I was contacted by today's guests to check out their début album. I wasn't really expecting much but then the album pr sheet said it had duets with Valient from Valient Thorr, President Fetch and Lorenzo Woodrose from Psych Rockers – Baby Woodrose.
Now
that really grabbed my attention. And then I listened to the album.
And – WOW. Wasn't I blown away from the very first listen.
I
am talking about HJORTENE the Stoner Punk Outfit who have just
released their excellent S/T début album.
We
said this about their début album - “The Danes can crank
out some hefty tunes if I might say. I
can't confidently tell you the correct pronunciation of the band
name. Is the H silent is the J a real J sound or a J as in Jose. I
guess I'm leaning towards Jose with the H-j combo, regardless it
doesn't really matter because the album opens fast and furious like
Jose or Hose B fleeing straight across the border heading towards
greener crops. The bar is set in preparation for a punk rock assault
with guest vocals from Sir Valient Thor himself.
Speaking
of greener crops, the sweet leaf aroma on song two lays down the
stoner foundation which supports the slab of heavy punk rock. The
bass is tuned down heavy and low with a fuzzed out punky energy
floating high like a kite on a cloud of bong smoke. Hjortene keep an
upbeat pace with an invigorating punk rock tone to their baked
distortion. The drumming shines from beginning to end as well,
accentuating the fuzz just right. I get a bit of a Fu Manchu vibe as
the album progresses forward which is never a bad thing.”
I
have a feeling this band will be making a name for themselves within
the Stoner/Hard Rock scene in the next few months or so. Before that
happens I have managed to grab an interview with these guys.
Pleasure.
Thanks for having us. It's Monday, and well, we just played a concert
on Saturday – outdoors in the sun, so that was cool (the sun only
shines 20 minutes a year here, so we drank a lot of cold draft beer
and Jäger and dark rum on that). Our drummer Kim can’t be here
today because he his body imploded after the show and after the after
show – if you know what we mean… We played with a cool Canadian
all girl band called Powder Blue. Check them out.
Q2
– Can you give a brief history of how the band came about and where
it is today.
Ten
years ago Claus and Palle met at Uni, and talked about music in the
campus bar getting drunk. There we decided that it would be the best
band name to be called Hjortene (Danish for ”The Deers”), because
Deers are the biggest and coolest animal we have in Denmark. The male
deers have a gathering of female deers that they protect and fight
with other males about, and when the mating season begins they piss
all over themselves and roll around in their own sperm to attract the
females. We felt like that.
Q3
– Now, lets talk about your fantastic début album. WOW. What a
ride that album is. Was that a great album to make as it sounds so
much fun from start to finish.
It
was a long process, and too long. But we wanted to experiment with
sounds and vocals on this record, since we had no time pressure, and
the other things we have recorded has always been 2 days in the
studio and out, so not much time for trying things out then. On the
new album we recorded the songs live on tape for two days in a row in
the old analogue Black Tornado Studio, and then did dubs ourselves
on/off over a period of 5-6 months. But it was definitely fun and we
learned a lot. And great to work with the guests on the album. For
the sound on the album we wanted a heavier and more raw sound that we
have had before, so we always tried to push our sound in the
recording beyond what felt safe. It always had to be dirtier. We had
Fu Manchu’s sound on Eatin’ Dust as a reference, since it’s so
fucked. We can’t say that we did go that far, but still it was an
inspiration.
We
just contacted them and sent songs to them of the rough versions. We
have known Lorenzo Woodrose for many years, since we are Baby
Woodrose fans, and the previous bass player Anders Skjødt produced
our first 10”. Lorenzo also did a brief contribution to that
record. President Fetch is a legend on the Danish punk scene, and a
really great performer, so when we had the idea for the song James
Brown; he was the perfect fit. We did not know him from before, but
have just seen him play and around at many shows.
Valient
Himelf was different, since we only knew him from all the Valient
Thorr concerts we have seen. But we tried to write him, and did not
hear anything for long, but suddenly he responded and thought the
track sounded cool. We wrote to him because we saw that Valient Thorr
would play in Copenhagen, and that was our chance to record him. Two
days before the mixing sessions began the show was on. We did not
really know if he would do it, but just went out there and crossed
our fingers. Luckily he had some time between sound check and the
concert, and did the lyrics and vocal takes in a conference room
upstairs from the venue. Such a relief after waiting around for
hours.
Q5
– Was it an easy or hard experience working with some legendary and
well known musicians.
It
was cool and very easy going. All were cool and down to earth, so it
felt like they also wanted to do it. We really picked the guests out
carefully, and no one is on there by coincidence. These three
bastards are the people we wanted the most to help us out on the
album, so that is pretty cool that it worked out.
The
album is punchy as hell, and there is a lot of variation in the
songs. We know. But we listen to a lot of different music and would
like to make the music that we want, and not be held back by
constraints. Therefore the album is actually - what a lot of people
would call different styles - but we think that when we play it, it
still sounds like us.
Q7
– Would you change anything about it or are you happy with the
final version that is being released.
We
are very happy, and finally we sound like we should. Anders Onsberg
Hansen (Baby Woodrose + Spids Nøgenhat) who recorded and mixed was a
big help on that AND the good old analogue studio. You can’t beat
that warmness from tape.
Q8
– How would yourselves describe your overall sound.
Punchy.
Heavy. Low end. Riffage. A screamin’ eagle in the antlers of a deer
running 180.000 km/h.
Q9
– What was the main inspiration behind the album as its a fast
paced action packed album.
