MANES

by Adam Kohrman

GASP: How did your band form? Where did you meet?

Torstein/Maines: The band started out as a two-piece project back in 1992 with Sargatanas on vocals and Cern on everything else. Cern left the death/doom band he was in at the time (Atrox, which he started with a few others back in '88) to pursue a darker path with Manes. Sargatanas was in the band Perifa, but left them to focus on Manes also. They released three demos in '93, '94 and '95 and Sargatanas left Manes not long after the release of the debut Under ein Blodraud Maane back in 1999. Quite a few people has come and gone after that, some more brief than others. I started around 2001, I think, and I've known Cern (and Sargatanas for that matter) since the early to mid-nineties somewhere. I was first enlisted to contribute with some lyrics, but joined on bass soon after.

GASP: How do you think your new album, How the World Came To an End compares to your previous albums?

T: I think the new album is a few minutes longer in duration. The music is different and it has a different cover, which is rather clever so that people won't get confused. Actually, since you bring it up; one of the things we've tried to focus on with How the World Came to an End is to free it (or ourselves as we made it) from any context given by back-catalogue or other preconceptions from outside or within the band. People are allowed to compare and analyse and all that, of course - we're in no way in control of such things obviously - but we have tried to disregard any limitations usually given by genre or line-up or status or whatever else, when making the album. So, we don't feel any need to compare albums for the sake of it. We kinda like the idea of an album being a snapshot of us as Manes at the point in time when it was made and recorded, not as a step in a ladder or any other allegory pointing to a predictable development.

GASP: What influenced you to incorporate so many electro and brit-pop sounds into your new music? Were there any in particular that did?

T: I can't find much brit-pop, actually, but hey! I haven't searched for it either. Well ... it's just natural, basically. The album is in many ways the sum of what we like in music and what like music to be, but probably also subconciously the sum of the bands or artists we like. Electronic stuff comes equally natural to us (if not more so) as guitar-based stuff like rock or metal. So, I guess it would be more correct (well, equally correct at least, but I'm trying to make a point here......) to say that we've incorporated a little rock (and maybe hints of metal) to our electro. Manes has never been about following in the footsteps of other bands and trying to achieve their sound or production or image or anything. There's enough bands out there trying to clone Iron Maiden or Darkthrone or Helloween etc, so we figured we'd try something else, albeit a bit more radical.

GASP: Your style change certainly alienated many purist metal fans. However, do you think that you have gained more fans in the process?

T: I honestly don't know. And I'm not sure about alienating anyone either. We've gotten feedback from people that has followed Manes since the demo-era that still appriciate what we do...

GASP: What is your reaction to fans that have rejected your new music?

T: No reaction at all. Taste in music is different, and that's that. Simple really... If it's got something to do with principles or image or genre or whatever, I feel more sorry for them than anything else. It must be extremely tiresome checking with your Book of Style each time you hear music or see a cd. But it'll pass - I'll get over it.

GASP: Because of your style change, a few writers have compared you to your fellow Norwegians Ulver. Do you agree with these comparisons?

T: Well, somewhat if it is regarding development etc, but not regarding their and our music. They do great stuff, it's not that, but I don't see many similarities with us.

GASP: Lastly, even though your last few albums have had almost no traces of metal in them, you are still signed to a metal label--Candlelight. Do you still feel as if you "fit in" with the rest of the bands on the label? Does the label pressure you to be "more metal?"

T: We have no ambitions to "fit in" anywhere, and it's up to Candlelight to do their job selling our shit to people. They came to us, so they probably know what they're doing. We have complete freedom to do whatever we would want to do musically, of course, so there's is no "label pressure" of any sort regarding anything. They act very professionally, so we're very pleased with our relationship with them so far.

GASP: Thank you for your time.

T: It was a pleasure Adam, thanks for your time and interest. We're working on a complete overhaul for our website www.manes.no now, but for updated news etc. go to www.myspace.com/manes.