Interview by Rachel Jablonski
I’ve been listening to The Sense Apparatus, the debut album from Norway’s Frantic Bleep, for over a week straight now. Pleasantly overwhelmed, I was anticipating an opportunity to ask the band a few questions concerning their efforts. Via The End Records I was granted the chance to probe guitarist Eywin SundstrØm.
Rachel: I guess we will just jump straight into this. The Sense Apparatus is a great debut album. There is a lot going on musically in each song. How do you compose these complicated songs? What was your main focus in writing the songs on this album?
Eywin: Our main focus is always to create as well written and varied songs as possible. We wanted to create a very varied but at the same time very dramatic metal record. We basically just wrote the foundation of the songs and we added more to the songs as we went along. We always spend a lot of time on arranging and it’s always a challenge to arrange a song with that flow and variation and at the same time get the song to act natural. We don’t want to sound chaotic or anything like that. We never go too crazy with ideas since we want our songs to be listenable as well as interesting. Production wise we wanted a very big sound on the album and we enjoy the contrasts of very heavy, massive parts, and more atmospheric parts. When we write songs we basically just work with guitar riffs. We arrange the songs together at rehearsals and we make rehearsal tapes so we can make changes to make the songs better. I think our way of writing is quite normal, but the songs end up different because of all our different influences.
Rachel: The album took about one year to complete. Was there any particular reason for this?
Eywin: We wanted the freedom to record the album without any pressure about money and studio time, so we used our own equipment when we recorded it. We’re lucky since Patrick [guitars, synth] is an experienced engineer so we took the whole thing in our own hands. Our original plan was to use three months to record the album. The main reason why the album took so long was because of the singer situation. Our original plan was to have Paul sing the whole album, but since he was only going to be session member, we wanted to find someone who could join the band fulltime to do it. We went back and forth a lot and when we recorded with other people, we had to compose vocal lines at the same time as we recorded it and that took forever, so we went back to having Paul finish the album. We’re also a bunch of perfectionists so it took quite some time to finish everything, but we’re very happy with the result I must say.
Rachel: The album artwork is pretty neat with the human anatomy models – the eye, the brain, skeletal and muscular systems, the ear, etc. – which fit in well with your album title. In the CD booklet there are various phrases pointing to different parts of the anatomy pictures such as “As the puppets from Syrup inspired by the men with garters with their tinware suits” pointing to the inner ear. What do these words represent? Is each phrase lyrics in the song or are they not lyrics at all?
Eywin: It’s a different way of writing the lyrics in the booklet. All the “words” are the lyrics, but it’s a slightly more creative way of writing them out. The diagrams are medical models/diagrams and they show the physical side of the human senses. In other words: a tongue, an eye, an ear etc. The lyrics represent the more intellectual side of the apparatus. So the “concept” is all linked together like that.
Rachel: The name Frantic Bleep – particularly the word “bleep” – makes me think of light, upbeat, high tones and sounds. This clearly is not the case and in fact is the opposite of what the musical tone truly is. What is the significance of the name? What do you think an audience should think of when they hear “Frantic Bleep?”
Eywin: Contrasts usually work out pretty well and we didn’t think that a cliché band name would be right for us. The name is not meant to describe our music, but to get people’s attention. We’ve received extra attention because of it so it seems to be working pretty well. I think the name fits our ideology of keeping things interesting and out of the ordinary. I don’t know what people might think, but hopefully they’ll be somewhat intrigued and maybe they’ll even check the band out.
Rachel: You had an earlier demo EP called Fluctuadmission. Tell us about that EP. When was it created? What was on it? How does it compare to The Sense Apparatus? Where can it be found?
Eywin: We recorded that in 2002 and we sent it out to a bunch of record labels and also many private persons and zines etc. It created somewhat of a stir in the metal underground and we received a lot of positive feedback. It has four tracks on it, but we decided only to re-record the song “Mandaughter” for The Sense Apparatus. The other songs on the demo aren’t as mature as the songs on the album. They’re also more chaotic sounding. We don’t sell the demo anymore but you might find someone who has a few extra copies if you’re lucky. We’re planning on re-releasing it sometime, but I don’t know when or what the format will be. The title song is still available for download on our homepage if people want to check it out.
Rachel: Have you played many live shows? Is there a Frantic Bleep tour planned in the near future?
Eywin: We haven’t played live as Frantic Bleep yet, but we do have ambitions to become a touring band. We have a new line-up now so we have the possibility to play live. The only gig booked so far is a festival gig here in Norway. I don’t know if there’ll be any major touring after this album, but if we’ll get an offer later this year we will do it, absolutely.
Rachel: Admittedly, I do not know much about Norway other than the fact that a lot of good bands come out of there. I would love to learn and especially to visit. What do you think is the best feature of Norway? What do you like to do there away from making music?
Eywin: I guess we’re doing what most people everywhere else are doing. We more or less spend our spare time polar bear hunting or seal clubbing. The best feature of Norway must be the nature and I also enjoy cold weather, snow etc. You know the good stuff.
Rachel: What do you think was the best album of 2004?
Eywin: My favorite albums of 2004 are:
Bjørk - Medulla and Tom Waits - Real Gone.
My favorite metal album is The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Miss
Machine album.
Rachel: What is the next step for Frantic Bleep?
Eywin: We’re currently writing and rehearsing new songs with our new line-up. We are hoping to be able to enter the studio sometime this summer. We also hope to be able to do some touring later this year.
Rachel: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Eywin: I would like to encourage everyone to check out our album when it’s released. Feel free to check out our homepage as well: http://www.franticbleep.com
Rachel: Thank you very much, Eywin! The album is impressive and I look forward to hearing more from you in the future.
Eywin: Thanks a lot for the interview and the support!