Probably best known as the latest project featuring the talents of Nik Kvaforth, So Much For Nothing burst onto the scene earlier in 2012 with their debut album ‘Livsgnist’. When I reviewed it I stated it as a “downright exceptional album and one that any fan of depressive music needs in their life”; I still stand by that statement. Quite honestly it would have been rude NOT to interview the man behind the music, Erik Unsgaard, about his work. Here’s what he had to say.

 

AN: You’ve had lots of positive feedback for the album from what I’ve read. Would you say it has been received in the way you expected?

Erik: Yeah, we sure have, but I really don’t know what I expected. I mean, I knew that the songs were well written and that the production was good, but I wasn’t sure if people would appreciate the “pop” sound and structures mixed together with “black metal vocals” and everything… And would for example the trumpet melody be a bit too much for the regular metal fan? (as they are the main listeners) As said, I really didn’t know, but on the other hand, I was more than satisfied with the album myself so I didn’t care. But when the reviews started to come in I was overwhelmed and unlike many others who claim they don’t care what score their albums get in reviews, I do! I think it’s great to see that people acknowledge my work with great reviews, and this certainly has trigged me even more too keep up the (hopefully) good work!

AN: The project started out with just yourself. What were your original intentions with So Much For Nothing and was it always in your mind to have lots of guest musicians on the album from day one?

Erik: I simply set a goal to write a whole album which would stick out a bit from other releases and have it released within four years (it took five years in the end). The idea with all the guest musicians came during the song writing process bit by bit, when I was thinking of how I could improve the songs with something else instead of just more layers of guitars.

AN: How did you go about choosing the musicians for the project?

Erik: I contacted the people I knew who know how to handle their representative instruments to improve the songs, as I said. Most of them are friends of mine as well, so I think it was cool to have an input from the outside. Especially Kyrre, who plays piano on the first track, has been my best friend for the past 15 years and he has nothing to do with metal at all!

AN: Having Niklas K involved seems to have been a big selling point for the album. How do you feel about this? Do you see it as a good thing, or does it irritate you that the press/fans focus so much on a guest musician?

Erik: This is absolutely positive! Without him, there would have been much less interest in this album, and this is also something I had in mind when picking the guest musicians. For a new band, it’s not that easy to reach out to an audience, so if you can abuse some names to draw more attention to your release, just do it! One other thing regarding Mr Kvarforth’s input is that I knew that that particular part of the song sounded really close to a part on Shining’s “Låt Oss Ta Allt Från Varandra“, with the same kind of sample and feeling… So instead of hearing people whine about how I copied Shining bla bla bla also became one of the reasons why I wanted Niklas to do some vocals there – to show them that I’m very aware of this. And if they don’t understand that, they have really misunderstood much of the concept with that part of the song. Not just is he doing vocals, I also asked him especially to draw a parallel to “Låt Oss Ta Allt Från Varanadra“(which he did by putting these words into the lyrics), so that there would be no doubt that this was inspired by Shining! Duh…

AN: Essentially SMFN began as a solo project and I get the feeling you like to have creative control over the project in contrast to your band Sarkom which is more of a group effort. Did you write all of the lyrics and music and how much creative input did the guest musicians have into the album?

Erik: It feels liberating to have total control over everything myself, not being put in a situation were you have to compromise etc. I have written all music and lyrics, but the guest musicians must be credited for their work! I just told them where to put their work, and apart from a few inputs, they all had total creative freedom. I needed of course to hear it and agree, but that was no problem. Every part done by the guest musicians sound nothing but great!

AN: Your Facebook page cites such phrases as “pop/rock” and “easy-listening”. I definitely agree the songs on Livsgnist are very accessible and catchy with quite a pop structure…yet at the same time depressive and passionate. How did you get that balance?

Erik: As I listen to lots of pop music myself, I wanted to somehow combine this with my roots of musical creativeness; black metal. As I never intended to write a typical black metal album I had to come up with something, and this was the most natural for me.

AN: Can you elaborate on where your influences lie for SMFN? I couldn’t help but notice some classical touches and also guitar solos with a rather classic rock/metal feel.

