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<< Interviews this month
file under hardrock / aor
Just a proper rock album, agreeable to listen to while it keeps you haunted all the time without extreme dissipations or overwhelming overproduction: it feels good to discover that. It happened to me with ‘Crossing Over’ of P:O:B, a genuine record of a couple of integer musicians who create the music they truly love. It sounds simple, but it ends in a lot of to-do actions. Guitarist Torfinn Sirnes tells how it all started during a night filled with beer and good music and where it has led them to. Honestly worth your attention: P:O:B or fully out Pedestrians Of Blue!
Text: Vera
‘Crossing Over’ is an absolutely superior rock album! And I see that there are many rave reviews. So I guess you guys are pretty happy and feel a kind of relief for the good receiving?
Thanks! The reviews of the album in the press have been nothing but amazing so far. Everyone seems to like it, which of course makes us very happy. We tried to do something a little different, something to be proud of and it feels good to know that our hard work is being appreciated.
You are from Haugesund in Norway. Can you tell a bit more about this place? What about life over there and what about the rock/metal scene?
Haugesund is a little town (approximately 32.000 inhabitants) on the southwest coast of Norway. Life is generally good here, with a high standard of living, safety and much freedom. The climate sucks though. There is a lively music scene here, with many bands, festivals and concerts. Some of the new more popular acts in Norway actually come from Haugesund. There is pretty good metal scene as well, much due to the Karmoygeddon metal festival taking place every year in May and the concerts they arrange throughout the rest of the year. The rock scene is a little alternative though and there are no other bands playing in the progressive/melodic rock style that we do.
What are the musical roots of the core members?
The core members would be Johannes Støle (vocals and keys) and myself (guitar). We sure have some common favourites like Jorn and Peter Gabriel, but generally Johs is the AOR guy and I'm the metal guy. Johs actually is a church organ player, but he has been playing rock music all his life. He also went to Musician's Institute in L.A. and worked freelance over there for some years. He loves classic rock and AOR acts like Toto, Yes, Phil Collins and Don Henley. My background is not of the formal sort. I like melodic rock, metal, progressive and some modern stuff and I love bands like Queensrÿche, A Perfect Circle, Winger (and Kip Winger's solo work), OSI, Deep Purple, Dream Theater, King's X and Kamelot.
And how did you decide to form P:O:B? How did you get to know each other? Did anyone of you play in other bands before?
Johs and I are friends from high school and the idea of forming a band where we both could play the music we love was born some years ago, probably during an evening filled with beer and good music. We wrote some songs with a concept album in mind, recorded a demo and have kept working from there. And yes, we have both been in different bands, but the only one worth mentioning is Johs' ORANGE CRUSH. It is a great AOR band with him and Daniel Palmqvist (guitar player from Sweden), but I think it has been put on hold for the moment.
P:O:B is an extraordinary name. What is the source of that name-giving?
It is an abbreviation for Pedestrians Of Blue, the name we used for our demos. That name was given to me from a friend a few years back. We liked it then, because it could symbolize a number of things. But we wanted to fresh it up before our first album was released, so we came up with P:O:B.
The album has a story. Can you tell a bit more about this concept? Is it (partly) autobiographic?
It is a story about a young man going through some emotional problems, dealing with family, love and religion, trying to find his place in the world. And it is all written from the young man’s point of view which means you cannot always really trust him. He is a little bit messed up emotionally and he loses his love, faith, family and job in the process of finding himself. The story is not too accessible, but hopefully every listener doesn’t really need the story to enjoy the album – I hope the songs work on their own. At least that was what I was trying to do. But it is there to add an extra level to the album, so I'm happy you ask about it. Everything anyone writes is partly autobiographic I guess, but let's leave it with that.
Only the first track ‘Father & Son’ has orchestral arrangements. How did you work to achieve this and would you do this again in future?
Actually there are some orchestral parts at the end of ‘Out Of The Rain" as well, but it was not our main focus on this album. It sure adds a little drama to the music though. We might do some of that next time as well, but it has to feel right.
