Circus Maximus

Posted on Jun 30, 2005

by Anders

There seems to come a lot of really talented bands out of Scandinavia in these years. The take on progressive melodic power metal is fabolous and a lot of the bands from uphere get their well-deserved credit. One of the new and exciting bands within this genre is Circus Maximus hailing from Norway. They are ready with their debut full lenght "The 1st Chapter", which recently was released by Frontier Records in Europe and Sensory Records in North America. I hooked up with drummer Truls Haugen and we had a great talk. Going through all from the songwriting process, to his inspirational sources and a great song by song walk through.

Hey, how are things in Norway?

Hello! Things are great!

Will you start off by introducing yourself and tell us why you are playing metal?

I am Truls Haugen, the drummer. I’m playing metal because it gives me a sense of satisfaction. It’s better than sex…..well….almost.

An introduction of the rest of the band and a bit about their strong and weak sides will be great too!

Michael Eriksen, Vocals. The happiest guy you come across. But if you manage to make him mad, I believe you’re in trouble. Very talented singer. Glen Møllen, bass. A guy who likes everything in place at the right time, if not, he would make some trouble also…hehe. Bassist extraordinaire… Espen Storø, Keyboards, Doesn’t say much. But when something comes out of his mouth, people around have a tendency to laugh their asses off. Keyboard mastermind. Mats Haugen, Guitars. Many drumsticks have been flying through the air because of this guy, but hey…he’s my brother. As a guitarist, he’s up there amongst the best. When it comes to me…. What is there to say….? I’m just perfect….hehe. (just kidding).

Who are the main song writers in the band?

It’s Mats who comes with most ideas. Sitting in front of his computer, programming drums, bass, keyboards and working on whole songs. I usually chip in with ideas and complain on these arrangements... hehe. As a guitarist myself as well, I also come with a riff or twelve once in a while. Espen also comes with some useful stuff when he is functioning… and Glen has some great ideas once in a while. Michael usually joins in with melody lines and lyrics and stuff after the songs are written. Also he has some cool ideas once in a while.

How does the song writing process in Circus Maximus work?

See question above… hehe. We all participate in the writing process most times. Some times one of us makes a whole song with full arrangement. It’s usually Mats who bothers to do that …hehe.

Where do you find inspiration for your music?

We find inspiration all over really. From other bands that we’re listening to at the moment, a flower or a tree in the woods, or something like that. No seriously, I guess all the inspiration from other bands already are in us. We really try to make our own thing, and not try to be too inspired if you know what I mean. Too many copycats out there….

What can trigger you to write a song?

Anything! To be honest many of my ideas come when I’m taking a crap, seriously. Everything from lyrics to a riff. Call me weird….

How would you describe the perfect song?

The song isn’t perfect until we are satisfied with it. Actually we’re never really satisfied so you get the picture…

Which elements in a song do you find the most important ones?

In my opinion, the melodies are the most important element. That’s what people who hear the song hear first. It’s not everybody who sings the guitar solos…. Well…I do… hehe.

Can you mention 5 bands and 5 albums which have meant a lot to you and your style of writing and playing music?

I can’t answer for the other guys on this so here goes, my most important albums and bands: Metallica "Master of Puppets", Dream Theater "Awake", Meshuggah "Destroy Erase Improve", Symphony X "The Divine Wings Of Tragedy" and Pantera "Cowboys From Hell". I guess there are about 20 more albums from different bands that have meant a lot to us, but I think these quite sums up, at least the most important ones for me.

You all in the band seem as really good musicians, but you keep a lot of focus on the songs instead of showing off, is that an easy task?

Thank you! It’s not that hard really. Just don’t wank off when you’re not supposed to. Off course, we love a great solo here and there, but in my opinion the focus on the songs are really important. Nothing more boring than 20 minute long jams that lead to nowhere.

You are ready with your debut full length "The 1st Chapter", how do you feel about the album?

We’re never really satisfied with anything we do, but I think we succeeded quite well this time. The recording was a real pain in the ass, not to mention the mix. But when everything was finished it was really worth the work.

How have the reactions on the album been so far?

Overwhelming! We’ve received rave reviews almost in every magazine and webzines. Some reviews from some important magazines are yet to come but I hope they love it as well. Getting tears in my eyes here…

Have you had some feedback from your fans?

Yes, actually. We have a small fanbase that is growing bigger and bigger. Especially in Norway. That’s really cool! We try to keep in touch with as many fans as possible. You gotta love the ones who love your music.

What do you expect from the album?

That it will sell like hell, and give me world domination… moahahaha. Hopefully, many will buy it, love it, and show up at our concerts. That’s all I want. And off course, have a lot of fun in the process.

What do you want to accomplish with Circus Maximus?

It has always been about having fun and doing the thing we love, to write and play music. If we can get success as well, it would be amazing. Probably to tour the world and playing cool and packed venues would be my dream.

The album seems very worked through and “serious”, how much time have you used writing and arranging the songs?

