rockyourlyricsYour new album “Trail of Intuition” has just been released, can you share with us the most difficult moment of its preparation?
In general i guess the most difficult thing was being all alone with the material for a very big part of the process.
I’ve never doubted myself as much as i did making this album, probably because I never took this amount of responsability for the final product before. In the end I’m very glad I did, though..
Any crazy/funny behind the scenes?
I dont know if there is any particularly crazy moments, or actually, I’m sure there is – but thinking back when writing this right now I can’t remember much.
My memory is generally quite clouded and I forget both incidents, movies and jokes very easily, goldfish/amoebe style.
If you want to put a positive spin on it, I guess you could say I’m living very much in the now haha
How do you usually write the lyrics of your songs?
Very often it’s done through a fairly associative brain storm where I try to come up with perhaps two or three times more material than I actually need.
In the beginning, the themes are fairly random but most times something ends up standing out from the rest as the primary feeling or topic I want the words to describe.
From there on it’s a process of weeding out and sorting through whats good and bad.
What fits the song, what I want to say etc.
I work a lot with rhymes and from the moment I have the general outline of the song, both melodically and lyrically, when the creative vision is done – it’s almost just a mathematical problem that needs to be solved. I enjoy that very much 🌷
What is the best verse you ever wrote?
Perhaps a song called “Wings of promise” that isn’t out yet.
It will probably be released within the next year or two.
The recording has been lying around for quite some time in a pool of tracks from some sessions I did with Anders Christophersen, done in the time just after my first album. All in due time ☺
Do you remember the day you wrote “ More than anything”?
Yeah. I was sitting outside one of my regular cafes with my laptop and actually sat out to write a song for someone else than myself, just to broaden the perspective a bit.
Originally i had a definite idea of a woman singing it and It was also more of an uptempo four to the floor kind of disco thing for a long time. The ballad/halftempo feel didnt come about until perhaps 6 months into the process.
What was the soundtrack to your childhood?
Janet Jackson, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Beatles, De La Soul, jazz and blues records from my parents vinyl stash, classical music, swedish and french folk music and loads of other stuff…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC1xuVCBl4o
What was the first record you ever bought?
I think perhaps a 7” vinyl of the theme song for an old danish adventure movie by the name of “Hodja fra Pjort” by local hero Sebastian. A quite quirky song from an amazing songwriter that i still like today.
What has your journey in the music industry been like up to now?
I wrote songs and sang in the bands “Murder” and “I got you on tape” between 2004 and 2012 and toured quite a bit with both acts, mainly in europe. Since 2012 i’ve put out 4 soloalbums and begun writing more and more for other artists as well.
What inspired “Renegade” ?
Renegade is more or less a song about my dad and him being burned quite badly by the death of my mom many years ago.
Most explicitly in the chorus, but the verses deal with the loss of her seen from my own perspective. In many ways its sort of a heavy and quite dark lyrical universe but i still consider it somewhat of a light track, mostly because of the uptempo feel of it. Its a bumblebee; not supposed to fly but it ends up doing so anyway.
And “One of a Kind”?
Its a song I wrote sometime during the recordings of the last album we did with IGYOT (Church of the real).
I actually recorded a version during the sessions for my first solo album the year after but felt the song needed a stronger production.
I think basically it’s sort of a status report on my relationship with my girlfriend at a time when I was going through a quite rough period and wasnt feeling very well.
There is hope but also acceptance of a long road ahead.
Are you ever scared of revealing, aspects of your personal experience, to strangers through your music?
Yeah, very often. I have never really shared what the songs were about because they all to some extent are very personal.
I’ve often tried to blur the meaning when asked directly in interviews and so on.
I think I am probably not as scared of going into details now as I was when I was younger though.
What does music mean for you?
In short, it means everything. I live and breathe by and through the soundtrack of my everyday life.
It helps me feel good, calm down, contemplate and the right soundpiece can make it easier for me to deal with whats going on inside me.
On a more artistic level, my work and writing process is often a big part of how i feel on a daily basis.
I often feel good if I get something done, if I create something.
What is the best show you ever played?
Perhaps some of the concerts I did with Anders Mathiasen under the name of Murder when we had our trio lineup with Jonas Westergaard.
We toured quite extensively during the second and third album and Jonas also plays the bass on my coming tour.
The lineup when I was touring my first solo album was also really good and so much fun.
Hard question haha
What are your plans for 2018?
Trying out different machines, new instruments and perhaps changing my writing process a bit. Mixing things up and getting better at producing on a general level.
On a more concrete note, I am also thinking about recording more organic stuff again; real instruments etc, some more cryptical, dark ballad material.
Possibly while at the same time working with a batch of repetitive grooves and lyrics, dancy stuff – just for the fun of it.
Follow