(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange) Two weeks ago the Norwegian alternative dark rock band Seigmen released ‘Dissonans’, part two of their planned trilogy of ‘Resonans’, ‘Dissonans’ and ‘Substans’ (‘Resonance’, ‘Dissonance’ and ‘Substance’), which got celebrated with an evening of album listening, quiz, music video premiere, Q&A session and several beers at (the already legendary) recordshop/bar Apollon in Tønsberg.

The following week I picked up the trails of some of those involved, inquiring about the album release and the new music video. First off was Seigmen guitarist Sverre, and we had a nice chat while he was driving through the Swedish woods on his way home from Falun.

Interview with Sverre Økshoff

Side-Line: The first thing I wondered about was, how has the latest album been received so far – what’s the feedback you’ve gotten?

Sverre Økshoff: It’s been very good. We’ve received great feedback from both old and new fans. The week after the release, we were number one in Norway for the most physically sold item, and also the top streamed rock album that week. It was also very cool that both Transmission and Stjernepose * praised the album, especially Transmission, which played the whole thing.
(* Editors note: two major radio shows on National Broadcasting (NRK) in Norway.)

We’ll see if the record label smiles and if the clubs sell out. Festival bookings in the summer are harder to predict – you get a certain feel for success, but it’s the club shows that tell you the truth.

We’re super happy with how the album’s been received, and it’s fun to play songs that are a bit faster and shorter.

S-L: ‘Dissonans’ is part of a trilogy – how did that idea come about? Does each album have its own role, theme or perspective, or has it been divided up in some way?

SØ: We’ve tried out many different models, without really calling it that. We even talked about just releasing songs and EPs, as is common now – just drop a song.

A full-length album and physical format isn’t that common anymore. Everyone wants to shape their own playlists and taste in music, so an LP or a collection of songs by the same artist feels a bit old-fashioned.

The word trilogy came into the process along the way. When we saw that ‘Resonans’ was finished and new songs kept coming – more ideas, more skits, more lyrics – things just rushed in, and we thought: this can’t all fit on one album.

So while we’ve thought a lot about a trilogy, the process has also evolved naturally as we worked.

S-L: It must be more fun to stretch it out over time – to have new events happening more often, instead of releasing a 3-LP set all at once?

SØ: Yes, and that would’ve cost over NOK 1000 per copy – not exactly fan-friendly.

S-L: We all attended the launch party at Apollon in Tønsberg, with the Kim-designed quiz, Q&A session and so on – how fun was that?

SØ: Oh yes, that was great fun. There were a lot of people and a really good atmosphere – we even had fans coming all the way from Hammerfest, Norway’s northernmost city, for the event! There were so many people that you couldn’t talk to everyone; the place was packed, with a line down the stairs to the second floor.

We could really feel the enthusiasm when they showed the pre-film and the video for ‘Dissonans’.

Interview with Lars Martin Kræmer

I also reached out to Lars Martin Kræmer; content producer, TV- and videographer, who’s been collaborating with Seigmen for decades.

Side-Line: What was the main idea behind the video?

Lars Martin Kræmer: Over the past year, I’ve filmed Seigmen on several occasions, including a possible new project, and then I got the urge to make a music video. It’s been a long time since I last made one. I mentioned it to Kim, and he said he’d been thinking the same thing. The band hadn’t made a music video since ‘Metropolis’ and ‘Universal’.

We then sat down to figure out which song, and it quickly became clear that I wanted to do ‘Dissonans’. It fit perfectly – short and with a fantastic punch in the chorus.

It was clear early on that I was going to make a performance video. Seigmen are great live, so it was a perfect fit. Then I wanted to supplement it with some Depeche Mode-inspired “pictures,” as well as some driving scenes (which I always love).

It was meant to be rough and punky, so it had to be recorded in the industrial hall at Kaldnes. All three videos I’ve made for Zeromancer and Seigmen were filmed in three different halls down at Kaldnes – all within 300 meters of each other.

We had to include some driving (I love it), so Kim knew a guy who fixed us up with an old American car. We even had a yellow D and N foiled onto the doors. I would’ve liked to have done more driving! 😉

I also had the idea to use projections directly on the band and on the walls behind them. So I started by creating five or six projector videos. As a little homage to the old videos, I included some clips from the ‘Metropolis’ video in one of the projector films.

We used three projectors, and it turned out exactly as I’d imagined.

S-L: You’ve done everything from teasers to DVD releases for Seigmen – are there more projects in the pipeline?

LMK: I’ve known the band my whole life. I grew up in Tønsberg and played in several bands; we shared the stage many times in Tønsberg between 1992 and 1995. I started working with Seigmen in 2005, when we (me and Pål Martin Rossing) made the ‘Fra X til døden’ (“From X to Death”) DVD. We also did ‘Seigmen at the Opera’.

I’ve also made two music videos for Zeromancer, behind-the-scenes footage from the recording of ‘Enola’, filmed Kim’s other band Ljungblut, and more.

As for future projects, there will probably be something in connection with the tour this fall – and then we’ll see what happens after that.

I’m very proud to have been able to work on so many projects with Seigmen and Zeromancer. They’re an incredibly nice bunch, and one of Norway’s best rock bands. It has been – and still is – a great pleasure and honour.