Erik: Mostly some kind of electronic pop music, and of course black metal. I also listen to lots of movie soundtracks, and as these often have some kind of classical music into them, what you noticed might not be that wrong… I can’t speak for the guitar solos, as all of them are done by Peter Huss, Angst Skvadron Führer Nefas and Aetherys Mckay. That being said, I guess you’ve heard about Nefas’ recent death which made an impact on many of us in one way or the other. To me, he has not only been a friend over the last years, but also a musical inspiration ever since I heard Urgehal’s “Through thick fog till death” album. He has left this surface with my greatest respect and my thoughts go out to his fiancée, family and all his band mates. I participated in his funeral last week, and it felt good to see all the people who came to pay their respect. It was also nice to catch up with other band colleagues, like Uruz, Sgt. V., Renton and Kvarforth, as well as lots of other friends from the black metal scene. To honour Nefas, words were spoken by his closest friends and band mates, and this was absolute a worthy funeral for a person and musician like he was! If Hell really exist, we’ll meet again!

AN: The lyrics have quite a sardonic tone to them; depressive but at times kind of tongue in cheek. Would you agree with this analysis and do you think there is a tendency for depressive black metal to take itself too seriously?

Erik: I haven’t thought about that actually, but you might be right.. At least, I like to put some kind of twisted humour into it, even though they are not meant as a joke at all. But no matter how bad things are, speaking about them without any form of humour just make you like a whining bitch. I don’t know, maybe it’s some sort of defence mechanism?

AN: The chorus to “Precious” really amused me on first listen, just because the “my precious” rasps remind so much of Golem from LOTR. Was this intentional at all?

Erik: No, not at all! I’m one of the few who thinks those movies suck big time, and I haven’t read the books either. I actually got the idea for that title from Silence of the Lambs, where the little dogs name is Precious. Again, I haven’t read the book, but the scene where this woman is being held in the cave screaming for Precious is absolutely stunning! A great movie!

AN: The screaming and swearing about in ‘Perfect’ adds a bit of reality to the song and adds to the passion and emotion of it. Who was the person screaming on this track and what’s it all about?

Erik: Hehe, this is a sample taken from no less than a 90’s action movie! (Which one is up to the readers to find out.) I thought it would fit the song and the upcoming line “Life is perfect“, so why not go for it? So that’s the second sample on the album, in addition to the one on Suffer in Silence.

AN: Who produced the album and how did the whole production process go? I imagine it can’t have been too easy co-ordinating the recordings given the amount of musicians involved?

Erik: I produced it myself, and yes, it took some time coordinate all the guest appearances… But it worked out quite well, as about half of them were recorded while I was sitting right next to them. The rest was recorded at various locations and sent to me over the internet, after I had given them a heads up on where their work should be placed in the song.

AN: How did you come to sign with My Kingdom Music?

Erik: Uruz suggested them for me, as he have been involved in a band called Crest of Darkness before, who are signed to that label. I sent them an e-mail and told them about this project, and as soon as they had heard the album, they offered us a deal at once! The label manager also told me that this was one of the best albums he had heard the last years and this (among other things of course) convinced me to sign the contract, hoping that they would put their best effort in promoting the band and album. -and so far, I have nothing to complain about!

AN: You are planning a second album I read. Can you talk a bit about your plans for this? Will there be more guest musicians and do you have anyone in mind, and is there anything more you can tell us about it?

Erik: As Livsgnist was finished nearly two years ago, I’ve had plenty of time writing new material. I have had some drunken nights with my guitar, and at the moment I have 8-9 new songs finished. If everything goes as planned, we will start the recording this summer/autumn, and I really think that this will be a great album too! I think it will be even more “pop-ish”, but still very dark and destructive. I haven’t decided if I will abuse guest musicians on the next album yet, but I have some ideas which I will need some help with… So if these shall be realized, I guess there will be a couple of more names on this release as well, beside just Uruz and me. The lyrics also seem to be more or less 50/50 Norwegian/English this time, even though not all of them are finished yet.

AN: Thanks for your time. Any final words for our readers

Erik: Thanks to you too for promoting SMFN! For final words I will of course suggest the readers to check out our album! It’s available on both CD and vinyl, as well as download and on Spotify etc. We are also planning to play live in the future, so if anyone will take the chance to book us for a fucked up gig, please get in touch with either me or Patricia Thomas Band management! To get the latest news etc., add us on www.facebook.com/somuchfornothing 

Thanks for your time, and I raise my glass for Trondr Nefas!