk about the Polish rip-off Agonia as everybody knows (or should know) his practices. Then you have signed with No Colours Records, how did you enter in contact with them? What do you think about their catalogue? Your favourite bands signed on it? As I said… TAF and Torgeir used to travel a lot. So we always knew about NC. When Agonia ripped us of we took contact with Steffen of NC and he agreed to release Bifrost. He is a really cool guy, but after our responses to that album we figured that maybe it was time for us to move on to something bigger. We want to play more live and make better albums. Unfortunately we need a bigger label to do so. But thumbs up for NC! He has helped us a lot!
In 2005, you have released Bekmort, a mini CD of 4 songs. Is this release was a way to show that you were on a new label or you already planned to unleash this mini CD? Did you already have “Bifrost” in your minds? Bekmørkt was a way for us to say goodbye to TAF as he moved away. And because we just changed our label it probably got to be a way of saying that we are here now. Not there…He he Is there a link between each of your releases? No. I cant say so. After this interlude in the past, let’s talk again about present! You have ended-up your collaboration with No Colours Records, what happened? Aren’t you satisfied with their work? We are satisfied, but as I said, we want to get our heads above the underground and move on. As you're currently searching for a new deal, what would be the perfect one? We are not sure about that. But we want a label that will take us seriously and help us do the things we want to do. It is not hard to get a record deal, but it' s hard to be a priority of the bigger labels. So we will just have to wait and see. You have stated in your biography that Elite is not a political band! Have you heard lots of things about you? Don’t you think that your name can be perceived in a wrong way by some people? What do you think about the NSBM movement? The NSBM movement is a joke. Always have been and always will be. Talking about the anti human, anti life movement…That is true, but some stupid shitheads got it wrong and thought this had somethings to do with being a neo-nazi or whatever. When you don’t care about politics and just want to spread chaos. What better way to do it than painting a swastika on your chest in You made another statement, as you’re not playing Black Metal but only Extreme Metal! Can you develop this? Hm…As we stated on our page, we believe black metal as we know it is one type of metal played in a certain way and have satanic or occult lyrics. We don’t have any of those type of lyrics. Even though our music is influenced a lot by black metal, we still are influenced by a lot of other types of metal that is loud and fast! Ok, the traditional question in Celtmik Metal Zine: your five favourite bands and your five favourite albums. He he! Burzum- Hvis lyset tar oss Current 93- All the pretty little horsies Slayer- Seasons in the abyss Judas priest- Painkiller Satyricon- Nemesis divina What can we wish to Elite in the future? Hope that spring will arrive before winter is here again. Depressing and cold up here!And try to make our fjords turn into free beer! Thanks very much again and if you have something else to add… Stay pagan!!! MIKAEL
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