TÝR (Eng.)
– Hello and thanks for taking the time. Your new «The Lay of Thrym» was released a few time ago. How does it feel having a new TÝR’s album in your hands?
It always feel good to have a new album out. It is exiting every time.
I always wonder how it will be recieved by the fans and by the crytics. So it is very emotionell the first 2-3 months.
– Are you satisfied with the work done on it?
I think we are all very pleased with this album.
For this album we never rehersed together before entering the studio. We don´t live in the same country so it was not possible to find a time were we all could reherse.
personally i never had the oppertunity to reherse on my own for this album, I just had to listen to the material and visualise what I wanted to play. So for my circumstanses I am very pleased with my work.
– Feedback for your previous » By the Light of the Northern Star» was overwhelming, but what are your expectations for «The Lay of Thrym»? Did you go under any kind of pressure while creating it?
we were hoping for a positive feed back for this album but we did,nt really know what to expect, since we went for a more power metal approach ! However the feed back was even better for BTLOT than on the previos BTLONS.
The fact that we had not rehersed together and also all the lyrics was not finished, made the pressure for making a good album even bigger !
– What can you tell us about the lyrics/ideas in the album?
Heri Joensen have written all the lyrics for this album.
The lyrics are very political. Heri uses the saga of Thrym to put some light on todays political issues.
– Songs as «Shadow of the Swastika» are a proof you also cover some more current topics. What can you tell us about this concrete track?
We have been accused many times of beeing nazies and that pisses us of since we are nothing of the kind. So to answer all the accusesations, Heri wrote the lyrics to Shadow of the Swastika. However people are lazy when it comes to read the lyrics, so when they (some, not all) see the word swastika, they sometimes jump to the wrong conclusion. So everyone, just read the lyrics 🙂
– You have always had certain progressive influence, but since your previous albums these influences seem to be less, moreover your music has become more powerful and straight-forward. Was this something intended?
We wanted to tone down for all the wiking stuff a litle for this album. Well knowing it was a risk to do so ! We all like prog. music but wanted to go for a more straight approach on BTLOT. We wanted shorter songs, better sing alongs and stuff that you can headbang to 🙂
We tryed the same thing on BTLONS but without getting the result that we wanted. This time I think we succeded in getting what we wanted !
– So, do you think you will (or have you already opened) open to a broader audience? Also because of your catchy choruses, etc.
The idea was not to get stuck in the narrow genre that wiking metal is, and so far it looks ok. we have never felt that we were a «real» wiking band since we sound nothing like the wiking bands out there. We just wanted to make music that we thought was good and are still doing so.
We have a broader audience since the release of BTLOT but sadly we also lost some old fans. Hopefully they will come back ! I hope that people understand that we play what we think is good music, and if we are luckey, someone out there will like it. It would be terryble to play the same kind of music all the time and not be able to widen your musical horisont, just for the sake to keep a few fans happy !
Luckely for us, most people liked the new approach in The Lay Of Thrym.
– Your musical basis seems to be traditional Metal, but you also mix details from different music styles. What are your main musical influences?
My musical influences are a broad mixture of Metal, Rock, Pop, Folk, Singer song writer and many more. If I should mention some….I would say DIO, Judas Priest, Peter Poul & Mary, Terji & Føstufressar, Saga, Pantera, Iron Maiden, John Denver, Dream Theater, A-HA, Abba, Spælimennirnir, Annika Hoydal, Pretty Maids…and many more.
When we make music, style is the last thing that comes to mind. If something sounds good we´ll play it, regardless of genre 🙂
– And what elses inspires you beside music?
I like nature and peace. My big interest is to go fishing, cooking and local football 🙂 All of this inspires me to play and listen to music.
– In fact, it seems you started that «less-progressive» path with your previous album, and that formula seemed to succeed. Have you noticed this as a band?
The best feedback ever has been for our latest album, so yes we have noticed this of course. we started with the album By The Light Of The Northern Star to take a more straight forward power metal approach and continued in the same way with the latest album, By The Lay Of Thrym. But what will happen on upcumming albums, I have no idea, so we just have to wait and see 🙂
– I could say second half of the album sounds quite Epic, so that shows «The Lay of Thrym» is a great mix between your first albums and this new «period». What are your thoughts on this?
I can hear many assocations to the previos albums so i think you are correct on this one. We still use the old sagas and the the way the songs are built up is still the same with big chorusses and great melodilines. So even if the style has changed a litle, it is easy to hear that it is the same band playing.
– You played a few months ago at the 70.000 Tons of Metal cruise, which I guess should be a funny experience… How was it like?
The 70.000 t cruise was fantastic. There was no backstage so everybody was just walking around. We met a lot of fans and also got to talk to many musicans that have been a inspiration to us over the years. I will recomend everyone to try this cruise 🙂
– This summer you will play some festival shows but, aren’t there any touring plans? Is there any chance of seeing you guys in Spain?
There will be some touring in November/December and I urge everyone who are interested, to check out our tour dates to see if we are cumming to a venue close by !
The expectations for the conserts in Spain are good. The last time we played there was very succesfull, so hopefully it will be the same or even better this time around !
– And finally, what are your near-future plans?
for the future we will try to make some more music and tour as much as possible.
So keep an eye out for us:-)
– That’s all, thank you once more for your time. If you now feel like adding some final words; last lines are yours.
On the latest album, The Lay Of Thrym, we wanted to do some recordings of some favorite songs of ours. Heri and my self were first up. Heri´s favorite is, I – from Black Sabbath with Dio on vocals and mine is, Stargazer – from Rainbow, also with Dio on vocals.
So look out for the next album. Then we will be covering Gunnar´s and Terji´s favorite songs 🙂
