MISTUR (NOR)
OUR NATURE IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE MUSIC.
Written by Marcel Bänziger on Monday 07 November, 2005. Last updated on Thursday 17 November, 2005
About two weeks ago I received an extremely promising demo from
Mistur, based in the Sogndal county. Their demo, entitled
"Skoddefjellet", showed many resemblances with Windir, also from the
Sogndal county, and also one of my most favourite bands of all times.
In fact I like this demo so much that I want to help Mistur with spreading
their name in the underground music scene, and of course an interview
can help a lot. Therefore I decided to have a talk with André, founder of
Mistur.
Hello André, welcome to Vampire magazine. How are you doing?
Hello Marcel. I'm doing just fine.
In my review I briefly wrote about Mistur?s history already but can you
give a more in-depth story about the band?s history?
Mistur was established in 2003 in Kaupanger in Sogndal County. Before 2003
myself and Espen Bakketeig had talked a lot about doing a metal project. Both of
us had lots of material which would work well in metal. Mistur consisted mainly of
me and Espen, until we started playing with another band Sigtyr from Vik in Sogn
in the middle of 2004. There we found Odne who now does our great screaming
vocal. Now the band consists of me, Espen Bakketeig and Odne. We do have some
alternatives on drums, but have not decided anything yet. And we do have a full
line-up as well if we get the opportunity to do a live show. Our material resulted in
"Skoddefjellet" in June 2005, which is our first demo. Parts of the material were
sat on for years before it ended up in a metal project. That?s the story so far.
The name Mistur comes from the Icelandic language and in English it
means ?mist?. Why have you chosen this name and is mist of such an
influence for Mistur?
Both me and Espen were fascinated by the expression ?mist?, but unfortunately
someone else had already taken the Norwegian version of the name. Therefore
we ended up with the Icelandic version. The word 'mist' might describe our music
in some ways because of the sad and dark atmosphere. The Norwegian title of the
demo, "Skoddefjellet", means ?misty mountain?.
When listening to ?Skoddefjellet? I can?t deny the Windir and Ulcus
resemblances. Are both bands of such an influence for you? And which
other bands did influence you musically?
Windir is one of the bands that influence us, yes. And this interview is the first time
we have ever heard Ulcus mentioned. We don't think we have too much in
common with them. We find Windir and Ulcus musically different even though they
are almost the same members. Mistur comes from the Sogndal County and all of
us have listened to Windir and other music in the folk/viking genre for a long time.
But there are also other genres and bands that influence us. We do listen to our
most famous black metal bands in Norway as well such as Dimmu Borgir, Old
Man's Child and Satyricon. But our biggest influence is definitely our good old folk
tunes here in Norway. By using the right folk-tunes the right way, it creates a
great, dark and gloomy atmosphere and that is exactly what we are trying to do.
In the song "Heimferdi", which is song number two on the demo, you hear a
classic symphony. And classic symphonies and music such as that also influences
us a lot.
You recently released your first demo entitled ?Skoddefjellet? which
means something like mountain of fog. How were the reactions from the
press and fans so far concerning this demo? And are reviewers opinions
important in any way to Mistur?
The reaction from people so far has been great. To be honest, we have almost
only received good feedback. The demo has been reviewed on different metal
sites on internet, but also in the paper edition of the biggest metal magazine in
Norway, Scream Magazine. All reviews have been quite good. Most of them have
been published on the official Mistur website. There are still more to come. The
feedback has also been great in the local metal scene here in Sogndal. We have
sold about 100 demos all together, some at a local music store in Sogndal, but
most through internet. We have also sent to labels and friends, so all together
there are almost 200 demos in circulation by now. The feedback has been
important to us all the way from the start. It would not be the same to continue
with Mistur without all the promising words so far.
Can you go a bit more in depth in both lyrics from your demo? And what
inspires you when writing lyrics? Do you consider lyrics to be an
important part along the music?
We always create the music first. Then we start thinking about the lyrics. And it is
mainly me who comes with the ideas for the lyrics. But we have hired in another
Kaupanger native to put the ideas down on the paper. This person calls himself
Ljaoskald. He is very clever when it comes to writing. Unfortunately, you'll find our
lyrics in Norwegian on this demo so you guys won?t be able to understand them.
The lyrics mainly concerns trolls and Norse mythology, mainly to underline the
atmosphere in the music.
On your demo you used programmed drums but you actually are looking
for a human drummer. Have you found one already? And if no, what are
you looking for in a drummer?
We do have a couple of alternatives. Steingrim from Vreid is willing to do the
drums on a future recording if we want so. If that happen it would be a temporary
solution. We have been in touch with a person from another part of Norway who
will come to mighty Sogndal and show us his skills. We?ll hopefully have a
permanent drummer very soon.
The last song on your demo is entitled ?Natt ved Kyndilstjern? and is
based upon an old folk-tune if I?m correct. Can you tell a bit more about
this? I have to say it is a great way to end the demo.
"Natt ved Kyndilstjern" is based upon an old tune yes. And the title means
"Kyndilstjern by night." Kyndilstjern is the name of a small lake up in the
mountains in Kaupanger, where we come from. There is an old myth about the
lake which says that the water don't freeze at winter time. And it is pretty wild and
abandoned nature up there. While working with the song we just found out that the
dark night up at Kyndilstjern would describe the atmosphere we want to create
through the music. And the theme of the song is pretty sad and gloomy itself.
To me it seems as if Norwegian nature is an important part within
Mistur?s sound. Am I right about this and what more can you tell about
this?
The Norwegian nature is definitely a great influence to create the music we do. We
have great nature in Kaupanger with fjords and mountains and we always create
images of these landscapes in our heads while composing music. Our nature is an
important part of the music.
Are there labels which have shown interest in Mistur already? And what
are you looking for in a label?
We have not come to agreement with any labels yet. But as you know, the demo
has got great feedback from people, so we still hope that some labels are willing
to work with us. We are still waiting for answers from many of them. And we are
still contacting more labels these days.
Have you already started working on a next demo or maybe even a full
length album and if yes, how far are you with this?
We are working on two-three songs right now, but we also have more materials
lying around. There might be a new demo, but hopefully there will be a full-length
album in the future. We hope to do some recordings maybe at Studio 1184 in Oslo
one time. But we don't really know yet. Time will show. But first we will record all
songs with our own recording equipment at Amla Metal Studio, where our demo
?Skoddefjellet? was created.
And what else is to expect in the near future from Mistur?
We will continue composing music the way we have done on ?Skoddefjellet.? For
those who like the demo, you hopefully won?t be disappointed with our new
material.
What are your ultimate goals with Mistur?
Ultimate goals might be to one day play at the Inferno Festival, which is the
biggest metal festival in Norway. We also hope to get in touch with a label who
wants to spread our music out to the world.
Thanks for this interview André. The last words are completely yours!
Thanks for you time and your good review Marcel. We'll stay in touch. Greetings
from Sogndal!
Yes, we'll definately stay in touch and I'll talk to you soon!
Want more info on Mistur?
Visit Mistur's band information page!
Other articles for Mistur:
| Demo review |  | Skoddefjellet» | by Marcel
01 Nov, 2005 |
| 
