Hi Trym, it’s great that I could reach you with my interview questions!
Well, you started playing music sometime in the early 90’s and showed your skills in amazing bands.
You turned 50 this year, and maybe that’s part of the reason why you felt the need to make your own solo album, with which you make this year an even more memorable one! Did a lot happen to you in 2024? Have there been any changes in your life?
The past couple of years have been quite busy actually, so I did not plan to make a solo album on top of everything else. It was a chain of events that finally led to this. So, no major changes in my life recently that triggered this, it sort of just happened.
Did the realization of Thyrmr come to you quickly, or did you plan it for years and only recently you got to see the whole picture?
It all started a couple of years ago, when I was playing around with a theme I had in my head and just wanted to see if I could capture that feeling with sounds. It was later the realization of Thrymr actually would happen, when I was offered to release this.
Thyrmr is atmospheric and ambient, with some kind of a cinematic soundscape. While listening to your music, one can feel yourself in darkness and at cold, harsh landscapes. It sounds quite unique to me, and it looks like you put everything you had into it. It includes your Viking heart, and your persistent warrior will. What should we know about the album entitled “Saga of the North”?
The whole concept of this project, was to create cinematic themes for an imaginary movie. So I had to make the story first, and then try to make each theme fit what I had envisioned.
Where did you record it? What was your aim and direction with the sound?
I recorded everything in my studio/rehearsal place. My aim was to try to capture the sound and atmosphere I had in mind for each scene. I also wanted it to be a movie-themed soundscape and not a realistic soundscape of what the sounds and melodies of the viking age would be.
What was going through your mind when your solo album was finally finished? How do you feel now and how did you feel earlier? What do you expect from the album?
First thing was that I wasn’t really finished. I still wanted to do more with everything. But I had a deadline and did what I could do up until that deadline. But its almost always like this, and when I listen to older records I have done, I tend to think about what I should have done differently.
If I’m not mistaken, you’ve always been a drummer. Here, you did a completely different job. When did you start experimenting with other instruments and electronic stuff? How exciting did it become for you?
That’s correct. But I have also been playing some guitar and piano too. I have a lot been making all kinds of music and styles for many years, I just never intended to release it. After playing drums for so long, its actually liberating but also very challenging to make music and not think like a drummer.
Which books and films have attracted you over the years? What do you think had the greatest influence on you in the process of the realization of your music?
There are so many great movies and books, its almost impossible to choose what had the biggest impact. They all contributed in some way or another. If I should point out something that I feel could have a direct influence this this project, I would probably say 2 movies from Iceland called: When the raven flies, and the other called: In the Shadow of the raven.
The two worlds are almost incomparable – I mean the Viking life in the past and the modern world right now. What would you point out as something positive from the pagan life that we have little of at present? How much would you like to see something like that happen again, even if it is unimaginable?
I think we have lost a lot from the Viking life, that would benefit humans today. But at the same time, a lot of people have a distorted view, supported by movies and TV series, of how the life of vikings really where. It was a really hard life and a struggle just to stay alive.
Do you have any special collections related to this age, or is there something you would like to get because you have been wanting it for a long time?
Not really.
How likely is it that there will be a follow-up to the Thyrmr album? In which extent does it depend on the reactions and reception?
I don’t expect this project to be a commercial success in any ways, and I did not do this for that purpose at all. I had fun doing it, and it was a challenge to do something new and out of my comfort zone. But I have no plans of making a follow-up to this album at the moment.
Has your interest in music changed during the thirty years? Whose music have you been listening to lately?
Definitely. I have a much broader style of music I like now than when I was a teenager. I do like many different styles of music, but I’m also very picky within those styles.
Finally, I would like you to talk about your “Vandringen” video!
I have been making music videos for all the 8 tracks of the album. I tried to capture some of the ideas I had in mind when I made the music, but since I have limited of material available for the videos, I had to try and tell a story with what I had. Vandringen (the journey) is about a viking community that have to leave their destroyed village and head north, crossing the mountains and winterstorms, to find a new place to live.
Thank you for your answers!
You’re welcome.
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