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REVIEWS - INTERVIEWS
Zero Tolerance Magazine - English (Aug, 2012)
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So, Tomorrow’s Outlook has been a band since 2007, yet 34613 is the first release under the name. What took so long? Immersed in the hectic club life of the Sorvik techno scene? Kidnapped by Harstadian ice gnomes?

Tomorrow's Outlook from 2007-2012 has been more of a project, than a band. Although we are planning on taking Tomorrow's Outlook to the stage sometime in the future, we will probably continue to work as a project for a couple more years. What works best for us is to record a few songs at a time, when we have the time, and not least the money to do it. It is certainly very time consuming to be a project where you exchange ideas and keep in touch with musicians across the globe. Months quickly turn in to years, and years quickly to several years. Since we had no deadline to deal with, the recording period took slightly longer than it would have needed to be. We had no contract with any company until after the album was finished, so we could in theory use all the time we wanted.

Trond, you actually don’t perform on the album at all, but act more as a manager/networker/de facto tyrant ruler of the band that is Tomorrow’s Outlook. How do you feel this sets TO apart from most other bands, and do you think it helps to have someone actually acting as a non-playing voice in the direction of the songs and band? I can think of some bands that should take a lesson. Ha!

What you say is correct, I do not play any instruments on the album. I played the drums about 8-9 years ago, and I still have a fairly ambitious dream to take it up again so that I might be able to do live work in the future. If not for TOMORROW'S OUTLOOK, then maybe another band or project, or just for fun. I try in general to be creative in all other areas to compensate. If you are not playing you can still participate in the songwriting process (writing lyrics, creating melodies and arranging songs, etc.). There is no guarantee that you will automatically write better songs just because you can handle an instrument. Melodies and rhythms float freely in the minds of most people. You just need to be receptive.
I think it's essential to have people in the band that can act as managers to follow up the band's interests. It doesn’t matter whether the person plays an instrument or whether he is just a creative member who writes songs and pulls the threads. There are plenty of examples of bands who lack such a person. What then happens is that the label gets to be the powerful voice that guides the ship in the direction they want, both musically and visually. Thus, these bands also lose some of their own identity.

How did you come into contact with Battlegod Productions, and what has life been like since the signing? Aside from the endless flow of strippers, fortified wine and 100% pure cocaine, I mean…

In July 2010 I sent out a news update to several companies, including Battlegod Productions, with some info about the project and I also mentioned that we were approaching a finished product. A few days later I got mail from Baltak who runs the company. He said he had checked out some tunes via MySpace, and he liked what he heard. In addition, he had all his life been a big fan of, among others, Graham Bonnet and Michael Kiske, so for him it would be a great honor to release our debut album. Contra other interested parties, as it was quite a few of in fact, Baltak could tell how he envisioned a possible release with his company. He didn’t slap a contract in our face, commanding us to sign before anything else could happen. After regularly keeping in touch with the company, I could finally, in January 2011, send a promo package to Australia. The record fell in good taste and we decided eventually to join forces and collaborate on a release. In retrospect, I'm very happy with our choice. We could not have ended with a better company. Once a week, I get e-mails ticking in from Battlegod with information of record sales and new reviews of the album. Otherwise, Baltak aka Pete is just a text message or phone call away if there should be anything.

Being from Detroit, I couldn’t help but notice the Sorvik “Rock” City sign on one of the promo photos for the album. Looking into it, I discovered that your tiny, rural town has more than its share of metal and rock bands. For a population of only nearly 500, that’s pretty damned impressive. And given the rap that has taken over Detroit, Sorvik might actually own that claim these days!

