:: PAGAN'S MIND

Just before their show supporting BRAINSTORM at their gig on March 21st 2008 at Vienna's "Szene", I got the chance to talk to bass player Steinar Krokmo and drummer Stian Kristoffersen and get some inside information from the band on PAGAN'S MIND, their new album "God's Equation" and why Scandinavians chew something called "Gothenburg Rape"...

SB: You've been on tour with Brainstorm for almost 3 weeks now, how was the tour for you?

Steinar: Excellent! This is excellent promotion for our band, and this is only the second time we've been to Austria... We've been here once before with Fates Warning, where we did Austria and Holland; but now with Brainstorm we've been lucky to do quite a few countries more. So it's a real symbiosis, since Brainstorm are really popular in Germany, and it's quite difficult for Metalbands in Germany to get off the ground, since you never hear any guitar-oriented stuff on the radio, only stuff like Backstreet Boys and what not...

So it's a real great opportunity to play good shows with good guys, and the promotion value is extraordinary for us. We've always had a little problem with Germany in the way that the German scene is more "Power"-oriented than Prog-oriented, compared to countries like Holland, Belgium, France, where we probably have as many fans as Brainstorm do right now, so we kind of help each other out.

SB: Well Holland has Arjen Lucassen, he's kind of the "Godfather of Prog", right?

Steinar: Yes! Really nice guy, and really tall. I have a picture of him with me, and I only reach to about his belly button or so (laughs).

SB: Your band has been in existence since 2000? In which bands have your members been before?

Steinar: Me and Stian played in a technical/progressive band called
"Trivial", which was distributed worldwide, but only on a small label, but it did ok and the reviews from all over the world were fantastic... so that's where we come from. Also, Stian and Nils and our former guitar player who died of cancer played together in a band called "Silver Spoon", and they also released an album...

Stian: Yes, that was more kind of an AOR-style band, and we also had this Kiss-coverband...

SB: Well you do have the "Gene-Simmons-beard"!

Stian: (laughs) Yes, I want to grow it to my knees...

Steinar: Ah and yes, Ronny, our keyboard player, used to be in a Toto-overband together with me

SB: So it's basically one big family brought together in one band?

Stian: Yes, we all knew each other, but we always played in different bands, and one day me and Nils were talking about trying to get a band together, so we hooked up Steinar and we moved on from there, and formed PAGAN'S MIND.

Steinar: And then we got a record deal with a Norwegian label.. (gets distracted) ah and this is "Snus" by the way... do you know this stuff? (starts fumbling with a can) It's typical for Norway and Sweden - I was happy that Sabaton came and brought a lot of this stuff, because I'm running out of it...

SB: Excuse me, but does this can read "Gothenburg rape"?!

Steinar: (laughs) Haha, no it's like tobacco in a small bag, and you chew it... Good stuff!

SB: Interesting, but not for me, thanks... I'd rather not try anything that has a name like "rape", I think!

Stian: Actually, "rape" in Norwegian is pronounced "Rah-pe", and it means "burp"!

Steinar: (takes a different can and points to it) Nah, you should really try the "genital sodomizing".... (laughs)

SB: Let's get back to the music! Your current album "God's Equation" has also gotten very good reviews, on our site it got 5 out of 5 stars actually.

Steinar: Really good!

SB: Absolutely! So what would you say, how is the band coming along? Is success slowly picking up?

Steinar: It is slowly picking up, yes... It's not like we have a radio-single or something, so it's really word-of-mouth most of the time. Of course, you get some promotion in the magazines and such, but mostly we've just been building our fanbase on a regular basis, which we think is the way it should be, and not from one day to the other like bands like Tokio Hotel, for example...

SB: Now the progressive / power metal scene is comparatively small...

Steinar: Yes, of course you always have bands like DREAM THEATER that people love to compare us with, but it's really not the same thing. We're definitely much more "Verse-Chorus"-oriented than bands like Dream Theater or Symphony X, and focus on melody lines, because that's what sticks with people!

SB: So who is responsible for the songwriting in your band? Do you have one or two main songwriters, or do you work everything out together?

Stian: We do everything together, basically...

Steinar: Yes it's a perfect "Symbiose", because we all live very close to each other, maybe about fifteen to thirty minutes away from one another, so we can call each other in the middle of the night and pitch ideas, jam, and work on ideas all the time... and that way we also always have everything finished before we enter the studio, which is very important because it saves a lot of time and money.

A lot of bands only meet to rehearse for a few times and then head into the studio because they live so far apart from each other, but you can't keep that same "band-feeling" that way - we go through thick and thin with each other...

Stian: To quickly go back to "God's Equation" - I think the promotion especially in the US has been very, very good; we probably have done more interviews and stuff in the US for this album than all European promotion activities put together!

SB: Which is interesting, since the US usually is not such a good ground for European bands, but I think it's a little different with progressive bands...?

Stian: Yes, I think the US is probably the best-selling country for us!

SB: I think you've played the "ProgPower" in the US as well?

Steinar: Yes, twice! I think it was really a good promotion for us, and I think we have a more "edgy" sound than other European bands, which is what I think makes us popular in the US; especially the last production is very american-sounding with a big, beefy sound.

Stian: And we really would like to go on a tour in the US!

Steinar: Yeah, probably a support tour... of course we wouldn't say no to a headliner tour (laughs), but a support tour would be great as well.

Stian: Before this tour, Steinar and Jorn Viggo actually did almost 80 jingles for radio stations in the US...

Steinar: Quite big rock station, actually.

Stian: So I think things are really picking up in the United States for us!

SB: I mentioned before that the progressive/power metal scene is comparatively small - I was wondering if you've heard about our upstarters in the scene from Austria, "Serenity"?

Steinar: Yes, we gigged with them at ProgPower Europe I think... I believe they were there but we didn't get the chance to check them out because it was just "flying in and flying out"... But with the progressive music, fans really tend to stay with the bands and follow them through their career. It's really not like the "throw away" mentality you often have in pop music.

SB: Are there any musicians from other bands you would like to cooperate with on one of your upcoming records? Or is this nothing you're interested in?

Stian: Maybe if we did a solo project or something...

Steinar: Yes, we have our own way of doing things, and it works quite fine!

Stian: Only on a bonus track once, where we did a cover of a King Diamond song, we had a guest - I used to play in FIREWIND for three years, and I know Gus G., so we asked him to play a solo on that song!

PAGAN'S MIND

SB: Lyrics-wise, you're pretty much science-fiction oriented - Who in the band is the "sci-fi-fan"?
Steinar: All of us, really! The lyrics are conceived due to the "big questions" in life... the curiosity about what might be out there...

Stian: You know, everything that is not know to us yet... We really should have Nils (K. Rue, singer - writer's note) here right now, he's more the philosopher of the group, haha.

Steinar: Yeah, we just play music! You know, we all grew up with the sci-fi movies like Star Wars and such, so with the name PAGAN'S MIND meaning something like a nonbeliever's philosophy, our lyrics circle around something like an Egyptian-type of philosophy, or one which also is more linked to nature than to Gods maybe, and we mix it all together, and that's what you get with PAGAN'S MIND!

SB: So, any message to your fans out there?

Steinar: Be kind to each other!

Stian: Yes, that's important!

Steinar: We try to be as positive as possible; you know, usually with Norway, black metal is considered the "big thing", but we regard ourselves more like a "white metal" band and want to transmit a positive message!

SB: Very well, thank you very much for your time and the interesting interview, and good luck for PAGAN'S MIND! Hope to see you again soon!

Steinar: Well, thank you!

Stian: Thank you!