From: owner-velvet-station-digest@smoe.org (velvet-station-digest) To: velvet-station-digest@smoe.org Subject: velvet-station-digest V3 #25 Reply-To: velvet-station@smoe.org Sender: owner-velvet-station-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-velvet-station-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk velvet-station-digest Thursday, March 9 2000 Volume 03 : Number 025 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: [VS] Interview with Anne Marie [Philippa.Demonte@bmg.co.uk] RE: [VS] Interview with Anne Marie [Yngve Hauge ] [VS] Interview with VB II (also from Philippa) [Yngve Hauge -----Original Message----- > From: Daniel Buchmann [SMTP:danielb@tihlde.org] > Sent: 08 March 2000 01:26 > To: Velvet Station > Subject: [VS] Interview with Anne Marie > > Today (or, should I say tonight) I discovered an interview with Anne Marie > in the norwegian newspaper called "Adressavisen". It was in the section > called "Ut magasinet", the newspaper is 5 days old, dated friday 3. March. > Those of us who can read and understand norwegian, should take a look at > > http://www.adressa.no/ut/ > > or, more precisely: > > http://www.adressa.no/artikkel.awml?artikkelref=030320009I2457S ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 11:54:28 +0100 (CET) From: Yngve Hauge Subject: RE: [VS] Interview with Anne Marie > One of the translations I sent out yesterday was this interview, but I don't know if you all got it > because apparantly it was too long for the smoe server to cope with. > > So, anyone who'd like the English translation (again), send me an e-mail and I'll send it to you individually > as a Microsoft Word attachment The problem is fixed now, so I forwarded both articles to the list. - -- Yngve ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 20:25:23 +0100 (CET) From: Yngve Hauge Subject: [VS] Interview with VB II (also from Philippa) (Here is another one with the same problem - also from Philippa - -- Yngve ) Hi Here's a translation of an interview with Velvet Belly's Henning that is going to be published in an an Italian magazine called Musica on 15th March. The interview / translation is by Sasha Stoianovic. Just in the process of translating a Norwegian interview with Anne-Marie (from a magazine called UT). I'll e-mail a copy later today. - Philippa - P.S. For those of you reading this in Norway, I've got to check if this is confirmed, but a reportage with Velvet Belly is going to feature on Metropol TV this Thursday (9th March), and then they'll be appearing on Go' Elg (24th March). > -----Original Message----- > > Dear Phillipa, > To save you having it translated... Sasha > > HAPPY-SAD SONGS FROM THE NORWEGIAN WOODS > > Music is an international artform is an oft-statement but it simply > applies to the American and British generated kind dominating the global > market. The rest of the world hardly has a look in, and with the exception of > ABBA and A-HA for instance, for so many a year bands like Can, Mano Negra and > 22 Piste Pirkko, were ignored on the world> '> s stage. Despite these bands > making rather interesting, innovative and moving music, there was no support > from the corporate side, mostly owned by the companies listed on the New York > Stock Exchange. > And it appeared that bands from such non-English speaking territories > succeeded only when aping the vocabulary of the trad-pop: think of ABBA and > A-Ha again, plus Aqua or The Cardigans... The record industry promoted them > due to their ability to effectively use dictionary already well worn-out by > the domestic stars. The inventive outfits were left on the hard-shoulder of > the fame-autostrada until these countries could catch up and then only by > being (ab)used as a source for local artists. Hopefully things are > a-changing... > There is one record company that is doing its damnedest to bring the > music from the long-neglected countries to the world> '> s attention, BMG, and > their latest candidate is VELVET BELLY. The going is not easy as the case > with the band> '> s fifth album, Lucia, is proving: it has been out for a couple > of years in their native Norway and secured them the national Grammy and > Nordic Music Award, but only reaching the world now. It is not music that > instantly invades charts, rather being of variety to ponder and reflect... In > a way, Joy Division crossed with the Cocteau Twins, or nearer to the present > -- Stereolab: a dark, intense and moody soundtrack reaching far deeper > inside (rather than surfing a hype), no doubt influenced by their environment > of long polar nights with drink-induced philosophising about the meaning of > life. Well, I could have dreamt up the last one... > And the band has been making their music since early 1990s when they got > together in a southern coastal town of Kristiansand that is also a stronghold > of Bible-bashers, or so we are told. The music is like listening to a > taciturn rebellion from the vast regions of an iced-up landscape. > - This album has been around, - guitarist Tor-Henning Sundgodt talks > without any discernible bitterness in his voice, - since 1997 and it is been > difficult on us because we got so much more new music. But the album is > finally getting out in the foreign territories and we should be happy about > it, happy to promote and play it. We don> '> t feel frustrated a lot because we > keep on making music in-between. > The major difference from the Norge-version of the album is an additional > song, a cover of Kate Bush> '> s The Man With The Child In His Eyes hit from > 1978. This band doesn> '> t make it easy on itself even when they are supposed to > take an easier route? > - The record company suggested it, - Tor explains, - but we weren> '> t > really sure about it. We love the song now but were not convinced to cover > it. The record company brought it to us and we had doubts because it was a > brilliant song in the first place and how do you improve upon a perfection? > There was no reason to cover it by just redoing the original and we tried > something different. And it worked out, it really did. > They rouse to the challenge mainly due to the masterful singing of > Anne-Marie Almedal who gives it such Gargbage-sque energy, oomph and punch. > She could easily be promoted, sex-appeal being so highly rated attribute in > the music world, to a resident pin-up on the planet-pop but that would really > devalue the true quality of their music. And, the only way to survive making > music in Norway is to hold a steady job and do it half- professionally. > - Anne-Marie is the only professional musician, - Tor informs us with a > laid-back attitude, or is that fatalism?, - three have jobs, one has a > career. Vidar (Ersfjord, keyboards) used to work in an instrument shop but is > now running a studio with Anne-Marie, Pal (Aanensen, bass) works with > wheelchair patients, Kay (Rune Rasmussen, drums) models pipes for the oil > industry... I> '> m a captain in the Home Guard. > Seeing him on stage one wouldn> '> t think so; his career is all about > discipline while music is about emotions, diverging rhythm and chaos. How > does he balance the demands of two such opposing divisions? > - It is hard at times, - Tor confirms it, - but military is more liberal > in Norway than in other places. Of course there is a discipline but it is > offset with the energy of being in a band and am satisfied on both fronts. > It is not strange then to hear him say that - The biggest ambition this > band has is to be able to support our music making by music alone. That> '> s all > we wanna do, just to be able to exclusively concentrate on music making and > not only do it part-time. > Comparisons mentioned when the record is discussed are Massive Attack, > The Sundays, Portishead, Morcheeba, Bel Canto... But, V. Belly don> '> t skirt > from embracing the obscure-legends like Can in a song Drift. > - Drummer and bassist are really into Kraut-rock, - Tor admits, - and > that> '> s one of our influences. There are so many elements to our music and > that is one of them. We all are in this for love of music and we don> '> t really > feel we belong in a bland and one-dimensional world of today. We prefer music > that is more complex and you need to give it time to really hear it. It is > not instant like the rest which is generally very boring. > Velvet Belly, named after a deep-water shark with a soft-tissue stomach > that lights up during courtship rituals, make music that can make you > "> happy-s > ad> "> as one person described it to Anne-Marie. But, don> '> t take anybody> '> s word > for it -- give it a listen in a darkened room for the recreation of > months-long night of the Scandinavian North. (Wordage: > 1020) > Sasha Stojanovic > Copyright MM ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 20:24:53 +0100 (CET) From: Yngve Hauge Subject: [VS] Velvet Belly Interview (msg from Philippa) (I had to do some changes to the config file to get this through. We haven't had a problem with long msgs around here really - Yngve :) Hi Here's a translation of the other Velvet Belly article I mentioned earlier today - this one was with Anne-Marie. VELVET BELLY INTERVIEW - UT - 3.3.00 - rå pike, myk stemme By Alexandra Beverfjord (Translation by Philippa Demonte) Tough girl, soft voice Music fans in Norway must be glad that she quit her theology studies to concentrate instead on Velvet Belly And maybe church-goers in Norway are glad too. For Anne-Marie hung up her cross during the year she studied at the theology faculty in Oslo. "I found out that I had too many unanswered questions. After I stopped believing (in God), the world became more logical in a way," says Anne-Marie and smiles whilst she moves her coffee cup, as if it's something she's going to get straight, slightly asymmetrically. We are sitting in the restaurant Lorry, which is just by the palace (in Oslo) - one of Anne-Marie's hang-outs, since she just lives a couple of minutes walk away. She grew up in the bible-belt area, or to be more precise, in Kristiansand, with a mother who was a priest's daughter and a father who was an atheist. "I was never a Salem / Philadelphia-type church go-er, but I believed in God and used to go to a state church. Sometimes I still go there, just to get some peace," she says and smiles again. There is something slightly schizophrenic about her face. She's pretty as a china doll, but at the same time there's something severe and strange about her look. She looks like a wicked elf. "Herborg Krakevik is always connected to her exotic childhood, where all she had was goats to sing to. Kari Rueslatten looks like she will come to suffer a fate as eternally being described as a goblin, and you've got the elf stamp on you. Are you bored of it?" "Yeah, I'm tired of being described as dreamy and mystical Anne-Marie. The media get caught up so easily in such things. They decide that an artist is going to be such and such, and then tag it on constantly. Take Unni Wilhelmsen for example - in every single interview I have read about her, it has focussed on her red hair. I mean, I don't give a toss now if she has got red hair - we've known that for a long time." "My first concert was like an out-of-body experience. It was horrible. I struggled a long time with being confident enough to go on stage. I had absolutely no stage experience when I started with Velvet Belly," says Anne-Marie. She was part of the scene around the Rock Club in Kristiansand when she was headhunted by Pål Aanensen, Kay Rune Rasmussen and Tor-Henning Sundgodt to be in Velvet Belly. Vidar Ersfjord also became part of the band later on. Pål, Kay-Rune and Tor-Henning had a band, but were lacking a vocalist - then they were tipped-off that Anne-Marie could sing. "At the time I was in my 2nd year of gymnas school (6th form college/sophomore year of high school). I was very lucky to become part of Velvet Belly. Ten years have passed since," explains Anne-Marie, and remains quiet a little while. "Have you ever thought about going solo?" "Well, I guess that would be on the cards eventually. Maybe in one or two years time." In a period of 7 years the critically acclaimed Kristiansand band produced 6 albums. But after Velvet Belly served up "Lucia" in 1997, it has been quiet around the Kristiansand band. "Now we're ready in the mean time for an international launch," says Anne-Marie and makes box shapes with her hands. >From here on, Velvet Belly are going to release "Lucia" in 20 countries. They are also on their way into the studio to record their 6th album and have recently released a single with Kate Bush's legendary "The Man With the Child In His Eyes". "It was quite a powerful experience recording that single. I grew up with Bush('s music), and had a problem at first with recording "The Man With the Child In His Eyes". Her version of the song is so beautiful, and I was unsure about if I should dare to do a justifiable interpretation," says Anne-Marie who was very pleased with the end result as it turned out. She's onto her 2nd cup of coffee and 4th cigarette. It's quiet in Lorry this afternoon, the sun is glaring in our faces through the big windows and Anne-Marie straightens herself up a little on the old train seat she's sitting on. Lorry is full of old things, old press clippings, old pictures, even an old lion skin is hanging from the shelves just above where we're sitting. "What were you like as a teenager?" "Urgh, don't ask me that - I can feel myself blushing already. I was a pretty regular teenager. I tried to be good because of my belief, but I was by no means an angel. To a certain extent I went the same way as everyone else did at that age, and of course there were some strained conversations at home," says Anne-Marie who grew up with 2 older siblings, a brother and a sister. As a child she sang in the church choir and played piano and violin. When the Rock Club started up, she became part of the black-dressed (goth?) scene in Kristiansand. She started working in the club's café and became a part of the socialistic youth. "I belonged to the younger generation, the majority were made up of older men - that's the music industry in a nut shell, where it's a male dominated world. The chemistry in Velvet Belly is very good, but all the same it can sometimes be a bit lonely being the only girl. I've often missed having some female back-up," says Anne-Marie. Loneliness is also one of the themes that often features in the lyrics she writes. Loneliness and love. She explains that it is often in the strangest of moments that she comes up with words and phrases. She gets her ideas from her and her friends' lives. She says that her lyrics are often influenced by a fatalistic attitude, but that she's also concerned with trying to convey a sense of hope in them. Anne-Marie was 18 years old when she fell deeply in love for the first time. The chosen one was a 13 (?) year old artist from the Netherlands who was on his summer holidays in Kristiansand. Her first relationship lasted 8 years. "I felt very lonely in Kristiansand, felt a bit like an alien. Felt different to everyone else. I was longing for something different, and he was like a saving grace. Someone who could take me away." After quitting her theology studies, she moved with her boyfriend to the Netherlands to study at the Music Conservatory in Rotterdam. "I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into when I moved there, I was so deeply in love. The first time down there I felt very lost, everything was new and different. It got better as time went on. They're more open-minded about things in the Netherlands than I was used to. It was a very liberating experience for me to be able to speak about things that we would never have been able to talk about back home. It felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from my shoulders, I could get rid of all the barriers and limits that Kristiansand represented, where everything is beauty and light on the surface, but there's something more sombre underneath. I think it's often like that in small towns," says Anne-Marie. "I opened up during my time in the Netherlands - that period down there coloured a lot of my ambitions and outlook on things." But the rest of the band still lived in Norway, and the commuting was becoming too much for the vocalist after a while. After 3 years she decided to move back to Norway again to concentrate fully on Velvet Belly. "I decided to throw myself into it. Put all my efforts into it, which was both terrifying and exciting," tells Anne-Marie as she goes to take another sip of coffee. She has an intense stare, at times even a little scrutinising. She is also very direct when she speaks, not like the Anne-Marie who appears on stage and sings with her trademark soft voice. She seems much tougher in real life. "It's not the first time someone has said that to me. I hope to change my mild and mystic stage expression a bit. I can do more than sing with my beautiful little voice." "It's lovely working in the studio again," she exclaims suddenly, and laughs a little as she says this. Explains that the band is together now and that this is when she leaves this world. "That's what it seems like when we're working together intensely. You isolate yourself totally from the world around you. There are nerves too, it's been 3 years since we recorded <> and there's a feeling of "Now comes the difficult 6th album". "How are you to live with when you're involved in such an intense period?" "I've got a boyfriend who's a musician himself, so he knows exactly what it's like," says Anne-Marie and takes a little break to think. "There's so much substance and passion in Velvet Belly, almost like a blind faith. We spoke earlier about blind faith in a religious context. Sometimes it feels like music has replaced religion for me." ------------------------------ End of velvet-station-digest V3 #25 ***********************************