You have done thorough research I understand. Most of what you said is true in fact. The village I live in is well known in the district to accommodate both fans and musicians in the heavy metal genre. Per capita, it may well be we really deserve the "Rock City" nickname. Virtually everyone in my circle of friends listens to metal, which makes me inspired to work and engage with music every day. Unfortunately, many talented musicians left the village to seek their fortunes in larger cities where there is better opportunities to play for a big crowd, but those of us who are left, are here to prove that the music scene around here lives on. I have sold about 100 copies of the album only here in the local area to friends and acquaintances, and that alone ought to give us the status of "Rock City".

When you set out to write/record what would become 34613, did you envision what the finished product would be, or simply realize one day that you had an hour’s worth of music, and had damned well better do something with it?

In its humble beginnings in 2007, I would not even say we were a hobby project. We recorded simply a song for fun. We decided to create a profile on MySpace, where we uploaded the song. It eventually turned out to get very good response, so we decided to record another song, then one can say that the plans grew from recording an EP to a whole full-length. The process where we went from only recording songs for fun, to eventually bringing in the likes of Michael Kiske and Graham Bonnet I simply explain using the snowball effect.

You were asked to be involved in a tribute to Midnight/Crimson Glory recently. Whatever came of that, and what do you feel made that band (and Midnight) such a special thing. Honestly, I even liked parts of Strange & Beautiful. There, I admitted it…

That’s right! Now, I don’t remember if we were requested by Lon Patello (Metallic Archangel Records), or if I expressed a desire to be part of the Crimson Glory Tribute. CG is definitely one of our absolute favorite bands, and at the same time it is also good PR to participate in such compilations. Therefore, we had previously recorded "Red Rum" for a tribute album to Lizzy Borden, titled "Baptized In Blood".  We chose to include this track on our debut album, as it has taken a very long time with the release of the Lizzy-album. If we see the same delays with the Crimson Glory tribute, it might be necessary to include “Red Sharks” on our next album. But I'm hoping for a speedy solution in relation to the release of both discs. "The Revenge Of Azrael", as the Crimson Glory tribute is called, I have high hopes for. Not only have we recorded a song for the album, but I've also worked with several of the artists who have also participated, and have put together much of the album. To create a little publicity about it all I put the guitarist, Oystein K. Hanssen, to work to make a tribute song to Midnight in the years after he died. The song is in the recording phase these days, and besides our own vocalists, the song will also feature the amazing Todd La Torre (Crimson Glory/ Queensryche), Ida Haukland (Triosphere), Vasilis Georgiou (Innosense/Sunburst) plus both vocalists of Norwegian metallers Cyclophonia.
The song called "Behind These Walls" is an amazing piece of composition, and is sure to give the tribute album, the attention that is desired.

Back to the album…1337 speak for the album title? C’mon, you’re Norwegian! You’re supposed to call it something Satanic, or at least dark and “evil”!

When you live north of the Arctic Circle and experience several months of darkness every year, sometimes snow in the summer months and where the temperature creeps below 32F during the night, you do not need to write about Satan and hell. You just want to write about pink fairies with a magic wand flying around and singing while painting landscapes with lovely, warm colors.
Otherwise, it's only a faint coincidence that the registration number of the old car means "Eagle" in the internet geek language, but we chose to play a little further on the concept. It was actually a French fan who made us aware of it. I didn’t understand what he was talking about when he referred to our album as "Eagle".

How did you come into contact with Michael Kiske, Graham Bonnet, and did you force Graham to record his vocals in one of his fancy leisure suits the Japanese love so much?

When it comes to Michael Kiske, I contacted him some time in 2009. It was via his former manager, with a request if he would be willing to do session work for our project. It turned out that Kiske was very excited about the song "The Ethereal Dream", and it was a very favorable time to get him to commit. We knew that Kiske at that time was not 100% dedicated to a band. Had we asked him a year later, however, he would probably have been busy with Unisonic.
Graham Bonnet, I contacted via his website in 2007 and since then we have kept in regular contact. Mostly via email and Facebook. I'll never forget his first words through email that was something like: GRAHAM BONNET HERE ... SHOUTING IN CAPITAL LETTERS. I think I got goosebumps from being in contact with one of my alltime favorite vocalists.
As for Graham Bonnet’s choice of outfits in the studio, I am indifferent about, as long as he keeps his pants on when he stands on stage, he-he!

