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First of all, please
give us a short introduction of Zweizz.
Zweizz consists of me: Svein Egil Hatlevik, although
sometimes I get help from other people as well, for
instance my good friend and partner in crime Homo Vinter.
Why was Zweizz formed?
I've been in other bands before, and for variuos reasons
I found out that if I was to be able to make what I
think is the proper kind of music, and do it when I
wanted, nobody was going to do it for me. I used to be
in Dødheimsgard (DHG), but I didn't agree with the
direction in which the music was heading, so I quit that
band in 2003. And I also play in a band called Fleurety,
but since the other main member of that band has been
living abroad, we weren't able to work that much
together. (Even though this band is much more active
these days.) And I don't think that the music i make as
Zweizz would have worked within Fleurety. So in 2003 I
decided to be a one man band, and get help from other
people when that proved necessary. As a matter of fact,
some of the music on my album "The Yawn of the New Age"
was originally planned to be used in DHG, and some of it
was planned to be in Fleurety. But now it's all a part
of Zweizz, and I'm very happy with that.
How would you describe your music and why?
A mixture of black metal, IDM, noise music and ambient.
Once I played my music to a friend, and he said: "This
is real necrotech!", and I think that's the best
description I've heard until now.
How do you usually compose your songs?
I gather sounds from various sources: improvisation,
field recordings, drum rhythms, samplings from records,
software synthesizers and so on. Then I modify these
sounds with different kinds of software, transforming
them, making different variations of the sounds. Then I
import these sounds into for instace Cubase, making
songs out of the songs. And finally, sometimes I add
vocals. Then I mix it all, and leave it on my hard drive
for a month or so, working on other songs, before i get
back to it, making some adjustments, then waiting a
month, then making adjustments until I'm happy with the
song.
Your debut 7", which was released in 2004, got good
critics from various press. But, how did the audience
reply on it? And how do you look back to it yourself?
Personally I think the 7" is very good. I really liked
how I worked with the songs on that record, I was very
focused on the drum patterns on those songs, whereas
lately I've been focusing more on the layering of sound.
But I started out playing music as a drummer, so I
really like working with the rhythms. Some weeks ago I
met a friend of mine who told me had been playing the 7"
for his kids, they are about four and six years old, and
they really liked it, and were dancing some strange
dances. Adult people seem to find my music weird, but
I've also heard from a friend of mine who performs as a
DJ, and he told me that adults can dance to it as well.
In March, your debut CD will be released. What can we
expect of it? And for the people who are familiar with
the 7", what are in your opinion the major differences
between the 7" and your debut album?
As I was talking about earlier, the stuff on the album
is less groove oriented, more soundscapes perhaps. There
are a lot of different styles represented on the album,
one song is very much inspired by Burzum, monotonous and
atmospheric ambient with a black metal groove below the
layers of ambience. One song almost sounds like a parody
of Nine Inch Nails. Other songs remind me pretty much of
Coil, but it's far more hectic than any Coil stuff I
ever heard. And the last track is recorded live in the
studio, with digitally processed piano. So one shoildn't
expect one thing, but a lot of different stuff.
On your MySpace there is a big banner, saying "I am a
musician and I support filesharing". In these times
where most artists complain about it, this is quite
uncommon. What is your point of view on all of this, why
do you support the filesharing?
I'm not very concerned about making money from my music;
I think people will pay for quality anyway. And I
sincerely think my music has high quality. Since the
revolution of the music industry in the nineties, it's
become too easy to release an album, and I don't think
people should make music just because it's so easy. We
need more competition. And if people download my music,
I consider that free advertising. If they like the
music, they might go to the shop and buy the album. That
might sound naive, but it's really a matter of faith. It
has not yet been proven whether or not file sharing
harms musicians, and I prefer to believe that file
sharing is to my benefit as a musician until I get solid
proof of the contrary.
According to your MySpace, you also play live. What
can people who visit a live show of you expect of it?
I'm not really sure yet. Since the music on my albums is
constructed, I don't want to just play the songs through
the PA and pretend I'm doing something. I've only done
two concerts yet, and they've been very different. The
first was a total disaster, or almost a disaster. Some
people even said they enjoyed it. I'm not sure, though.
I guess it was OK. That was a duo concert with me and
Homo Vinter, and we didn't really manage to communicate
on stage, so we kind of lost control. The second concert
was better, but that was just me and my laptop, so it
would be difficult to lose control. And, come to think
of it, I also played once on a release party for a
literary magazine called Böygen. That was quite ok. So
well, I think the next concert will be very good. That's
all I can say for now, sorry.
What can we expect of Zweizz this year?
Some remixes at least, currently I have promised
Solefald that I'll do a remix of some of their stuff,
and I'm discussing with Manes as well. I have a
cooperation project with Abigor, and another with Joey
Hopkins' Midget Factory - and yet another one with Vomit
Orchestra. And I'm planning a cassette album in a
limited edition of 100 copies. There are releases coming
out with other bands that I play in as well: A 7" ep
with Fleurety, a 7" ep with another band called Umoral (with
Telcoh from Nidingr and Hellhammer from Mayhem), and an
ambient/soft noise project called Pronounced "Sex" with
Kim Sølve (known from the design duo Trine&Kim).
Thanks a lot for your time answering my questions,
the interview ends here. If you have something to add,
the final words are all yours.
Thanks for the attention.
Interview by: Gerardo (March 2007) |
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