Vicinity is another noticeable prog metal newcomer from Norway. Due to their debut album “Awakening” Grande Rock took the chance to present the band thoroughly through this interview with their bassist Pierre-Nicolai Hesjevoll Schmidt-Melbye & guitarist Kim-Marius H. Olsen. Read for more below…
Hi Pierre & Kim. I’m glad we got the chance to talk about your debut full-length album. We fancy presenting budding bands like Vicinity on Grande Rock.
P: Thank You for giving us the opportunity to share some thoughts with your/our audience. I’ll try to answer the questions at the best of my ability, and Kim-Marius will fill out a bit on some questions.
So, do give the fans a short bio of what Vicinity is all about.
P: Vicinity’s music and style was born out of the minds of some people who came together on the grounds of loving the same style of melodic progressive metal; Frode, Kim-Marius and former bass-player Kristian Nergård. As the band explored its own sound and style, Alexander joined the band and added his views to the mix. “Vicinity wrote and recorded one demo in the making...” and the EP “Diffusion of Innovation” during this time. As I joined the band 4 years ago, after Kristian moved out of town, the existing members had a pretty good idea of how Vicinity was “supposed” to sound like, so I tried to complement that in a way. Since then we’ve been working on the album, exploring the possibilities of our new line-up and constantly been on the hunt for the next good idea or sound or signature if you will. I find that the results have been most satisfactory, regarding the reception “Awakening” have had amongst critics, as well as fulfilling our own expectations.
A few weeks ago you had a new member addition, the keyboardist Ivar Andreas Nyland. The keys on the album were recorded by the session member Reidulf Wormdal. Do you think that a keyboardist was necessary for the band’s overall sound?
P: First of all, I would like to say that we are really thrilled to have Ivar join Vicinity! Regarding “Awakening”, You’ve probably noticed that the keys isn’t invasive, and there aren’t any “real” solos for keyboard. All the songs were written to be performed without keyboards, since really good keyboard-players are hard to come by, and at the time we hadn’t made contact with Ivar, or had any real hope to find someone of his skill anytime soon. Frode and Kim-Marius have always wanted a keyboard player to complete the sound of the band, so when Reidulf offered to help it was an offer we couldn’t turn down, and he did a quite tasteful job of filling out the sound without making his playing take up too much room.
Considering what we’ve achieved with “Awakening”, the *need* for keys may be discussed, but we all think that it may and will give the band, and each of us as individual musicians, the possibility to add another dimension to our music. I know Kim-Marius is thrilled to be able to focus more on riffing, should it be wished for, now that there is another melody-bearing instrument in the band. We are all in short looking forward to writing more music with Ivar on board.
After the demo in 2007 and the “Diffusion of Innovation” EP in 2010… where did you have in mind to move to musically on your full-length debut? What are the new elements that “Awakening” introduces us to?
P: I think “Awakening” represents a more refined variant of the band, not another sound/feel altogether. Many of the elements from, especially, “DoI” can be found in the lyricis and the general composition process; lots of melody, melodic solos and riffs, a bass with counter-movements and powerful, rich drumming. “Awakening” in a way is just that, an awakening of our style, it isn’t something new compared to our older stuff, it’s just... more evolved.
I think “Awakening” has become more than the sum of its parts, in a way that wasn’t that obvious in the previous releases. In my opinion this is a reflection of the bands increased maturity. Rest assured, we’re not considering ourselves fully grown-up just yet, there will be much more to come!
What does the album title “Awakening” declare? Awakening from what?
P: As I mentioned above, it really is an awakening to ourselves as a band, and realizing we’ve really have something to share with people. And, as we concluded after writing all of the songs and lyrics, it really fits the record and the overall feel. Ironically, the title track was finished first, and when all of our options for a title for the album were presented, it just fitted really well.
Please comment on each song…
K: “Mass Delusion”: This song was written following one of the longer tracks as kind of a counter reaction: we needed something fast, short and more to the point. With “MD” the vocal lines for the chorus were written first, and then the rest of the song was written around that. The lyrics would mark the first time two members of Vicinity (Alex and Kim-Marius) would co-operate on lyrics.
P: “Opportunities Lost”: The longest song on the album, but according to both different audiences and some critics, it doesn’t seem that long. That for me is one of the greatest compliments. That means we’ve been able to give the listener an experience, instead of “just a song”.
