Tristania************

World of glass got good reviews in the magazines - like it's predecessors - some extremely positive - and a few were a bit more reserved.

For some musicians good reviews and the recognition and status that comes with them are extremely important. It is easy to forget that journalists are just human beings that write their opinions - they are critics - just like every fan that is into the music. Some responses from die-hard fans were quite harsh - but every bands focus should be on the music - not the opinions held by others.

The album was released on the second or third day of our European headlining tour. This meant that our new songs were unknown to most of the people in the crowds. They would still recognize the old ones and the reception of The Shining Path, Tender trip on earth and World of glass was fairly promising (the 3 new songs that we played). However, the new material wasn't the biggest change that had been made since the last show. There were changes in the lineup as well.

Morten was out and Kjetil Ingebrethsen and myself - eventually full members - were handling the male vocals. Obviously this kicked up a lot of dust. Kjetil's stage-appearance was quite different from Mortens. Where Veland was a static piratish man with a guitar, Kjetil was like an attacking pitbull - running all over the place - and frenetically whipping the crowd. He loves the kind of attention you get on a big stage - playing with the lights and doing his robot-like dances.

The main challenges when you are on stage with five or six fellow band members is the space you give/take and where you want to have the main attention. Me, Kjetil and Vibeke all had solo parts - and on a couple of the songs there were soft duets with Vibeke and myself. On this tour we played a lot of 'old' songs where I had either no lines or only a few and I would leave the stage and watch the show from the back. It took me a long time to find my role in this lineup. Kjetil had all the aggressive lines - inviting headbanging and all sorts of craziness - while Vibeke - as a natural frontwoman - didn't have to move much to get the crowd's attention. She could lean on her impressive vocal capabilities and that would get people going. I brought my 'stageact' from The Morendoes - basically just clinging to my microphone stand like it was the ONLY thing that could save me. In the Tristania - setting this didn't work out very well - my vocal parts - as you all know are mainly low pitched and mellow on the earlier Tristania albums, and I felt like Kjetil and Vibeke and Anders and Rune would get the crowd moving and I would make them stop. Would YOU jump around to these words: 'Perchance to dream, you're my dancing Queen, Behold thy haven of light'? Of course you wouldn't! I also had restrictions on dancing, climbing and headbanging - due to a couple of fuckups the previous year.
I was the boring blonde guy to the left.

Only a few weeks before this tour a couple of crazy extremists crashed a couple of planes into the World Trade Center - horrible things on the TV - I remember especially being shocked when I saw the images of people throwing themselves out the windows. I remember getting an SMS from Anders saying 'Turn on your TV - there is some crazy shit going on, it's like watching a video for 'Wormwood'. Indeed it was.

Most metal acts from Scandinavia are drinking bands. The bands from the south are usually more into health food and the occasional spliff when the mood is right. On every Tristania tour I have been alcohol has been the fuel. The WOG-tour was no exception. A few beers takes the edge off your nerves before you go on stage but there is always the risk of drinking one too many. Too many is not good - it might make you lose your focus - and trick you into believing everything is fine when it is not. Every fan that shows up on a Tristania-show deserves the full treatment. And after every show there is a party - and you start the next day with a couple of beers to keep the hangover away. Try this diet for 4-5 weeks - add 50-60 cigarettes a day - old friends and new friends - Norwegians, Greeks, Swedes, Germans, English bus drivers and people from Holland - a community of metalheads - speaking broken English - on two tour buses - a parallel universe moving up and down the endless Autobahn. It works for a few weeks but it wears you out in the long run.

On this tour there were supposed to be six bands but it ended up with four - which for me is still - one too many. However, I suspect the reason to be something that has to do with money. We were headlining and 'Rotting Christ' from Geece were second. Apart from the rather uncharming name, their music has nothing in common with ours. I would say they play Black Metal. Looking back in the rearview mirror I can't help wondering exactly why somebody thought that putting our two bands on the same tour was a good idea. But I am just a stupid singer so what do I know? I am quite confident that we didn't win too much sympathy from their fans. And I don't believe that any Tristania fan would buy RC-t-shirts. But the guys were great - they didn't drink much - but were pleasant to be around. Nicest satanist-Greeks I've ever met. The third band on the bill was Vintersorg from Sweden - they had quite an audience - especially in Germany. Another strange choice of act to put on the tour - they were signed on Napalm - so that must have been the link. I guess Vintersorg plays a mix of progressive Folk/Blackish metal.

