Week 6, 2014: Jon, Norway

What unites us is the fascination of music, and collecting. Please tell us your story!
Well, I guess my story is pretty ordinary, when I grow up I was heavily inspired by my older brother and was basically into what he was into, that way I got a free entrance into the heavy rock world of the ’70ies and I was introduced to bands like SCORPIONS, MOTT THE HOOPLE, THIN LIZZY, UFO, KISS and the usual suspects. As I grow older I started to pick up things on my own and developed my own musical taste and at a very early age I was totally mind blown by the music world.. I guess I always been into the escapism and always trying to create my own world starting with comic books and then of course the total obsession with music…..I started of buying tapes and didn’t get a record player until ’83 or so when I started to buy vinyl. I wouldn’t say those early years I was collecting but I guess I was in a way anyway. I just wanted records and bought them whenever I could and by the end of the ’80ies I started to realize I probably had more records than my friends. I still have a bit of a problem with the term collector and I been fighting with myself a lot concerning that term. I do love records because of the music they give me and that adds life quality to me. So generally it is all about enjoying the music. But of course, I do collect too and there is a lot of albums I owe several versions of – simply because they are so good that I have the urge to own multiple different versions of certain albums.

Do you remember your first purchase, and what was that?
In the beginning I bought tapes and I can’t really remember what was first, I had stuff like JUDAS PRIEST, BLACK SABBATH, THIN LIZZY and so on as well as I recorded a lot of stuff from my brothers collection. When I finally got my record player I got a bunch of records at the same time so what vinyl was first is hard to say. I do like to think it was Welcome to Hell and Black Metal by VENOM just to be on the cool side of things 🙂

You’ve done Slayer Magazine for years… Did you ever keep in touch with those old penpals from the mid 80’s, and what happened to the majority of the people?
Some I keep in touch with and some have mysteriously disappeared from the surface of earth….But, I was probably one of the guys that wrote too many letters during that era so I’m sure there is a lot I forgot about as well….But now, with the Internet so many faces from the old disappear and even if there is people I don’t talk to so much anymore it is nice to see that they are still around. It works the other way too, people I never talked to so much back then I talk more frequently now.

Being a vivid role of the Norwegian metal scene since 30 years, how have the scene progressed from the mid 80’s?
Back in the ’80es we only had a very few Metal bands here, not like Sweden who always had a very healthy music scene, I still discover ‘unknown’ (to me at least) Swedish Metal bands from the ’80ies. We had TNT of course, ARTCH and a few others and then MAYHEM killed everything when they released “Deathcrush” in ’87. Then after a few years everything exploded here with all the Black Metal stuff…..some of it was good….not everything……. Now it is like a million of bands (not only in Norway) and I’m sure there are some good ones here and there. I wouldn’t say the Norwegian is better or worse than anywhere else but when you think of how small this shitty country is the amount of bands are plentiful.

Are you one of those who only buy “old” music, or still keeping up with today’s groups & artists?
Even if I do think like that at times it is a very stupid way of thinking. Granted that a lot of my fave stuff was released back in the day and that magic can never be re-created. But it is like those bastards that are even older than me that claims that nothing good has been released since the last BEATLES or something…..It is a stupid attitude even if I do think like that at times too. But I do luckily buy a lot of new stuff too, I’m sure I could dig deeper as far as new bands goes but….Now, this spring of 2014 I’m looking forward to the releases of TRIPTYKON, MAYHEM, THE OATH and several others, oh yeah, and there is a new SWANS album coming too and I like the new LP by KARI RUESLÅTTEN a lot. It is pretty easy to keep track of what is coming now in this Internet age. I also buy a lot of re-releases of my fave records, and I must mention the label HIGH ROLLER here. They do great re issues as well as new releases and always having fair prices. I think it is nice to support some active labels too instead of just buying 2nd hand rarities from private sellers. You need to support the labels too so our beloved vinyl can stay alive. Anyway, I think it is kinda important to have something to look forward to in the future instead of thinking all the great stuff has already been released. That is some sort of life motivation too, there should always be better thing in the future…..hopefully but probably not.

How do you discover new music?
Just browsing on the Internet have helped me discover a lot of new stuff but my fave bands have always been my fave bands and it have been easy to follow them even without the Internet. When there are artists you genuinely love you follow them and you know when they have some new stuff available. Not to kiss the RECORD HEAVEN ass completely but I always find it nice when you give some sort of short description to the new releases you n have in stock, that is always very helpful to me. I love a lot of the prog stuff of yesterdays with a heavier edge but my knowledge about all these bands is seriously lacking at times. And if there is something I might be interested in it is pretty easy to find a clip here or there, and if I find it interesting I try to get the vinyl.