Most of the songs on the album are old ideas we’ve had for years. We just dug them out and made songs out of them. The recording started around June 2004, and it lasted all the way up to the mix in November 2004. We actually wrote and recorded at the same time. My brother and I had 5 days to record the drums, and while we were recording we re-arranged, re-wrote almost everything. (Never satisfied you know….) I think the only songs that were finished when we started recording were 'Sin', 'Glory Of The Empire' and 'Alive'. We are not going to record like that again, that’s for sure.

There is everything from a track on 4 minutes to one on 20 minutes on the album, do you have any preference for song lengths?

No, I don’t. None of the songs are supposed to be that long. When we are composing, we just try to put in everything that are cool and we don’t really think about the length. Except for the title track though, which we knew were going to be something big and epic, but not 20 minutes!

What is the biggest challenge, to write a short track or a long track?

To be honest, it’s harder to write a short track. As I mentioned in the previous question we always put in all the cool ideas we can, in one song and that have an effect on the length I guess.

Have you ever toyed with the idea of making an album consisting of one single song?

Nope. That has been done too many times. We’ll see… Maybe some time in the future, but as for now the thought haven’t crossed our mind.

How much time have you spent in the studio, recording, mixing etc…?

Last year we spent a lot of time in the studio. As I mentioned we were working from about June until November with the album. Guess we’re not going back for a little while. We are concentrating on playing live for now.

Are you and the rest of the band fully satisfied with the end result?

Yes, we are very satisfied, but everything can be better... hehe. We are very pleased with the work that Tommy Hansen did with the mix. He really made it sound more special and unique, compared to his previous work, in my opinion.

Will you initiate us in your lyrical universe?

It’s Michael, Mats and myself that who most of the lyrics. Not so much to say about that really. We try to write good stories I guess. The song 'The 1st Chapter' was inspired by the album cover artwork that Mattias Norèn made for us. The only song that I believe is inspired by a real life experience is 'Why Am I Here?'. It is about a nightmare I had when I was a kid. Scary stuff…..

It will be killer if you would go through your album track by track and tell a bit about the music, lyrics and inspiration for each number!

'Sin' : This is the album’s opening song...when you hear it you will know why. A hard hitting metal tune with great riffs and a catchy chorus. Also a great opening song for gigs. Lyrically: A dramatic song between good and evil.

'Alive': This is the albums "melodic-rock" song. A catchy tune with awesome melodies and crunchy riffs. A potential radio song, hehe. Lyrically a love song so to speak.

'Glory Of The Empire': This is the song which we recorded as a demo and in the end got us our record deal. A 10 minute epical journey with great melodies. Lyrically it is inspired by Roman history.

'BiosFear': This is the album’s instrumental song. A real technical piece. A fast hitting track which gives you an out of this world experience. Pretty fucked up stuff...

‘Silence From Angels Above’: This is the ballad of the album. Lyrically its a story about a schizophrenic man murdering his loved one. Religious as he is, he asks God for help but never really gets it.

'Why Am I Here?': A progressive metal-tune with real catchy melodies. Lyrically… Have you ever awaken from a deep sleep and realizing you are not awake, but still within the dream?

'The Prophecy': The most versatile song on the album. Inspired by every genre we are influenced by. Lyrically it is about preventing the end of the world.

'The 1st Chapter': A 20 minute magnum piece. This shows the listener what Circus Maximus is all about. Lyrically the story of the song is taken from our front-cover, which Mattias Norén did for us. A man’s journey through the endless desert-sand.

You have called the band for Circus Maximus, why that exact name?

People think it has something to do with Roman history or something, it does, but when we came up the name we didn’t think about it at all. Actually it’s from a videogame that my brother and I were playing called "The Ripper". In the game you had to enter a password to get into a database or something, and that was "Circus Maximus". We thought it would be a cool name for the band, and it sure was. People have given a lot of credit for that name.

The album cover artwork for "The 1st Chapter" is in a way kind of cryptic, will you explain the idea of it and the thoughts behind it?

I think that would be a question for Mattias Norèn who made the cover. It was an idea he had, and we thought it was cool. We would never have written the lyrics for the song 'The 1st Chapter' if it wasn’t for his artwork. Very talented guy…

Do you have some heavy touring coming up as support for "The 1st Chapter"?

Not yet, but soon I hope. Only thing planned is a few gigs in Norway, one in Denmark and the Progpower gig in the USA. Check our tourlist for updates. I know we will play a lot of gigs in the near future.

How do you think the future seems for Circus Maximus at this point?

As of now, things are going very good! So I hope our success only can be better from this point.

Will you share your 5 favorite Scandinavian metal albums with us?

Hmmm, tough one. But here’s mine:

Meshuggah – Destroy Erase Improve
Beyond Twilight – Section X
Conception - Flow
Pagan's Mind – Enigmatic : Calling
TNT - Intuition

Thank you very much for doing this interview with, if you have anything to add, feel free to do it now!

Stay safe and Stay Metal!