Green Carnation Interview

Green Carnation are a band that is pushing the envelope of musical progression, transcending boundaries and defying description on their latest substantially compelling effort, "The Quiet Offspring." A rarity in the metal world, Green Carnation have captured a sound which touches on sounds that are truly different in their musical progression and artistic composition. The Gauntlet's Erin Fox had the distinct pleasure of asking vocalist Kjetil Nordhus a few questions in regard to the band and this phenomenal effort.

The Gauntlet: Please tell us about when your musical career began.

Kjetil Nordhus : Well, after playing bass in my early youth, I started singing in a Faith No More cover band for fun. And that was all my previous experience as a vocalist before Tchort asked me to join Green Carnation. That's basically when my musical career started, I guess. I had no idea what to expect from Green Carnation, and after joining the band, it has been kind of a surrealistic dream really, which hopefully isn't over for a while.

The Gauntlet: Why did you choose to take on music as a profession?

Kjetil Nordhus : I have always been extremely fond of music, and from day one I wasn't different than other youths doing music, with the big aim being to go out touring, recording albums and stuff like that. It's been a long way, though, lots of hard work, and probably a bit of luck. All the guys in Green Carnation are doing music on a full time basis now; being as students, producer or only musicians, and that allows us to work a lot with the band, building step by step. So the choice of being a full time musician was based on trying to take a chance when I could, and I haven't regretted for one second!


The Gauntlet: "The Quiet Offspring" is an album that features songs that are very textured and well thought out. How long did it take for you to complete the songwriting for the release? Can you describe the manner in which Green Carnation goes about composing material?

Kjetil Nordhus : I think the actual writing process and recording of the pre-productions took about half a year. We are several different songwriters in the band, and we all work in different tempos, and even though some of the songs are results of older themes and stuff like that, we started working with structure and pre-production about half a year before entering the studio.

Kjetil Nordhus : Generally the individual songwriters have the responsibility for their own songs. By that I mean that for my song on the album, I did the preproduction, and handed it out to the other members, discussing my ideas with them before entering the studio, and trying out certain stuff on the preproduction. We don't rehease much together on the songs before entering the studio, but the guys prepare individually on their own instruments in the run-in to the recording process. When in the studio, I was supervising the other guys when recording, and that's how we normally work. A lot of individual work before the studio, and a lot of instant and fresh work when recording. Luckily I play in a band with great musicians, or we could never have worked like that.


The Gauntlet: When recording the record, what types of techniques did the band use in order to get such a rich sound?

Kjetil Nordhus : I am not into the technical stuff at all, but we chose a producer (Terje Refsnes) which we thought could add something new to our original sound in the band, and we are very happy with the result. I think all in all that Green Carnation isn't the hardest band to make sound good in the first place, but we worked a lot on the right sound for the actual song-material we were recording. We were looking for a bit more dirty sound than on A Blessing in Disguise, and we got exactly what we needed.


The Gauntlet: Green Carnation has several festival appearances lined up for the summer. Which of these performances are you most looking forward to?

Kjetil Nordhus : The two big ones are ProgPower Europe and Day of the Equinox in Toronto, and I think both those will be something very special both for ourselves and for the crowds. We are currently working hard on adding some new stuff to our live-set, and it sounds great at the rehearsal room already. Also - we are currently trying to book as many gigs as possible this year, because we feel we have some excellent material to preform, and we haven't been the most active tour band previosly. Since The Quiet Offspring has been so well recieved in the U.S., a big tour over there is one of our main priorities, so we'll just have to wait and see.


The Gauntlet: Your singing carries a very unique tone. Do you intentionally attempt to sing in a manner that is distinct, or is this something that comes naturally for you?

Kjetil Nordhus : That's very much something that comes natural. But saying that, I have worked a lot on improving certain aspects of my singing since I joined Green Carnation, more working on the moods than techniques, and I think that suits me quite well. There is always room for improvement, but I think becoming one with the songs you are supposed to preform is the most important of all.


The Gauntlet: Can you tell me about the specific factors which influence your songwriting?

Kjetil Nordhus : I try not to think about influence when writing music, but after recording it, even I can think back and hear certain influences from bands I did listen to at the time of writing or recording it.

