SOURCE – What goals did you have in mind when you came up with the idea for Leaves of Yesteryear?
Kjetil Nordhus (Vocals) – Being the first album in 14 years, it was important for us that this had to be the right album to release. And after having been away for so long we needed this album to be exactly how WE wanted it to be. We talked quite a lot about that before even starting the writing process, and after having worked a lot with finding “the essence” of Green Carnation in a live setting, we went for the same strategy when planning this album. So what we basically did, was to try and decide on what the elements that make Green Carnation unique, and worked with those elements.
SOURCE – How does Leaves of Yesteryear compare to your previous efforts?
Kjetil Nordhus (Vocals) – I think Leaves of Yesteryear is connected to all our previous efforts, because all our previous efforts contained unique “Green Carnation elements”, which we brought into this album. On the same time it was important for us that this album would not be a retrospective album, but one that could knit together the past with the present, and also look into the future.
SOURCE – So was there anything with the art for Leaves of Yesteryear that you were looking to emphasize?
Kjetil Nordhus (Vocals) – Almost all of the people we were working with on this release, we have worked with before. That is not because we didn’t want to challenge or renew ourselves, but more that we needed the people from outside the band to understand what we wanted to do, and deliver according to that. We have known and worked with Niklas Sundin for 20 years already. We are the same age, he knows the band very well, and we are obviously big fans of his art. So when I presented our ideas for the album, what we wanted to achieve and everything, he understood it very quickly. And we sent all the demos and lyrics to him, and gave him full artistic freedom to come up with something that would sum up the album in one picture. I think he did it perfectly.
SOURCE – Are there any external influences on the music? Anything you were listening to at the time – or reading, or watching – which you feel had an effect on the writing process?
Kjetil Nordhus (Vocals) – There will always be lots of external influences on music, no matter who makes it. And I am sure many could have been mentioned here, but I still thing the main focus this time around was that we needed to find our inspiration from within the band, and our history.
SOURCE – Is there something you’ve been putting off for a long time, but are now doing with this time at home?
Kjetil Nordhus (Vocals) – Yes, I normally live a very busy life, but that chanced quite suddenly. So I have actually been able to use much more time on listening to music than normal. And also an a slightly different way. I have actively been trying to find contemporary artists and bands I don’t know from before, which has been super interesting. And also I have started a “project”, to listen to albums I really want to listen to, from start to finish – with no distractions (that hasn’t been so easy for me the last few years, actually). I have also been going deep into some genres, that I haven’t been too familiar with (Sludge metal being the last one), and it has just been amazing. I have also been able to work with new Green Carnation stuff, and am happy to say that we have finished a new demo, a 10 minute song, that we are really, really happy with.
SOURCE – Have you been doing any live-streamed concerts during COVID-19 or do you plan to? A lot of artists have been doing them, do you think it’s a challenge to make them original and interesting?
Kjetil Nordhus (Vocals) – No, but YES! We are inviting everyone to our Worldwide Leaves of Yesteryear Live Steamed Release Party on May 23rd. Full live production of the concert, plus lots of exclusive material for the ones who buy the (very cheap) 5(ish) dollar ticket. The broadcast will include the world premiere on our new lyric video, interviews with the band, the local promoter (original singer of In the Woods…) and much more. Green Carnation is a “more is more”- band, and we really want to make this release party something to remember for ourselves, and (more importantly) for our fans.
SOURCE – What financial impact has COVID-19 had on you and your band?
Kjetil Nordhus (Vocals) – Have you had to cancel or postpone any tours or festival appearances or postpone an album release because of COVID-19 and how will that affect you in the long term?
We have had to postpone all our shows from March until September. Only one has been cancelled. So the biggest problem for us is the uncertainty of not knowing when it is OK to do live shows again, and we basically need to reschedule all our plans for the next few years ago. I don’t think we are suffering too much economically long term, but we were certainly planning on doing quite a lot of live shows to promote Leaves of Yesteryear which have to be done at a later stage.
SOURCE – And finally, are there any plans underway for a follow up to Leaves of Yesteryear?
Kjetil Nordhus (Vocals) – Yes, in 2017-2018 we planned what we were going to do until the autumn of Some of those plans needs to be rescheduled because of COVID-19, but they are still there, all of them. So within one year we will announce a new, huge project that is going to surprise a lot of people. Exactly when we will announce this now, I am unsure of, but it is most definitely not going to be in 14 years…
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