MONGO NINJA (Eng.)
– Hi Peter, thanks for your time. What’s currently keeping you busy?
Right now I’m trying to wake up. Drinking coffee and listening to Saxon. I had a few beers last night. so today my head feels like a festivaltoilet.
– This is our very first interview with you so to start, I’d be good if you’d tell us how and why did you start MONGO NINJA.
Kristopher and I started up Mongo Ninja during the summer of 2009. We were both bored and miserable. Kris was fed up with his band The Cumshots and it didn’t happen much with my band Blood Tsunami. The only intention with Mongo Ninja was to have some fun, and that’s still the main purpose for the bands existence.
– And how did you come up with such name and what does it mean? Who are does «mongo ninjas»?
A mongo ninja is someone who is totally unpredictable. He or she is some idiot who is extremely violent and stupid as a brick. With moodswings that rapidly switch from euphoric to pissed off and back again. It’s the kind of guy that says hello, laughs and smiles, then suddenly knock your nose flat and kick your teeth down your troath before he gives you a hug and tells you that he loves you…
– And do you guys feel more like mongos or more like ninjas?
Oh, we’re a good combination… We’re not violent, but I guess we can be rather unpredictable. At least I know myself well enough to know that I am capable of doing some tremendously braindead shit when I’m out drinking…
– Your sound is indescribable, having nuances from different music styles. Does MONGO NINJA have any limits (music-wise)?
Naah, we’re happy as long as the music contain plenty of energy and aggression. We don’t care if one song is thrash metal and another song is rock ‘n roll. We want our music to cause some sort of friction and chaos. We don’t want people to sit still and listen to our music. We want them to get up and destroy something. We’re all into metal, punk and rock and we don’t wanna limit ourselves to just one style of music. We play whatever sounds good. It all gets «mongofied» when we perform the noise anyway.
– You been around for 2 years now, and during this time you have had a lot of activity actually. What does motivate you?
I really don’t know what motivates me. I have always been creating music. Every day since I got my first guitar at the age of 12 I have been making riffs and lyrics. I have got an urge to create something. I am not a guy that could have been content with playing in a tribute band or doing a bunch of covers every night. I gotta make stuff… Don’t know where that desire comes from. But anyway.. We’re a restless bunch. Something has gotta happen all the time. When we started up this band I had a bunch of songs and riffs ready that I couldn’t use with Blood Tsunami, so the first album was almost ready before the first rehearsal. The second and third album had to be written on spot but the riffs just flowed and it was quite easy to write, record and release three albums in 12 months. Now, let’s agree upon the fact that we don’t exactly play very «difficult» music, but still, it’s quite an achievement… We have slowed down a little bit now. I am busy writing the third Blood Tsunami album and Kristopher has started up a powerpop band called The Terrifieds and a garage rock band called The Dogs… so Mongo Ninja will have to stay in the corner and pick his nose for a while. But not for long… We will play a few festivals this summer and then during the autumn we will probably enter the studio again.
– Before getting into your latest «Nocturnal Neanderthals» I would like to ask you something I have always been curious about… Why aren’t there «cunts for old men»? Is that true actually?
No, it’s not true.. We fuck like rabbits all the time.
– As I said, your latest album so far is «Nocturnal Neanderthals» so, once more, who are those?
A nocturnal neanderthal is the same kind of dork as the mongo ninja. But of course he will only come out at night… At Dawn They Sleep. haha. He’s stinking drunk and causing trouble down at the pub. He’s an awful guy actually…
– I read you recorded the album in a short period of time. Does this make the final otput more honest/spontaneous?
Absolutely. It gives the music a nerve and a level of energy that’s very easily lost if you spend too much time in the studio. In our case we should probably have rehearsed a little more before recording the third album… Haha. Listening to it now we can clearly hear that we’re a bit off and not exactly sure about what the hell is going on all the time, but that’s ok.
– One of the things that caught my attention off the album was its lyrics. For example, «Victim #13» and «The Bible and the Beatles» cove a similar topic. Why did you choose these concrete stories? Are Dahmer and Manson your favourite serial killers?
