THEATRE OF TRAGEDY - Hein Frode Hansen
Just before appearing live this weekend in Greece, Hein Frode Hansen the drummer of Theatre of Tragedy, talks to www.metalzone.gr\r\nabout their upcoming album which is being released March 2006 in Europe\r\nand probably this fall in the US, the tour that will follow, the\r\nchances of touring in the US and the reason why they haven’t toured\r\nthere before, their new singer Nell who is doing her recording debut\r\nwith this album, and reveals that the Greek audience will have the\r\nchance of listening three brand new songs played live for the first\r\ntime ever.
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\r\nMetalzone: Hello this is metalzone calling how are you?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen: Hi, this is Hein of Theatre of Tragedy, I am fine thank you.\r\n
\r\nMetalzone:\r\nWe are really exited about the upcoming shows here in Greece. Tell us\r\non what stage are you at the moment? In the studio, completed the work?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nActually the Greek Shows are going to be the first to do after\r\ncompleting the album. We have two more weeks left of recording and the\r\nalbum will be done one week before we actually come to Greece. Around,\r\nDecember 10th. We are really looking forward to playing Greece cause\r\nwe’re going to try out at least three new songs, from the upcoming\r\nrecord, for the Greek audience for the fist time ever. So they will be\r\nthe first ones to hear new material live. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Tell us a few things about the upcoming work.
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nBasically it’s a little bit different from the last two records we did.\r\nWe put a lot of time and effort into making a record that is very\r\npowerful little bit back to the older style of Aegis but still back\r\nwith the way the band sounds in 2005. It will be a lot more guitars and\r\ndrums and base. There will be a lot more piano, a lot more strings both\r\nplayed and acoustic, a little bit more melancholic and atmospheric\r\nstyle to it than the last two records. So I think it will please a lot\r\nthe old fans of Theatre Of Tragedy, as well as hopefully some of the\r\nnew ones. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: You’ve gone\r\nthrough three eras in your music. You’ve gone from death and doom to\r\ngothic and to techno. So the new album is your return to which era?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nI think more gothic dark rock metal. It’s not all the way back to the\r\ndeath metal period, but it will definitely be a lot more darker and\r\nheavier than the previous two records. I think also, that what has\r\nalways been important with Theatre Of Tragedy, that we always do what\r\nwe want to do ourselves. We don’t listen to the record companies, and\r\nwe don’t listen to the people telling us what they want us to do. As\r\nmusicians it’s important to do whatever you feel like doing, musical\r\nwise and .\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: What expresses you...
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nYeah what expresses us and right now, people are more in the mood for\r\nmaking music that is more melancholic and depressive, and we sort of\r\nwanted to make a record that would not be so upbeat and happy as our\r\nprevious records. It’s a way of expressing different moods. I think\r\nwith Theatre Of Tragedy you have everything from when you’re feeling\r\ndepressed you can listen to depressed stuff and when you’re feeling\r\nlike you want to party and you feel in a good mood you can listen to\r\nsome of our albums even then. We try to give the listener a soundtrack\r\nfor their lives. But the new one it’s melancholic and depressive.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Why is that? What made you return to melancholy?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nIt’s not necessarily that you feel melancholic but we sat down after\r\nmaking two industrial rock metal records and we figured we wanted to\r\nmake something that, we didn’t want to make a third typical Theatre Of\r\nTragedy record style. We wanted to make something that we hadn’t made\r\nbefore, that still included all the elements that characterize Theatre\r\nOf Tragedy. Like melancholic pianos, a lot of strings, a lot of nice\r\nmelancholic melodies, which is very melodic and beautiful and at the\r\nsame time having more lyrics based about human emotions and the hole\r\nintricate of people being in a society where you can be alone even if\r\nyou are surrounded by a lot of people. That’s what the album is about. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: It’s your first album with your new vocalist Nell. How was the new cooperation like?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nVery very inspiring actually. It was great to have Nell on the band,\r\nshe’s very enthusiastic about making this record, she’s pushing\r\nboundaries that the band has never explored before. She’s very\r\ncreative, always having suggestions on songs and melody lines. She\r\ncomposes music herself, she gives the band a feedback and a response to\r\nwhat we do in a completely different way than we’re used to, which\r\nmakes us more active in our own style. Early days we wrote the music\r\nand the lyrics and the vocals were put and it was done. Now we’ve send\r\nit back and forth, maybe ten, fifteen times before a song is actually\r\nfinished. So the songs that come with this record are the most worked\r\nthrough songs in the history of Theatre Of Tragedy. We didn’t stop\r\nuntil everybody in the band was completely happy with the result. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone:\r\nMaybe it’s because Nell herself is a musician and plays keys in her\r\nother band. Do you feel there can be any trouble in the future because\r\nof her being in Crest also?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nNo not really, because, we’ve had singers in the band that were in god\r\nknows how many bands at the same time. So I don’t think that’s going to\r\nbe an issue. We know how it is prioritized and we are really good\r\nfriends with the Crest and the base player did session base playing for\r\nthe Theatre Of Tragedy record as well. It’s more like The Crest are her\r\nhobby band, she makes records with and sometimes do some shows with,\r\nbut with Theatre it’s her main band where she is a professional artist.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Returning to the sound of an album like Aegis is good news for all who liked it..
