First let's investigate the differences between „Det Vilde Kor“ and its predecessor.
In an interview the audience was told that Lumsk were quite interested in crossing musical boundaries. With „Det Vilde Kor,“ did you already cross the border between Metal and pure Folk (heading to the Folk side) as the outcome of some kind of maturation? To me it seems as if the Metallic parts have become rather progressive, especially referring to the guitar work. But still the 70s Prog-Rock influence is recognizable. Did this just happen by chance or was it an intended shift of your musical focus?
I think this change has happened gradually, and it’s the result of a natural process. I don’t think we ever intended to change in this or that direction. Perhaps some of the reason might be the fact that we have done three quite different albums thematically. The difference between “Åsmund”, “Troll” and now “Det Vilde Kor” is quite big. But I think we, both as a band and as individuals, are interested in developing, and therefore every album will be the natural development from the last one. If that means developing into more Folk, more Metal or more Progressive Rock is impossible to foretell, and we don’t want to have total control of what we are doing. In my opinion some creative spontaneity has to be present to make it interesting. And I hope our listeners appreciate this too. When that is said natural development doesn’t necessarily mean that we move away from Metal to something else, it’s just what feels right in the heat of the moment. Who knows… Perhaps it’s impossible to please everyone? We think so, and the way to deal with that is to please ourselves first. If we are satisfied with the music we make, I’m sure that’s a sign of quality. There are quite different musical backgrounds and tastes in this band.
The changes between the first and the second album often were connected with the fact that Bjornar had left the band and that Espen G took over the songwriting task. Is Espen G still the main songwriter and how can the development between „Troll“ and „Det Vilde Kor“ be related to that?
On this album I am still the main songwriter, and I guess you could say that the development can be explained in relation to that. As I said, we learn a lot in the process of making every album, right from the very first note in the writing process until the final mastering of the album. And I think this development includes the song writing too. It’s quite funny, every time we make a new album we tend to think it’s our best so far, but in the minute it’s been released it tends to get quite uninteresting, and I just can’t wait to be doing the next album, doing it a lot better than the last one. I think this is one of the things that make it so interesting writing music and playing in a band, the process is perhaps 80 percent of the fun. I guess there will be those disagreeing with me, also in Lumsk, but nevertheless, that’s my personal opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I love playing live and everything, but I still tend to like the creative process a bit more.
Are the roles in Lumsk fixed so that all the seven members know their responsibilities and how much room is there for individual creativity in a band of that size? Do too many cooks spoil the broth?
That’s a good question, but it’s hard to give a good answer to it. We don’t have a written agreement so to say, clarifying our role in the band, hehe. That would perhaps have been comfortable, but I think it would be a step in the wrong direction. At least we try to do this as a band, and that means everyone can say anything they like about everything. Of course that makes it difficult sometimes, and there are some battles of course, but I think as long as everyone stay focused we manage to get to some sort of agreement, and that agreement is hopefully for the better in the end. Everyone can’t be creative all the time. That would of course spoil the broth as you say. But I think we manage to give each other constructive feedback (most of the times), and I think that this process has worked so far, and I don’t see why it will work in the future. (There is perhaps a little hitch to this way of doing things. And the result of that might be the rather unsteady line-up we have had throughout the years.)
Personally, I think there's quite some improvement in Stine Mari's voice (once again); she seems to cover more space on the recent album than she did in 2005 and especially in the „Svend Herlufsens Ord“ episodes there are vocal movements that were absent on previous albums. Is all this a result of her maturation as a vocalist or is this maturation the result of the fact that she got more emphasis and exposure by the songwriting, thereby having the chance to get more training?
I totally agree with you, and I think it’s a combination of several things. Of course Stine has matured and developed as a vocalist since she first joined the band. And this time she uses several different techniques, which might make it more interesting. I think so. But just as important, I think we know each other a lot better now, compared to “Troll”, and I think this time the music is written to fit Stine’s voice. So it’s definitely a combination of her own development as a vocalist and our development as Lumsk. And this time there is a lot more focus on the lyrics, and therefore on the vocals, so of course, that might be a part of the explanation too.
On „Troll,“ the lyrics came from the Norwegian writer Birger Sivertsen. On „Det Vilde Kor,“ you used material from Knut Hamsun. I read a review where someone wrote that this might probably be due to Lumsk's lazyness to write their own lyrics and that using stuff that other people have already written was far more convenient than writing on one's own. Can you comment on that?
I don’t really know what to comment on that one. There’s definitely not any truth in it. One important reason for this is quite obvious (to me it is), we are musicians, and we write and play music, and as long as none of us have any poetic talents, we will continue using great lyrics written by others. If we just were to write bad lyrics ourselves I don’t see any point in having lyrics at all. But you never know, perhaps some day one of us shows up at rehearsal with a nice little piece of lyric. Until that day, we concentrate on what we’re best at: writing music!
Do you first write the music and then search for suitable lyrics afterwards or do you rather set selected lyrics into music?
I think there might be a little bit of both, but for most of the songs on “Det Vilde Kor” the lyrics came first and the music thereafter.
Did you ever do it the other way around?