P: “Across the River”: This is a song where the lyrics were written by our former bass-player, Kristian, while he was still in the band, based on a shorter more ballad-like tune the band composed following the release of “Diffusion of Innovation”. We decided that it deserved to be included on Vicinity’s debut album. And we’re glad we did, as it turned out awesome.
K: “Walk All the Way”: This is one of the more proggy and longer tunes of the album. The lyrics are strongly influenced by the loss of a family member, but still it focuses on the need to keep going forwards, and not let sorrow dominate the rest of your life.
K: “The Time for Change”: This song was originally intended to be a more straight forward ballad, but we decided that we wanted to mess a bit with the formula, so instead I starts full on, and then slows down a bit before gradually building towards a climax. There are a lot of key changes in this song, many more than one should think. This song also has a tasteful bass solo by Pierre, and again some personal lyrics from Alex.
K: “Awakening”: This is the first song that was written with Pierre in the band, so much time was spent feeling our way around the themes. We actually recorded a demo of the song, and played it live one time, but felt something was missing, so we came up with a great chord progression that completed the song, and finally it got a real chorus. Alex again wrote some great lyrics on this one that are both deeply personal, but still universal enough that the listener can interpret its own story.
Do you think that the long tracks (which are more than 11 min) are equally attractive as the shorter ones? You see nowadays fans tend to listen to albums in a hurry… there are so many released each month out so there’s not enough time to spend on more thought-provoking music.
P: We really are prog-heads in the band, so when we write the songs, the lengths aren’t really an issue. We really just like to develop our songs enough so that all the desired emotions and thoughts have enough “space” to flow freely. We try to maintain some balance, so that the listeners aren’t put off the album just by looking at the songs’ length.
When that is said, this can be an issue in trying to build an audience who is more used to standardize durations of songs. But we think that the audience for progressive music is expanding, take DTs second Grammy-nomination for example, and that gives us the incentive to keep on writing songs that forces the mind to focus, and as well wander into the unknown. As well as having enormous fun while writing it of course.
The recordings took place at Trondheim Studio while the album was mixed by Andre Alvnizi and mastered by Jens Bogren, at Fascination Street. How were the recording sessions and how did you choose to work with the specific sound engineer & producer? Judging by the final outcome you did choose your co-workers correctly.
P: We started out with three days in Trondheim Studio to record the drums early 2012. Then me and Kim-Marius laid down the bass – and guitar-tracks with the equipment available to us through K-Ms workplace, and later some home studio work. For the vocal sessions, we booked time at Støy Studios in Trondheim. Alex actually sang the vocal lines before we had played the songs together as a band. For Andre and Jens we all owe our deepest gratitude, they managed to really capture what we wanted and bring the whole record to a new level of awesomeness. As a whole, we all have learned a lot during this process, and we’re looking forward to repeat the feat and apply everything we’ve learned, especially to allocate more time for drums to be recorded.
How easy was it to find a label to work with? Did you have in mind to go independently at any point?
P: This one was really simple for us since previous bass-player and founding member Kristian is also the owner/manager of Pug-Nose, and he offered us a great deal of help. Since it is a very small label we did have to do a lot of work and cover all the expenses ourselves, but all in all Kristian’s contacts and help has been a great aide.
I haven’t seen any video from the album yet. Are you planning to shoot one in the near future?
P: Yeah, we have a plan to record a video let’s say in Q1 2014, but I daren’t say when it will be released... Again, we’re lucky to have such talents in our band, Kim-Marius is also co-owner of his own film production company, so that will be of great help.
Touring is a must nowadays for any band in order to have some income and widen its audience. Are you working on something as yet?
P: As of now we’re planning to do one show in Oslo come new years with one or two other great Norwegian prog-bands. It will be awesome, so stay tuned for news. After that, we don’t have any concrete plans, but we’re planning to do more shows during 2014 should the opportunity come our way.
P: Thank You for giving us the opportunity to share some thoughts with your/our audience. I’ll try to answer the questions at the best of my ability, and Kim-Marius will fill out a bit on some questions.
So, do give the fans a short bio of what Vicinity is all about.
P: Vicinity’s music and style was born out of the minds of some people who came together on the grounds of loving the same style of melodic progressive metal; Frode, Kim-Marius and former bass-player Kristian Nergård. As the band explored its own sound and style, Alexander joined the band and added his views to the mix. “Vicinity wrote and recorded one demo in the making...” and the EP “Diffusion of Innovation” during this time. As I joined the band 4 years ago, after Kristian moved out of town, the existing members had a pretty good idea of how Vicinity was “supposed” to sound like, so I tried to complement that in a way. Since then we’ve been working on the album, exploring the possibilities of our new line-up and constantly been on the hunt for the next good idea or sound or signature if you will. I find that the results have been most satisfactory, regarding the reception “Awakening” have had amongst critics, as well as fulfilling our own expectations.
