Some of you might know that mister Dolving Himself seems to hate standard and routine interviews. I found out in the interview below. So, for the other metal journalists around, next time, to please mister Dolving Himself, go ask Him about some more original things. According to His MySpace he’s “a great fuck” and he likes to “bake great cookies”, just keep that in mind. Then, maybe, you’ll get a serious answer, because you’ve “shown you actually cared enough to spend some time researching and coming up these great questions.” Maybe his great sex life is more important than The Haunted or their new album Versus, who am I to disagree huh?
Actually I think it’s rather nice of him to compliment me with the fact that my last question “didn´t sound like another dumb standard form copy write ad.” Maybe I’ll bake him cookies some time!
If you’d like read to the actual interview (with special thanks to Per Möller Jensen), skip part 1 and go directly to part 2.
PART 1: PETER DOLVING VERSUS HIMSELF
Something about the new album Versus; how are the first reactions?
'Everyone is raving about the new album. They´re going “Whoopee! It´s the best thing since electric light!” I actually read one review that stated we deserved the Nobel prize in Metal. And you know it´s true, we do…'
I’ve read that the way in which the songs are produced on this album differs from your previous work. You recorded the basis tracks live. Why did you choose for this style of production? And are you pleased with the result?
'Not really pleased, more overjoyed in twisted kind of way. You know we can´t really hold back our joy. At night we go out dancing in the streets, bringing with us hoards of Scandinavian supporters who carry the Swedish flag and sing old Viking songs.'
Do you have the feeling that you’ve gone in a new or different direction with this record?
'We did definitely. We all dressed in red a lot during the recording and somehow it did the trick. As far as direction goes, we took a slight turn to the left after having passed the stairs. There was a little Chinese acupuncture shop right so stayed a couple of hours and had tea. Never did that before.'
You’re going to tour in Taiwan and Thailand. Have you played there before? How is the public different from that in Europe?
'Obviously they´re all shorter and speak a different language. I noticed they look a lot like people from Japan, but skinnier. And they all glance with a worried look to north. I don’t blame them, the north is cold. Right?'
Any ideas about when you’re going to play in the Netherlands?
'I don´t think we ever come back to Holland. No wait, maybe we´ll go see our friends at the Patronaat in Haarlem.'
What inspired Peter to write the lyrics?
'A trip to Las Vegas.'
A riff used in the song 'Skuld' was written a few years back. Is that something which occurs more often?
'Always.'
What about the movie Anders made? Is it coming out on DVD? And what is it called?
'The unbearable lightness of caring.'
In a video on the website, Peter says he did 150 interviews already. There are questions he gets a thousand times. What’s the most annoying question you get? And which one surprised you?
'Blah blah blah. What was that? I´m not sure I caught that last part sorry. Oh I´m so glad you cared enough to actually spend some time researching and coming up these great questions so it didn´t sound like another dumb standard form copywrite ad.'
PART 2: THE ACTUAL INTERVIEW
Something about the new album Versus; how are the first reactions?
'I think they have been really positive from what I´ve seen, but I tend to stay away from what´s being said on the internet to be honest. I think people recognize our older stuff in there as well as being a follow up to The Dead Eye... A lot of people like the more "in your face" approach on this, whereas other people would have preferred if we had gone further down the path of The Dead Eye.'
I’ve read that the way in which the songs are produced on this album differs from your previous work. You recorded the basis tracks live. Why did you choose for this style of production? And are you pleased with the result?
'After having played together for as long as we have, we feel that we have a sound now. Our sound, and we wanted to capture that on tape, so we chose to record all the basic tracks live, as a band, no click tracks, no pro-tools, no fake shit, as almost every album nowadays is guilty of. After all, the music that we like is recorded that way, so we wanted to do the same...'
Do you have the feeling that you’ve gone in a new or different direction with this record?
'Not really on this album, Like I said, I think it´s sort of a natural next step from The Dead Eye only that we went back and included some elements from our older albums.'
You’re going to tour in Taiwan and Thailand. Have you played there before? How is the public different from that in Europe?
'Taiwan and Thailand will be our first time there...'
Any ideas about when you’re going to play in the Netherlands?
'I believe we should come by early next year...actually February 13....Melkweg in Amsterdam...'
What inspired Peter to write the lyrics?
'Gee...if you knew Peter, he doesn´t have to look far to find inspiration...'
(Seems obvious now...)
A riff used in the song 'Skuld' was written a few years back. Is that something which occurs more often?
'I´m not even sure which one you mean...? We did it once, taking a closing riff from the first album and turned it into the song 'D.O.A.' Hell, it´s our shit, if anyone should steal it, we should...haha'
What about the movie Anders made? Is it coming out on DVD? And what is it called?
'We´re not really sure what´s going to happen with Roadkill, we´re looking into different alternatives at this point...hopefully we´ll be able to release it as a DVD at some point.
In a video on the website, Peter says he did 150 interviews already. There are questions he gets a thousand times. What’s the most annoying question you get? And which one surprised you?
'Annoying questions: "Line-up? Ages?", and questions not regarding The Haunted, thank you for not asking any of that!'
And thank you Per, for giving an actual interview!
