Hierophant Nox | Interview

	Elite
	ILast year was massive for Norway’s Elite, the buzz surrounding whom has not let up since their third album "We Own the Mountains" landed on the desks of the world’s reviewers. In some ways orthodox, the band are nonetheless difficult to pin down, mixing many of the styles and adornments that dominate modern extreme music into their chilly, powerful sound. I was very fortunate to be able to check in with these Arctic adventurers, for the low-down on their current schemes, and the elements which make them so striking to legions of avid listeners.
	Hierophant Nox: Hail Torgeir, how are you doing? How is Mo I Rana this chilly December? Torgeir: Hello! Well, It all of a sudden became January before I started on the interview, hehe. January is cold as normal here by the Arctic Circle. A lot of snow and a lot of degrees below zero. Just the way I like it, hehe Hierophant Nox: 2008 has been a big year for Elite, as it saw you release your third album, "We Own The Mountains". The album has been out since the end of summer; how are you feeling about it now that it’s out there in the world? Is there anything you would like to have done differently? Torgeir: Upon release, you (should) always feel that you gave what you had. But once a release has had time to mature a bit, there are always elements that you would have done in a different way. These elements are however just details. It’s like this for us at least, and I’m pretty sure I speak on behalf of a lot of bands… That being said, we are not dissatisfied with anything on the album. It all came out the way we wanted Hierophant Nox: Did you plan for the album to come out on 08.08.08 or was that a coincidence?! Torgeir: Hehe, that’s a coincidence. The album was actually scheduled for an earlier release (early July if I remember correctly) but there is always stuff that never goes as planned. So the album was delayed 5-6 weeks, but we got a pretty good release date as payment for that. Hierophant Nox: I think the response from the press has been universally good, with a lot of journalists giving you their top score. How has the response been generally? Has there been any criticism you felt was unfair? And have the fans matched the press in their enthusiasm? Torgeir: First off, response in any way is important for us. So we pay attention to just about any review for the album. Sure we create music the way we like music, but we appreciate that others like what we do. Otherwise we wouldn’t release any albums or play any live shows. So far, the response has been very good. Not a single bad one actually. We haven’t sold as many copies of the album as we hoped for, but after talking with several other more established bands, they experience the same. I’m guessing we’re experiencing the same as the overall music business; more downloading and less CD sales. That does however neither bother nor stop us. Hierophant Nox: Do you have a favourite moment from the album? Torgeir: There are several actually, but I think all the details in the song "Amanita Muscaria" worked out very well on the final product. You get a lot of ideas in the studio, and if you’re really unlucky, they turn out just about as far away from what you envisioned as possible. But on an overall basis, we’re happy with the end result and especially some of the small details that proved to work out so well. Hierophant Nox: You had two years between the release of "Bifrost" and the release of "WOTM"; was there a distinct break between the two, or did you start working on "WOTM" straight away? Torgeir: After the release of "Bifrost" we had a couple of tours and some scattered live shows. We started working on the tracks for "WOTM" as soon as the shows were done. We spent around a year and a half on writing the music for "WOTM". The band has for sure evolved during its eight years of existence. After the release of "Bifrost" we brought everything to a new level when it comes to dedication and seriousness, and all five members focus all their energy on the band 100%. We’ve always liked challenges, and we continuously challenge ourselves musically, thereby progressing. Hierophant Nox: This album was hotly anticipated by a large number of people; did you feel pressure whilst writing it? Was the writing and production process easy or did you run into difficulties? Torgeir: We never felt any kind of pressure at all. As previously mentioned, we first and foremost do this for ourselves. That’s why we spent as much time as we felt was needed to make ourselves happy with the end result. We never wanted to rush and end up with something we’re not satisfied with in order to "satisfy" whoever are waiting for another album from us. The writing and production took longer than we expected, mainly because we demanded more from ourselves this time. But we feel it was worth the wait.

