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TROKLE is a pretty young horde hailing from Norway. They play a special kind of Black/Death Metal mixture on their first demo called "Trolltjern", which has been massively influenced by the old and good Heavy Metal style as well. This interview was prepared by Kate "Outsider" (R.I.P.) in co-operation with Georgius and was answered by Alf Petter Fjørtoft (guitar) and Mr. Dementia (vocals). Join them henceforth on a journey to the frozen fjords and mountains of Norway!!!
Hail TROKLE! Besides that short bio on your MySpace page, there is hardly any information about you. Tell us about how did the band come to life, what does the name TROKLE mean and introduce the bandmates, please.
Alf Petter: I was the one who created the band, because I had many ideas I wanted to bring to life. It started with some guitar riff recording on a four track recorder. I needed someone to do the vocals and drums, and Mr. Dementia and Sigurd Aure joined the band. I knew them both, and we come from the same area. After a short while we recorded our first demo “Trolltjern”.
Sigurd Aure left the band in 2009, and we are looking for someone to replace him. We also need someone on bass and lead guitar for live performances.
The name “TROKLE” is an old Norwegian word, and it means to put things together to a complete unit. We chose this name because it describes how we work with our material.
I listened to your music on MySpace, but it was difficult for me to characterize your style, for some songs sound completely Death Metal, while the others pure Black Metal. Would you define TROKLE's genre yourself?
Alf Petter: You're absolutely right, I am inspired by both black and death metal in my music. But classic heavy metal and rock n roll is also close to my heart. So, I am inspired by all 3 genres, but death and black metal dominate our music. To place my music in a genre is not very important to me, I just create music I feel comfortable with.
What is your main lyrical theme? Who composes the music and the lyrics?
Alf Petter: Our lyrics are about many different things; history, war, diseases, pain, the dark side of life, imagination and so on. I mostly compose the music, but Mr. Dementia has come up with a lot of great synth material. The lyrics are something we mostly write together.
Norway is a beautiful country with its wonderful nature, its heroic past and great metal bands. Does the nature inspire you? You live in a splendid region of Norway, what is the local metal scene like over there?
Alf Petter: Our surroundings do have impact on our music, of course. When we look around us and see our great mountains and wonderful fjords we do feel proud. We have included some Norwegian folk music in our tunes on our first demo, so we are definitely inspired by our country and culture.
In our area there are not very many metal bands to find, because Ålesund is a very small city, but if you travel to Bergen you will find a lot more!
Every country is proud of its heroes and its past. Does the Viking heritage mean anything to you?
Alf Petter: It may mean something to me personal as a Norwegian, but our music is not inspired of this particular era.
What is your occupation and hobby besides playing music?
Alf Petter: I work as caretaker at schools, preschools and nursing homes. It's a great job!
My hobbies besides music is fishing and hiking.
Mr. Dementia: I am working as a technician in a culture house, doing everything from scene riggs, sound, lights and a lot more. It's a nice job.
Well, other than the music. At the moment no hobbies at all, ha-ha… I have bought a camera so I might end up getting me a second hobby as photographer. It's gonna be just for fun, but who knows what the future brings.
As a Hungarian, I'm very proud of Attila Csihar's playing an important role in Norwegian underground. What is your opinion of Attila and Hungarian TORMENTOR? Do you know any other Hungarian and Ukrainian bands?
Alf Petter: MAYHEM's “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” is one of my favourite albums. I think he did a great job there! And also his contribution on KEEP OF KALESSIN albums is splendid. He definitely has a unique vocal. TORMENTOR delivered good material.
I also like the albums of NOKTURNAL MORTUM.
Could you please name your favourite books and albums?
Alf Petter: I must honestly say that I don't read much, so a favourite book is hard to come up with.
My favourite albums are: OBTAINED ENSLAVEMENT "Soulblight”, IMMORTAL “Battles in the North”, LIMBONIC ART “In Abhorrence Dementia”, DISMAL EUPHONY "Soria Moria Slott" and KVIST “For kunsten må vi evig vike”. I could go on forever!!
Mr. Dementia: I have read one single book and that is Lord of the rings. I have started on several books, but didn't come far. Maybe wrong books or I found something else to do instead he-he...
Favourite albums? Well will say IMMORTAL "Battles in the North", LIMBONIC ART "In Abhorrence Dementia" and all of DARK FUNERAL's albums. The list is pretty long, so I choose those two.
I had a lot of fun watching your video. Could you please tell us about the video shooting process? Have TROKLE played any live shows so far?
Alf Petter: Ha-ha! Under a photo shoot out in nature, we just started filming for fun, and suddenly we had our first video. It is not a serious video, and it has to be taken with humour. It is kind of a parody.
We have not yet had the pleasure to do live shows, but when we have filled all the empty places in the band we hope to do so!
Mr. Dementia: He-he-he… Oh yes the TROKLE movie. Well as Alf just told it was not a serious movie, he-he. But it was fun making it so.
With the music like yours you will be successful for sure, what are your plans for the future?
Alf Petter: First of all; thank you for believing in us!
We are going to continue working with new material, practice and develop. We have enough songs to a full album, and we hope to be given the chance to publish it soon. As I said before, we hope to do some live shows too.
Mr. Dementia: Well, I just got a new synth today, so I have the chance now to get all the things I have in my mind into actually sounds, he-he... So it will be a great deal of work from here and out. As Alf said we are working with new material and after a while, the plan was and is to re-record some if not all of our old songs and give them a kick in the ass.
Tusen takk! Is there anything you would like to add as a conclusion?
Alf Petter: Værsågod! I just want to thank you for showing interest for our music, and we wish you a happy new year!
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