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FACTOID
Singer Erlend Hjelvik often wears a head-covering owl mask during Kvelertak ’ s live performances .
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Rolland : We had everything isolated , but we regulated the spillage from the guitar amps so we could hear . The studio had a rehearsal space vibe to it . There were sliding doors so that we could regulate the bleed .
What amps did you use in the studio ? Rolland : Vidar used a really good sounding 1979 Marshall JMP 50-watt head . I used a Friedman BE-100 head and an Orange Rockerverb 50 . I also used a Red Rooster copy pedal made by Kurt Ballou and Vidar , and I will use chorus occasionally . Ofstad : I used an Orange Thunderverb 200 run at 100 watts through an Orange 4x12 cab . For guitars I used my Gibson Flying V90 with Lace Nitro Hemi pickups . I also started to use a Fender Stratocaster , which is new to me , but it works .
What made you pick up a Strat ? Ofstad : Just curiosity and , with the new material , it ’ s way more dynamic . On the other albums we hadn ’ t really thought about who uses what , but now , with the new songs , it just made sense . The Strat feels clearer to me than a Gibson , so I thought , “ Let ’ s try it .” There are a lot of Fenders in the band now .
The album does have more of a classicrock vibe to the overall sound , as opposed to a modern metal sound . Maybe standard tuning and the Fenders and Gibsons have something to do with that ? Was it a conscious decision to defy convention in that way ? Ofstad : In the studio , definitely , but it just happened . Bjarte started playing the Telecaster for a couple of songs because he wanted the single-coil sound and it evolved into being what it is .
You both collaborated on the main guitar riff in “ Nattesferd .” Can you explain ?
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Rolland : Maciek plays it , but I wrote the riff . That ’ s actually a song we didn ’ t get done for the last record . He ’ s emulating me , basically , but he plays it better than me , so he plays it on the album .
Maciek , you play the solo on “ Nattesferd .” Do you craft your solos beforehand or are you improvising in the studio ? Ofstad : On solos , it ’ s always been in the studio . I try not to think too much about it until we actually have to track , because then it ’ s just natural . I wasn ’ t going for anything in particular . It just happened . Originally , that was the Strat into the Thunderverb through a Thermionic Culture Vulture , but we dropped the Culture Vulture for the solo . I did use it for the main riff and the solo on “ Bronsegud .”
Do you have a favorite track that best represents Kvelertak at this stage of the game ? Ofstad : I enjoy playing all of the new songs , because every track is different . But if I have to choose a favorite it would be “ Heksebrann .” It really works live . We played it live at the beginning of summer on the festival gigs and it ’ s just a really cool song to play .
It definitely has some interesting parts and changes with some nice fingerpicking . Ofstad : Right , there you go with the Tele — the country lick [ sings lick ].
It also changes keys from major to minor . What was the writing process like for the song ? Ofstad : The hook in the song , the country thing , started out as a joke at a rehearsal . It was like , “ That would be stupid to do it like that .” And 20 minutes later it was like , “ Wait a second , maybe
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that ’ s cool .” I think it ’ s good when you write music that you don ’ t like the first time you hear it . And then you get the “ oh shit , maybe we have something here ” moment . That ’ s a good indicator that you ’ re on the right track .
Critics are saying that the song “ 1985 ” has a real ’ 80s vibe , probably stemming from the eighth-note groove and the blues licks in the chorus . Who came up with that song ? Rolland : I wrote most of the riffs for it and we put it together in rehearsal . It was one of those riffs where you go , “ Can we really get away with that ?” We wanted to throw people off a little . Ofstad : I hated that song the first five times we played it . I was like , “ This is stupid .” But it ’ s one of my favorite songs now — especially when the video came along from Fredrik Hana . It really made the song . It gave it a face and also maybe gave it the edge that it needed — being scary and fucked up .
Despite your reservations , the reaction to “ 1985 ” seems to be overwhelmingly positive . Rolland : If that ’ s the common perception , I ’ m fine with that , but it ’ s not necessarily on our Facebook comments [ laughs ]. Some of our more hardcore fans were a little worried , actually . But we kept telling them not to worry . They have the rest of the record . It ’ s certainly one of my favorites from the record .
Are you surprised by the overall success of the band so far ? Ofstad : I ’ ve been surprised ever since we released the first album . When I joined the band , I was pretty comfortable with the band just playing a couple of shows a year . So everything that ’ s come since is crazy . We ’ ve toured with all my favorite
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