	Hierophant Nox: Between 2006 and 2008 of course you have also been very busy playing live shows as mentioned; is this a central aspect of the band? Which have been your best shows in recent times? Torgeir: Playing live is one of the main reasons why we still work so hard with the band. It is a personal satisfaction for every member of Elite to see that others appreciate what we spend so much energy on. We tour as much as possible, but we’re all in the position where we have to spend our holiday on touring. That holiday is also supposed to be spent on other travels, family and so on, so it kind of limits how many live shows we can do per year. That’s a pity, but we all depend on our daytime jobs… I think I can speak on everyone’s behalf when I say that our show in Leeuwarden in February 2007 is one of our best ones. Sure, there have been a lot of great live shows, but that one sort of gets on top of all the others in our opinion. Hierophant Nox: Elite’s style receives varied comparisons from commentators; while all can agree on ‘black metal’ we also see descriptions involving folk metal, Viking metal etc. etc. How would you describe Elite’s sound? Is the idea of ‘black metal’ important to the music you create? Torgeir: I can understand why we are labelled "black metal", even if we don’t feel too connected with the term. In my opinion, "Kampen" is the only album that fits the term well. During the writing and recording of that album, Tor was a member of the band. He is probably the one that brought the "old school black metal" inspirations to our music, and since we was an active part of the song writing process, that kind of shines through. We never wanted to be an "underground black metal" band, so after Tor left the band, the other members inspirations and ideas dominate the music. We describe our music as extreme metal with elements from folk metal, Viking metal, death metal and black metal. Boring, but that’s the truth, hehe Hierophant Nox: Your use of your native language and the general outlook of the band show that your Nordic origin is important to you; is it an advantage to come from the so-called ‘home’ of this type of music, or can it be a problem to be labelled specifically as a ‘Norwegian’ extreme metal band? Torgeir: It doesn’t bother us to be a "Norwegian extreme metal band" while we on the other hand don’t see any enormous advantages being one. But you’re correct, our native language and culture are important to us. Our music and lyrics are manifested in these elements. We live in the surroundings we do, and we are inspired by that. We’re proud of being Norwegian, and we don’t mind to tell the world exactly that, hehe.

	Hierophant Nox: From where do you draw inspiration for your music and lyrics? What are the main themes that your songs explore? Torgeir: Our inspirations are many. The band has five different members who all have their own inspirations. Our musical influences are a bit different. All members are into metal, but some more into death metal, some more into pure black metal and so on. Common for us all, is our fascination for the surroundings we live in and the cultural history of our country. Bent writes all the lyrics, and quite a lot of them are personal to him. Therefore, he should actually be answering this question, but I’m not sure he would give anyone the actual meaning of the songs. He is a complex soul, and some of the lyrical lyrics are actually pretty deep… You could say they are a mix between our culture and Bent’s wicked mind. Hierophant Nox: What bands and artists influenced you when you were younger and just discovering music? Torgeir: For me it started with Metallica. Then on to bands like Sabbat, Death, Coroner, Obituary, Venom and stuff like that. I’m born in 1978, but the big interest for Metallica started in 1987. A nine year old metalhead! Hierophant Nox: You are already booked for the ‘Under the Black Sun’ event in July; do you have any other touring plans for 2009? Will there be new Elite material in 2009 or are you focusing on live shows? Torgeir: ‘Under the Black Sun is in July, but apart from that, there are no other booked shows for 2009 yet. We are working on a small Dutch mini-tour in May, not sure about dates or venues yet. We’re hoping to do another tour late 2009, but there are no solid plans at the moment. We’ve started writing music for our upcoming album, but I doubt that album will be ready in 2009. Early 2010 is my humble guess, but for all I know we might suddenly be extremely productive and release the album this year already. As you understand, it’s all in the blue at the moment. Hierophant Nox: Lastly, what are you long-term plans and ambitions for Elite? Are there any particular goals that you have set for yourselves? Torgeir: Our main goal is to grow as a band, slowly and with solid steps forward. We have numerous festivals that we would like to play at, and we want to do bigger, more professional tours in the future. We don’t want to rush forward and make stupid decisions. We rather prefer a slow and stable tempo towards becoming the band all five members want to be. Hard and focused work are the means here. Hierophant Nox: Thank you very much for your time; if you’ve any further messages for the world, please go ahead: Torgeir: Thank you! We want to assure everyone that we are still lurking around and will strike at any time! Make sure you come and check us out whenever we play at a venue near you!