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Read the entire interview as I talk to Erlend about the band's debut album, their recent North America tour and the visa problems, plans for the rest of the year, their unique musical style, popularity in Norway, singing in Norwegian, the early years, the band's name, his favorite tracks from this album, and last month's LA show.

Andrew: I think your self-titled debut is the best album of the year so far ...
Erlend: Oh, thanks!

Andrew: Yeah it really is, and what I wanted to ask you is, what was the reason for taking so long to release it in North America even though the album came out in Europe in June 2010?
Erlend: I don't know, I guess it was just that we were trying to figure out who to release it with. There weren't any good offers so our record label Indie Recordings they wanted to do it themselves, and then they used The End Records to distribute it. So I guess that was mostly what took time. It it was just up to us, it would have come out much sooner but it went through a lot of paperwork that we had to figure out.

Andrew: How long did you actually take to write this album?
Erlend: Well, that's kind of hard to say because basically it's just a collection of the best songs we had since we started out in 2006-07, like "Sjohyenar" which is the oldest song on the album. So yeah, it's kind of difficult to answer your question, and it's just a collection of the best of everything we've had.

Andrew: You recently completed a tour of North America. How did it go overall?
Erlend: The tour went pretty good, except for the part that we should have been there a week longer. Our visas were stolen so we got delayed for abouta week, but luckily we missed only four shows. It could have been worse. It's sad that we had to miss the Scion Rock Fest and a few other places we couldn't make, but I guess we'll make it back to the US, specially the places we didn't get to go this time. But the tour was really good. The other bands were awesome. Weedeater, Zoroaster are great guys with great music and we had a blast at SXSW as well.

Andrew: For the rest of the year, what shows do you have coming up?
Erlend: In about two weeks we're going on a tour of Europe. That's about a month, and then there's the whole summer of playing festivals in different places in Norway and Europe. After that, I guess we're planning on going back to the States for an East Coast tour in October. I don't know any details yet, but we'll keep everyone posted. So yeah, the rest of the year is pretty much packed (laughs).

Andrew: As you said, you were supposed to be here a week before you made it here, and that was because your passports were stolen. How did you react when it happened?
Erlend: (Laughs). I could not believe it. I was eating in a Burger King and I had a backpack next to me. When I turned around it was suddenly gone and I couldn't see anyone. It's been a long time since I've been panicking that much. I was yelling at the Burger King personnel and saying, "How the hell are we supposed to go to the United States?" But they were without any answers, so it was totally strange. But I'm glad we got everything sorted out pretty quickly after that, with new passports and new visas. So I'm glad we didn't miss the whole tour.

Andrew: Listening to this album I feel that you've created a unique sound of your own. Do you agree?
Erlend: Yes, I don't know about too many other bands that sound like us. So yeah (laughs), I agree with you.

Andrew: Yeah, because there are so many different styles of music combined together in your sound, do you think you appeal to a wide range of audiences?
Erlend: Yeah it seems to be doing that in Norway now at least. The reception has been pretty crazy considering that I felt the music we play was kind of too heavy for most people to get into, but when the album came out it was in the charts for six months which is crazy for a band like us. Normally the more popular bands are played on air, and bands like us would stay on for three, four weeks at the most. I think that was really impressive, and we've been getting lot of radio airplay. Whenever we play a show in Norway, we get many different kinds of people. I think it's kind of cool that people who don't normally listen to this kind of music listen to us. At the same time, I think it's refreshing to play in European places outside Norway, and the United States, in front of a more 'metal' or underground audience compared to Norway. So I like both (laughs).

Andrew: You use Norwegian language for your lyrics. What was the reason for choosing your native language? Was it because you thought it would sound more natural?
Erlend: When we started out, we didn't have any ambitions at all so we just felt stupid to sing in English. 90% of the bands in Norway have no chance of making it outside of Norway anyway, so it seems kind of useless to me for them to sing in English. Also, it just feels more natural for me to sing in Norwegian because it's the language we speak. I just feel silly when I sing in English, really (laughs). So yeah it's just the way I prefer it to be, and by now I think it's a very important aspect of our sound.

Andrew: But do you think you'll continue singing in Norwegian, considering the fact that you're become successful in America as well now?
Erlend: Yeah, I think we'll stick to Norwegian. It doesn't seem to make any difference whether it's in Norwegian or not. People in the States seem to get into it regardless of the language. Good music is good music, regardless of what language the vocalist sings it in, I guess.

Andrew: When you started out, how did you arrive at the name Kvelertak?
Erlend: I don't know, I can't even remember any word (laughs). I think it was the name one of the guitarists came up with, and I can't remember how we figured it out. In Norwegian it means "chokehold". I just think it's a good sounding band name.

Andrew: It sure is a good sounding band name. Since this album originally came out almost a year ago, have you had a chance to write any new material?
Erlend: Yeah, we've been working on new songs and we hope to record a new album next year sometime. I don't know exactly when, but that's what we are going for.

Andrew: You mentioned in the beginning of the interview that you actually started out in 2006. How were the gigs back then? Did you start out small?
Erlend: Yeah, the first ever show we did was in our living room for a friend who threw a party (laughs), so yeah we started out really small. We just played local pubs and we did everything we could to play as much live as we possibly could. That's what we'd been doing for those first few years, trying to practice and figure out what we were doing in terms of songwriting, just doing a lot of hard work.

Andrew: I know that your music draws from a lot of influences, but is there a band or style of music that's been the single biggest influence for you?
Erlend: That's again kind of hard for me to answer because I'm not the one who writes all the songs. We just take the best moments from everything. So it's hard to pinpoint one band as an influence for the album as there are shitloads of them.

Andrew: On this album do you have any favorite tracks of your own? My favorite is "Fossegrim". It's a great blues-based tune.
Erlend: Yeah that one is great, but my personal favorites are "Offermatt" and "Ulvetid". Those are the best to play live too.

Andrew: On the North American tour, you started out playing in San Francisco and then you played the Echoplex in LA. What did you think of that venue and that show?
Erlend: Yeah the San Francisco show was awesome! The place was packed and people were standing around the corner of the street to get into the show. So that was pretty great, and I thought the LA show was really cool too because there were a lot of other bands there. This band called Danava was really cool. Red Fang are a great band, and I got to see them that night as well as during SXSW. I thought that place in LA was a little too big but the crowd was still good and it was a cool venue. I heard that there was another show going on upstairs and we were playing at the same time as The Secret?

Andrew: Yeah, there was a show going on at the Echo upstairs, but I thought the larger crowd was there for your show.
Erlend: Yeah, and these shows had everything together I guess, so we could kind of share the crowd.

Andrew: Yeah those two venues are actually under the same ownership, and they were selling hall passes to people so that they can go back and forth between the two shows. It's kind of like the same venue with two different rooms.
Erlend: Oh cool! I didn't know that.

Andrew: Well, it was great talking to you man. All the best with everything and hopefully you'll make it out here soon again.
Erlend: Yeah thanks man! I think October would be the next time, East Coast at least. Where are you from, California?

Andrew: Yeah, Los Angeles.
Erlend: We'll try to make it there as soon as possible. Thanks!

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Kvelertak - Fossegrim (Kvelertak) by metalassault