A few weeks ago you had a new member addition, the keyboardist Ivar Andreas Nyland. The keys on the album were recorded by the session member Reidulf Wormdal. Do you think that a keyboardist was necessary for the band’s overall sound?
P: First of all, I would like to say that we are really thrilled to have Ivar join Vicinity! Regarding “Awakening”, You’ve probably noticed that the keys isn’t invasive, and there aren’t any “real” solos for keyboard. All the songs were written to be performed without keyboards, since really good keyboard-players are hard to come by, and at the time we hadn’t made contact with Ivar, or had any real hope to find someone of his skill anytime soon. Frode and Kim-Marius have always wanted a keyboard player to complete the sound of the band, so when Reidulf offered to help it was an offer we couldn’t turn down, and he did a quite tasteful job of filling out the sound without making his playing take up too much room.
Considering what we’ve achieved with “Awakening”, the *need* for keys may be discussed, but we all think that it may and will give the band, and each of us as individual musicians, the possibility to add another dimension to our music. I know Kim-Marius is thrilled to be able to focus more on riffing, should it be wished for, now that there is another melody-bearing instrument in the band. We are all in short looking forward to writing more music with Ivar on board.
After the demo in 2007 and the “Diffusion of Innovation” EP in 2010… where did you have in mind to move to musically on your full-length debut? What are the new elements that “Awakening” introduces us to?
P: I think “Awakening” represents a more refined variant of the band, not another sound/feel altogether. Many of the elements from, especially, “DoI” can be found in the lyricis and the general composition process; lots of melody, melodic solos and riffs, a bass with counter-movements and powerful, rich drumming. “Awakening” in a way is just that, an awakening of our style, it isn’t something new compared to our older stuff, it’s just... more evolved.
I think “Awakening” has become more than the sum of its parts, in a way that wasn’t that obvious in the previous releases. In my opinion this is a reflection of the bands increased maturity. Rest assured, we’re not considering ourselves fully grown-up just yet, there will be much more to come!
What does the album title “Awakening” declare? Awakening from what?
P: As I mentioned above, it really is an awakening to ourselves as a band, and realizing we’ve really have something to share with people. And, as we concluded after writing all of the songs and lyrics, it really fits the record and the overall feel. Ironically, the title track was finished first, and when all of our options for a title for the album were presented, it just fitted really well.
Please comment on each song…
K: “Mass Delusion”: This song was written following one of the longer tracks as kind of a counter reaction: we needed something fast, short and more to the point. With “MD” the vocal lines for the chorus were written first, and then the rest of the song was written around that. The lyrics would mark the first time two members of Vicinity (Alex and Kim-Marius) would co-operate on lyrics.
P: “Opportunities Lost”: The longest song on the album, but according to both different audiences and some critics, it doesn’t seem that long. That for me is one of the greatest compliments. That means we’ve been able to give the listener an experience, instead of “just a song”.
P: “Across the River”: This is a song where the lyrics were written by our former bass-player, Kristian, while he was still in the band, based on a shorter more ballad-like tune the band composed following the release of “Diffusion of Innovation”. We decided that it deserved to be included on Vicinity’s debut album. And we’re glad we did, as it turned out awesome.
K: “Walk All the Way”: This is one of the more proggy and longer tunes of the album. The lyrics are strongly influenced by the loss of a family member, but still it focuses on the need to keep going forwards, and not let sorrow dominate the rest of your life.
K: “The Time for Change”: This song was originally intended to be a more straight forward ballad, but we decided that we wanted to mess a bit with the formula, so instead I starts full on, and then slows down a bit before gradually building towards a climax. There are a lot of key changes in this song, many more than one should think. This song also has a tasteful bass solo by Pierre, and again some personal lyrics from Alex.
K: “Awakening”: This is the first song that was written with Pierre in the band, so much time was spent feeling our way around the themes. We actually recorded a demo of the song, and played it live one time, but felt something was missing, so we came up with a great chord progression that completed the song, and finally it got a real chorus. Alex again wrote some great lyrics on this one that are both deeply personal, but still universal enough that the listener can interpret its own story.
