| Interview from Helsingin Salomat 2003
- You´ve been hugely productive: you are involved in over a hundred releases? What might be the reasons for this kind of productivity and why you´ve released so much music? Do you have an estimate how many hours of music you have released so far?
Yes I think there have been over a hundred releases, but that's also counting
the cassette tapes, so it's not at all unique, most noise artists who've been around a while have long discographies. I probably have 20-something albums, so it's not so much. The reason I put out so much is because most of the releases have limited distribution. When a mainstream rock or jazz band puts out a record
they have distribution that covers most of the globe, while I have put out a record in America, one in England and one in Japan on labels in those countries,
just to have the music available. Now that Jazzkammer is signed to Smalltown
Supersound things are better, as Smalltown has pretty good distribution and gets
the records out in shops all over. Another reason for my large output is because
I have a lot of ideas and things I want to do. Nearly all of the artists I find interesting have been very active and with big output of material, where you judge their work as a whole, not just single works. This is for all kinds of arts.
Where´s you musical background, what kind music(s) shaped your knowledge what music is, and should be?
I grew up listening to metal and punk music, that's my roots. I was influenced
by extreme death metal and grindcore/noisecore music to start playing with
sounds. I much later discovered Stockhausen, Throbbing Gristle and Cage.
-Did you play any instuments, and were you involved in any bands?
No, I never learned how to play anything. I started with turntables and taperecorders in my early teens. I was lost from the beginning.
How did you start to make music? And what kind of things influenced you to
develope your own way of making music? For example to use the cut up/collage technique?
I just started experimenting with tape-recorders on my own. When I read "Naked
Lunch" years later it was a relief to see others had the same ideas too. It was
a confirmation that I wasn't crazy.
Where, if anywhere, do you find inspiration? Other arts, for example?
Everything; music and other arts. My favorite art is cinema, I find a lot of
inspiration in that. But also paitings, photography, performance-art etc. But
the main inspiration is my personal obsession in sound. I like listening and
working with sound, and the further I dig into it, the wider its possibilites
expands.
What are you basic instuments - when making records and playing live?
Now I use a laptop mostly. But also guitars, contact-microphones and whatever is
at hand. I'm no purist.
Would you descibe Jazzkammer (not Pancakes) as noise? And if, what attracs you in noise: (intensity? energy in pure form?)
Sure I would call Jazzkammer noise. Or musique-concrete, or tape-music, or sound-art, or electronica, or soundscape, or lower-case, or glitch. They're all the same; different names for sound-music. "Pancakes" doesn't really differ from our other records, except in volume. To me it has got a lot of aggression in it. It's a tense record.
What is your driving force? Do you have any "message": do you want to make a difference, do you want to influence?
Right now I'd like to influence the people of America to throw out their president. George Bush is a crook and the worst president they've had in a long time. But I don't use my music as channel for any direct political statements. I want it to be a purely sonic experience. The only influnce I could ever hope for is to open peoples ears to this idea of what music and sound can be.
How does Jazzkammer on records differ for Jazzkammer on stage, playing music live?
I think we are pretty different from record and in live action. Our records are like perfected sculptures we've built over a period of time, while the concerts are more about raw ideas. They're both like puzzles you have to figure out, and both has its drawbacks and advantages. In the studio you have the time to put it carefully together, while live you have to do it there and then in front of an audience, but with the advantage of being able to control the listening enviornment.
You music "consists of sound collages pieced together from turntables,
electronics, field recordings, samples, found sounds and electric guitar", says
the All music guide. But what kind is the working process: how and where do you start and how do you go on: do you have, already in the beginning, some kind of sketch what you want achieve. How much time and energy is put on piece - let´s say track 1 from Pancakes? - before it´s finished?
Aw, this is very hard to answer. It varies from piece to piece. It's a lot of back and forth between me and John, and somewhere along the way the piece will find its form. Making music with Jazzkammer is like trying to organizing chaos. The first track on "Pancakes" was all done by John, I didn't touch it, and I don't know how long he worked on it. But for over a year we had many discussions about the first 17 seconds of the piece. John made several versions of the beginning.
Your bio (STS) states: "Marhaug´s sound has similarities to the japanese noise scene with Merzbow and Otomo Yoshihide, and to Austrias Mego label artists such as Pita and Fennesz". Do you agree or disagree and have been influenced by any of these artists?
