Hello! How are you just know?

- Hei, I'm just fine. The last few days have been a bit stressing, since I'm in the crayfish-buisness. To get up 5:30 in the morning is hard you know, hehe.

MYRKGRAV is your personal project? Do you have any session members?

- Yes, that's correct. I don't really have a lot of common musical interests and ideologies with other musicians living in my area, so I found out that starting a solo project was the best and (probably) only way to go.
In the start I did everything myself, but I soon found out that's quite a heavy burden to bare, in addition to that I'm aware of my own limitations. Therefore I hired some session members for the recording of the album; Sindre Nedland (brother of Solefald/Ásmegin's Lazare) fom In Vain handling most of the cleanvocals, and Espen Hammer from Lumsk handling bass guitar on some tracks. I also have a session-drummer, but he did not get the chance to participiate on the album.
I even let my girlfriend handle a spoken part on "Gygra og St. Olav", hehe.

What does the word "MYRKGRAV" mean, and why did you choose it as the name of your band?

- Myrkgrav means "Dark Grave". It was not me who made up the name, but I think the combination of the word itself and logo suits the band's sound and feeling well.

Ok! Tell us something about last CD „Trollskau, Skrømt og Kølabrenning“ ?
How would you categorise your own music style?

- Damn, I could tell you a million things about this album, yet I don't know what to say.
I've used a long, long time (two years, to be exact) on completing it, due to many reasons. I didn't want to write an album just to get it done, I wished to make something that reflected my idea of good music in an honest way, and also add in one of my other interests (more on that later), as well as trying to make something that doesn't sound like thousand other bands.
Myrkgrav started out more or less as a Black Metal band, but somewhere in the process I kind of fell off the wagon and lost interest. If you listen to the songs "Tjernet" and "Olav Tryggvason", two of my earliest works, you will notice that they sound more Black Metal-ish than the rest. With time came development, and the sound that Myrkgrav stands for today, I would choose to categorize as "Folkloric Extreme Metal".

Your lyrical themes are about local history? Can you tell something about the lyrics?
Do you like old legends and fairy tales?

- Yes, that's correct. Before I start writing the lyrics for a song, I dig into some old books from my local area to try and find a tale that matches the feeling of the song in a good way. It does not have to be an evil or morbid story, it simply has to give me the right vibes, hehe.
I am generally very interested in stories and tales from long ago, so it was completely natural to use that interest as an inspirational basis for writing lyrics. They may not be very well written, but they tell stories; good stories, which basically no one outside of Norway has ever heard of.
I also write them in my own dialect, since I think it adds more soul and personality to the music. Many people think I'm justing ripping off Windir on that last point, but I don't care. If they want to be that narrow-minded, so be it.

Can you tell me something about album cover? What is on the picture?

- Ah, the cover is one of the things that I'm the most satisfied with. The painting on the front shows the farm where all my relatives on the moterside of my family grew up and lived. The people in the center must be some old relatives of me. It all goes hand in hand with the lyical themes and the title, which means "Trollish Woods, Wraiths and Colaburning".

How are you composing your music & lyrics?

- That's a long story. In short: I usually start out by putting down some ideas and riffs, either on the guitar or keyboard, and then the rest kind of just falls into place if I'm having a good day, hehe. I have these periods where I write a lot of ideas and stuff, but they are usually very short, and that's why it takes so damn long time between each release. After having completed a song, I always let it rest for a couple of days before I listen to it again, and make some changes in the arrangements or something else.

What inspires you outside of music? Your music is very unique in its sound, you use a lot of folk elements in a very determined and rhythmic way. Who's idea was it to create this style?

- Tough question really. I of course read a lot of local history whenever I have the time, but else than that I don't do much that inspires me. I love fishing and photography though, and I spend as much time on Krokskogen (a forest nearby) as possible, combining those hobbies, which of course makes me relax and gets me prepared and better suited to handle the stress that comes along when you're in the music buisness.
The style kind of just developed that way, I never had the intention to try and make a specific style of music.
By the way, that was a nice compliment. Thanks a lot!

What are your musical influences? What are your personal favourites of today?

- Damn man, you like giving me a hard time with these questions, hehe. I listen to generally everything, but of course mostly Viking/Pagan/Heathen/Folk Metal and the likes, as well as more pure Folk music, such as the two swedish bands Fejd and Galdrer. In the last few weeks I have listened a lot to Månegarm, Moonsorrow, Runic and Doomsword, to name a few.

What do you think about the metalscene in Norway and it the rest of the world?

- The metalscene in Norway is all about old school Thrash and Blackthrash these days. Not really my cup of tea, to say the least. As for the rest of the world, I don't know, hehe.

What do you thing about Varg Vilkernes? Do you like records BURZUM?

- I don't really care about the music nor the person. The first half of Filosefem is nice though.

Do you know some czech´s metal band? Have you ever been in Czech republic?

- To tell you the truth, I haven't really heard any bands (at least not that I have in mind) from the Czech republic. Maybe you could give me some pointers, hehe.
And I haven't been there either. In fact, I have never been longer away from Norway than right across the border to Sweden.

Tell us a bit about the current religions of Norway. How would you say they differ from say... two hundred years ago? What are your feelings towards religion? Are you yourself religious? What do you think of Christianity?

- I don't care much for religions, but as far as I know we didn't have religions like Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism +++ here for two hundred years ago.
I am in no way religious, but I understand that many people are, and I won't try to give them a hard time because of that. I think all the damn nihilistic clichees in the metalscene are just stupid. As for Christianity, I know it was forced upon us with brutal violence long ago, but there's not that much we can do about it today, is there? But I really don't like Christian fundamentalists, or fundamentalists of any kind. To me they are just crazy people who I could do without.

Are you satisfied with life in Norway?

- Easy question, short answer: Yes! (But to be honest, I think life in Scotland would be great too, hehe).

 

What do you do in your spare time? Hobbies? Interests?

- As mentioned before, I like fishing, photography and spending time on the fjord nearby, in my boat at summer. Else than that, I use way too much time sitting in front of my computer, hehe. And oh, I almost forgot, I have a small studio, Koia Studios, where I record, mix, pre-master and generally have a lot of fun. Not to mention that it makes the whole composing-part easier for me. I even have a small website dedicated to the studio, for those of your readers who are interested in stuff like that: http://kioa.myrkgrav.com

…and what do you think about this bands…
DIMMU BORGIR - I like the symphonic side of the music, but that's about it.
MOONSORROW - One of my favourites. They've got the distinctive Finnish sound, but not too much of it, hehe.
SENTENCED - Haven't heard a lot of them, but I remember liking the vocals in and guitar melodies the last time I heard them.
AMORPHIS - Haven't heard them.
EMPEROR… - Overrated, although I can hear that almost every aspect of the music is good.

OK! What is the band up to at the moment and what are your plans for the near future?
(tour, new album and new songs).

- At this moment, I don't have a lot of plans. Since I have no livemembers, there will be no concerts, which is too bad, since I would really like to do some shows.
I've put down a few ideas for some new songs, but nothing is complete yet. I guess the music will sound more folkish in the future, since I've started listening more and more to Folk music.
I have the title and sketches for the next cover ready though, but that's something I won't be showing before everything is ready, muhaha.
Else than that, I presume I will be answering some interviews and stuff in the nearest future, always great fun.

Thank you for your time and good luck in the future with everything, is there anything that you want to add to this?

- Thanks, and thanks again for showing interest!
Check by the official website, http://myrkgrav.com, check out the music and give us feedback. It's always appreciated, good as bad.