Do you think that the long tracks (which are more than 11 min) are equally attractive as the shorter ones? You see nowadays fans tend to listen to albums in a hurry… there are so many released each month out so there’s not enough time to spend on more thought-provoking music.
P: We really are prog-heads in the band, so when we write the songs, the lengths aren’t really an issue. We really just like to develop our songs enough so that all the desired emotions and thoughts have enough “space” to flow freely. We try to maintain some balance, so that the listeners aren’t put off the album just by looking at the songs’ length.
When that is said, this can be an issue in trying to build an audience who is more used to standardize durations of songs. But we think that the audience for progressive music is expanding, take DTs second Grammy-nomination for example, and that gives us the incentive to keep on writing songs that forces the mind to focus, and as well wander into the unknown. As well as having enormous fun while writing it of course.
The recordings took place at Trondheim Studio while the album was mixed by Andre Alvnizi and mastered by Jens Bogren, at Fascination Street. How were the recording sessions and how did you choose to work with the specific sound engineer & producer? Judging by the final outcome you did choose your co-workers correctly.
P: We started out with three days in Trondheim Studio to record the drums early 2012. Then me and Kim-Marius laid down the bass – and guitar-tracks with the equipment available to us through K-Ms workplace, and later some home studio work. For the vocal sessions, we booked time at Støy Studios in Trondheim. Alex actually sang the vocal lines before we had played the songs together as a band. For Andre and Jens we all owe our deepest gratitude, they managed to really capture what we wanted and bring the whole record to a new level of awesomeness. As a whole, we all have learned a lot during this process, and we’re looking forward to repeat the feat and apply everything we’ve learned, especially to allocate more time for drums to be recorded.
How easy was it to find a label to work with? Did you have in mind to go independently at any point?
P: This one was really simple for us since previous bass-player and founding member Kristian is also the owner/manager of Pug-Nose, and he offered us a great deal of help. Since it is a very small label we did have to do a lot of work and cover all the expenses ourselves, but all in all Kristian’s contacts and help has been a great aide.
I haven’t seen any video from the album yet. Are you planning to shoot one in the near future?
P: Yeah, we have a plan to record a video let’s say in Q1 2014, but I daren’t say when it will be released... Again, we’re lucky to have such talents in our band, Kim-Marius is also co-owner of his own film production company, so that will be of great help.
Touring is a must nowadays for any band in order to have some income and widen its audience. Are you working on something as yet?
P: As of now we’re planning to do one show in Oslo come new years with one or two other great Norwegian prog-bands. It will be awesome, so stay tuned for news. After that, we don’t have any concrete plans, but we’re planning to do more shows during 2014 should the opportunity come our way.
The antagonism is very tough these days in every part of our lives and in music as well. How can a newcomer like Vicinity make a difference in this harsh music industry?
P: Good question. I think we represent a cross-over of the more riff-based progressive music, the melodic metal/rock scene and the more pure technical progressive jazz-styles. I feel we combine these styles into a whole, focusing on having complex melodies and odd time signatures, without abandoning the notion of doing a catchy chorus when it fits. We don’t chase the notion of technical perfection on the account of losing the great melody and feeling of a song in the process. Don’t get me wrong, the technical musicianship will always be important in our music, but it’s important it doesn’t kill an otherwise good idea. I don’t know if the public agrees, but we think “Awakening” has a nice chunk of these things. (i.n.: It sure has!)
I think it’s time for our “weird questions”. How did you come up with the name Vicinity?
K: We had many alternatives written down, but in the end we ended with Vicinity because the word does not mean anything on its own, so we thought that we can be that meaning. We also thought that it was an interesting notion that progressive music is in the vicinity of many other genres (so to speak), so we put a lot of thought into the band name. The fact that it was a short one word name made it even better.
Even though you’re young, I’m tempted to ask you about the “Black Metal” incidents that took place in Norway in the early 90s. How did those incidents influence the whole metal scene in your country and especially the new metalheads like you back in the day?
K: I’m sure it did a lot in certain parts of the metal scene, but the progressive metal genre has always been a bit on the side of all that.
Which are the top 3 prog rock/metal records of all time?
K: Dream Theater: “Images & Words”, Rush: “Moving Pictures”, Seventh Wonder: “Mercy Falls”…
Put the best prog rock/metal band together. Who’s who? (vocals, guitars, keys, bass, drums)…
K: Vocals: Tommy Karevik/Russel Allen (a tie), Guitars: Jørn Viggo Lofstad, Mats Haguen, Bass: Andreas Blomqvist, Drums: Mike Portnoy, Keys: Kevin Moore…
Which is the record you wish you had written and why??
