{"id":29766,"date":"2016-05-13T10:00:55","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T00:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=29766"},"modified":"2016-05-12T23:44:46","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T13:44:46","slug":"erlend-hjelvik-kvelertak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2016\/05\/erlend-hjelvik-kvelertak\/","title":{"rendered":"Erlend Hjelvik of Kvelertak"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kvelertak\"<\/a>
\n\u201c\u2026when we started we were just kids hanging out in the basement and just playing music for fun. Of course it\u2019s still for fun, that hasn\u2019t changed but I guess I\u2019m 31 now, was 21 when we started and a lot of things have happened. I think we just became better song writers and better at playing music, we were pretty terrible in the beginning and now we get to travel the world and just do what we love\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

From release: Kvelertak made a stunning international impact with the release of their 2013 album\u00a0Meir<\/em>, earning the six-piece numerous \u201cBest of 2013\u201d honours.\u00a0 New album Nattesferd<\/em>\u00a0is produced by Kvelertak and mixed \/ engineered by\u00a0Nick Terry\u00a0(Lindstr\u00f8m, Turbonegro, The Libertines). It is the\u00a0first of Kvelertak\u2019s albums to be recorded in their home country of Norway.\u00a0\u00a0Nattesferd<\/em>\u00a0is already garnering \u201cMost Anticipated\u201d accolades<\/p>\n

In Columbus, Ohio out on tour, Erhland stopped to give us a call to talk about the band\u2019s new album \u2018Nattesferd\u2019, Australia, evolution, music in Norway, and more\u2026<\/p>\n

This is your third album, did you find this one was somewhat easier to make with less pressure than a debut or its follow up?<\/strong>
\nI wouldn\u2019t say that, there was a year of song writing on this one, we just took the time and didn\u2019t stress too much and didn\u2019t rush anything. Like the second album we only used a couple of months to make so the whole writing process was a whole lot more relaxed this time I would say. I wouldn\u2019t say easier but it just took longer.<\/p>\n

Did you do anything differently in creating this album compared to your past two releases?<\/strong>
\nLike before I\u2019d finish songs and demos on computer and we\u2019d practice and figure out things together, but this time it was a lot more from scratch in the practice space and everyone was contributing and so that\u2019s the way we did it this time around and I think it worked out pretty good.<\/p>\n

I have to ask about the title, can you tell us what it represents?<\/strong>
\nIt means \u2018My Journey\u2019 it\u2019s one of the songs on the album, we actually had different working titles for the album but with the cover and as the whole album started to take shape it made sense to call it Nattesferd just because it really fits the cover and I really think it fits the feeling of the whole album as well. Also it kind of reminds me a little bit with the colours of Rush\u2019s \u2018Fly By Night\u2019 cover.<\/p>\n

So why is 1985 such an important year?<\/strong>
\nI was born that year but that\u2019s not why I picked the title. When it was time to write lyrics for that song I just couldn\u2019t get the 80\u2019s out of my head and I started thinking about bands like Van Halen and stuff and especially 1984 album and started thinking about George Orwell and just wrote lyrics of like a dystopian cold future and just thought it was appropriate with all the pretty dark lyrics the song is so upbeat and positive sounding so I think it\u2019s good to have a contrast in that way.<\/p>\n

The song itself sounds like a Journey song that’s been given a nice dose of metal. What was it like writing this one?<\/strong>
\nI would say it\u2019s the least representative song on the album but I guess it\u2019s the most radio friendly song we\u2019ve done *laughs* and pretty different to anything we\u2019ve done before, so it\u2019s just cool to show people something new when it\u2019s time to debut a new song. Just to see our fans reactions, they either love it or they hate it and it made me more sure to write songs for you first, so yeah it\u2019s cool.<\/p>\n

We’ve been lucky to see you in Australia before, when do you think we might see you back?<\/strong>
\nWe\u2019ll definitely come back, but it might not happen this year. The rest of the year is pretty filled up with like we\u2019re in The U.S. now and we\u2019re gonna do a bunch of festivals in the summer and be on maybe a Canadian tour and European tour, so maybe next year. We\u2019ll try not to take too long, we love playing in Australia so we can\u2019t wait to go back there.<\/p>\n

You’re coming up to ten years as a band, in that time what for you has been the most notable change in the way the band works?<\/strong>
\nAlmost too much to mention because when we started we were just kids hanging out in the basement and just playing music for fun. Of course it\u2019s still for fun, that hasn\u2019t changed but I guess I\u2019m 31 now, was 21 when we started and a lot of things have happened. I think we just became better song writers and better at playing music, we were pretty terrible in the beginning and now we get to travel the world and just do what we love, so it\u2019s been a lot of changes and most of them have been good.<\/p>\n

When you start as a band in Norway did you ever think you\u2019d be touring the world and releasing albums, was that the dream that all of a sudden happened and blew you away?<\/strong>
\nI wouldn\u2019t say it was a dream as it was pretty unrealistic for me, for us it was just a way to pass the time and we just made music for ourselves and played in living rooms and things like that and just practiced. It took us a lot of years with line-up changes and practicing to finally figuring it out, when we got our drummer and guitarist in the band was when things finally worked, and some internal changes, like before Marvin our bass player used to play drums and I\u2019ll say he\u2019s much better at playing bass than he is at drums *laughs* so just all that stuff took a while to figure out. So it was crazy when it suddenly it took off when we had the right line-up, the line-up we have now is the same since 2009 and were getting invited to play for up and coming bands and then all of a sudden we have labels and booking agents and it went pretty fast when it first happened. I never imagined that *laughs*<\/p>\n

How if in any way would you say the Norwegian music scene differs from the rest of the world?<\/strong>
\nThere\u2019s a lot of good rock and metal bands and also a lot of electronic music, it\u2019s kind of hard to explain\u2026 I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s too different from like Sweden or the rest of Scandinavia, but yeah it\u2019s a lot of rock and metal. A lot of good bands, I guess the difference is we have a lot of cultural funding in Norway so it\u2019s a good place to live if you\u2019re in to doing something artistic or something like that. So it\u2019s good to be living there. Even like Black Metal bands get that kind of stuff, everyone does if you\u2019re a proper band and go on tour you can apply for all sorts of stuff if you want, they\u2019re small country so they can definitely afford it and I think it\u2019s better to use money on arts and things like that instead of things that are not art. *laughs*<\/p>\n

So is there something you want to do as a band that you haven’t yet had the chance to do?<\/strong>
\nYeah I\u2019d like to play South America at some point, we haven\u2019t done that yet. Also just love to play more in Asia, we\u2019ve only played japan and Singapore so far so it would be cool to go to like Indonesia or like China, we\u2019d pretty much like to go all over the world and play if it were up to me.<\/p>\n

Lastly let’s look ahead to the future, finish this sentence for me… The one thing Kvelertak wants to do in 2016 is…<\/strong>
\n*laughs* the one thing we want to do is just tour shitloads and try not to kill each other while we\u2019re doing it. That\u2019s the one thing Kvelertak wants to do *laughs*<\/p>\n

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Essential Information<\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Stavanger\/Oslo, Norway<\/p>\n

Band Members:<\/strong> Erlend Hjelvik (lead vocal), Bjarte Lund Rolland (guitar), Maciek Ofstad (guitar), Vidar Landa (guitar), Marvin Nygaard (bass), Kjetil Gjermundr\u00f8d (trommer)<\/p>\n

Latest Release:<\/strong> Nattesferd (Out Now\u00a0\u2013 Roadrunner Records)<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/a><\/p>\n

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Website:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.kvelertak.com<\/a><\/p>\n