GREEN CARNATION – Interview with Tchort

Hello Tchort, I am Andrew. How are you? How do you feel with a new album from Green Carnation?

Hello Andrew! It feels good to have the album out and to see the very positive reactions fans and media have on the album and our new musical style. 6 times Album of the month is not something any band achieve automatically so we are very proud and happy of the work we have put into the album.

What do you think about “Light of day, day of darkness” now? You have a new album and your opinion about the previous one might have changed.

You know, I haven't heard the album for a long time, but we played this weekend at a big outdoor festival and we presented 6 out of the 9 new songs + a 20 minute extract from the Light of Day album, and it felt good to play and the reaction from the audience was absolutely great when this part was played.

“A Blessing In Disguise” was produced only by you so I suppose you must be satisfied with the result. You also chose a different studio this time. Tell me a few things about the recordings of the album.

Yes, we chose Jailhouse studio were we recorded our first album. We were not so happy with the sound on that album but we knew we could get a better sound this time. We recorded the drums live in a big concert hall and they sound killer without using any compressors, reverb, gates or eq. Just natural sound from the microphones and a good drummer who hit hard. The rest of the production was done in this small studio called jailhouse which is outside of our home city, Kristiansand. It was a standard recording with drums first, then guitars, bass, keyboards, vocals, strings and effect guitars and solos. Everything went smooth and we had a nice time recording the album. Very relaxed atmosphere.

Your previous album musically dedicated to your son for bringing joy, inspiration and meaning to your life as you said in the booklet. This time you used a picture of him as the front cover of your album. Is this another way to show how much you love him or you did that for some else reason?

Well, sure, its done because I am proud of him and he means a lot to me, not only personally but also musically. The Green Carnation albums would never have been without him. He inspired me to start with writing my own music again and this has resulted in my most creative period in my life ever.

“A Blessing In Disguise” is a very clever title. I can explain it as something relevant to the front cover. You see a child is always a blessing. But I also think it might be relevant with the album. You have to listen to it very carefully to understand it. There are no catchy songs and stuff like that. So, what do you want to say with this title?

It's a play with words really, and it's related to the album cover and the song The boy in the attic. You know the movie the Omen? The boy Damien on the cover who looks sweet and innocent but is evil… well the boy on the cover on the album, is also Damien and looks the same way, but he is a truly blessing for me, so in other words, a blessing in disguise.

While “Light…” was totally composed by you, both musically and lyrically, the new album was written by the whole band. Having experienced both ways of composing an album could you tell me the advantages and disadvantages of each one?

The advantage is of course the depth you bring into your music because the three of us who wrote this album have very different musical backgrounds. It also gives the album a diversity that is hard to produce when you are only one songwriter. But still I have written 6 out of 9 songs on the album, so its still a lot of “me” in there. The disadvantage was that it was almost impossible to write another concept album, because all three of us had different approaches on our songs and had different stories to tell, which led me to the first title of the album, The writings on the wall, as when you see a graffiti wall, you see lots of different images, logos and signatures. Its all the same, but done differently by different people. Much like the actual album.

Would you like to tell me a few words about the lyrics on the album? What is their relation with the music?

Well, like I said, there is no concept this time and the three people who wrote the lyrics; Kjetil, Stein and myself, had different stories to tell. Some are personal still, and others are fictional which is also a first time for Green Carnation to use, so all in all, the album represents a lot of new things for us as a recording artist as well.

In the booklet you have used pictures of landscapes with snow and ice. Is this in order to be relevant to the front cover whose predominant color is white or it describes the listener's mood after several listenings of the album?

Yes, again I used nature pictures to visualize the album and its lyrics. The album has different moods and atmosphere and nature is a great representative for that as its constant changing as well. I also chose nature pictures from winter time as it fitted well with the discrete and passive layout of the album. Something that needs to be looked at more than once to see all the details, much like listening to the album. So you see that I like to link music, lyrics, titles and the visual side of each album together in one way or another.

With this album you managed to combine the unique atmosphere you can create with the magical sounds of rock bands of the 70's like Pink Floyd and the result is amazing! What bands do you listen to this period of time?

Actually I personally listen to extreme music and I don't have any albums of bands that are similar to Green Carnation. I used to listen to a lot of this type of music when I was younger and lived at home with my father, as he was a 70`s music freak, so I think it must be from the memories of the music I heard 15-20 years ago, that inspire me today and maybe because I have almost forgotten what I was like, that we end up with the 70`s music, but with a twist..?

Would Green Carnation ever change their music style in order to approach more fans and as a result more money?

I hope not, because I think what makes Green Carnation and its music so strong, is that it comes from the heart and not from the wallet. We have something to express with our music and lyrics and that makes our albums genuine and honest and I think that is what people appreciate about us.

I suppose that as every musician you will consider your latest album as your best. If you had listened the three albums of Green Carnation as a simple fan and not as member of the band which one do you think you would like most and why?

I don't think the albums can be compared like that, because they are written to be different from each other. They have different stories and are for different purposes and different times. Light of day demands so much more of the listener than A Blessing, and our first album is again very different in the musical style and its done with purpose from our side – to give the listener something new and for different occasions from each album.

Why did you use : before your name? You are now :Green Carnation! What do you mean with this?

It was just for design purposes, not because of a different meaning.

Have you arranged any tour in order to promote your new material? Is there any possibility to see you ever live in Greece?

You know, I would love to come play in Greece. I have been to Cyprus but never Greece and I hear that the audience there is great and we have also had a lot of entries in our guest book from your country. There is, however, no tours planned, but we hope that there will be plenty of opportunities of promoting the album from stage across Europe later this year. Also in Greece.

Bernt A. Moen who was a session musician in “Light…” is now a stable member of the band. When did you decide that?

I considered him as a member when we did Light of Day… as well, but we hadn't discussed his part in the band when I did the booklet for that album, so I listed him as a session member, but to the band, he has been a part of the band since we recorded Light of Day… and he has also played all our live shows and we consider him to be one of us.

Do you believe art is “stealing” (influenced from) life or life is “stealing” art?

Well, you can consider me as a thief then, because all my art is influenced from life itself.

Why should someone prefer to buy your album than any other release of our days?

Simply because we make quality music with lots of feelings and atmosphere that is genuine and honest, because it comes from within and we have something to express + we need the money…hahah

So, we are approaching the end. I want to thank you for your time and wish you good luck for the future. Closing is yours…

Well, thanks for the interview. Check out our website, www.green-carnation.tk and check out our albums. Hope to see all of you on the road sometime soon. Take care!