Do also check out my Behind The Scenes-shots here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GWZQfG80dE 🙂

Play the album now, or find your preferred service here!

About Seigmen

Formed in Tønsberg, Norway, in 1989, Seigmen began as a post-punk and alternative rock band blending melodic melancholy and industrial undertones. The lineup includes Alex Møklebust (vocals), Kim Ljung (bass, vocals), Marius Roth Christensen (guitar, vocals), Noralf Ronthi (drums), and Sverre Økshoff (guitar).

The band’s early releases, including “Pluto” (1992) and “Ameneon” (1993), already offered a glimpse of their dark sound. They were followed by their 1995 breakthrough album “Metropolis” – produced by Sylvia Massy – which achieved platinum status in Norway.

Following a hiatus after “Radiowaves” (1997), Seigmen members pursued various projects, most notably Møklebust, Ronthi and Ljung’s electro-rock outfit Zeromancer. Seigmen reunited in 2005, played the Norwegian opera house in 2008, releasing “Enola” in 2015 and “Resonans” in 2024, before today’s follow-up “Dissonans.”

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange. Band photo by Paal Ritter Schjerven).
During the past months the Norwegian duo Tear Us Apart have released their three first tracks on all major streaming platforms, sounding like homages to the sound of the 80’s and 90’s, but in an updated manner. As these tracks made a lot of sense to me, I had to know more.

Side Line: Give us the short bio of Tear Us Apart; who you are, where you come from – both geographically and musically, and how this project started? 

Lars Martin: The members of TUA is Jan Erik Kirkevold Nilsen and Lars Martin Kræmer, both originally from Tønsberg. Jan Erik works and lives in Oslo, while Lars Martin have moved back to Tønsberg and works there. Jan Erik works as an AD/Graphic Designer, Lars Martin as a TV and video producer.

We’ve been friends since playing football together when we were 11-12 year old, and we started out in high school around 1992, where we could borrow instruments and a rehearsal pace. Being a classic four piece band with two guitars, bass and drums, we made some songs and played a few concerts, most for fun, the quality being not top notch. A lot of guitar feedback, lousy equipment and not too structured songs, but fun! Looking back we could now say this was the start of TUA.
Music have always been a major part of our lives, and of course our idols and their music have also formed us as a band. Nevertheless, the most important for us is that the songs have good melodies and the right feeling. If someone else out there likes it – we’re happy!

After a long hiatus (1995 -2004) we started recording new tracks on a 8 track analogue recorder, making about 20 more or less finished tracks before it came to a halt in 2006. At a xmas party in 2018 we listened to some of our old songs, and were surprised how many that still sounded great. We decided to restart our band, upgraded the music software, dusted off the Juno-1 synth, gave the old Rickenbacker bass an overhaul, digitized the oldest recording and was back in business! Lars Martin took the role as producer and have re-recorded a lot of the old material.

S-L: Three songs released so far – take us through the tracks and the stories behind. 
LM: ‘Like a Fool’ is a song we started working on around 2004-2005, sounding very different at the time, and most of it is re-recorded now, including the vocals. It‘s a classic lyrics about being in love and even though you know she will mess you up, you keep going on. ‘End of Everything’ and ‘And Then’ are new songs, that I made during 2019. ‘End of Everything’ is another classic lyrics about how you feel after a break up. The lyrics for “And Then” is just a snapshot of an imaginary event.

I realize the lyrics can appear a bit heavy and gloomy, but I’m actually a pretty happy guy.

S-L: Inspirations – there seems to be a decade or two that’s singled out, maybe some bands too… but in an updated manner?
LM: We’re into groovy guitars, riveting drums and bass,  and nostalgic synths are also a major part of our musical preferences. Dynamic and pulsing. We’re fans of 80’s and 90’s synth and indie rock. There are hundreds of bands that we like but the ones that have inspired and influenced us the most is probably Depeche Mode, The Cure, Dinosaur Jr and Jesus And The Mary Chain.

The songs on our upcoming album will be a lovely mix of elements from these bans, both consciously and unconsciously.

S-L: … which was my next question: What’s the plans for future releases or an album?
LM:  There’s an album in the works to be released soon. No title and details yet, but the songs are almost finished. The singles we’ve already released will be a part of the album, and we think it’s really coming together now and something to be proud of. After some final adjustments and mixing, we’ll leave the final touch and mastering to the hands of Marius Egenes. There will be a couple of more single releases before the album, and in the meantime we’re looking for a publishing deal.

S-L: Will you be playing live?
LM: It’s a big dream of ours to play live again – it’s been 26 years since last time on a stage! As we’re a duo and many of our songs have multiple tracks, parts of the songs must be in a back track while we play selected instruments live. This will be new for us, and something we’re eager to try.

It’s also worth mentioning that the band do most of the work themselves; recording, some mixing, videos, web page, and all the art work. Lars Martin is also an artist, painting pictures, which Jan Erik uses when making the art work for the covers.

Tune in to their excellent songs on Spotify – my ears have had this playlist on heavy rotation the last months! 🙂 

 –

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange