V:28 is een onbekende maar gerespecteerde industrial black/death metalband uit Noorwegen. Hun laatste album, deel drie van een heuse trilogie, ‘VioLution’ is kwalitatief gezien een uitstekende, emotionele maar ook stampende plaat die veel mensen zal aanspreken. Wij mogen graag wat onbekendere bands de aandacht geven die ze verdienen, dus vroegen wij gitarist/programmeur Kristoffer Oustad om eens het één en ander toe te lichten betreffende V:28.
Greetings! To start things, how are you doing? Hey! I’m fine, thank you. It’s really great to have the ‘VioLution’ album out. The response from both fans and the press has been overwhelming. When you put so much time and effort into things it’s always great to get positive feedback.
Even though ‘VioLution’ is already your third album, V:28 isn’t a household metal name yet. Could you therefore enlighten us about your history? And why the choice for V:28 as a name for your band? V:28 was founded in 2002 by me, Kristoffer Oustad, and Eddie Risdal. We had been playing together in another band called V:O:I:D for a while, but due to a car accident another band member was involved in, Eddie and I decided to start up something new. We had also been planning on changing the musical and conceptual direction of the band, so it seemed like the right point to start over. V:28 is a name that has a very mechanical and machine like sound to it, and it reflects much of the way we wanted to go with the band. It’s also a cryptic link between that names V:28 and V:O:I:D. Numbers rule the universe... Shortly after we formed the band we recorded our first demo, ‘Time Is Empty’ and did our debut concert. It was a pretty special event, as we were asked by Enslaved to be their support band for their release concert for the album ‘Monumension’. We got a lot of positive feedback on our demo, and in 2003 we recorded our debut album, ‘NonAnthropogenic’. This recording resulted in a recording contract with Vendlus Records, and the album was released in November the same year.
’VioLution’ is the completion of a trilogy that started with ‘NonAnthropogenic’ and ‘SoulSaviour’. What is it that the trilogy tells us, what’s it about? The trilogy deals with the deconstruction and transformation of the planet Earth. An important part of this is the downfall of mankind and the fact that humanity has become superfluous in a world of machines and artificial intelligence. Basically draw many parallels between this theme and a lot of end time prophecies and movies such as The Terminator, Dark City and The Matrix. However, it’s important to stress that in our version there is no happy ending. Instead of describing endless battles and epic stories about heroic people etc, we try see it from a psychological point of view. ‘Soldier of the neverending war, fallen to the ground, like your father before you, the meaning of life.’ It’s the hopelessness and the feeling of knowing that there is nothing you can do to prevent the world from going under we want to pass on to the listener.
The songs on ‘VioLution’ are aggressive and forceful yet they also contain a certain sensitivity, a sadness or melancholy. It’s a delicate balance, how do you prevent one side from gaining the upper hand? Hmm... good question. I really never decide how a song is supposed to sound, but I start working by “writing” down a few ideas, and work out from them. Things always change a lot in the writing process, but dynamics and the overall impression of the track are vital. Of course there are certain frames to work within, but I allow myself to use whatever elements I feel is needed to achieve the result I’m looking for. There’s always a way to incorporate elements that initially sound very far from your “normal” sound. Time and intelligent arrangements are the keys to success...
The general consensus is that the world as we know it is falling apart, how do you feel about that? Do you feel that it is about time it did or are you saddened? I think it’s sad to see that insignificant things, such as religion and cultural heritage, are the source to so many conflicts that has been going on for ages. I have “accepted” the fact that this is how things are, and I’ve given up on hoping for a peaceful solution to these kinds of conflicts. The human race is definitely a predator by nature, and if you combine it with religious fundamentalism and weapon technology you have yourself a bomb that will go off any time. About time? Well, it’s been in the air for quite long, so why not now? At least I’m not very surprised. Sad? Yeah, kind of...
One of the most unique features of your music is the sound of your keyboards. Where do you draw your inspiration from to get that unique, futuristic sadness? I remember the first time I heard Klaus Schulze, and the huge impact it made on me. I also listen to a lot of industrial and dark ambient, and I guess everything you’ll be exposed to will somehow form you as a person, and therefore what you do and make. When I compose music for V:28 I have lots of pictures in my head, and I guess these pictures are the most important source of inspiration for me.
What are your influences and inspirations in general? I grew up on metal, and I’ve always been very passionate about music. Along with metal I’m also very fascinated by electronic music. When I first discovered bands like Deutsch Nepal, Brighter Death Now, Megaptera and MZ.412 I was totally blown away, and when I was introduced to Swans, it was the closest to a revelation I will ever come... the best band in the world, period! Along with the musical background, I’m very inspired by imagery, both photography and film. Like I said earlier, I think a combination of these elements is what inspires me to make music and put a lot of effort into it. As for the lyrical concept I think everything I see around in this world, just by watching the daily news on TV, is a gold mine of inspiration. It all depends on how you choose to see things.
Why did you use billboards on all your album covers? What is it that they collectively express? The billboards are supposed to give an idea of what each album deals with, and there’s a strong link between each cover. The ‘NonAnthropogenic’ cover illustrates a war going on and the World turning into a place where no human could ever live. Dead wastelands... At first sight it seems like there’s changed to the better on ‘SoulSaviour’ cover. The pin-up nurse symbolises hope and a bright future that lies ahead. However, in our dictionary ‘bright future’ has another meaning to it, hehe! I guess you could call a nuclear explosion a false sun, so from there I guess you know what we mean? I think it’s a really successful cover. The theme on the ‘VioLution’ can be seen as a documentation of how the world came to an end... and the world will light up like the sun!
Now with the trilogy completed, what will V:28 be doing next? For now we’re just focusing on promoting the ‘VioLution’ album. Completing the trilogy has been a long process, so for now we don’t like to think too far into the future. We’re also focusing on getting gigs and to make sure people get to know about us.
You use programmed drums which suits the music fine by me but do you feel you missed out on some recognition because of the fact you play without a real drummer? Yeah, definitely. However, it’s a decision we made long ago, and in my opinion we could never have succeeded in making the militaristic and mechanical sound we have today with a human drummer. On the other hand, I guess it’s all a matter of opinion and to some degree prejudice. To be honest, there’s a lot of narrow minded people in the metal scene, and we choose to ignore them. It seems like most bands that are doing anything new are being mocked and people claim they are not being true to the metal genre. However, if you take a look at a lot of those bands that did something groundbreaking or special some years back, are being hailed as “kings” a few years later... Not that I expect people to hails us as kings in a few years, but it just shows that new blood is required to make things go forward.
The album features a host of guest appearances by amongst others Garm and MZ.412. How did the several collaborating came to be and did it work instantly or were there artistic differences to overcome? We have a tradition of collaborating with other artists and the result has always been very good. To me it’s very inspiring to work with other artists and see how they put their trademark to the music. We’ve been in contact with most of the guest artists that are featured on ‘VioLution’ for a while, most of them are good friends of us, and it felt very natural to involve these artists in the making of the album. All the artists we’ve been working with over the years are very professional and we’ve trusted them with the job we’ve asked them to do. The fact that most of these artists operate in a different musical landscape than us makes the collaborations more interesting, so I would have to say, for us it has worked out very well all the way.
Are you ever going to play live? We have been playing live as long as we have been around, but we haven’t been playing very often. Right now we just had a very successful release party for the ‘VioLution’ album, and we are currently booking more gigs. We hope to do a few shows in some parts of Europe next year, but we have to see what offers we get and how to arrange it. We did a few gigs abroad in 2005, and it was definitely a great experience for us, and we look forward to going abroad to play again.
Thank you for your time, the final words are for you. Thanks for your interest in V:28. I hope everyone will take some time off to check us out at www.v28.com of www.myspace.com/v28band. Death to peace!
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