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nI wouldn’t say it’s an album exactly like Aegis but more like the album\r\nwe would have released after Aegis. Like it’s a natural follow up to\r\nAegis. With more heavier and more atmospheric music instead of not too\r\nmuch up tempo and not too much electronic stuff. It’s still got\r\nelectronic elements but they are more like to spice up the music\r\ninstead of dominating it. Drums guitars and base and the piano and\r\nstrings and vocals that is more in the center of the music. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: In what stage are you in exactly?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nIt should be done around the tenth of December the whole music side of\r\nthings, and the plan is to have a release in the end of March next\r\nyear. Because the label really wants to time to prepare for this\r\nrelease. It’s a new singer, it’s been a few years since the last\r\nrecord, I think people really think to be aware of now it’s time for\r\nanew Theatre Of Tragedy album. This album will blow away everything\r\nelse we’ve ever done. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Do you feel it’s your best album up to date?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nAs a musician I always have to say that anyway! But for me personally\r\nthat these songs are the strongest songs we’ve ever written in our\r\ncareer and I think it’s because I have a very personal and close\r\nrelationship to these songs, more than I have with many other songs I\r\nhave written. That’s the reason I am very positive towards this album. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Are you planning on touring after the release in support of the release?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nImmediately after the release in April we’re doing a two week tour, of\r\nEurope, hopefully after that we’ll do some summer festivals, around\r\nEurope, hopefully this fall we’ll have a US release and we’ll do some\r\nshows over there as well which will be the first for Theatre so that’s\r\ngoing to be very exiting..\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: How come it will be the first time you go to the US?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nIt’s usually all comes down to finances. People that are serious in\r\nbooking you, and plus America is such a big country it’s difficult to\r\nbreak through in America it’s difficult because there’s so much bands\r\ntouring there and people get spoiled because they get so many bands.\r\nWhere I come from in this town in Norway, when you have a good show\r\neverybody comes there. And hopefully that’s what is going to happen\r\nwhen we come down in Greece. It’s been 8 years since we last visited\r\nGreece. We also have Samael on the bill which is one of my all time\r\nfavorite bands. It’s going to be very good to see them again we toured\r\nwith them almost nine years ago. It’s going to be good to get out of\r\nthe studio and play for people. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Tell me a few things about the lyrics and their theme
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nAs I mentioned a little bit earlier, it’s going to be about people and\r\nloneliness of people like being alone in the society where everybody\r\nhas this huge opportunity of being in touch with people where you have\r\nall these modern things like email and telephone and mobile, and all\r\nkinds of I don’t know sms people use but still the loneliness of people\r\nis increasing throughout the world. There’s more lonely people now than\r\never before. We’re sort of touching the subject that people live in a\r\nbig city or surrounded by people and still feel lonely mentally. Or on\r\nthe subway every day you see the same faces but you don’t know them you\r\ndon’t connect with them the same way like in previous times where they\r\nmet each other and they say hello something people don’t do anymore.\r\nBeing lost in a big crowd. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: How do you define the gothic element in it?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nMusic is more like the atmosphere in it. What kind of feelings the\r\nmusic gives to me. I listen to various styles of music and it has to\r\ntouch my heart and soul, if I really want to like it in a good way,\r\neven if it makes me sad or if it makes me more melancholic or\r\ndepressive or even happy and more in a good mood I think music is such\r\na power full instrument, and I really hate it when artists don’t have\r\nany feeling into what they’re doing. It has to be in the vein of the\r\nhuman heart or human soul. Even if that is a happy pop song on the\r\nradio or a sad melancholic depressive goth metal song which makes you\r\nfeel more melancholic and vulnerable there should be room for both. You\r\ncan find in our music as well, a variation of a lot emotions. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Are you going to release a DVD after your tour?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nIt’s too early to say even though I seriously doubt it I think all\r\nthese live DVDs, 90% of them are all crap because basically overdubs\r\nlike all over the place and I think a live DVD doesn’t capture the live\r\nfeeling of any band. Either a spectacular live show, lot of visual\r\nthings, lot of acting on stage, it’s going to be interesting like\r\nRamstein or something, but I thing it’s ripping up the fans if you\r\nrelease a DVD after every two records. We just did a live album two or\r\nthree years ago and I think it’s going to be some time before we\r\nactually release something similar. We need more records with Nell\r\nbefore we actually release something like that. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Do you want to send a message out to the fans who are listening?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nIt’s going to be great to see Greek fans again. I hope they can be open\r\nminded and give Nell a big welcome, she’s been in the band for two\r\nyears now, she’s an amazing person, which everybody that sees, and\r\nhears, and meets, likes right away. They can expect, songs from every\r\nrelease we’ve ever done, from our first album to the newest one, it\r\nwill be great with Samael, and it’s going to be a lot a lot of fun. I\r\nthink everybody will enjoy it a lot. So we’ll see most of you there. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: How much time are you going to have on stage?
\r\nHein Frode Hansen:\r\nI think one hour. There’s going to be a variety of songs, from our\r\nfirst record to our brand new tracks NEVER BEFORE PLAYED LIVE!!!!\r\nPremier, three songs, live!
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\r\nΕλÎνη "Blackie" Μιχαηλίδου
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