Norwegian
Sludge/Doom Riffsters – Tombstones – have had a busy few years
releasing acclaimed albums and non-stop touring. It's to the bands
credit that they've released their best album to date with Vargariis.
An album that sees the band create some of the heaviest and bleakest
riffs of their career.
It's
already being acclaimed within the Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal
community. We rate this album very highly. Our team member – Nick –
said this about the album:
“This
album is an infused masterpiece of a home brew like quality. There is
a great deal going on here and there is much to enjoy over repeated
listens. In fact, you can’t listen to this just once. You need to
listen to this piece of work several times to really enjoy what has
been accomplished for your auditory pleasure. This band is no
stranger to stoner rock as evidenced from past releases, but make no
mistake, this band is doom.
This
band is made up of dirty hippies that own the dark. This musical
fungi grows only where Tombstones mark the land. I will not wash my
mushrooms before I eat them because I want all the nutrients, but
more importantly, because I like the taste of this world. This is an
extraordinary endeavour, in span and rendition.”
I
was given the chance to speak to Ole Christian Helstad (Bass/Vocals)
from the band recently and this is what went down...
Hi
Ole. Thanks for doing this interview. How are things with you today.
Hi!
Thank you for showing interest in Tombstones! Things are good at the
moment. We have pulled the brakes a bit this fall, after a very
intensive year.
For
people not in the know, can you give a brief explanation on how the
band started and where it is today.
Yeah.
Tombstones started out almost 10 years ago, with only Bjørn from
today’s lineup, and the deceased Jonas, but under a different name.
Me (Ole) and our former drummer joined in some year later, after the
band had been on hiatus for a while. A demo was recorded soon, and
we started playing some live-shows in Norway. In 2009 Jonas died, and
Tombstones was left as a three-piece. We recorded “Volume II”
late 2009 with Billy Anderson in Oslo, keeping all the songs the way
they’d been with the band as a four-piece.
After
that record was done, I feel the band had some kind of new birth. Our
sound developed into something much much doomier, and we started to
feel comfortable being just the three of us. We scored a record deal
with Soulseller Records, and released “Year of the Burial” on
420, 2012. “Year
of the Burial” put us on the European map, and was given quite some
praise, and this eventually led to a gig at Desertfest in London, and
our first European tour.
We didn’t wait long before we recorded
“Red Skies and Dead Eyes”, which was released October 2013. This
album has brought us to where we are today. We’ve toured Europe 4
times on this record, alongside bands as Eyehategod, Egypt, Witch
Mountain, Widows and Church of Misery, and played festivals as
Roadburn, Freak Valley, Doom Over Leipzig, Muskelrock++. The last two
years have been very busy, but also extremely rewarding and fun.
Our
current drummer, Markus, joined in as a stand-in the summer of 2014
at first, but as opportunities kept hitting our inbox, we soon found
out he needed to be our regular drummer. The first half of 2015 was
spend in our rehearsal space, working super hard to have our new
album done before we left for tour in April. We actually played
“Vargariis” in its entirety at Roadburn in April, and wanted to
play the songs as much as possible live, before recording them.
After the April tour we spent our time rehearsing again, before we
left on another tour with Egypt in May, still playing all the new
songs live.
Then
we entered Studio Underjord in the middle of the woods in Sweden, and
had everything done within 3,5 days. And here we are today.
Congrats
on your new album. Vargariis. Perhaps your best album yet. What can
people expect from the album.
Thanks
a lot. We are very happy with the outcome. It’s much darker than
our previous albums, more in-your-face, raw and direct. More
aggressive even. Stripped down production. It’s a heavy piece of
music.
Why
did you call the album Vargariis.
There’s
no deeper meaning to it. I think it’s a title we thought of on the
road with Egypt this summer. We like the word a lot, and it mirrors
our Norse heritage. There’s also a two-headed wolf on the back
cover of the album, which is given a name and meaning with the title.
It’s
a different album to your previous albums. As it features some of
your heaviest and darkest riffs to date. Was that the intention to
release something different for your new album.
Both
yes, and no. We had an idea after the release of “Red Skies” that
we would take the band into darker and more in-your-face territory,
since our taste in music is always evolving. The change of drummer
also invited us to think different. He had a strong creative impact
of the songs, and a different approach to the riffs than Bjørn and
me were used to. So it turned out to be a sweet and organic change.
Was
it a hard or easy album to write and record for.
No,
I wouldn’t say that. As soon as we got going, it happened very
fast. We worked well and effective at rehearsals, as well as
recording every idea. That was a bit of a revolution for us, since we
never did that earlier.
It’s
getting some fantastic praise already. Has that surprised you the
responses it’s received so far.
We’ve
had some really good reviews so far, yes. It’s been overwhelming..