Ohhh,
many different as you can hear. We all listen to all kinds of styles
of music (NOT reggae, ska and dancehall), but where Kim and Claus are
on the contemporary heavier end of the scale, Palle listens to a lot
of old records. The approach to writing lyrics was among other things
inspired by talks with Anders Grøn and Anders Skjødt from the old
Baby Woodrose line-up; to strive towards being honest and personal.
Graveyard’s lyrics on that account is among others also an
inspiration.
Q10
– Who designed the excellent album cover. It's a wonderful design.
Doesn't give the impression what the album is about and did you have
much input with overall design.
It
took a looooooong time to agree on that cover and we have been down
many roads before we finally settled with this. Anders Cold did the
beautiful work, and also did our previous cover designs and t-shirts.
Everything. He is the coolest most talented art designer we know. To
find the image was very hard, and we have been through many, but this
old xylography from 1892 captured the energy that we felt is on the
album. We know it’s not the typical stoner rock look, but we like
that.
Q11
– There seems to be a wealth of great bands coming from the Danish
Sludge/Doom/Stoner Metal scene with bands such as yourselves, Pet The
Preacher, Slowjoint, Helhorse, Doublestone, Barricade and Rising to
name but a few. What is the scene like in Denmark at the moment.
Anymore great bands that we should check out.
There
is a great scene in Copenhagen right now, and a lot of psych inspired
things going on. Also stoner rock is in there, and we have never seen
so many stoner bands as now. We’ve played this kind of of music for
ten years, and suddenly there is all this attention on the scene,
which is great. Among the bands you should check out (that you don’t
mention) is definitely Baby in Vain, Moonless, Causa Sui, Electric
Elephant, Papir, De Hårde Døre, The Woken Trees, Demon Head, The
Wands…
We
mostly play Copenhagen, but would like to play out of town much more.
But unfortunately we don’t have a booker, so we don’t have many
contacts to the venues outside of Copenhagen. In the recording
process we didn’t play much live, but now we hope to play as many
gigs as possible. We also hope that we play outside of Denmark, but
that’s even harder to set up yourself. We might arrange our own
little festival out in the forrest this summer, and invite bands to
come and play. Our dream is to play the little festival called Gutter
Island, which is the coolest festival in Denmark.
Q13
– What is the song writing process in the band? Is it a group
collective or is just down to one individual.
We
mostly just throw riffs at each other and try things out in the
rehearsal space. Some times Palle comes with a finished song, but
mostly we just jam riffs. Then after a long time (sometimes years)
some riffs click together. Lyric ideas might pop up along the way in
that process, but most are written after all the riff-o-rama.
Q14
– What are you thoughts on the crowd-funding scene where bands and
artists ask fans to help fund their latest album, tour or release.
Are you fans of this medium. Would yourselves ever go down this
route.
It’s
a great idea and we were thinking about it, but we haven’t gone
down that road yet. But we might try it for the next album, as it’s
great way to involve fans and to get it out there.
Q15
– What is your live set-up when performing on stage. Any advanced
rigs or are you guys have a more straight forward set-up.
We
have a really simple set-up. As a trio it is great that you don't
need a lot of stuff to play. It’s just guitar, bass, drums. Nothing
more. Kim plays a Ludwig set, Claus plays Fender and Rickenbacker
through a Fafner amp and Palle plays an Australian Ashton pawn shop
guitar through an old 70's Carlsbro amp into a Marshall cabinet with
Electro-Harmonix speakers (that should give more crunch - they
said!).
Sometimes
when we play small gigs in record store etc. we sing through an old
space echo and a bass amp. We just did that for the release parties
supporting this S/T album, where we played three shows the same day;
in a hair saloon, a vinyl only record store and in the coolest a
moped garage hosted by a local moped gang. Check out the pictures
here: http://on.fb.me/1lF1PKo
Q16
– Which bands and artists influenced you as musicians. Any
particular bands or albums that had a great impact on your life.
Fu
Manchu is probably the biggest mutual influence, but other bands that
we all dig is The Sword, Red Fang, Mastodon, QOTSA, Graveyard,
Sabbath, Kyuss, Brant Bjork, Valient Thorr…
Claus
Doomhamer (bass) is into: Slayer, Hellacopters, JR Ewing, At The
Gates, Anathema, Refused, Spiritual Beggars...
Kim
of Death (drums) digs: ...And Justice For All made me want to play
heavy, but besides Metallica; Slayer, Neurosis, Faith No More, Pink
Floyd...
Palle
Hjort (guitar) spins: Sir Lord Baltimore, Dragonfly, 13th Floor
Elevators, Blue Cheer, ZZ Top (Tres Hombres), Mudhoney, Nick Drake...
Q17
– In 5 words or less, what is the live HJORTENE experience.
Thunder.
Q18
- If you could give any advice to people wanting to start a band
what would it be.
Play
music. Don’t listen to people. Play more. Play as many gigs as you
can. One gig equals a thousand rehearsals.
Q19
- Apart from the new album what else do you have in store over the
next 12 months or so.
A
clothing line. Hangar ships going to Asia. Saving whales. Making
songs and we play a gig with Valient Thorr in Copenhagen on the 19th
of July, which will be apocalypse. After that, or before, we hope to
play as many gigs as we can, so people should just get in touch.
We’re ready.
Q20
– And finally, do you have anything to say to your fans.
Buy
the record for your dad and mom and sister. There is only 300 made.
Get it here:
And
hope to see you out there...