No, it’s a coincidence that I worte about those two, but all serial killers are usually facinating because they have taken the step out in the most mad and twisted mental state a human being can enter. The perverted and sadistic way Dahmer killed ranks high on the list when it comes to pure madness. I guess it has been written hundreds of songs about Dahmer, but «Victim #13» actually tells the story about one of his victims. A teenage kid named Konerak Sintasomphone. What makes Konerak’s story so special is the fact that he almost escaped. Naked and bruised, he managed to run out of Dahmer’s apartment and met two police officers. What happened next is unbelievable. Dahmer came running up an convinced the police that the kid was his lover and everything was ok. The cops then followed the naked and beaten boy back to Dahmer’s apartement and left him there…Dahmer then killed him and fucked Konerak’s corpse of course. «The Bible and The Beatles» deals with Charles Manson wild prophecies of armageddon and not so much with the famous Tate/La Biancha murders. Mansons predictions was so over-the-top-fucked-up! He was convinced that he could trigger a racial war, a scenario he called «Helter Skelter». He was guided by Revelation 9 in the Bible and by «The White Album» by The Beatles. That’s the album where the song «Helter Skelter» can be found… Manson and the members of the «family» would survive the war by hiding in a hidden city located underground out in the desert. He believed that the black man was going to win the war, but would soon fail when it was time to rebuild the country. Manson would then rise from the ashes and be hailed as the leader of the new world. Amazingly disturbed stuff indeed.
– «Nå er det nok!» is the only track in Norwegian so, could you please explain what’s this track about?
That’s the only lyrics Kristopher wrote for the album and it is all a bunch of angry yelling. The opening line can be translated to: «You’re standing there pissing in my face? Come on over here and I’ll rip your head off. I’m serious, I’ll kick you in the nuts!». Haha. It’s always funny to play that song live, because he always yell the first verse at the crowd before I start playing the first riff. Very amusing.
– Anyway, could you please shed some light on some of the topics behind this album? As it seems you don’t limit yourself to just a few matters.
Like you said, there’s some songs about some serial killers and their evil doings and the rest of the songs is mainly about self experienced drunken stupidity and nonsense. «Japanese Flag» is about being on tour, eating junk and drinking alcohol for days. At the end your ass hurts like hell and is red and … Ok, enough about that. «Cold Night for a Hot Head» is about me being drunk and stupid and running out naked in the middle of the Norwegian winter. I tell ya’ it’s COLD!!!… «A Slow Death» deals with all the junkies in Oslo. «A slow» sounds like «Oslo» so it made a big fat sing-a-long chorus. «Motörheadache» is about a guy that has been humming on «Killed By Death» for 26 years in a row. «Horrified and Horny» and FUCKHER!» is about some bad encounters with females… and, phew. Well, the list goes on..
– Are there any songs about real stories? Would you mind give any details about it?
Beside «Victim #13» and «The Bible and The Beatles» we have a song called «Ota Benga». Ota was a poor little pygmy who, back in the beginning of last century, was abducted in Belgian Congo and sent off to the US where he was put on display in the Bronx’ Zoo. A true tragic story.
On the two first albums we also have some true stories… «Vance and Belknap» is about the two stupid american teenagers who shot themselves in the head with a shotgun after listening to «Stained Class» by Judas Priest. «Broken Cock» tells the amusing story about Dieter Bohlen, the german idiot from Modern Talking, the awful 80’s synthpopduo. He broke his cock twice while having sex with some chick…
– As I said before, you have had a strong activity during your short career so, have you already written new stuff for any upcoming album?
I have some songs ready and plenty of riffs piles up, but lately I have been focusing on getting shit ready for Blood Tsunami.
– And finally and still talking about new stuff and activity… what’s now going on in the BLOOD TSUNAMI’s camp?
Yes, as I mentioned, we are busy writing and rehearsing new material. Gonna record a few demo tracks this summer and then, pretty soon, we’ll enter the studio to record our third album. We’re also on the lookout for a new bassplayer so we will try out some candidates soon. We’re no longer on Candlelight Records. We have a few labels that is interested in signing us, but we’re not rushing things. First off we will record some demo tracks and find out what the hell we sounds like these days. All I can say is that the new stuff is dark, faster and more aggressive than ever. It will for sure be killer!
– That has been all form my side, thak you once more for your time. If you want to end this interview with some final words, is your time.
Thanks for getting in touch! Hope we will have the opportunity to play down there some day… With both Mongo Ninja and Blood Tsunami. Until then, drink hard, raise hell, play LOUD… and take care!
Cheers!
