TROLLFEST: ‘Svet je tornado driske’

Pravi norveški balkan metalci so nazaj! Iz domačega mesta Oslo so Trollfest izdali EP ‘Happy Heroes’ (izšel 19. marca pri Napalm Records). Skupina je odštekana kombinacija elementov folk, metal in punk glasbe, njihove skladbe pa odlikuje predvsem veliko drznosti, energije in neobrzdanega veselja. Tokrat so se – za njih značilno drzno – lotili skladb ‘Happy’ (Pharrell Williams) in ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ (Bobby McFerrin). 

Z nami je govoril Jostein Austvik.

Trollfest transfomirajo znane hite v svojo energično “balkan metal norišnico”. Na platformah YouTube in Spotify se lahko pohvalijo z milijoni ogledov, v teh težkih časih, ko mnogim primanjkuje upanja, pa so izdali še dodatno optmističen mali plošček z veselim naslovom ‘Happy Heroes’, ki vam zagotovo pričaral nasmeh na obraz. Vse skladbe se namreč nahajajo v svetu opitih trolov in risanih junakov. To je veseli metal.


Datum izdaje: 19. marec 2021

TROLLFEST zasedba:
John Espen Sagstad (Mr.Seidel) – kitara
Fabian Jiru (Grimdrap Glutenfri Fleskeng) – kitara
Jostein Austvik (Trollmannen) – vokal
Eirik Renton (TrollBANK) – bouzoki/vokal/razno
Kai Renton (Fjernkontrollet) – synth/harmonika
Dag Stiberg (DrekkaDag) – saksofon
Øyvind Erik Strønen Johannesen (Lodd Bolt) – bas/vokal
Bjørn Dugstad Rønnow (Kjellkje) – bobni/vokal

TROLLFEST povezave:
Spletna stran
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter


ROCKER.SI: Pozdravljen, Jostein! Kako si? Ali si zaposlen te dni?

TROLLFEST: Počutim se kar v dobro, sploh glede na vse, kar se dogaja. Zelo pogrešam koncerte, drugače pa uživam v vsem tem času, ki mi je bil dan. S skupino ustvarjamo novo glasbo, snemamo naslednji album in pridno vadimo, da bomo še boljši.

ROCKER.SI: “Norveški balkan metal!” Tega pa ne slišiš pogosto – kako preračunljiva je bila odločitev, da boste igrali tovrstno glasbo? Je bila od začetka?

TROLLFEST: Skorajda od začetka. Že od začetka smo si želeli ustvarjati tako glasbo, ampak balkanska glasba je težavna, z vsemi čudnimi časovnimi podpisi in specifičnimi lestvicami, še posebej za nas Norvežane, ki se radi držimo klasičnih 4/4 durov ali pa si redko dovolimo kakšno 6/8 molovsko pustolovščino, zato smo potrebovali kar nekaj časa, da smo se privadili. Ampak vsi smo veliki oboževalci vzhodne Evrope, v resnici imamo že od nekdaj radi vse vrste folk glasbe.

ROCKER.SI: V marcu ste izdali EP ploščo ‘Happy Heroes’, ki naj  bi bila “norišnica folk, metal in punk glasbe” (kar lahko po poslušanju tudi potrdim!). Kako ti “slišiš” vašo glasbo?

TROLLFEST: Nedvomno vem, o čem govoriš. Težko bi kategoriziral našo glasbo, preprosto zato, ker ko jo poslušam, slišim vse te glasbene vplive in je težko izbrati zgolj enega. Zato tudi težko napovem, kaj bodo slišali poslušalci. Upam, da bodo slišali preklemansko kul skladbe z veliko drznosti, energije in neobrzdanega veselja.

ROCKER.SI: Kako se odločite, katere skladbe boste priredili? Ali posnamete več verzij iste skladbe?

TROLLFEST: Ko se odločamo, katere skladbe bomo priredili, preprosto izberemo tiste, ki so nam všeč in za katere mislimo, da bodo dobro zvenele v našem slogu. Nato nekdo od nas posname demo posnetek, nakar se pogovorimo, če stvar deluje. Podajamo si posnetek, ga vsi poslušamo in če smo zadovoljni, skladbo posnamemo in jo izdamo. Včasih takoj deluje, spet drugič posnamemo več verzij, preden pristanemo na tisti, ki nam je najbolj všeč. Na primer za skladbo ‘Happy’ smo posneli več verzij, preden smo bili zadovoljni, skladba ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ pa je delovala v že prvem poskusu.