Green Carnation is a band with a great variety of influences, and we are not afraid of using them, but I think it's more an unconcious use than an active use of influences.


The Gauntlet: Do you feel that it is a challenge for the group to be performing within a scene that is dominated by heavier, less thought provoking artists?

Kjetil Nordhus : Well, we have been thinking a bit about that, because in the past we have been put on gigs and tours with mainly extreme metal bands, but I think that has slightly changed now. People are more aware of what kind of music we do, and we are quite happy about that. But saying that, we seem to go down very well with many extreme-metal fans, so it hasn't all been doom and gloom for us.

Generally, the thing for us is all about making quality music, and hope that that's enough for building up the band. You see a lot of bands that make the headlines through scandals, and disappear again because of a lack of quality. We have decided to build slowly, but steadily, and we hope we will live longer that way.



The Gauntlet: What do you find to be the most enjoyable aspect of performing?

Kjetil Nordhus : The adrenaline kicks are always very special, also generally preforming for people that are into what we do is a great feeling. For example, I think I will never get used to playing gigs a long way from home, and there are people in the crowd that know every word I sing. The entire band is enjoying the live-situation, and that's why we work so hard on improving different elements all the time.


The Gauntlet: What are the things that you hope that fans will take away from the listening of this record?

Kjetil Nordhus : First of all, the recognition of The Quiet Offspring as an album consisting of quality songs. I hope they feel the moods through the album, and I hope they are left a bit uncomfortable after the last track, Childsplay part 2, but of course not more uncomfortable than wanting to listen through the album once again.. hehe. Also - if people can get individual meanings out of our lyrics, I would be very happy.


The Gauntlet: What are some of the artists that you most enjoy listening to?

Kjetil Nordhus : Being an old Faith No More fan, all both old and new stuff by Mike Patton is highly treasured, and I am also very much into Opeth, Anathema and stuff like that. But there are also jazz, classical stuff and lots of other strange things in my record collection. I try to be as open minded as possible when it comes to music, and I have found quality in most of the styles of music I have given a chance. As long as it hits me, I don't worry about the genre, and that has given me a lot of new input for my own music.


The Gauntlet: How would you contrast the music on "The Quiet Offspring" to the band's previous material?

Kjetil Nordhus : I wouldn't call it a contrast, but I think there is a slight difference on "The Quiet Offspring" as a result of a bigger influence by the entire band. The two new guys Kenneth (keys) and Michael (guitar) has added their personal touches to the band, and with there being six different song-writers, I think Green Carnation is more a band now than ever before.

People are often comparing our new stuff with our old stuff, but I think all Green Carnation's albums are representative of the band when they were released, and that way I don't see the point in comparing too much. For us, this has to be a natural progress, so we don't really have too much choice other than hang along on the band's progression.



The Gauntlet: Where do you feel that Green Carnation fits into the music scene overall? Do you consider your style to fit into any certain categories?

Kjetil Nordhus : It's really hard to say, because we are in between so many categories of music. But I do feel that people interested in melody, groove, prog, rock and metal should check us out. They might find something they like.


The Gauntlet: Is it difficult to schedule time for the band around Tchort's other projects?

Kjetil Nordhus : It hasn't been a big problem until now, really. All the bandmembers have different bands, but we try to plan a long time prior to our activity, where we all make Green Carnation the main priority, and that's worked out really well.


The Gauntlet: Where do you see the band five years from now?

Kjetil Nordhus : As we're out of contract after the release of The Quiet Offspring, we have been thinking a lot about the future lately. We are both considering offers from record labels and waiting for more. When ultimately deciding to sign for a label, I think the next five years for Green Carnation will tell itself. Because we have the chance to sign for much bigger labels now, and we also have the chance to join smaller ones. You'll have to take changes in this game, but we are still discussing what do do.

No matter what we choose, I am sure that Green Carnation is still about in five years time, having released a couple of albums more, which I today haven't the slightest idea what will sound like. But that's the best thing about this band...


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Tags:  Green Carnation  , Kjetil Nordhus, interviews

EF    April 18, 2005