About the line-up. Were you friends before the birth of the band? Or did you meet for the band?

Andreas, Øystein and I were all friends before the birth of the band. Andreas and I, we know eachother from back in the days in school (almost 25 years ago) and have been friends ever since. We have also known Øystein for as long as I can remember.

What's the meaning of your bandname?

First of all, we didn’t want to spend too much time on a band name. I think it's the quality of the music to the greatest extent, that determines what associations you have with a band name, good or bad. There is really no hidden meaning in the name, Tomorrow's Outlook. What will tomorrow look like? Are we still here? A lot of questions can be asked, but not answered. Well, currently we have received very little feedback on the bandname. The record title of the debut album, however, we have received a lot of comments and questions about, whether or not people have heard the music.

Can you explain the artwork?

There has, of course, been some attention paid to the cover. It was painted by the talented Finnish artist, Kirsi-Maarit Salonen. I did some very rough sketches, explained where we wanted with the picture, and she did a bloody good job of giving life to my ideas. The inspiration for the cover came during a drive to the nearby city of Tromsø, which believe it or not is even further north than where we are located. We drove in a really really shitty weather to pick up a drum kit. We chose a very bloody route through a secluded valley, where it is known to have a lot of avalanches. We had several near death experiences on this trip. The monster, polar bears, stone, rock and the ice-covered roads are just humorous references to some of the near-death experiences and the dangers we lived in the White Lightning. W.L is the pseudonym of the car on the cover. Our project really just started as a fun thing where we wrote a song about this particular car. Hence the title of the album that was actually the registration number on The White Lightning.

Your record seems to be a nostalgic work. Can we use the word nostalgic to define your music?

I've seen a lot of people label us as Classic Eighties Metal, so I most certainly think you can use the word nostalgic to define our music.

This album has a long story. Did you decide to take a long time to compose in comfort, or was it a path of obstacles?

TOMORROW'S OUTLOOK is an unconventional project, and we have found a very unconventional way to record. To record song by song is what works best for us. We didn’t make any decisions on the first album, it just happened, and there was also a necessity since we never had saved funds on hand. We recorded a little bit now and then, depending on when we could spare a few bucks. The advantage was that we all the way had plenty of time to make small changes and adjustments.

 

What's the meaning of "34613"?

"34613" was the reg. plate on my old car (The White Lightning). If you read the reg. plate in "leet" language (which is a nerd-language primarily used on the internet), 34613 stands for "Eagle". This was really just a coincidence though and there's no hidden meaning with it. The leet language originated in the eighties, and it's an alternative alphabet for the English language. Leet uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace the latinate letters:
3=E, 4=A, 6=G, 1=L, 3=E --- 3-4-6-1-3 --- E-A-G-L-E

 

Can you talk about your lyrics?

We write about anything that inspires us, and it can be anything, and we do not want to limit ourselves to just write a few specific things. It is not impossible that one can see a red thread in the texts sometime in the future, but basically we want to be able to write about exactly what may come to mind, and inspires us right there and then when we hear a song.

 

What are your main influences, the music you like...I saw you like video games too. Did you try by your music to remind some aspects of the eigthies culture?

It is largely within metal, and it is not that I in any way am narrow-minded, but because that is what captivates me. 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 also 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, Omen 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.
And yes, I also enjoy video game music. Sadly our debut album, "34613", carries way too little evidence of being inspired by VGM vs. the vision I originally had in the songwriting process. I wish that we had been inspired even more. VGM is definitely the first thing I remember hearing that really captivated me, as attached to the cerebral cortex and in fact has meant something to me. It is not impossible that it is also just video game music that steered me in the direction of metal and hard rock in the early nineties. Therefore, I must say that it is natural for us to combine these two genres.

What's the future of Tomorrow's Outlook?

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).
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 record all the bass and most of the guitars in Murphy's Cube Studio, home studio of Øystein Kvile Hanssen (Cyclophonia).
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 album. 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.


Source: http://www.pavillon666.fr/interview-metal-7282.php