Triosphere: All because of this uncle
In 2007 a new female-fronted Metal Band from Norway called Triosphere appeared, in the last years fans around Europe got the chance to see them live as support for bands like Jorn Lande, Arch Enemy and Kamelot. In May they released their second album “The Road Less Travelled”. Last time we talked with front Lady Ida Haukland here , so it’s time to take a closer look at another member of the Band. After a well owned summer holiday, Marius Silver Bergesen found some time to answer our questions.
It has been a while since our last interview, to be accurate three years, how have you been? What have you been doing during this time?
Wow, three years.. Its scary how time flies..
Well, it has been three really exciting years for Triosphere, that’s for sure!
As you know we released our debut album “Onwards” in 2007, and since then we’ve had the privilege of touring with some of our favourite bands! The first tour we ever did was with W.A.S.P, and that was even before the first album came out! What an incredible start to our live career .
Since then we’ve toured with Arch Enemy, which is my favourite death metal band, Destruction who are the kings of thrash, and Kamelot and Jorn Lande. Needless to say, we’ve had a lot of amazing days and nights on the road
We also had the honour of sharing the stage with Dio, which is a memory I will always treasure.
Last summer we entered the studio here in our hometown in Norway and recorded our new album, “The Road Less Travelled”, that is now out on AFM records worldwide, Spiritual Beast in Japan and FaceFront in Norway.
Your new record “The Road Less Travelled” was released last month, can you tell us a bit about the making of the album?
The recording took place in Trondheim during June-August 2009. We actually did almost everything ourselves this time. Me and Ida produced the record, and Ida also did all the engineering and recording of my guitars.
As for the song writing process, I started working on the new material as soon as we came home from the first “Onwards” European tour, so I have been working and writing for almost two and a half years.
I write all the music, and Ida does all the lyrics and vocal melodies.
You have recorded the new album in another studio than its predecessor “Onwards”, why have you decided to make this record at Lydstudio in Trondheim?
The main reason was that we wanted to try to record in our home town, instead of travelling to a studio somewhere else and live there during the recording period. Both options have their pros and cons. When we did the first album we really wanted to get away and live in a studio in the middle of nowhere in order to have 100% focus on the record, whereas this time around we chose the comfort of being able to go home at the end of each day.
For mixing and mastering the album you won over Tommy Hansen, who has already worked with bands like Helloween, TNT, Hatesphere. How did this co-operation come about and how was your time in Denmark?
Tommy Hansen is a really great guy to work with! He has had that studio going since the 70s, so he really has a lot of experience and knowledge. He is also an amazing musician himself, which makes it a lot easier to explain in “musician” language what we want and how everything should work together in the mix.
The reason why we chose Tommy for the mixing was mainly that the new album is a lot more vocal oriented than our debut album, and he is number one when it comes to vocal production. He has done all the Jorn (singer of Masterplan) albums and the last couple of Tnt records, so we knew he had some aces up his sleeve as far as vocal sounds go .
Your last record “Onwards” was written when you and Ida had to go through difficult times in your lives. Have those changes affected the music on “The Road Less Travelled”, too?
“Onwards” was written in a time of massive changes in our lives, which had a huge effect on that album. “The Road Less Travelled” has been written over a longer period of time, and under a lot “better” circumstances. What is going on in your life at any given time will always affect the music and lyrics you are writing.
You always have some kind of “hidden” message on your jewel case, with “Onwards” it was “I put myself through hell to make this album”. On the new one it is “Man er til enhver tid summen av sine valg”, what’s the story behind that and what does this Norwegian sentence mean?
Hehe, you have to look at both sides of the case (twinkles) On “Onwards” it says “I put myself through hell to make this album, so I hope you enjoy it” Making that album really was hell, so it was important for me that it was “worth it” in the sense that people gave it a chance.
On “The Road Less Travelled”, there is a theme that links all the lyrics together, and the hidden text is a quote by the author Arnulf Øverland that sums up our message pretty well. “Man er til enhver tid summen av sine valg” – “You are at all times the sum of your choices”.