I must say that I enjoyed their liveshows - and especially when they played their hitsong 'Till Fjälls'. You would see hundreds of hands in the air and the crowd was shouting TILL FJÄLLS! 'Till fjälls' can be translated into 'To the mountains!' and I couldn't help wondering if the fans knew that. The people in Vintersorg were nice, drunken Scandinavian bastards just like ourselves. The last band - the opening act - was Madder Mortem from Norway. We hit it off with them immediately. Great band with great music and their frontwoman Agnete is an amazing singer. They are also extremely easy going and funny to hang out with. We still meet people from that band when we are visiting Oslo. If you get a chance to see a Madder-show you should grab it with both hands.

On a tour like this - the people that do the actual work - is the crew. They do all the rigging and they keep two eyes on the stage during the concerts to make certain that everything runs smoothly. And when the shows are done, they rig everything down again and pack it in the trailers. While OUR job was to play for about 1.15 - have a shower and get the party started. And when everything was packed, the bus drivers could start to carry out their part of the mission.

On this specific tour there was Andi, a German, who loved AC/DC. A Belgian sound guy named Luc and a light-technician we knew very, very well: Michael 'Hille' Hillenbrand. Hille had been a crew member on all earlier Tristania-tours. A great guy - He is still in the business - we met him in Greece last year. And there was Franzi- the merch girl. And there was the two bus drivers from England, The Steves. Last but not least there was a huge Dutch guy named Carlo. He was the drum tech and when the tour was over, the band decided that we would never do a show without him. And that is still the case today. Carlo is family and I think the feeling is mutual - you must have seen him on the countless YouTube - clips.

One of my fondest memories from this tour is that one of our buses broke down in a curve of an autobahn. The driver tried to stop the other bus to inform them about the situation, and their driver, followed by a line of six to eight half-nude Scandinavians came out to help. It was one of those 'Kodak moments' that I will never forget.

I also recall that one night Hille and Kenneth swapped places on 'My Lost Lenore', the last song of the set. Hille did the drums and Kenneth did the lights.

Anders established a well-deserved reputation as the number one beer drinker on this tour. The Steves noticed that Anders bought more bear during every stop at a gas station, no matter what the time was, and at one venue they equipped his microphone stand with two beer glasses and straws, so he could play and drink at the same time.

Another memory is that one night, me and Hille being the last ones to hit the sack, the bus stopped and we took a pee outside before calling it a night. The following day Steve told us that while he was driving about 120km/h on the autobahn, when suddenly the door of the back lounge slammed open and a football vanished into the night. He threatened that he'd kick those responsible in the ass if he found out who they were: Hille and I wisely kept our mouths shut.
A fun fact is that, if I recall this right, Vibeke had been sleeping on the bank in said lounge earlier that night. Luckily no one got injured.

This was just a few memories from a tour we did almost eight years ago and I enjoyed sharing them with you.

Østen

We..ve had a great live replacement for Kenneth in Mr. Tarald Lie, who has done shows with us since 2006. I first met in Tarald back in 1998, when we were on tour together with Tristania and Solefald. Tarald was then their session live drummer, and we’re really happy that he wanted to help us out. Tarald is a fantastic person; the big comedian of the band – and an amazing drummer.
A very nice thing for us in the band was that that Kenneth joined us on stage and played Angellore and Beyond the Veil with us. Kenneth’s unexpected was obviously a pleasant surprise for the local audience at Jørpeland, judged by their fantastic feedback.

In Kjetil’s hometown, Kristiansand, we got a couple of more local guests on stage. Jonathan Perez (Sirenia, ex-Trail of Tears) joined us on stage for Tender Trip on Earth. Jonathan did help us out as a live drummer on Wacken Open Air and the Norwegian tour in 2005. Kjell “Kjellhammer” Hagen (also from the band formerly known as Trail of Tears) was our session bass player from 2005 to 2007, and in Kristiansand he played bass on The Wretched. It’s been a while since last time we met Jonathan and Kjell and it was great fun to play with them again.
We’ve got some film material from the concerts and we will make a short film around it for the future.
Soon, we will also post online some high quality photos from the gig in Kristiansand.