Jostein Austvik (Foto Joël R. Photographie Concerts)

ROCKER.SI: Koliko vas je uradno v skupini? Naštel sem vas osem. Kako potujete in kje ste do zdaj odigrali največ koncertov? Ali imate napovedane nastope za leto 2021?

TROLLFEST: Za poleti imamo napovedanih nekaj festivalov, za katere srčno upamo, da se bodo zgodili. Trenutno nas je v zasedbi osem, na odru ponavadi sicer sedem, vendar skoraj vedno pripeljemo zraven še prijatelje. Na nekaj koncertih nas je bilo na odru dvanajst. Naša želja je, da bi dodali še trobila. Kdo ve, kaj bo prihodnost prinesla! Nisem prepričan, ali smo največ koncertov imeli v Nemčiji ali pa mogoče v Franciji, ampak gre za eno imed teh dveh držav. Tja potujemo z letalom, včasih z busom za turneje.

ROCKER.SI: Ste že obiskali Slovenijo? Morate priti! Glede na vaš značilni balkanski metal, lahko zatrdim, da bi vas očinstvo oboževalo! 

TROLLFEST: Igrali smo na Metalcamp festivalu, in to večkrat! Takrat, ko je festival nosil še to ime. Nekajkrat pa smo se oglasili kar tako tekom naše turneje, ampak bi si želeli še večkrat obiskati vašo državo! Vsakič, ko smo bili tam, smo res uživali. Publika je bila absolutno fantastična!

ROCKER.SI: EP ‘Happy Heroes’ je plošček, ki govori o sreči. Prekipeva od veselja. Kako ostajate srečni in veseli v teh časih? Zaupaj nam skrivnost! Res ste kot superheroji, ki jih lahko pokličemo, kadar potrebujemo v življenju več optimizma!

TROLLFEST: Ključna sestavina za srečo, če vprašaš mene, je dober smisel za humor. Če si se zmožen smejati na svoj račun, je pa še toliko bolje. Svet je nevihta dreka, pravi tornado driske in veliko je ljudi, ki teptajo po vsem, kar vsaj malo spominja na pozitivno naravnanost. Če si osredotočen na to, potem je težko ostati srečen ali pri zdravi pameti. Absurdnost vsega je dobro videti skozi oči humorja, na ta način se je mogoče smejati prav vsem. Smejati se v obraz težkim situacijam je tisto, kar te navdaja z močjo.

ROCKER.SI: Katere so glasbene zasedbe, ki vas trenutno navdihujejo? Poleg tistih, katerih skladbe ste priredili na EP-ju ‘Happy Heroes’?

TROLLFEST: Zadnje čase sem veliko poslušal izvajalce, kot so Jordi Savall, The Coconut Monkeyrocket, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Tool, Igorrr, Moron Police, Mr. Bungle, Troldhaugen, Znous, The Longest John’s, Chotokoeu, Zeal & Ardor, Dennis Pavao, Renaissance, Farmers Market, Hot Head Show, Origin, Oceans Ate Alaska, Merle Hazard, Hans Reichel in The End. Vsak teden skušam odkriti nekaj novega.

ROCKER.SI: Ali so vam všeč originalne verzije skladb? Ali gre bolj za preprosto miselnost: “Te skladbe bi zvenele dobro, če bi jih priredili?” 

TROLLFEST: Vsaj nekomu izmed nas mora biti všeč originalna verzija! Če se nas strinja vseh sedem, potem je to odlično! Balkanska glasba je eden tistih primerov, kjer smo soglasni.

ROCKER.SI: Kako boste promovirali EP? Ste te skladbe že imeli priložnost igrati v živo?

TROLLFEST: Nazadnje smo igrali januarja lansko leto, ampak ko bo prišel pravi trenutek, bomo v živo odigrali vse te skladbe. Tudi te z nove EP-ja.

ROCKER.SI: Hvala za tvoj čas!

TROLLFEST: Hvala tebi, da nam pomagaš promovirati naš EP!


*Angleška verzija intervjuja

ROCKER.SI: Hello, Jostein! How are you? Are you keeping yourself busy these days?

