Interview with Anders of She Said Destroy 2006

by Bradley Smith

I finally got my hands on your powerful new album, Time Like Vines.  It seems like a lot of thought and effort went into the writing and recording of this album.  Can you tell me a little bit about this whole project?

Yes sir. Time Like Vines was all blood, sweat and tears. The writing process was pretty laid back, being spread out over a course of 1,5 years, but the last couple of months before recording were really hectic. We brought in a new guitar player, did gigs and worked on the final 3-4 songs for the album at the same time.

We spent a good couple of months in the studio from September to November of 2005. Some of us were working full time day jobs at the same time. Thanks to our producer and engineer Marius Strand who really brought out the best in us. We love you, Marius. Kiss, kiss.

On Time Like Vines it seems you guys made an effort to expand musically outside normal confines of death and extreme metal.  Do you find that too many bands lock themselves in a corner concerning musical ideas and writing?  How do you approach composing songs for She Said Destroy?

We’ve always wanted to go in as many directions a possible at the same time without sounding too fractured, and I really think we’re on to something with this album.

We absolutely respect bands that want to stay within traditional genre frames, though. It probably demands more of a discipline to be able to stay within these borders than to just jump from one thing to the next, as we do. I love a lot of trad bands, but I personally don’t feel like making music that’s already been perfected by so many other bands, I’d rather patch loads of styles together in the search for something new and fresh. We don’t have a standard song writing routine. I write riffs at home and bring them to rehearsals for jamming and arranging, whereas Snorre prefers writing and arranging his stuff by himself at home. He is Mozart.

She Said Destroy is also an unusual moniker for a band in this genre. Where did you come up with it?  At first I thought you guys might be a screamo band with a name like that.  Luckily I was wrong. 

She Said Destroy is just a phrase I nicked from a Death in June song. I first used it in one of my lyrics. We thought it sounded cool. We wanted people to think we were an emo band to stand out in the extreme metal scene here in Norway. I’ll probably end up getting hate mail by saying this, but I actually like screamo. Envy and Fall of Troy rule.

It seems to me that the Norwegian Death metal Community appears to be quite a close knit family with all you bands being friends with one another and so on.  I mean it was Sindre of Obliteration who kept telling me to check you guys out.  Do you think there is a sense of brotherhood there?  If so why do you think it is that way? 

Not really. It’s just that Norway is such a small country sooner or later you end up bumping into and having a chat with every musician, journalist, fanboy or label crew there is. Go to a gig in Oslo, it’s always the same tired faces in the crowd.

Of course you might make friends with a few bands, but it’s not like we’re all a brotherhood with secret handshakes and annual camping trips.

I see you used Trine Paulsen and Kim Solve for the album artwork of Time Like Vines.  I really like a lot of their work.  What made you choose them?  The design is not typical at all of an extreme metal act.  I am sure this was intentional.  What sort of guidance did you give them?

We’ve had our eyes on Trine & Kim for a long time, and it was their work on Ulver’s last album “Blood Inside” that made us approach them. We had a meeting where we found out we saw a lot of things the same way. We told them what kind of stuff we liked and disliked, said we didn’t want the record to look metal in any way and gave them the album title. That was it. The rest is all them. The minute I saw the finished work I thought “Man, we’re going to be able to make lots of good shirt designs out of this”. I’m such a gay fashionboy.

How does it feel to be signed to the legendary Nocturnal Art Productions?  Does it make you feel good that a label that is known for releasing quality work signed you?  How is the relationship going with them so far?

It’s an honour. Samoth is a good guy. We’re very satisfied. Haven’t dug up any dirt on them yet.

I noticed that you have started a Myspace page for She Said Destroy at www.myspace.com/ssdband .  What do you think of Myspace and the whole concept of social networking that it propagates?  It seems a lot of bands are using it these days.

Myspace is very convenient. It makes communication with other bands and scenesters around the world so much easier. Where you earlier had to be a detective to get in touch with bands you looked up to or labels you wanted to hassle, you’re now only a couple of mouse clicks a away. Of course it might be considered a tool for the lazy, and take a lot of the fun out of the hunt, but communication gets much more efficient. It leaves us with time to play our instruments, unless you’re one of them geeks that spend hours in myspace forums every day. That’s not for us.

What is the meaning of the Roman Numerals you have behind some of the songs?  I Sense a Tempest Arising for example.  Why are the numerals out of order?

The numerals are just there to signalize that the lyrics to these songs are connected. We put the songs in the order that sounded the best, which of course fucked up the chronology of the story in the lyrics. I thought it was a good idea to put the roman numerals in there, but it seems they confuse most people.

Recently you guys did a sort of festival in the UK called Day Into Night Festival with Zyklon and DAM.  Unfortunately I was only able to catch one day of the festival.  How did that show go?  How long were you in the UK and did you get to see anything?

That show was awesome. Zyklon and Dam are a loveable bunch and the crowd seemed to be into us. We were in and out in 2 days. Didn’t get to see much while we were there, but we had a great time nevertheless. Too bad we missed out on Akercocke and Onslaught.

Since we are on the topic of concerts I noticed you guys will be part of the line-up for this year’s Hole in The Sky Festival.  There are going to be quite a few legendary bands there.  How do you feel about sharing the stage with them?  Which bands are you most looking forward to see if you get the chance?

Hole in the sky is hands down the best festival in Norway and Bergen is the best town in Norway. The line up this year is unbelievable. I look forward to seeing Morbid Angel at a small club stage and of course the mighty Atheist and Celtic Frost. We’re proud of being part of it.

After the Inferno Festival you “turned Straight-edge”.  Heh heh.  How did that work out for you?  How sick were you after the 5 day drinking binge that coincided with that concert?  Heh heh.

I stayed straight edge for a while, actually. At least a week.

The Inferno week was exhausting as usual. I saw almost no bands, just spent the time hanging out with friends from around Europe. Not the best audience member.

Final words remain yours!

Thanks for the interview, sir! Regular news updates can be found at our myspace profile. We’ll be touring the UK and Ireland with Cryptopsy, Gorerotted and Sylosis in August – make sure to check us out if in the area. On our London gig we’ll be supporting Celtic Frost. Holy shit! Fucking legend! Check out our album, brush your teeth and change your socks every day.