DATE OF INTERVIEW:
ATROX
5th October 2008
ERIK PAULSEN + RUNE SØRGÅRD
(Erik Paulsen on his desire to perhaps make Atrox more of a Nintendo-core band)
" I would actually like to play PlayStation on the stage, but I play bass guitar instead."
Erik onstage at ProgPower in the Sjiwa, Baarlo, Netherlands, 3rd October 2008
Photograph copyright © 2008 Mark Holmes - www.metal-discovery.com
Interview & Photography by Mark Holmes
RELATED LINKS
Official Atrox Website:
Official Atrox MySpace:
ATROX DISCOGRAPHY
Mesmerised (1997)
Contentum (2000)
Albums
Terrestrials (2002)
Season of Mist Website:
MD: Er…how did……I can’t ask that…erm…this is surreal isn’t it really…
RS: We have to have some more crazy questions, you know.
MD: You occasionally/never play the UK - I believe the last time/never was supporting/not supporting Anathema 2 or 3 years/never back. How do you regard the UK scene? Have you been to the UK?
EP: It’s very big. It’s like twelve metres, er…it’s twelve by five or something.
MD: The UK scene is thirty metres.
EP: Thirty? Ah, thirty by five…
MD: And twelve years old.
EP: Ohhh.
RS: How is your metric system? It’s not metres is it?
MD: It is metres.
RS: Is it?
MD: Actually, it’s metal. The UK metric system is measured in metal. The system isn’t inches, the system in the UK is horns.
RS: A little horse?
MD: The UK metal scene is twelve horns long.
EP: Ohhh.
RS: Do we have a little horse?
EP: No, no, no, that’s three quarters.
RS: Yeah.
EP: [shouting in a German dialect] That’s three quarters of a horn. Yeahhh?! Don’t you recognise it?! It’s three quarters of a horn!
RS: I’m not that horny.
MD: I’m guessing that Wolverine/Atrox…I can’t ask that question…You cancelled your appearance at Rock The Mountain recently?
EP: [in a cockney dialect] It was because, er…you know, there was this football match between Hull and Manchester City. And then Hull lost, so we couldn’t get there in time because we were having fun…
MD: That’s a better cockney accent than Dick Van fucking Dyke. You know, in ‘Mary Poppins’.
EP: Heeeey! Dick Van fucking Dyke?
MD: Yeah, or Dick fucking Van Dyke.
EP: Ahhh, yeah, Poppins’ Dick!
MD: That’s a good cockney accent! Do Michael Caine….Michael Caine…
EP: No, I can’t. No, it’s too much pressure.
MD: I’ve run out of Wolverine questions. I’ll make up some questions.
EP: What’s this…er…the capital of a city…
MD: What’s the capital of…what, a random city? What’s the capital of any country - name a random capital of somewhere.
EP: Alright. Ouagadougou.
RS: Canberra.
EP: Where is Ouagadougou?
MD: In Drershabanib.
EP: Yeah, of course.
RS: That’s right.
MD: I just realised, I have to transcribe this gibberish! It could be interesting…
RS: What kind of a language is gibberish?
MD: Gibberish is from the country Gibberal on the isle of Gib. And, erm…
EP: [an attempted Eric Idle impersonation] Down in the valley of Dingly Dell behind the red wobbly dumdum tree…yes…
MD: What’s that, that sounds familiar?
EP: Well, you might have seen some sketch with Mr Eric Idle of Monty Python telling bedtime stories for kids….and there behind the bush…
MD: You sound like David Attenborough.
EP: [now an attempted impersonation of David Attenborough, although edging more towards John Cleese, Erik mutters something incomprehensible about termites]
MD: I seem to have an interview of derangement and despair, er…just to get some sanity back at the end, have you enjoyed ProgPower?
EP: Yes!
RS: ProgPower was ultimately very fucking good for us. We got to play a really, really, really good show. And people need to discover Atrox, you know, because we’ve been around for eighteen years and played like six shows, so now we are ready!
MD: Ready to get out there and, eventually after eighteen years, play some more shows?
EP: Yeah.
MD: You’ve played six shows in eighteen years?
EP: That is six shows in ten years.
RS: Last year we played seven shows so that’s a big progress, you know. But, er…we are ready to get this shit on! Because now every member likes to play live and everyone wants to go out.
EP: But I hate to play live.
RS: He wants to stay at home..sucking his thumb.
EP: Yes! I would actually like to play PlayStation on the stage, but I play bass guitar instead.
MD: Come to the UK.
EP: Yes, we will someday.
RS: And I’ll rely on you to book some shows.
MD: I’ll be in touch next week.
EP: Can’t you just fix us Wembley?! Book it next week!
MD: Stadium or Arena? Supporting Muse or…
EP: No, we want Muse supporting Radiohead supporting us.
RS: The BBC News - can you fix that?
MD: BBC Radio Lincolnshire?
RS: Lincolnshire? No! I would never do Lincolnshire! I would do Birmingham for er…
EP: …one euro. As long as she is ashamed.
RS: Miss Birmingham you mean?
EP: Yes.
RS: From 2007...she was a blast….okay, interview over, thank you, er…[something incomprehensible spoken loudly and directly into the microphone]
MD: Thank you very much for the gibberish!
Orgasm (2003)
Binocular (2008)
Erik Paulsen's Myspace:
Rune Sørgård's MySpace:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Hannah Sylvester for recording the interview.
Cheers to Erik Paulsen and Rune Sørgård for the random craziness.