SOURCE – Marrow as the seventh Mardder Mortem album continues to push forth an adventurous progressive metal sound with fabulous musical interplay and versatility as far as influences/tones you explore. Where do you see this album slotting in the band’s career, and how do you feel about the process of developing/shaping this material after 27 years together as a band?
BP M. Kirkevaag (guitar, backing vocals) – Thank you! It really feels like an accumulation of all our albums and experiences, yet at the same time pointing in new directions. We’ve become less afraid to let parts be beautiful if they need be and also digging even deeper into the mud when a song requires it. Marrow was a very much a collaborative effort with the writing of songs and I think our personalities truly shines through in the music.
SOURCE – Which songs took the biggest transformation from the initial demos into the final song [Marrow production]?
BP M. Kirkevaag (guitar, backing vocals) – Hmm. I think maybe that’d be Liberator or White Snow, Red Shadows. Liberator originated from the bass-line that open the song, but in a totally different arrangement. It had more like a “dance”-like arrangement with totally different guitars, drums and vocals – some of that may see the light of day on our next album. It never felt quite right within the song, so we started experimenting with putting different chords on top of the bass that made a lot more sense. Much of that song was then written together, jamming and coming up with new parts at rehearsal.
SOURCE – Anything you can say about the video for Far From Home [official video]?
BP M. Kirkevaag (guitar, backing vocals) – I absolutely love it! In my opinion it actually adds an extra dimension to the song. There’s a true emotional connection between artists with that song and video. Costin Chioreanu, the artist making the video, did an amazing piece of art. The contents of the animations are hand-painted and very much fitting to both the song, production and us as a band. I can’t say that I usually react that strong to music videos, but with this one I had tears in my eyes watching it for the first time.
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?
BP M. Kirkevaag (guitar, backing vocals) – We did one show in Oslo in may and that’s the only one thus far. We do have plans to do more shows like that if the pandemic drags on. It’s challenging, but at the same time it forces artists to think anew. I find it very interesting and in an artistic sense we can do lots of weird and cool stuff that would be difficult on an entire tour. It also gives fans that live far away from us a chance to finally see us play live without going bankrupt. With that being said, I don’t think it can ever replace the intimacy of a band in a room full of people and the two-way energy that happens organically.
SOURCE – What financial impact has COVID-19 had on you and your band? 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?
BP M. Kirkevaag (guitar, backing vocals) – We’ve been kind of lucky, since we were already in the cycle of writing an album. So we had no shows being cancelled or anything like that. Luckily we got to have our 20th anniversary last year before the pandemic hit. In the long term, it’s difficult to predict. Maybe it’ll turn out ok, because I think people will be starved for live shows if and when society reopens. For us, we don’t make any money of the band – only money going out, so the economic situation hasn’t changed that much. But, of course it would be good to generate some kind of income from shows that allows us to pay the bills for the band
SOURCE – If you also have a day job outside of music, how has that been impacted by COVID-19?
BP M. Kirkevaag (guitar, backing vocals) – My job is being an audio engineer, mixing music from my home – so I’m very fortunate and haven’t been impacted in any serious way. I already live pretty isolated, so the change is visible mostly when I’m shopping for groceries or when meeting with friends.
SOURCE – What does Madder Mortem mean to you at this point in your life?
BP M. Kirkevaag (guitar, backing vocals) – A lot! Hehe. Seriously, it kind of is my life’s work. I’ve chosen to have this band be my main priority in life since I was a teenager, so it’s a huge part of who I am. It’s not just a band, it’s almost everything to me. And I still feel that we bring something fresh and different with our songs and we haven’t really made any fences for ourselves either, genre-wise, to what we can do. That makes it more interesting aging with the band, since we all change a bit over the years. I still feel that there are a lot of stuff to accomplish and unheard music to be made. And with that said, I can actually see myself getting a huge grin on my face when strumming a chord through a guitar amp at loud volume even at 80…if I live that long. The fire is very much alive!
SOURCE – Everything is up in the air currently, but is there anything planned for the band right now?
BP M. Kirkevaag (guitar, backing vocals) – Yeah, the world is at a strange place. I hope and wait for the pandemic to be more manageable through vaccination and whatnot. But, maybe some parts of our lives won’t return to what it has been. As a band, we truly look forward to be able to tour again and play live in a room full of people.
First and foremost, we have a documentary – “The Howl Of The Underdogs” (https://www.facebook.com/howloftheunderdogs | https://www.howloftheunderdogs.com/ ), coming out in not too long. A production-company, Freqs TV, from Germany has been following us for a few years. From the time of recording material for the re-release of Mercury up until now. It’s in the final stages of post-production and it’ll be a very moving and true reflection of us as a band. Can’t wait to see it finished! We also filmed and recorded our very special anniversary show in Oslo last year and maybe we’ll turn that into a release at some point. It was a magical evening and would be great to give more people the chance to experience it. It’s just a matter of finding out if the recordings do it justice. Other than that, we’re working hard on our next album. We’ve written a lot of music and now it’s more about getting arrangements right and choosing what fits together as a whole. We’re stoked about that and the documentary and some new music should see the light of day sometime next year.
Thanks for staying with us and for the interview. Stay safe!
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