Hello, how are you doing? What is status quo in the Trail of Tears camp right now?

Hello Roger! I am fine, thank you, like the other band-members quite thrilled by the reception of our new album. So after some difficult times, it’s now time to look forward and plan the rest of the year with gigs and festivals to promote “Free Fall Into Fear”, a very busy time, we all hope!

So "Free Fall into Fear" is your fourth studio album which is now released (February 28th). Are you happy with the outcome?

We are all very happy with it, the album turned out a very hard, bombastic and interesting one. It was a hard process recording it, but it all went very well in the end, and for me this is the strongest Trail of Tears release to date. Also, the reception from the press has been overwhelming, and that doesn’t harm...

You Kjetil Nordhus, joined the band in 2004. Did you take part in the recording/writing process for 'Free Fall into Fear'?

I wasn’t exactly one of the main men when it came to the actual writing of the songs, even though I did have some ideas for some of the songs. The main role for me on this album, was trying to do some interesting melodic stuff adding to Ronny’s extreme vocals. Me and Ronny also did write the lyrics togehter, so I’ve had a fair bit of influence on the end result with that. 2004 was an extremely active year for me, doing records with both Trail of Tears, Green Carnation and new project Chain Collector, so it was more because of lack of time than lack of wish that I didn’t contribute too much in the song-writing proccess for either of those three bands. The vocal work on an album is too big to take easy, and for me it takes alot of time to prepare, both active (working with the vocal-lines) and passive (listening alot to the new stuff, getting it “under my skin”...).

However, one of 'Trail of Tears' trademarks in the past was the famous male/female dual vocals. Seeing that Cathrine Paulsen was replaced by you, is it then safe to conclude there will be no more female vocals in the future?

How does the band feel about this issue?

Generally we don’t want to rule out anything, but I think the choice of myself getting a more central role in the band on the expense of Cathrine was quite a big decision for the band, and I can’t see female vocals returning to the band for a while yet. So you are quite right in your conclusion, I guess, although – as mentioned – it would be wrong to rule out anything.

I do understand there being quite alot of attention toward the change of vocalists for this album, but for the band this was quite a natural thing to do. We recorded a preproduction of the songs, and felt that a combination between myself and Ronny would be the ideal for the songs. Cathrine wantet to be alot more active, and in the end we couldn’t agree, and she decided to leave. Although me and Cathrine’s voices aren’t very similar, we have kept the same elements in the band, it’s just that I take care of the melodic stuff instead of her. So I think some of the fans feel more than ourselves that this is a dramatic change.

How would you compare 'Free Fall into Fear' to your previous albums sound/music wise? What can the fans expect from this new album?

They can expect a slightly new approach from the band. We have developed our sound quite alot, but I do think it won’t take too many seconds for someone familiar to the band to recognise that this is Trail of Tears. They can expect the result of a maturing band, something which is evident both in the way the songs are written, and the actual sound of the band. They can expect us experimenting a bit more with different styles of music, but I think first and foremost they can expect a quality album which they want to listen to very, very loud...

What are your current views on the current Scandinavian gothic metal scene? It seems that new gothic bands are popping up every day now :)

Hmm.. to be honest, I’m not too familiar with the gothic scene, but I guess you’re pointing to the results of Nightwish’s success, and bands trying to copy them in a way or another, which for me is nothing else than stupid. I do not have anything against the successful bands in the vein of Nightwish, but I’m not very fond of bands coming forward trying to copy those only to hang themselves on a “new” wave of music.

I actually heard that some in the music business expected Trail of Tears on the new album to go in that direction, and I am glad to say that this was never even anything we thought about for a second when starting to make new songs for the album. Because it’s more important for us to make quality music we like ourselves than think about the commercial lines in the business.

How do you get inspired to make the music and how do you write the music in Trail of Tears?

We are all inspired by alot of bands and musical styles, I do think we are inspired by alot more different stuff than people might expect us to be, and I also think that this is more evident than ever before on the new album.

The way we write our music may vary, but the normal thing is that one of the guys presents an idea on the rehearsal room, the other guys jamming along, and if we feel this is something that might turn out cool, it is worked on further. In the end we do a pre-producion, mainly with programmed drums, and we all work out ideas on our specific instrument, before again having to be open to other people’s ideas in the studio. So it’s a big process, not least the recording process, depending on which producer we use.

Any touring plans in support of 'Free fall into Fear'?

After the reception we have got, we are more eager than ever to get back on the road again. We are currently looking for a management and/or booking agency, because it seems to be too much for ourselves to handle, and that’s positive... We do not have anything 100 confirmed by now, except from our own release-party in Kristiansand, Norway, but hopefully there will be some gigs confirmed within not too long, the aim being to do as many summer festivals as possible, before a big tour in autumn.

How do you think Trail of Tears will develop in the future? Bands these days like to be experimental; in 2003 Opeth did an all progressive rock album and Borknagar have just revealed that they will do an all acoustic album next time.

Do you have any similar plans or do you plan to stick to the gothic/extreme metal scene forever?

I think we have taken a step further with this record, with alot more experimental stuff on this one than on any of the previons work, and I guess the experimenting will continue also in the future. I’m not saying that we will take it as far as Opeth or Borknagar, but you’ll never know. If I have to guess, I do think that Trail of Tears will always have one leg placed solid in the extreme metal environment, and the other varying a bit between progressive stuff and other. But that’s only my opinion, and that’s not something we will think about before making new stuff again, this has to come natural, you know!

What are the pros and cons about being in a band?

It’s alot down to my general mental shape, really... Some times you feel extremely lucky to being able to do what you love, playing music around the world for people that are really into what you are doing. And other times, when everything seems to go against you, you don’t have a clue about why you are doing this stuff – it’s not very good, and people couldn’t care less.. hehe.. The latter one is more evident on Sundays, I guess, after a good Saturday out.. No – seriously – I guess the most difficult thing is that it takes a lot of time, and it’s very difficult to combine with a “normal” life. The activity, and therefore the payment, is very unstable, you do nothing for some months and then you play gigs every day for some months. So it’s a bit hard to plan “normal” stuff, like going on vacation with your girlfriend and stuff like that.

This has become a trademark of mine: Do you feel game to list your top 5 releases by ScandinavianMetal bands only?

Hehe.. that’s a hard one, it varies from day to day, but today it must be something like (in random order...), and I’m sure that you could discuss if Anekdoten is metal or not, but anyway...:

Opeth – Blackwater Park
Madder Mortem - Deadlands
Anekdoten – Gravity
Arcturus – La Masquerade Infernale
Opeth - Damnation

When will your website work in a non-Internet Explorer browser? The menu won't work if you use FireFox for instance....

Well – that’s a bit embarrasing, really. We have known about that for a while, but haven’t been doing anything with it. I can promise you, though, that this won’t be the case when our new web-page is up – which it should be within not too long.

Any final remarks to the readers of Scandinavian Metal? And thanks for doing this interview, may the future be good for Trail of Tears!

It must be to check out the new album, with an open mind. Let it spin a couple of times (needless to say, on a very high volume), and slowly, very slowly, start headbanging. There are some songs very suitable for headbanging. After a few spins, your neck would be warm, and it’s time to do the business for real, only after putting the volume up to 10... And hope to see you all on tour sometime. We haven’t been playing too much in Scandinavia, but we hope to do some more gigs in our home- and neighbour countries with this one. Other than that – rock on!

[This interview was first published on the now defunct scandinavianmetal.info webzine]