RAM-ZET (Eng.)
– Hello, thanks for answering to our questions. How is everything doing right now with RAM-ZET?
Hell-O Sergio,
It`s my pleasure for sure.
Ram-Zet is doing good and the new album has gotten very good reviews so far!
And we just came back from Belarus playing Metal Crowd festival having a great time.
However, we are at the moment doing other projects all of us so we are calming things down with RZ for a while.
– First off, for those who may don’t know too much about you (despite you’ve been around for over a decade now), could you please share some history of the band? If I’m not mistaken at first it was supposed to be more of a one-man project so, how did RAM-ZET evolved into a full band?
That’s a very long story after 12 years, but to make it short:
Zet started the project in 1997 as a one man project. Then came Küth, Magnus and Solum(Drums, keys and bass) when he was recording the first album Pure Therapy. Then came I as a setion singer for the album and then a steady member soon after. I knew Sareeta(violin), and we needed a good violin player as a member of the band, so she joined the band before our first gig in 2001 in Tromsø. Soon after that we were nominated for the Norwegian grammy award.
After a few years Solum desided to leave the band, and then came Daniel(Bass). After a while he could no longer be in the band and so came Lanius(curent bassplayer). And then Magnus desided to quit and then came KA(Curent key player).
Sareeta are no longer in the band now so we are just 5 members, and I belive that’s how it`s gonna stay now.
Yes, things happen in 12 years, but that’s pretty much how we became the members of today.
– And how did you com up with the band’s name?
Haha, well, It`s pretty much Zets last name. Easy!
– Your music combines different musicales styles (beside an important level of symphonism), due to this I would like to know what are the band’s main musical influences.
We are all over the place! We all love Jazz, funk, rock, classical and metal. It is only limiting musically to listen to just one kind of music I think.
But we all love bands/artists like Messhuggah, Tom Waits, Bjôrk, Kate Bush, Opeth etc etc.
– Some months ago you released your latest album, “Freaks in Wonderland”. How was its feedback like? And now that it has been a while since this opus came out; would you like to change anything on it or to have done something differently?
FIW have gotten some of the best reviews ever for us! And we are very proud of that. Finally we desided to not give a shit what anybody else thinks and just do EXACTLY what WE wanted to do. It seems people like that and can hear that the album truly is the real deal.
It reflects who we are….if the metal world is a wonderland than we sure are freaks in it! We like to have fun, make jokes and goof around although we can be a bunch of depressing mental cases aswell. Ram-Zet has many layers. The trick is to listen to it enough times to find them all. No, I would not change anything. I do however now think I could have sung some parts better…but that’s a good way to keep growing as a vocalist.
– Getting a bit into this record, its title it’s quite inspiring; is it autobiographical?
I have always been a bit of an outsider. Well, maybe not an outsider, but someone who stood out from the rest. And I have always liked that feeling. The same goes for RZ. We stand out in the crowd I think.
I have also been a bit different in the metal world. The term for my look early on became “The Norwegian black metal hippie”…..
– Musically I’d dare say “Freaks in Wonderland” is your most complex piece so far. Was this how you envisioned the album?
Yes
– Anyway it’s still catchy and enjoyable. How did you manage to blend both apparently opposite elements?
For us it comes naturally since we like so many different styles and we all come from playing so many different kinds of music. Also we have our musical genious Zet who is one of the most talented composers I know. He is a master at blending styles making it into something new. A new genre if you like.
– We could say you play some kind of Avantgarde Black/Gothic Metal, still adding certain nuances from other genres. This being said, your compositions are complex and the song structures are quite unusual and different from song to song. Is the songwriting process always the same or is it evolving each time you create a new opus, so it helps you doing something new?
The songwriting is pretty much the same. Zet makes the songs and we all are part of arranging it in the studio while recording it and in the rehearsal room. Me and Zet does all the lyrics. On FIW I have been doing most of the lyrics since I just enjoy it more and was very inspired by this theme.
– Anyway, yet doing something different and surprising, you haven’t loose your essence and own style. Is this something easy to get?
No, I think many bands lose their essence after a while and they just keep repeating themselves, never being able to truly create, If that makes any sence? Just getting stuck in the same pattern forever is not a good thing for me. Or well, maybe if you goal is to get rich, but for me music is much more than that. I want people to like what I as an artist makes, not make things just so they like it. I have no idea if that makes any sense to anyone, but that’s the way I feel.
Although, don’t get me wrong, I would like to get rich too!!!!
– On the other hand, the album has an overall live feeling, which you’ve got with a really good production. Could you please tell us how was the production process and the recording sessions?
It was a long proses going on for over 6 mnd. We all do our parts separately in Zets studio, so basicly only Zet and I have heard all the elements together before we listen to it after the mix for the first time. Since I do vocals last. We wanted it to feel live this time. Organic, as we like to call it. So we left some mistakes and tried not to get too perfectionistic. Wich is hard in a group of 5 perfectionists. But after the mix by Ken Ingweresn we all just love the result.
– The lyrics also have a certain different feeling compared to the lyrics on some of your previous releases. What do they deal with?
The theme is a Tim Burton/ Evil fairytale kinda thing, as you also can see from the cover art and the name of the album. This time we just wanted to have fun with the lyrics and go bananas. Not to be so bloody serious as we have been in the past. I think we are still in some crazy persons mind, but this person has a much more entertaining mind than the once on the previous albums!
– And how does it fit with the cover artwork? As both things seem to have a strong link. Anyway I would also like you to tell us what did you want to express with the artwork and how did you work on it.
I think I answered that a little bit in the previous question. We have had this idea for many years and we all just adore Tim Burton films, picture landscapes and stories. I am a huge fan of the Grimm brothers and fairytales in general, and so we just though…why not make an album out of these things? So, we did.
– All this about “Freaks in Wonderland” being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
Strange, fun and mindblowing! B-)
– And finally, what are your near-future plans? You have never really toured that much but, do you have live plans or offers?
Like I said in the beginning, we all are doing other projects at the moment, so no plans for the near future on the live scene. We do however play live if we get good gigs, we do just not promote it as much now. But RZ is very much alive and kicking and we do have plans for the future!
For me I am now doing my “solo” project. A band playing my compositions. I have some brilliant musicians(a few members of RZ amongst others, like Mika Lammissarri from EToS and Mors Subita from Finland) . It is also a hybrid project with different styles, but based in metal. Its being recorded as we speak! So far it sounds like a killer. ; -)
– That has been everything from my side, thanks once more for your time. If you now want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
Thank you so much!
Cheers,
SfinX
