Hammering Moss - The Official Website

Interviews

Interview: Monday, 25th March, 2002.
Conducted by Klogg Monkey of Human Death, inc.

Klogg Monkey - Greetings.Thank you for coming to give us this interview.

Mikael - Greetings.Not a problem. Just don't take too long. I need to clean my teeth.

Klogg Monkey - Sure. First of all, how did the band form?

Mikael - Well, me, Kristoffer and Anders have been very good friends for a little while, and we found that we were similar, and each of us was quite insane. One day, we went to some chicks party, and in the morning, we were sobering up and drinking coffee in the backyard. I had a hammer, and there was moss growing inbetween some concrete. I proceeded to beat the moss, and it made a delicious sound.

Hence the name came about. But we didn't form a band till about a year later.

Klogg Monkey - From the start, were you always an impromptu, as-it's-coming band?

Mikael - Yes, we've always been improvising right from the word go. We never know what we are going to do next. It's a lot of fun.

Klogg Monkey - Have you ever had takes when you just.. ran out of things to do? All of your songs sound very complete, as if the things just come naturally.

Mikael - There have been many takes where things just didn't work, like the song weyam for example. You can here Kristoffer saying "We fucked it up." And that's because we did. Any crap takes we scrap immediatly, never to be heard again. We may work by improvising and stuff, but we are still perfectionists.

Klogg Monkey - Do you ever have songs thrown away, from a difference of opinion?
Or is everything fully approved by the other members?

Mikael - Everything we release has to be approved by each band member. Though we often have our arguements, and a few peices have been scrapped due to disagreements.

Klogg Monkey - What of the Pleng Collection? Is the whole band backing your work?

Mikael - Yes. I recorded the Pleng collection myself, but by a freak accident, Kristoffer distorted and changed it into what it is now. Anders didn't have a large part in the recording, but we all embraced it nonetheless, and we regard it as a work done jointly by the band together. But I still feel a great connection with the pleng works.

Klogg Monkey - When you pay special attention, it is fairly easy to find the emotional depth in the Pleng Collection. What was your inspiration behind this masterpiece?

Mikael - Hmm. There was no one source of inspiration for the pleng collection. My life generally has been pretty shit, and I'm always in a state of depression, and this was a good way to let some anger out. It works well to show people, random people who I have never met just how much I personally hate them, and how much I hate everything. The noise and distortion you hear is my hate, aimed at you. And if you feel a chill up your spine, and feel a need to cringe from the music, then I have succeeded.

Klogg Monkey - There are rumours around that there is a special unreleased, undistorted version. Can you confirm this?

Mikael - There is an undistorted version. But it is rare, and it is also very personal and private to me. I may release it to the masses in the future, but for now, I'll keep it to myself.

Klogg Monkey - We all look forward to that day, should it arrive.
Now, Dusk. Are there any big inspirations to this album?

Mikael - There were many inspirations for Dusk. It was our largest peice of work to date. We drew inspirations from all over the place, as well as our past works. A lot of the tracks are accidents, improvised, but a few were planned, written and recorded, which was a new step for us. It was bit of an experiment. Surprisingly, the written tracks proved to be the most popular on the album, and we will be doing it a lot more in the future.

Klogg Monkey - Will this be a new trend in Hammering Moss's music? Are there going to be less accidental masterpeices than planned?

Mikael - Probably, but they will always be there, they are a part of us. But as we become more confident musically, our works will become more planned, better written etc. But that element of surprise and humour will always be there.

Klogg Monkey - Time and time again, your collective humour has been a strong, punctual point of Hammering Moss. The epic, bone-chilling pieces with a twisted humour leave a lasting effect on the listener.
Are there any other distinguishing elements that we will be looking forward to?

Mikael - Possibly, in the future, we plan to compose more complex peices, with many various parts and layers. We hope to get a more progressive feel to our music. At the moment, our boundary isn't our imagination, it is our musical skill. We are all still fumbling our way around our guitars. Lately I have been practicing a lot, recording myself with guitar, and me making some interesting noises. I don't know what I'll do with these recordings, but we shall see. But as we get better at our instruments, our musical arrangements will become more complex and listenable, but the madness will always remian. Otherwise we'll change our name or something.

Klogg Monkey - Have you ever considered expanding the trio? And what of Pokey, one of the original members? What happened to him?

Mikael - We have considered expanding. But it has always been us three. We are a real three stuges group. We are very close, we understand each other, and we have met few people who we are compatible with. But if we meet someone, the option of expansion is alway open. And we will need a drummer one day.

As for Pokey, well at first, he was a permanent member. But i seemed to feel he was ill treated by us during the recordings. We would throw him around the room and strum the guitar with his beak. He didn't like it much, and discontinued recording with us. We now consider him a sessional member. But his work will always remain in our hearts, and his music will live on. There is a small chance that he MAY make a short appearance on the next album. But nothing has been set in concrete yet.

Klogg Monkey - Yes, the next album. Has anything been planned for it?

Mikael - Not a great deal, but we still plan to go ahead with it. We already have a title and a cover for the next album, but it isn't definate yet. We plan to make this album longer, more complex, and we hope to display our improved musicianship on it. But the album will take a while to record. A LOT of work needs to be done, and we haven't begun recording it yet. However, there has been a recording made with a guest appearance of a rather talented musician that we all know. But all will be revealed when we release the album. The above recording is yet to be digitally remastered, because this time, we want to make the album perfect.

Klogg Monkey - The world of music cannot wait.
Unfortunately, we have to wrap it up here. Are there any last comments you wish to make?

Mikael - Yeah, the album is set for release some time near july/august/september. Please look forward to it!
And thank you for a wonderful interview.

Klogg Monkey - Thankyou for your time.