Our first album, “Åsmund”, was kind of the opposite way of doing it. We had one hundred percent focus on the music, and the lyrics were fitted into the songs in the latter stages of the writing process. And I can’t say this or that way of doing it is better than the other. It’s very interesting to do it both ways, but in my opinion the result is better if we have focus on the melodic aspect, and that is easier if you take the rhythm and sort of emotional content of the lyrics into consideration. But it’s just a matter of personal opinion.
Once, someone from the band said, Lumsk wanted the best lyrics, not just the second best. However, all the lyrics come in Norsk (which I think is great). It is obvious that singing in English, for example, would detruncate and clip the lyrical content. But doesn't this limit your audience to a certain sort of people – either Norwegians or those enthusiastic enough to dig into your very interesting and more than often somewhat noble language?
First of all, thank you. Perhaps you’re right when you say that singing in our native language limits the marked for Lumsk, and we are aware of that. But I’m not really sure if that matters to me. Of course it does in some way, I would like to sell more records, but not at the expense of our integrity or whatever you should call it. I think that would have been unfair in someway, if we suddenly were to focus on selling records instead of whatever we are doing. Right now I think it’s important to us (at least me) to sing in our native language; there are too few who do! I’m very appreciative for the interest and dedication shown in us, especially from abroad. I think this proves the point; you don’t necessarily have to sing in English to be interesting for the foreign market, if that were to be the main reason for doing it. In my opinion there is one thing that counts; Honesty. Honesty comes first! No matter what! So, to sum up; if Lumsk by singing in Norwegian only attracts enthusiastic and dedicated listeners, what’s wrong with that? Actually, we should feel honoured, and we do!
If you dealt with more general topics less bound to Norsk culture, would you consider doing this in English then?
Never say never a clever one once said, but the topic would have to be very, very interesting if we were to sing in English. So, any suggestions are welcome. Perhaps one interesting theme could have been traces of Norwegian culture and Norwegian influences in English literature, but I don’t know. I really have no idea.
Was the popularity you gained through By:Larm somewhat enduring or was it rather as with those dozens of casting-“starlets“ many countries all over Europe are faced with these days?
I think the By:larm scholarship we won right before the release of “Troll” helped us a lot in promoting both that record and Lumsk as a band, and of course we feel we deserved it. It’s hard to say what impact it has had, but in terms of attention it was of great help. When that is said we never felt our popularity increased to unnatural heights because of it. Still, people are interested in Lumsk because of the music we make, not the By:Larm scholarship or whatever. Perhaps By:Larm has made Lumsk a band impossible to overlook so to say. You know, when we released “Det Vilde Kor” I think there were over 100 releases in Norway at the same time, competing for reviews and attention. But as I said, it’s impossible to say to what extent By:Larm is responsible for this. We have always worked hard, and we will continue to work hard. Whatever happens around us is either bonus or bad luck, as we like to call it. Of course we are very appreciative of all that have happened, we always will be, but I think everything have been and will be the result of focused and hard work.
Once Ketil told an interviewer, Lumsk had been given the opportunity to play in places you had never been before and that even people without a background in Metal were open to your music. What were the most interesting places for you to play up to now and how do you get to know that non-Metallers listen to your music – did you play concerts that were somehow different to the ordinary gig as we know it?
Oh, it’s hard to rate our concerts. We have been fortunate enough to have played from the very north of Norway to South Germany, and a lot of places in between. And I can remember a lot of those concerts as milestones so to say, whether it has been Metal festivals or food festivals (!). I remember we had a great time at Inferno some years ago, Sweden Rock Festival stands out and Summer Breeze was good. But we’ve also had a great time in Denmark, every time we’ve played there. Perhaps the strangest gigs have been here in Norway, but it’s hard to pick one out. It’s really great to play festival with a diverse audience. And a lot of people without any Metal or Hard Rock background are very surprised when they see us and like us. But in the end I think good feedback and positive interest shown in us is very satisfying, no matter who or where it comes from.
Isn't it difficult to present the new material on stage without losing the audience's interest? I mean, if you visit a Lumsk concert it is not a good idea to expect the opportunity for some headbanging and the like...
A musical colleague here in Trondheim once said that you shouldn’t give the audience what they want or expect. You should give them what they need. And I think that’s rather true actually. Perhaps the combination of those would do it. I think it’s very important to give the audience some sort of musical wholeness when playing live. When I see different bands live the main factor for me to loose interest in their concert is the lack of dynamic in the music, in the songs. It’s very important I think to give a diverse listening experience, and I think our three quite different albums give a great opportunity to do just that. And our audience seem to appreciate it too. I think they like to listen to the music as well as headbanging to it. You know, a break for the neck doesn’t hurt. Quite the opposite I would say.
Are you booked for some festivals this year and will there be a tour that brings you to Germany, Austria and/or Switzerland?
I’m really not sure what happens. I think there is only one festival booked this year, and that one is here in Norway. But do check our homepage for updates on that. We’ll post any dates or news there.
An obligatory last question: any ideas about the band's future or another album?
We have started writing music for our next album, so I have quite a good idea what our next album will be about. I’m sure our next album will be yet a different chapter in the book of Lumsk, and I’m sure this one will be just as interesting as our last one. Due to some formalities I don’t want to make it official just yet, but those who are interested will just have to wait. In the mean time, listen to “Det Vilde Kor”, and let the music carry you into the world of Knut Hamsun and Lumsk.
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