Marius, you said that since your early teens your life consists only of music. Can you then tell us something about your musical development?
Sure. I started playing the piano when I was pretty young, and did that until I was 13. Then, at a family get-together, one of my relatives who I had never met before came riding in to our garden on a Harley. I was playing a classical piece that my aunt and uncle had asked me to play for them when he came over and just slammed the piano shut and said “Dude, you have long hair and look like you should be throwing down on a guitar, not playing this sissy shit on the piano”. Having never met the guy before I just looked up at him in surprise and said “..well..I don’t have a guitar..”
Then he actually gave me his guitar, which despite all odds was an Ibanez Silver Series electric guitar! It was like that guitar had been made especially for me, having my name on it and all, and I didn’t put the thing down for a second for the next few years .
Then I started my first band, did covers for a couple of years, and then slowly started writing my own stuff.
Long story short, when I was 18 I joined Griffin, did three albums and a few European tours with them. The highlights of those years were the tour I did with Alexi Laiho and Sinergy, and a trip to Japan to do some guitar clinics. Then, in 2004 we started Triosphere, and my life has been all about this band ever since .
You play classical piano since you are 7 years old. At the end of your records there is always a recapitulation of the whole album as a piano played version with orchestra arrangements, do you play this part yourself?
I write and arrange those recapitulations, then I record a rough version of it and show it to a friend of mine who does the actual piano recording for the album. I can still play piano, but not on that level .
You once told in an interview that you would love to do an acoustic album and that you maybe record it at the same time with the current one, how do you stand so far?
I still really want to do an acoustic album, or maybe re-record some of our songs in acoustic stripped down versions.
So far there has been no time for it, between writing “The Road Less Travelled” and touring as much as possible. But we have booked studio time this fall to do some exciting stuff, so we’ll see what comes out of that (twinkles)
You have also worked with a few other bands besides Triosphere. Can you tell us a little bit about this work?
Triosphere is the only band I work with now. We have all decided to focus one hundred percent on Triosphere, so none of us have any other projects.
Before Triosphere I released those three albums with Griffin that I mentioned, and also had a thrash metal band called Headspin that consisted of me and three of the guys form Keep Of Kalessin.
Where do you get your inspiration from? Are there special things that inspire you?
I get inspiration from a lot of different music, from my own everyday life, and everything that goes on in the world in general.
My main inspiration on the purely musical side probably comes from the fact that my musical horizon has been expanded A LOT the last five years, which has also made me discover a lot of new and exciting ways to do things .
What would you do if you wouldn’t have the possibility anymore to keep on doing music?
I would slowly fade away and die! . If I couldn’t make music or play in a band anymore I would be totally fucked! I can’t even go a week without playing or writing.
I guess the only way to go would have been to start a professional studio and work as a producer. At least that way I would have gotten some kind of creative outlet.
Sometimes it happens that even the best musician is out of fresh new ideas. What are you doing to clear your head so you can afterwards concentrate on your music again?
Being struck by writers block is a bitch. It depends on when it happens, though. If we have a tour or some festivals coming up its ok, cause then I can just focus on getting my technique beefed up for the gigs. But if it happens when we are working on a new album, and have a deadline, it is just the worst!
I have tried everything, going on long walks in the mountains, fishing, taking a vacation in Egypt, you name it. Nothing works however, cause when I try to get away and think about something else, I just get more stressed out cause I know I should be at home working.
So, despite how politically incorrect and immature it may sound, the best recipe against writers block is actually a true Finland style getting shitfaced party!
I kid you not, try it and you will see!
What would you say how much did Triosphere change in the past three years?
I think we have changed a bit musically, but the dynamics within the band are still the same. We are still hungry as hell, and want to play as much as humanly possible .
Thank you for the interview and all the best for your future!
Thank you my friend, look forwards to seeing you on the road, and thanks for helping us spread the word about our new album “The Road Less Travelled”. It has been three years in the making, so I hope people check it out .
http://www.thetriosphere.com