Why did you choose to release ‘Crossing Over’ on your own FishFarm Records label, while you had offers from several labels?
We found that the record labels that offered us a deal couldn’t really do more for us than we could do ourselves. Thinking back that was probably the right decision for our home country Norway, but we really need a proper label for Europe and the rest of the world to get the music out to people.
Maybe you prefer to do as much as possible yourself? You were also involved in the artwork, isn’t it?
Well yes, there is also the element of being in control. The cover and booklet artwork is an important part of the package and it is interesting to work on that as well. But we need to find the balance here, we don't want to find ourselves using more time sending out promos and talking on the phone than actually writing and playing music. Running even a very small label takes a lot of time!
The pipe organ gives the band a specific extra. How does someone come to play this church-like instrument?
That's Johs. Like I already said, he is an educated organ player, with a bachelor in church music. On ‘Crossing Over’ the instrument fitted really well cause the story involves some aspects of organized religion and the main character is an organist. But we also want to expand that part of our sound for our next album because it really adds a certain something.
There are quite some guest musicians on the album. Maybe some words about the people who helped you to achieve the amazing end result…
We are lucky to have so many great musicians among our friends. First of all, Daniel Flores did a great job for us. He came in at the right time because we had some problems in the drumming department and he played on most of the songs. He also mixed the album. He is a great guy and really talented in many ways. We met Flores through guitarist Daniel Palmqvist, who is good friend of ours. Palmqvist and I wrote a song together (‘The Other Side’) so it was only natural that he also played a guest solo in that one. Amazing solo by the way. Paul Hansen and Thoma Nilsson came in for some vocals and cello. They are also close friends and are playing in the pop/country band Cortina who is doing very well in Norway right now.
You produced the album yourself, but the final mix was done by Daniel Flores. Isn’t that a member of Mind’s Eye? And what about the mastering at the famous Finnvox Studios?
Yeah, Daniel is in Mind's Eye and he did a great job bringing it together. The mastering was done by Mika Jussila in Helsinki and he added the right finishing touch to the album.
Are you guys planning to play live? And if so, what will be the live line-up?
We have already had some concerts here in Haugesund. The line-up was Johs and myself with three local musicians/friends: Stein Arild Grønås (guitar), Henning Hansen (bass) and Vidar Ingvaldsen (drums). That worked out extremely well and it is currently our line-up for the next planned gigs. We hope to play as much as possible but it is not that easy getting gigs booked without a management etc.
‘Out Of The Rain’ occludes the album in a majestic, progressive way. Can you tell a bit more about this favourite of mine?
Thanks! That song was a result of a close collaboration between Johs and myself. We wrote about 50/50 on that one, but the different themes are linked together to make it flow. We wanted something progressive and dramatic to end the album with and I think we nailed that one pretty well. I only wished we had expanded the ending a little more by returning to the church organ from the opening of the album. The song was around for five years in different shapes before it was finished and there is actually also a five-minute version on our first demo that I can send you if you like.
That would be well appreciated! Fifteen new songs have now been written for the next album. I am eager to hear a bit more details about your future work!
Yes, we have fifteen new songs so far and we have made demos for most of those, but we will probably write some more before we start recording the album. We are playing one of the new songs live: ‘Mrs. Hero’. So far the music is a little darker and melancholic, but we'll see what ends up on the album in the end. There is some very straightforward material, but some interesting progressive stuff as well. Hopefully it will sound like P:O:B, but not like ‘Crossing Over’.
This is the moment to make a bit extra publicity for ‘Crossing Over’! How would you present the album and to which crowds of people will it appeal to?
We hope our album ‘Crossing Over’ has some crossover potential (laughs) and that it may appeal to different music fans. It is a delicate mix of progressive and melodic rock and metal with some modern elements. If you are a music lover check out the songs and samples at http://www.pedestriansofblue.com and http://www.myspace.com/pedestriansofblue
If you like what you hear, buy our album so we can make another one soon!
http://www.pedestriansofblue.com
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