The Lodge @ Trym Interview

Trym
an interview with himself

Given the straightforwardness the band addressed about Emperor's demise four years ago, could you clarify the reasons and motivation behind your recent reunion?
When we made the decision that we wanted to quit with Emperor, we were supposed to do a tour in Europe and in the United States as an ending. Since this never happened, we have waited to find the right time when we all felt like playing together and making the last shows we couldn't do earlier.

What are your thoughts on the night of your comeback performance and how did you prepare the whole thing in such a thought out way in advance?
It's been almost two years since we started to talk about doing some shows with Emperor again, so the only hard thing in this period was to keep it secret.

Who are the other members joining you three onstage and will they be part of the band in a likely studio situation?
The bass player is Secthdamon from Zyklon and Myrkskog and the keyboard player is a local guy called Einar. But there will not be a studio album; this reunion is just to play live, so we have not even spoke about an album.

You've been Zyklon's drummer for seven years now, so in your own construal, what differences would you point out between both bands' working methods - and do you feel as accomplished regardless?
The main difference between Zyklon and Emperor, is that we rehearse as a whole band prior to both studio and live situations and the music we make is meant to be played live (as well as on a record). We also try different things out when we rehearse with Zyklon, while with Emperor we had everything ready before we started to rehearse.

Looking back to your early days in Emperor, how did you become its permanent drummer? Was it difficult to adapt to the band's musical structure in the first place?
I came to a rehearsal and played some old songs and some new stuff they had made for Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk and, the rest is history. I found it easy to play with the guys, since they are excellent musicians and friends and since the music was so creative, I just had to follow the lead...

On the issue here, how do you look upon the mythical split with Enslaved and how do you like and view Blood Must Be Shed that, ironically, featured (apart from you) Emperor's current line-up?
The split with Enslaved came after a really hard tour in the United States and Mexico; we had some differences and decided to part me from the band. Blood Must Be Shed was just a project Samoth did before he went to prison.

How did you like playing with Satyricon and what were the main differences you found when replacing Frost?
The tour with Satyricon was a good learning experience (both positive and negative). I try to play as "right" as possible, to make Satyricon's music as real as it could have been with Frost.

What's your musical background before the Enslaved days and did you have any musical education prior to join the underground?
I did play with Ivar, from Enslaved, some years before we started Enslaved, but I have no musical education.

Give me an insight on several of your former - and current - parallel projects and, on the issue here, have you ever been involved with Charmand Grimloch's Tartaros?
I have been involved in different projects, but never as a serious thing. I have been playing in a band called Paganize, for a couple of years now and we have just recorded a demo. But I never did anything musically with Tartaros.

You have a quite different assignment on the side, called Emperial Tattoo; tell me how did it all start and what are your key inspirations before branding dissimilar designs into people's flesh?
I have a friend who runs a tattoo studio. He showed me how to tattoo and I started it around 2000. I have always been interested in tattoos and I've also been making drawings since I was a kid. When it comes to inspiration, it really depends on what people want, as well as the motif they choose.

These days, what Norwegian bands and projects would you care to recommend - as well as foreign potentials you find as interesting (not necessarily within Metal)?
I am a big fan of Red Harvest: excellent live band. Also, there are a couple of new bands like Mindgrinder, but everything with Strapping Young Lad or Devin Townsend is great.

I guess a fitting end for this interview would be to know three things:
- Will there ever be a chance to see Emperor playing live in Portugal? Time will show; if we get an offer worth taking, I can't see why not.
- Do you have any notion of Portuguese bands of any kind? The only Portuguese band I like is Sirius, but I'm sure there are others that I haven't heard of.
- How do you look upon Sirius' cover of The Majesty of Nightsky? I think it's a good cover they did.

www.emperialtattoo.com

© 2005 The Lodge

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