The set list we played this weekend was:[


World of Glass (Vocals: Østen – with Kjetil on backing vocals)
Mercyside (Vocals: Østen – with Kjetil on backing vocals)
Tender Trip on Earth (Vocals: Østen)
Circus (Vocals: Østen)
The Emerald Piper (Vocals: Østen – with Kjetil on backing vocals)
Shadowman (Vocals: Østen & Kjetil)
The Wretched (Vocals: Kjetil)
Angellore (Vocals: Kjetil)
Beyond the Veil (Vocals: Kjetil)
Lotus (Vocals: Kjetil)
Protection (Vocals: Kjetil)
Libre (Vocals: Kjetil)
Sacrilege (Vocals: Østen & Kjetil)
Down (Vocals: Kjetil)

Hello, everybody.

I am happy to inform you that:
The 6th of August at 2 AM , my girlfriend Silje gave birth to our twins. A boy and a girl.
We are all well and right now we are recovering and trying to adjust to the new situation.
My children are remarkably good looking ( they got their looks from their mom, of course).
They also handle extreme vocals very well. I would not be surprised if they were to be singing in Tristania one day.
With other instruments it is a bit early to say. Though I am optimistic.

Greetings from Østen the family man.

Hi


This being my first official blogpost as a member of Tristania, I would
first direct my humble gratitude to the band, and to all you readers,
listeners, fans! I have loved my time in Tristania so far, and we're
just getting started. Thanks for all the nice emails and all the support!
Well, enough smooth talk, let's get down to business!

We have a new record in the making, as some of you might be aware of.
The songs are mainly done, the lyrics are getting there, and recording dates are to be
booked soon. The creation of this album has been for me personally the
most exciting and exhausting task I have ever embarked on. 13 ideas are
slowly but steadily growing into 13 brand new songs. From idea to draft
to sketch to demo to pre-prod, and soon, to the new Tristania album.
When I joined the band, they told me that the creative process was a
collective effort. My opinions and ideas would count just as much as the
people that has been in the band a decade or more. To some it may seem
ridiculous to "jeopardise" the most important aspect in the band, the
songwriting, by inviting someone completely fresh to participate. Even
if we had very different musical background and preferences, Anders took
the initiative to find the common ground, and create new music, and
after working together with Anders only a couple of sessions, it was
clear to me that we had much more in common musically, than our
background would indicate.

I was actually stoked in the beginning, that
they would let me into the songwriting process. I didn't have much
experience as a songwriter, and very little to show for. This is
probably where I am the most grateful. That Anders from the beginning
encouraged me to write, and always made me feel that my ideas were, even
if the earliest ones were rather immature, welcomed, and were considered
seriously.


Now, thousands of working hours, hundreds of ideas, dozens of half songs
and drafts and 13 brand new Tristania songs later, what I am really
proud of, is that we have lived up to the most important principal in
Tristania's music ever. That principal is not a certain mood, guitar
sound, vocal style or lyrical content, but the fact that Tristania's
music changes according to our hearts, it grows with the band. What you
will hear on next year's album is the accurate sound of where Tristania
is NOW. We have an amazing blend, where all seven members have
contributed creatively. Still it sounds like Tristania, which means it
doesn't sound like anything else, in my ears! Remember how World of
Glass sounded fresh and different, and maybe a little strange, after
Widow..s Weeds and Beyond the Veil? World of Glass quickly established
itself as a natural part of the Tristanian sound. The same thing
happened with both Ashes and Illumination. To some, they maybe didn't
sound like "Tristania" immediately, but now they are a natural part
ofthe band's history and sound. My point is, the music that is going to
be released in the near future from Tristania, is not going to sound
like "Tristania" immediately. But it will sound like the sum of all the
members of Tristania now. And I dare to bet that it will find it's very
natural place in Tristania's great and diverse discography. Just like
all the other albums.


This is, like I said the single most important principal. Tristania
creates music from the heart, and not from an idea of what Tristania is.
All this being said, I can't wait to let you hear the music. It's tiring
to write about music. Just as when I read a review or an article about
music, I want to HEAR it. It's more or less the same when I write about
music. I want to PLAY if to you!

"-Writing about music, is like dancing about architecture" (Frank Zappa)

Until next time, have a good time!


Best
Ole