Waklevören is a Norwegian band consisting of some well-known members who all share their love for old school Thrash Metal, Punk and of course lots and lots of beers. Because the love for beer is overruling the love for music it took quite a long time before they came up with their debut album. Still, after about ten rehearsals and probably a hundred times more beers their debut demo ‘Brutal Agenda’ has just been released. Therefore I decided to have a chat with Apollyon to find out just a little bit more about Waklevören and the great ‘Brutal Agenda’ demo.
Hello Apollyon, welcome back to VM. How are you doing?
Doing allright, thank you. Hung over and on my way to drinking more.
First of all the bandname Waklevören. What does it mean in English?
I guess the most correct translation would be wobbly or unsteady. Kind of describes the whole band. It’s been sort of our temporary band name all along, and since nobody managed to come up with anything better, that’s what we’re called. Correct Norwegian spelling is “vaklevoren” by the way….
Waklevören was started in 2002 already but only this month the ‘Brutal Agenda’ album was released. Why did it take so long? Perhaps the busy schedules with all other bands all of you are into?
No, I’m not responsible for all the delays. The thing is that we agreed the day we started the band, that if any of us should suggest drinking instead of rehearsing, then rehearsing would have to step aside…
Now that’s the spirit hehe…
So we haven’t rehearsed more than maybe ten times and in between those ten rehearsals we tend to forget everything that happened last time, so we have to start all over again. Quite annoying actually…
The biography can be read in my review already so we’ll skip that part but what I want to know is what were the reasons to start Waklevören while all of you have many other bands going on at the same time?
I don’t know. I was out drinking and so were the other guys. It was definitely not my idea to start a 7th band (or whatever…I’ve lost count).
I think I’ve accepted to join 3-4 bands like Waklevören. The only difference between them is that “Wäklis” (Slang for Waklevören) made it to the rehearsal place. Since it sounds good and is laid back pressure-wise, we’ve continued doing it.
As said, ‘Brutal Agenda’ is out now. What do you think of the end result? And why are there only 100 copies made?
I still haven’t heard the final mastering. Hopefully it sounds better than the last mix I heard and that they have taken away most of my backing vocals. Haha, I’m not the guy to ask…Anyway, the other guys seem EXTREMELY enthusiastic about it, so I guess something sounds nice. 100 copies was what we could afford. They’re sold out now and 100 more are on the way. We’ll even do vinyls I believe.
And have you already seen some press reactions yet? And if yes, what’s written about ‘Brutal Agenda’?
We’ve had only good reviews from what I’ve heard, but then again not a lot of them obviously. We haven’t even started to distribute any promos. I try to avoid reading reviews of my own bands. I never agree with the reviewer anyway and that just fucks the rest of the day up even if it’s a very good one.
The album is released through Neseblod Records from Oslo and Kenneth, owner of Neseblod, also participates in Waklevören. Was releasing the album through Neseblod the easiest option? Or were there perhaps other labels interested as well?
It was the only option I think. We just wanted to release it ourselves…
How would you describe Waklevören’s music? And is much alcohol necessary to enjoy the music even more hehe?
In general it sounds vaklevorent, dirty and with a thrashy punk attitude. It has elements of Crust, Thrash (mostly American), Hardcore and Motörhead-kind of rock and roll….. It depends very much who makes the songs as well. I for instance, will make less Thrash metal stuff, since I already have Aura Noir and I think the same goes for the Red Harvest guys. Then again, Bored who made most of the songs (I believe), is making Thrash metal stuff.
It’s probably a good idea to drink a case or two of beer to fully enjoy the album.
So far you’ve done one gig in Oslo together with Obliteration. How did this gig go and what can we expect from a Waklevören gig?
Everyone says it went great. Even the most “normal” guys on the planet claimed that we sounded killer. I don’t know how to interpret that kind of information. I just know that I had the worst of times behind the drums, cause it had been so long since last time I’d played, so I was hurting and had to do stretching exercises between every single song.
What can you expect from a Waklevören show….uh, well at least I have a good feeling we sound good. Loads of bands sound shit live. We don’t, and hopefully we don’t look shit either. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want us to look lovely or anything….haha. I meant that we look “inspired”. I think that’s quite important.
Still, at least the first show was a bit more jolly than what I’m used to, and that can probably be both good and bad. I don’t want us to appear too silly but it’s ok to have a relaxed yet tense atmosphere at our shows.
What are your goals with Waklevören?
Record a second album and play better drums.
Because I’ know you’re an extremely busy guy I will keep this interview short so do you have any last words to end with? See you in Norway again…..hopefully at a Waklevören gig and for those cases of beer!!!
Thanx for the interview
Hades rise!!!!
Apollyon