Personally, I threw away loads of letters and demos 20 years ago from the fanzine era. Did you save all those memories?
Same here, a lot of it is gone but I kept some, mostly letters. I have them in some boxes here and there. A lot of the stuff I had got lost in some flood I had years ago so…..And, I sold traded a lot of the demos too but I kept a few. I just like hanging on to some of those things, it is not like I sit down and read the old letters. It is more thast I like the idea of having that as a representation of an era in my life. We really did have an unique time back then so I’m very happy I could be so active in this exciting life. Now a lot of those demos have been re-released so it is nice to get that too on a proper format to replace old rotten and lost tapes. One of my prized possessions in the demo world is the HELLHAMMER “Satanic Rites” demo which was send to my old ‘zine LIVE WIRE back in 1983 – by Tom Warrior himself.

You seem to have a broad taste in music, as long as it is obscure and unknown, how do you see your musical taste yourself?
I guess that is a way of putting it but I never really thought of it like that. But I do find more pleasure in finding the more obscure but compared to others I guess what I listen to is pretty mainstream…… But, it is easier to get sick of the classics and I just go for different stuff. Surely I have a lot of mainstream things in my collection from IRON MAIDEN to KATE BUSH but most likely most of it is the lesser known. I’m always curios about the lesser known bands and it is always nice to dig out records from the strangest of places…..I always been like that, back in the demo days I always preferred the demo bands to most records. It was just my kinda thinking, and I much rather listen to GOTHAM CITY or OVERDRIVE than SAXON for instance……..I have a lot of different angles of my records, I got all the extreme Metal classic stuff of the ’80ies, a lot of Swedish Metal of the same era……I like prog but I like it to have a heavier edge, the Norwegian HØST and the Swedish NOVEMBER is a great example of that. And I love things that are completely out there like COMUS for instance. I like some of the folk bands too like INCREDIBLE STRING BAND which I always thought had a very disturbing vibe to them which I loved. South American extreme Metal bands is also something I love very much. And more alternative bands like SWANS, DEAD CAN DANCE, COCTEAU TWINS, THIS MORTAL COIL, LAIBACH and many others. I’m always curios to find something unknown that will blow my brain.

Please let us know 3 records that will follow you into the grave.
Well, I chose 3 of 3 different styles to better give an description of who I am and what I’m all about. 1. I have to say the 1st BATHORY (We pick the yellow goat then) as that pretty much sums up my life in the Metal underground and represents all I am about, still one of my faves. 2. SWANS – “Filth”, this album made me discover there is a different kind of heaviness outside of Metal. This band led me to discover a lot of interesting acts. 2. HØST – “På Sterke Vinger”, this was a album I picked up randomly where I live in a then newly open 2bd hand store. This was in the early ’90ies and I paid around 5 bucks for it and even at that time that was a bargain and probably the best buy I done like that. A bit later I bought their 2nd LP “Hardt Mot Hardt” and the price was about 150 bucks – still worth it. With the first HØST LP I discovered the more prog/heavy side of music. So, those 3 albums are important to me simply because they are as good as they are.

So where is the place to buy records that nobody else know about then ?
I think it is called the Internet…..haha…..I really don’t know any secret places or anything. These days everyone seems to have a good knowledge about the records and their value so it is hard to make some scores….And I really don’t mind, if the price is OK for me I get what I want……I don’t invest in records for money value, more for listening pleasure.

Do you see a future in record collecting ? I personally think few ones join the club, and it is mostly the old freaks keeping the trade going…
I see a future in listening to my records. What will happen next is always hard to say but I know I will enjoy my records for a very long time. I gone through a few different phases with my collecting…… I buy a lot and I sell a lot so for the last years that balance have worked out fairly good. I like getting rid of things a few times a year, it is sort of like having a garden, you have to treat it well and from time to time you need to get rid of the weed. I think that is pretty healthy and that keeps your record collection more happy. All in all, music might be the greatest gift given to us but once in a while it is nice to do other things too. I sell records to finance travelling for instance (but when I travel I end up buying more records anyway so…..) Nice to add some life experience too. I think in every musical underground people will be interested in buying records, not only us old bastards. Now I see labels like NUCLEAR BLAST do tons and tons of stuff on colored vinyl, I think for the last CARCASS it is now between 30 and 40 versions to pick from. Maybe that is stupid for most people but it keeps vinyl out there and I would assume most people buying those are slightly younger people. I think that is the difference now, there are always several versions to pick from (At least in the metal world) and people are more eager to get the most limited releases. Back in the day I was not worried about things like that but just being happy having one version…….I do think people now are buying more color versions of the same album. All in all, people will get into it and people will fall out….I think the demand for vinyl will be there in one way or another. They tried to kill vinyl once with the CD but that didn’t work so……….I think it will always be there. And if for some reason the vinyl will stopped being made there is always the used stuff. It will never end…….