P: “Metropolis pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory” ‘cause it’s just the melodies, compositions and musicianship of another world, the concept is cool, and everything just flows together perfectly.
Would you stop playing & listening to rock music if a girlfriend of yours asked you to?
P: No way, then I would have to take “one of those talks” with her... seriously.
Why is rock (any kind) music better than sex… if it is…
P: If you think that, you probably haven’t met the right kind of woman/man...
You have the opportunity to have sex with the porn-star/movie celebrity of your choice. Who would it be & why?
P: It’d better be a rich broad, so that she could pay for my massive lawsuit my wife would put me through...
What do you think of Charlie’s quote: Beers, Pizza, Hookers? Which one is the most tasteful of all?
P: Beers. definitely beers.
Imagine that your girlfriend/wife is selling your whole album-collection just to buy an expensive ring for herself. How would you react?
P: There would be repercussions, and an expensive ring available on e-bay.
We have finally come to the end Pierre & Kim. Close this interview by leaving a message to our readers and to your band’s fans… Take care dude!
P: Thanks to you Thanos for having us! And for all the prog-heads out there, check us out, I’ll guarantee that you’ll find something you’ll like!
P: Good question. I think we represent a cross-over of the more riff-based progressive music, the melodic metal/rock scene and the more pure technical progressive jazz-styles. I feel we combine these styles into a whole, focusing on having complex melodies and odd time signatures, without abandoning the notion of doing a catchy chorus when it fits. We don’t chase the notion of technical perfection on the account of losing the great melody and feeling of a song in the process. Don’t get me wrong, the technical musicianship will always be important in our music, but it’s important it doesn’t kill an otherwise good idea. I don’t know if the public agrees, but we think “Awakening” has a nice chunk of these things. (i.n.: It sure has!)
I think it’s time for our “weird questions”. How did you come up with the name Vicinity?
K: We had many alternatives written down, but in the end we ended with Vicinity because the word does not mean anything on its own, so we thought that we can be that meaning. We also thought that it was an interesting notion that progressive music is in the vicinity of many other genres (so to speak), so we put a lot of thought into the band name. The fact that it was a short one word name made it even better.
Even though you’re young, I’m tempted to ask you about the “Black Metal” incidents that took place in Norway in the early 90s. How did those incidents influence the whole metal scene in your country and especially the new metalheads like you back in the day?
K: I’m sure it did a lot in certain parts of the metal scene, but the progressive metal genre has always been a bit on the side of all that.
Which are the top 3 prog rock/metal records of all time?
K: Dream Theater: “Images & Words”, Rush: “Moving Pictures”, Seventh Wonder: “Mercy Falls”…
Put the best prog rock/metal band together. Who’s who? (vocals, guitars, keys, bass, drums)…
K: Vocals: Tommy Karevik/Russel Allen (a tie), Guitars: Jørn Viggo Lofstad, Mats Haguen, Bass: Andreas Blomqvist, Drums: Mike Portnoy, Keys: Kevin Moore…
Which is the record you wish you had written and why??
P: “Metropolis pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory” ‘cause it’s just the melodies, compositions and musicianship of another world, the concept is cool, and everything just flows together perfectly.
Would you stop playing & listening to rock music if a girlfriend of yours asked you to?
P: No way, then I would have to take “one of those talks” with her... seriously.
Why is rock (any kind) music better than sex… if it is…
P: If you think that, you probably haven’t met the right kind of woman/man...
You have the opportunity to have sex with the porn-star/movie celebrity of your choice. Who would it be & why?
P: It’d better be a rich broad, so that she could pay for my massive lawsuit my wife would put me through...
What do you think of Charlie’s quote: Beers, Pizza, Hookers? Which one is the most tasteful of all?
P: Beers. definitely beers.
Imagine that your girlfriend/wife is selling your whole album-collection just to buy an expensive ring for herself. How would you react?
P: There would be repercussions, and an expensive ring available on e-bay.
We have finally come to the end Pierre & Kim. Close this interview by leaving a message to our readers and to your band’s fans… Take care dude!
P: Thanks to you Thanos for having us! And for all the prog-heads out there, check us out, I’ll guarantee that you’ll find something you’ll like!