Page 24 - Rocknation Issue 28_Neat

PAGE 24 ROCKNATION ISSUE 28

Interview with
ARILD & CHRIS

Hello Keldian and welcome to Rocknation. Let’s start off with your “Bloodwater
Rebellion” CD. Please tell us what the album is about.
ARILD: The Bloodwater Rebellion tells a story set in a not-so-far future where water has
become the most scarce and valuable resource on the planet. The people of Earth have
been split. The wealthy few have fortified the big cities and monopolized water sources,
while the rest must survive or die in the desolation outside. While the setting may sound
very grim and dystopian, the story that unfolds is a very profound and personal one. It’s a
story about change and hope. It’s a story about the resilience of the human spirit, against injustice and unfairness. And it’s a
story of survival, against all odds. It’s quite a ride, so get yourselves a copy right now!

Where did you record the “Bloodwater Rebellion” CD and who was the producer?
ARILD: Like our other albums, we produced this record ourselves. Me and Chris always had very similar visions for our
albums. I think because of that, we never felt the need to bring anyone else into the role as producer for our albums. We’ve
also always wanted to maintain complete creative control over our albums. There are pros and cons to this approach of
course, but that’s just the way we roll. The Bloodwater Rebellion (TBR) was recorded in true covid-lock-down fashion.
Everyone involved in TBR had their own recording setup at home. This has pretty much become the norm in the last years.
For Keldian, as me and Chris live far from each other in different parts of Norway, this was a welcome addition to our
production process. So me and Chris both recorded all our parts from the comfort of our own homes. As usual, we have a
few guests on TBR as well. They also recorded their own performances, and files were sent back and forth over the
internet. Liel’s vocals was recorded in Israel, Jon’s trumpet parts was recorded in the US, and Sindre’s drums was recorded
in Lithuania. Sindre is originally from Norway, but he and a friend runs a recording studio in Vilnius, in addition to all his
session drum-work. Their place is called Ymir Audio if anyone wants to check it out.

How do you compare your last “Darkness And Light” CD to this one?
ARILD: While Darkness and Light where stylistically very similar to our three first albums, we wanted to explore a slightly
different direction this time around. TBR draws much more towards the rock genre than any other Keldian album. There’s
metal there for sure, but we had a clear intention from the very beginning to channel more of our 70’s and early 80’s rock
influences into this album. Both in the songwriting and the sound of the record. We’ve used lots of Fender bassman, amping
both guitars and bass, much more organs and pianos than before, as well as a more vintage oriented synth sound palette.
The drums are presented in a more raw and unprocessed this time around, which I think suits Sindres style of drumming
perfectly. It’s all still very much the “Keldian sound”, but this was sort of the intentional backdrop for the sound and style.
TBR is also our first concept album, and having a story driven narrative run through the whole album is quite a different
ballgame than what we’ve done before. Fortunately things were pretty structured from the get-go, as we based the story on
the unpublished novel H20slo written by Chris and his good friend Pål Ødegård.

CHRIS: It was a nice challenge to have a story that took place on the ground, and it was refreshing for me to sing this.
I guess Keldian will always have a certain drive to explore, so in this case it was a match between the slightly more
classic rock type of sound we wanted and the lyrics that dealt with quite down-to-earth problems that are, unfortunately, not
far out of the realm of possibilities. I’m very happy that we keep expanding our sound and style and don’t lock ourselves into
anything too specific, because I think that sense of exploration is completely essential to Keldian. Come to think of it, there’s
plenty of that early on in our music, stuff like Redshift on the first record or The Devil In Me
and God Of War on the second record, tracks that always pushed it a little bit left or right.

What bands are your influences?
ARILD: Music really became a big part of my childhood during the last half of the 80’s.
And I think the bands that made the most profound impact on me was the first ones that
I really got into. Asia, Chris de Burgh, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd and The Alan Parsons
Project to name a few. I also listened to a few Norwegian bands like TNT, Tindrum, Stage
Dolls and Return. Good times!

CHRIS: Both Arild and I grew up in the 1980s, so that stuff never leaves us. For me,
certainly KISS and Iron Maiden and the great Swedish band Europe, and also earlier
stuff that I got from my dad’s interest in music, Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd. Later on,
through the 1990s, I was a massive fan of Paradise Lost and Therapy?, and also the
great Danish band called D-A-D.