But there’s some bad ones lurking around the web, as there always
will be. We are surprised of the depth of some of the reviews, we
really are. Also of how on point, in terms of our own perception of
the album, some are. But we are proud over “Vargariis”, and we
think it’s our best album to date, easily.
Your
last album – Red Skies And Dead Eyes – won some serious praise as
well. It got you noticed a lot more within the Doom/Stoner/Sludge
Metal community. Did you notice that yourselves.
Yes,
for sure. We have been touring Europe four times, in addition to a
UK-tour and a Scandinavian tour after that album. It also brought us
to the festivals we’ve been dreaming of playing for years. Very
happy about the current situation, and hopefully “Vargariis” will
bring us even further.
You
toured extensively for that album. Will you be a touring a lot for
Vargariis.
I
think so, yes. There’s some killer plans on the table for next
summer that I Can’t speak of at this moment. We love being on
tour. That’s by far the best part of being in a band. It’s pretty
hard to say right now what this album will do for us, since those
things tend to happen along the way, but we sure hope to tour as much
as we’re used to. The states would have been cool eventually.
We’ll start with some gigs around Norway, which we haven’t been
doing for years.
You’ve
played a lot of gigs and festivals over the last few years. Which
audiences have been your favourite and why. Or are you treated the
same wherever you perform.
That’s
a really hard question. Both club shows and festivals are equally
awesome, and both tours we did in 2015 have been very well attended
almost everywhere we went. If I have to choose, I must say the best
crowds were at Roadburn and Freak Valley. Insane experiences both of
them, Freak Valley even if it was before noon in the morning. But we
also LOVE playing everywhere in Austria. Such great treatment and
crowds. Same goes for Germany and Switzerland, and Paris, and
Copenhagen, and Gothenburg.. The list goes on.
Tombstones
are a quite a prolific band. As you’ve released 5 records over the
last 6 years. Do you guys ever rest or are you the type of band who
just want to start recording the next record after the new one has
been released.
We
have released 3 albums to this point. “Vargariis” will be our
fourth. We don’t know why so many always think we have released
another one. “Volume I” was just a demo, and was never released.
Yes, we find time to rest. It’s needed. After the recording of
“Vargariis” in July , we have only played a couple of live shows.
The last couple of years have been quite heavy, so we needed to
re-charge, and find motivation again. At least I did. And during
those times new riffs and ideas have a tendency to appear.
Is
Tombstones your full time job. Or do you have other full time jobs to
contend with. If you do, how hard is to participate with Tombstones
at times.
I
wish. I don’t even think it’s realistic to think about a band
like ours as a possible full time job. I don’t know, maybe in our
genre Sleep, Melvins, Sunn and bands of that size can live off of it,
but I don’t know. We sure as hell can’t. It can be hard to make
it work with girlfriends, day-jobs, and on top of that to have some
time off in general, but we are blessed with awesome employers, who
make sure we can do almost everything we want. Almost. If it weren’t
for them, we’d be screwed.
What’s
the song-writing dynamic with the band. Is it down to individuals or
do you all work on the songs together.
It’s
a nice combination of those two. We have worked much more as a
collective on “Vargariis” than on the previous albums, but we
still bring riffs to rehearsals that we’ve worked on by ourselves.
What
inspired you to become a musician. Any particular band, musician or
albums that made you think – Yeah, That’s what I want to do.
For
me, it started as a teenager growing up skateboarding and listening
to skate-punk. I went to as much gigs as I could manage, living in
the countryside, and I think I’ve had that dream ever since. In the
early days Swedish bands such as Millencoliln, Mindjive, Raised Fist
etc were huge inspirations, alongside US-bands like NOFX, Lagwagon,
Strung Out++. These days I would say my two favorite bands are
Melvins and Amenra. Both on record, and from the stage. Both bands
will make your jaw drop. Intense.
With
2015 drawing to a close, what have been your fave records you’ve
listened to this year.
Hm,
difficult question. I’m not a champ when comes to checking out all
new music, but the ones I’ve listened to the most this year is
First Aid Kit’s Stay gold, but that’s from 2014.. and also
Weezer’s new album, but that’s also 2014.. From this year I’d
have to say Elder-Lore, and the new Uncle Acid. As for 2016, I have
huge expectations for the new Egypt album. Those guys kill it.
Do
you have any words of wisdom for your fans out there.
Check
out our new album, and keep coming to our gigs when we hit your area,
and keep going to gigs in general. Music is freedom!
Thank
you so much for your support! - Lots of love from Oslo!
Words
by Steve Howe and Ole Christian Helstad
Thanks
to Jan at Sure Shot Worx for arranging this interview. Thanks to Ole
for taking the time out to talking to us.
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