Republished from the webzine I worked for at that time
10 september 2015
Hello guys is a pleasure for me to talk to you, thanks a lot for your time! Recently you were in Romania for Rockstadt Extreme Fest. How could you describe the Romanian public, the atmosphere, everything? What are your favourite things about Romania?
(Tor Helge/Drums): Romania has always been special for us. There has always been a certain kind of hospitality, kindness and professionalism that makes us feel so welcome. Every time I get back from a gig in Romania I think back on it as a relaxed and cool experience. My favourite thing must is a combination of the people, food and nice festivals.
Tell me how it started the Vulture Industries project? Why this name? Because it started in 1998 as Dead Rose Garden.
(Tor Helge/Drums): Dead Rose Garden existed before Bjørnar and Kyrre came into the picture, and was a sort of goth/doom band with two vocalists, one female and one male. They had pretty much grown tired of this genre when Bjørnar joined in as vocalist and song writer. Half of the band found other things to do. We then went I a more industrial and extreme direction, ending up were we are today. I do not really consider DRG and Vulture as the same band anyhow; it is just that Øyvind, Eivind and Tor Helge hung together coming into Vulture Industries. The name itself came after some brainstorming, finding a name with a certain energy. I still find it potent.
In September 27th 2013 you released the album “The tower” with the artwork under Costin Chioreanu signature. How did you come up with this collaboration? How did you meet? What kind of album is it in Vulture Industries point of view? What is it about?
(Bjørnar/vocals) We first got in touch with Costin at Dark Bombastic Evening in Romania a couple of years ago. He was in house artist for the festival and held an exhibition there. I was really inspired by his art, and as we talked it turned out there was a mutual fascination and Costin was also a fan of the band. After that we stayed in touch.
When working on the material for the album we realized that we would need an illustration for this album, not a photo like we have done on the previous two. From this realization the way to contact Costin was short and he got really turned on by the project. The ideas and concept of the album really matched with thoughts and ideas he had himself, so he really grasped where we wanted to go. He made 4 fantastic pictures for the CD and vinyl and as a continuation of the collaboration he made a fantastic animated video for the track “Lost Among Liars”.
The title refers to “The Tower” as a metaphorical construction that represents the society we live in and the world we create around ourselves. It might look crooked and bent from the outside, but as you are drawn into it and become part of it all the imperfections and absurdities become logical and infallible. The higher you are drawn up into the tower, the more you lose sight of the ground and the harder the fall when falling down. In part it is also a reference to the symbolism of a tower being a harbinger of destruction, the prison (the tower of London), and the tower of babbles trying to reach the heavens.
Tell me about the lyrics. Did you write them?
(Bjørnar/vocals) I write the lyrics for the band, yes. The lyrics come
to me some time after the melody and arrangements has settled
themselves. I usually dont plan to write within a certain concept, but I
do see in retrospect that each album has a cetrain common thread.
I guess we try to investigate the more extreme and intense human emotions one luckily seldom experience in todays conform society. It has proven to be an important outlet for us in our lives, getting those expressions out in music and in our stage performance.
(Tor Helge/Drums) I guess we have a hard time defining it ourselves. That`s maybe the point, it feels good not to be defined all the time. We make music we would like ourselves, so I can’t say that we dedicate it to a certain kind of people. With all the music that is available today, and the amount of eclectic listeners resulting from this, people tend to find those bands that resonate with something in them.
You happened to play quite often in Romania, around three times I believe. How come you returned so often there?
(Bjørnar/Vocals) I feel we have a strong connection to Romania and its people. We have always been well received in the country, and I have the impression that what we are trying to do is well understood. We have also made many good friends there and colaborated with very talented Romanians over the years, so it is always great to come back.
What we could expect from Vulture Industries in the next future?
(Tor Helge/Drums) We are now working on our fourth album. While that will demand most of our attention now, we will probably also play sporadic concerts and festival. The only gig we have booked now is the Blastfest festival in our homwtown og Bergen. There we will play with some of the bands we have toured with in the past, like Arcturus, Virus and Cor Scorpi. I look forward to that.
Thanks for doing this, do you have any last words you’d like to send out to Romanian fans?
Take care and be nice until next time, cheers!
INTERVIEW BY MIRUNA VITRIOL