That bio is just bullshit namedropping by the clever salesmen at Smalltown Supersound. But I don't mind really. I've been into Merzbow and Otomo for over
ten years, and I've had the pleasure of performing with both of them, so I'm sure they have made some impact. But if we're looking for japanese influences, artists like Incapacitants, Violent Onsen Geisha, Corneluis, Yamatsuka Eye and Hijokaidan have made just as much impact on me. The Mego stuff I got into very late, like 2000-01, even after I got a laptop, so I can't say they have influenced much musically. But I love what they do, Mego is one of the most exciting labels right now, they are brilliant, I'm just sorry I heard about it so late.
Do you have time or find interest to listen to music. If, what kind of music?
As much as I can. I'm a obsessive record collector and always try to check out
new stuff and keep track of my favorites. My interests are in both underground
and mainstram culture. Also, if I'm going to put out records and do concerts and
expect people to listen to what I do, I feel it's a bit of a duty to stay updated on what others do.
Jazzkammer: I understood that John is originally a guitarist, who can really
play? Do do you complement each other when you making music?
Yes, John can really play. He'll a master of the classic guitar. He'll play
Mozart backwards.
What are his strenghts, and what are yours?
He's technical, resourcefull and a fountain of ideas. I don't know what my
strenghts are. Maybe my sense of humour?
You´ve done a lot on remixing and producing: how does the process differ if
you compare it with making your own music? For example when producing Maja´s excellent solo album?
There's no real difference except that the sounds are already there. We recently
did a remix of norwegian black metal band Ulver, which was a lot of fun. Their
metal sound was very different from our usual clicks and hiss, so we had a blast messing around with it, trying to break it into something else but still keeping the link to its original source. With the Maja album it was a bit different, because we were involved from the very beginning making the recordings with her. We really enjoyed that project, even if it took over two years to complete. Now we're getting more offers to produce, which we are happy about.
Pancakes is a little different from your other albums - is it a conscious
"change of direction"?
I don't think it's very different. Maybe in volume, but the sound-textures and
compositions are very similar to our other recordings.
Are you still living in Trondheim? And, if what kind of place is it for a
musician like you: pros and cons. Are you happy to stay there and not move, for ex, to Oslo? (From Trondheim´s website: "Trondheim is an urban centre - with everything a large city can offer, yet with the cozy appeal of small-town
friendliness").
After nearly ten years in Trondheim I'm moving to Oslo next month. Trondheim is
okay, it's a pretty slow city. The good thing about living in a city like this is that I've had plenty of time to work on my projects without much distraction.
How does your living enviroment affect your music making, and the northern
nature in general? Is there any "northeness" in your music?
Maybe. I'm not the one to judge that. I hope not, me and John are both sick of the Norway-hype. We're getting stuck right next to shitty techno and jazz artists. And this "arctict cool " bullshit is beyond lame. There are no polarbears roaming the streets of Norway.
Is there any "scene" in Trondheim? And if not, there´s actually a scene in
Norway - a lot of interesting music has been made and released during the past years (STS, Rune, Blå, even ECM, what I´ve heard). What might be the reason for this quite huge burst of energy and innovation?
Maybe people are bored and want to do something? And when someone are active it usually catches on to others, and the ball starts rolling. In addition to the labels you mention there's a really good underground noise/lofi scene here as well, with labels like Melektronikk, Syneastethic, TV5, Roggbiff, Apartment, OHM and Humbug, and good artists like Andreas Meland, Waffelpung, Sir Dupermann, Duo Kanel, KA, Slowburn, Anders Gjerde, Fe-Mail, Maja Ratkje, Golden Seranades,
Origami Olympika, various Kjetil Brandsdal projects and others.
When were you born? How old are you now? How old is John?
I was born way up north, in Bodö. I'm 28, John is really old, like 36 I think.
Do you consider yourself as a professional musician? Do you get along by
making only music, or do you have to hade a side job? (I remember reading
somewhere that you are involded in graphic design)
Yes, I make my living as a graphic designer. Not much money in the noise.
Other project you are involved? Origami? Del(eleted)?
I'm still doing various Origami projects. DEL is still going, after 6 years and countless 7" singels and live records we are finally putting out a studio album, produced by John Birger Wormdahl of Salvatore. It'll come out in the autumn. I also play regularly in duo with free-jazz saxophone player Frode Gjerstad, we have some albums in the works.
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