Do you feel that the use of multiple vocalists layers the songs and gives the album varied dimensions it wouldn’t have had otherwise? Is this something that will continue within the framework of the band? I know a good humppa vocalist…

I have mentioned several times before in other interviews that I believe the concept of multiple vocalists is what has saved the album. I conclude with the following reasons: A) In an exciting way we cover a wide range of genres on "34613" and the surprise factor from song to song is great. B) Each vocalist suits the genre well. I think, moreover, the song choices have been reasonably sensible, although not all songs are just as strong. We have received very good feedback from journalists around the world. I now count about 20 reviews 70% and upwards, that is around 4 dice. We have received good scores in serious magazines such as Scream, Legacy, Rock Hard, etc. I trust that the concept we have with the use of multiple vocalists is a winner. Now we just need to write stronger songs for a sequel.

There’s a definite The Warning / Keeper Of The Seven Keys sensibility to 34613, and frankly, there just aren’t enough fucking bands doing this sort of quality melodic metal nowadays. Were you raised on this sort of music, or did you just naturally gravitate towards it as you became more musically aware?

It started in the mid-nineties with bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray, Edguy, Iron Maiden, Manowar, Blind Guardian, Stratovarius, Hammerfall, etc. Eventually, I developed a tremendous interest in the underground scene. It was through it that I came in contact with U.S. / Traditional Metal and most of the 80's metal. And there's no doubt that it is precisely this genre I enjoy most of all today. Some of my favorite bands are Crimson Glory, Lethal, Lizzy Borden, Alcatrazz, Queensryche, Heir Apparent, RIOT, Virgin Steele and Deadly Blessing. In my opinion it is precisely the United States, and also Germany and Sweden that have the most to offer in the metal scene.

Is it your intention to have Tomorrow’s Outlook become a full, working band, or just keep it in the studio? Any upcoming events we should (or shouldn’t) know about?

Regarding live playing we do not dismiss the idea to take Tomorrow's Outlook on stage sometime in the future. But it must also be done properly! So, no half-hearted attempts by trying to stack together a crew with only a handful of local musicians. Should there be a question of live performance, it will not happen without several of the respective musicians participating on the albums. Otherwise, this is not something we have talked that much about yet. It will probably be a much hotter topic in a few years when hopefully the sequel beats down like a bomb in the metal scene. We have lots of cool ideas and are confident that the next album will make us a household name within the melodic metal music.

Any news about your next album, W3 R Teh Pwnzors?

We hope and believe that we will have the opportunity to record a sequel to "34613". We already have some exciting ideas for both the artwork and songs, and we have already recorded two demo songs. “Fly Away”, with the appropriate production, is reminiscent of Edguy / Avantasia at its best, and “Outlaw”, which is closer to the American eighties metal. We strive for continuity, also plan to use many of the same musicians on the sequel. Trio Oliva, SKI & Gorham will also participate in the next slice for instance. It would also be incredible cool to work with top notch vocalists such as Bruce Dickinson, Kai Hansen, Ralf Scheepers, Tobias Sammet, Tom Malicoat (Lethal) and Todd La Torre (Crimson Glory/Queensryche). I've actually already been in contact with a couple of these. In the case of Bruce Dickinson I do not know how realistic it is to even consider him, but as they say, ‘nothing ventured nothing gained’. Otherwise we are entirely dependent on selling lots of copies of the debut album, and also having sponsors work with us if we are going to be able to reach our goal with a sequel within a reasonable time. We have already made some steps to reduce costs for the next recording. Among other things, we will save a lot of money just by recording the drums here in Norway, as well as all the bass and most of the guitars.

30.Jul.2012 - 12:14