TROLLFEST: I am doing fairly well all things considered, really miss playing shows, but otherwise I am enjoying having all this time on my hands. With the band we are staying busy writing more music, recording our next album and trying to get better at stuff in our rehearsal space.

ROCKER.SI: “Norwegian balkan metal!” That you don’t hear too often – how calculated was the decision to play this kind of music? Was this your desire from the beginning?

TROLLFEST: Almost from the beginning. We wanted to do it from the very beginning, but Balkan music is a bit hard to play with the odd time signatures and the specific scales, especially for “straight major 4/4, maybe go on a wild minor 6/8 adventure” – norwegians, so we needed some time to learn it. We have however all of us been huge fans of eastern european (actually all kinds of) folk music since forever.

ROCKER.SI: On 19th of March you released EP ‘Happy Heroes’. It is a madhouse of folk, metal and punk (we confirm!). Do you also see it like that?

TROLLFEST: I can definitely see what you are talking about. I do find it a bit hard to categorize our own music though, simply because I hear and know of so many different influences that are in there and it becomes hard to pick out just a few. In the same way it is very hard to guess at what the audience will hear. My hope is they will hear fucking cool songs with a whole lot of nerve, energy and unbridled joy.

ROCKER.SI: How do you decide which hits you will transform into your “madhouse#? What is the process like? Do you have multiple versions of the same song that you release?

TROLLFEST: To select songs we basically pick out songs we love that we think will sound good in our style. Then one of us will make a demo tape, we pass it around and discuss it and if it works we will record it and release it. Sometimes it works right away and other times we try many different versions before landing on one we like. For instance, we tried many different versions of the song Happy before we were happy with it, but Don’t Worry Be Happy worked immediately and gave us no worries.

ROCKER.SI: What is the official lineup now in the band? I counted eight members. How do you travel and where do you perform the most? Are there any shows on the horizon?

TROLLFEST: We have a few festivals this summer and currently we have crossed everything we have available in the hope that it won’t be canceled. There are 8 of us in the band, but the usual live line up is seven of us. However we do like bringing along friends to play with us, we did one show with twelve people once and we would love to get a brass band to join us sometime so who knows what the future will bring. I am not sure if we have played the most shows in Germany or in France but it’s usually one of those two countries so most travel is by plane, sometimes a tourbus.

ROCKER.SI: Have you visited Slovenia? You sing balkan metal, crowd would love you here! 

TROLLFEST: We played the Metalcamp festival in Slovenia a couple of times back when it was called that, and we have also occasionally stopped by while touring, but we would love to play more in Slovenia. We have enjoyed ourselves immensely every time we’ve been there,and the crowds have been absolutely fantastic!

ROCKER.SI: This EP is all about happiness. How do you stay happy? Give us the recipe! You truly are like superheroes we can call when we need you to get optimistic about life!

TROLLFEST: In my opinion the key ingredient to happiness is a strong and good sense of humor, if you also have the ability to laugh at yourself you are set to go. The world is an absolute shit storm of diarrhea tornados, and there are also alot of people who actively seek to stomp down on anything resembling positive relief. If you focus on that it is very hard to stay happy or indeed stay sane, if however you manage to focus on the absurdities of it all and look for humor in everything there is so much to laugh at. It is also very empowering to laugh in the face of shittiness.

ROCKER.SI: What are some bands that are inluencing you right now? Besides the ones that you decided to cover?

TROLLFEST: I can only speak for myself here, but the artists I’ve been listening to lately are Jordi Savall, the coconut monkeyrocket, diablo swing orchestra, tool, Igorrr, moron police, Mr. Bungle, troldhaugen, znous, the longest John’s, chotokoeu, zeal & ardor, Dennis Pavao, Renaissance, farmers market, hot head show, origin, oceans ate Alaska, Merle Hazard, Hans Reichel, the end and many more. I try to check out something new every week.

ROCKER.SI: Do you like the original versions of the songs? Or is it more of a this kind of thinking involved: “We think it will sound good if we make a cover”?

TROLLFEST: There is at least one person in the band that absolutely loves the original versions, but between the seven of us there are very few things we all agree is awesome. Balkan music is one of those few things.

ROCKER.SI: Did you the chance to play these songs live?

TROLLFEST: We have not played live since January last year, but when the time comes we intend to play some, if not all of those songs live.

ROCKER.SI: Thank you for your time!

TROLLFEST: Thank you for helping us promote this ep!!!