Kill The Evil

"Kill The Evil" started its life while jamming with a looper pedal, about 18 years ago. The drums where programmed on a computer, which was basically what you could do with computers back then. The guitars where improvised over the drum track. 
The song was one of many tracks that was being prepared for release with my “Ninth” project, (which was a solo project at the time). The album was never released, but an EP containing a version of Kill The Evil was released, this EP was supposed to be a teaser for the album to come. 

I recorded and produced the album myself in my own space, but ended up working on many of the tracks with other producers, whom I trusted and respected, 
On this song (and a bunch of others) I worked with Yngve Sætre at Duper Studio. 

This release is an earlier and longer version of the song, (but the same recording) and I have brought in some of Yngve’s ideas as well, as he’s a brilliant (and generous) guy, that indeed helped me a lot on these songs, for second to nothing. 

Still I wanted to present it here in a new light. 
 
On the recording session with me:
Geir Arne Ose:  Main drums
Yngve L Sætre: Synthbass/production

Satan's Brother Miles

The song was composed for my band "Woo", and if I remember correctly, it was performed only once. But played frequently at rehearsals. 

We had a huge repertoire, which I never managed to release, before we broke up. I did the pre-production for the song by listening to old minidisc recordings, so that when drummer Geir Arne Ose, flew in for the recordings, it was done in one take (we did 3, but the first stayed). In fact, the whole song was recorded in about 15 minutes. 

The rest of the production (and mix) was completed in an evening.
This is never the case with any of the other songs in this project, so far.

I use crazy amounts of time on the recordings. Most of the songs have been composed and arranged years before this project. But many of the productions, also take several years to complete. So what I've released here have been a work in progress for many, many years. Actually, up to 15 years, and even more. 

 I'm always working on some material that "drives me nuts" for the 100th time. 

But still,  I'm extremely grateful for being able to do this. And I hope something good comes out of it for someone. 

Recording With Geir Arne Ose

Last week I was lucky enough to get a visit from my good friend and drummer, Geir Arne Ose.

We laid down 19 drum tracks in the studio, on 3 days!
Thats pretty impressive. On arrival, Geir Arne  didn't  know  anything about which songs he was supposed to play (or that we aimed for 19 tracks). He did the task wonderfully, even though its over 10 years since he had heard and played on the songs. 

Some of these songs will, of course be released here in the future. 

We had a blast, both in the studio and after/between sessions!  

Lori

I wanted to shed a little bit of light on the future plans for this project. 

It may seem little, but the statements I make on these matters is pretty big to me, and I have to commit to them for five years, so I'm in a bit hesitant to release too much information before I'm 100% sure that I can deliver. 

The big news for today is that, over the course of this project, I will release 15 albums! 

So, that means that the music here will be available on albums and will be  part of a bigger statement.
All these albums will also belong together as a whole. As one body of work

This has been the plan all the way, but it's a big thing to produce. And I don't think it's ever been done before. It will be huge! 

Now over to Lori.

Lori was created along with the song "Backworlds" and served as a second movement in a way.
The song doesnt take itself too seriously, and has an easygoing vibe. 

It was recorded live (as usual) in a matter of minutes.
Though the composition took me a couple of years (believe it or not) to conclude. 

The song comes from a time when I was playing quite serious music and rehearsed almost every day with my fellow musicians. So it was a breath of fresh air within the repertoire.

For me it's always been about creativity, so a vital part of working with music all day, is to have music that represents all kinds of moods you'd normally experience. 

You get affected  by the songs you play, so to keep it real, I need these different emotions going, to prevent me from getting disillusioned.

It was a light moment and a fun song to play. 

On the session with me (again):

Geir Arne Ose: Acoustic Drums

Backworlds

Composed in 2000 and recorded in 2001. The concept of "Backworlds" was born through looped improvisations based on a looper pedal. However, the song was recorded into ProTools without any loopers.

I wanted to cross electronic sounds with something more organic, so I recorded the entire piece with an acoustic guitar and a bunch of effects. 

Recording equipment and effects was mostly outboard at the time and not "in the box" like today.

I still kinda like the attitude that comes with recording this way. It's more of a "do it now" approach. Very musical and great at getting things done. 

The song is partly influenced by "north eastern" traditional music which I grew to love over the years. Its subtle, but was the main drive for the song. (I was mostly known for my "south eastern" influences back then and probably still are).

There are no «dynamics processing» in the mix itself, and trying to process the mix on a "per track basis" ruins the song structure, as the lead elements drifts between 20 tracks (over the course of the song).

It was recorded in an hour, after rehearsing for a show with the band "Woo", but the preparation took much longer. (Pre-production for me can take, everything from six months to 6 years+)  The drums was added at a later stage, and was performed by Geir Arne Ose.

One of my favourite looper units. I used to have two of these back then.

Inage: audiofanzine.com

March Of The Moors

Originally composed for strings and marching drum, with a high emphasis on cellos.The goal was to make a cinematic score more than anything else.

We discussed how the story should outplay and the goal of the composition was to reflect that story.

The song was composed by me around 1996 in collaboration with Rune Bjørneset: a classically trained piano prodigy. He was the perfect candidate to throw ball with and we made some absolutely insane stuff together. 

We allowed ourselves to go way over the top with everything. First and foremost this included talking and making huge plots around the songs, we discussed the best scene for certain compositions, the best scene and state of mind for improvising and practicing etc.

I remember one time we were allowed to use one of the local venues for recording on a Sunday night when it was closed, we found out that we could get access to the live mixer and other equipment if we climbed through the roof and over a wall into the equipment room. And so we did. 

We borrowed the 40-60 channel mixer, along with microphones and recording equipment, climbing through the roof, recorded all night and climbed back with the gear the next morning.

We recorded the first version of “March Of The Moors” at Audiofarm studios around 1996. With a secondhand Korg Wavestation purchased partly for the occasion.

Since the sample libraries at the time was not all that much, the guitar had to do the job as the leading cellos and violins, resulting in a guitar orchestra more than anything.

We got drummer Geir Arne Ose to play for us in the studio, and I was so impressed by what he came up with that I decided then and there that he would be my drummer in the future, if he liked it or not.

The song was played frequently through Woo's later reformation and usually made the crowd go crazy. 

The release is based on a live show from 2001. Recorded by Erik Valderhaug at Lydkjeller'n AS. Some overdubs have been made on the recording, as I wanted some of the original instrumentation present. There are no other releases of this song  but several versions exist.

There is also a recording with real strings that may be released in the future.

I still love the vibe of this song and its always fun to play it, even after all these years.

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Live in Ørsta, 2001 where the released version of "March Of The Moors" was recorded.

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The show lasted 2 hours, "March" was played in the second set (shown here)