It took another phenomenal album from Communic to bring us out of a self-imposed hiatus from conducting interviews. Having another interesting interview done with their main man Oddleif Stensland ought to motivate us to get more work done. Enjoy reading!

Hey Oddleif. Great to speak to you again. It's been exactly a year since the previous interview and we'll continue where we left off. What have been the highlights of the band and members during this period?

Hi! There have been some great moments since the last time we spoke. We have played some of the biggest stages in Europe at the biggest festivals like Wacken, Bang Your Head, Summer Breeze, and it has been amazing. I think every band dreams about playing Wacken and it was indeed cool. I also got the chance to join Destruction on stage at Wacken doing a song together and that was really funny. Other than that, we did a great tour together with Threshold, and now we have just released our third album, which feels really good. Regarding endorsement, I have a new guitar made for me by a Polish guitar company called Mayones that makes some sweet guitars and I'm thrilled to be endorsed by them. The biggest highlight whatsoever was the fact that I became a father for the first time to a beautiful little girl, which exceeds everything else that I have experienced in my life.

Congrats man! Not to mention, your new look. What prompted the haircut?

Well, you know, when hair starts to grow into your skull and out of your nose instead, it's time to let the haystack go. No, actually I got real tired of the long hair, had it for almost 20 years.

I don't know if it's early enough for you to look back at the latest album Payment of Existence, and comment on it subjectively. How satisfied are you with how it turned out?

I am really happy with it. It was a tough album to complete, but almost everything turned out the way that I wanted. There are a few things that I would have changed regarding the mixing, but that is probably stuff that only I think of. All in all it has turned out to become a natural progression of what we started with on the demo, and that it shows that we have a unique sound of our own.

The album cover is an interesting piece. Since your day job involves being an art director, did you have a direct hand in coming up with the idea and executing it?

I only had a few ideas of what I wanted to see on the cover, and then we sent the lyrics to the artist that made it, Jan Yrlund, and I think that he came up with something unique and interesting. I did the layout for the booklet myself, as I have done on all our albums, since I'm not an artist – I’m a graphic designer, mostly doing magazine layouts and stuff like that.

How were these songs written, and what were the changes in approach on this album from the last?

All the songs have been written by myself in my home studio setup. Then I bring my ideas to the jamming session with the guys and we try things out and arrange them together. Even though I create drum tracks and bass lines at home, I don't show those to the other guys. I want them to be creative themselves as well, and I only play the guitar parts and then we JAM. This way, we come up with more interesting stuff and I get the other guys' perspectives and views to my ideas as well. And when the members in the band feel like they are a part of the writing, and involved in the arrangement, then we grow tighter as a band and everybody is happy with the end result.

Did you at any point feel you might be rehashing a lot of your ideas or, it was just intentionally sticking to your by-now established style and just finding innovative ways to represent it?

We don't feel that we have any rules when it comes to creating new stuff, but I guess you will hear that it is Communic. We just follow the ideas that come by when we jam on new stuff and follow the direction the music takes us. We are only three people in the band so the influences may be a bit limited, and I am the only one bringing new riffs or ideas into the melting pot – so guess that's the reason we don't totally switch identity for every album. I think that is a good thing.

Noticed that there aren't any songs with your favourite theme, the ocean. What in your opinion were some of the stronger themes running through the songs in this album, and do you feel that you managed to capture them to your satisfaction?

Then you have to look deeper! Maybe not complete themes, but the ocean is still an inspiration in some of the songs. In "The Abandoned One" you will find something hidden between the lines, and also in the track "Through the Labyrinth of Years". I have a verse based on this inspiration and "Stone Carved Eyes" is even more inspired by this theme.

But the main inspiration for writing the lyrics this time was the fact that we were expecting our first child, and at the same time I lost two of my grand parents, and it all made me wonder about the circle of life. About birth, life - but in the end, comes death. No matter how much money you hide in the bank!

It must be tricky, writing lyrics in a language that's not entirely native to you. Do you form the lyrics in Norwegian first and then pen it down as a translation, or do you think in English from the start?

When I just begin working on a new song, I mostly think of melody and no actual words. And then later, I try to make sense of the complete story or what I want to tell. The lyrics are not that important to me in the beginning of the songwriting process. It's the melody that counts, but in the end it needs to have some kind of meaning to it. Writing in Norwegian is not ideal for the way I like to work, though.

So you think of phonetics while writing lyrics.

Yes, the melody and phonetics are the most important, then the music and composition – the meaning comes in last, I’m afraid…

Recording and production-wise, what was done differently on this album?

Same studio and producer, so not many changes in the production chain. The only big difference is that the drums were recorded in a studio in Norway this time, because of a clash with workload for Tor-Atle around the same time, so he needed to do his parts by night, after his regular work.

Let's talk gear and chase away all the non-guitarists. What guitars were used on the recording?

We recorded the album before I landed the endorsement with Mayones Guitars so I used an old ESP custom that I have on all the rhythm tracks, and my old Ibanez RG770 on the leads. On the acoustic parts I used a Taylor 310 that I really like.

Amps? Cabinets/ Speakers? What and how many mics were used, and how was micing done?

It was a blend of a (Mesa) Rectifier and a (Peavey) 6505. As for cabs it was a Mesa Boogie and a Marshall blend I believe. As for how it was miced, I have no clue – that is why we use a producer like Jacob to figure out the best signal chain…

Effects? What do you like in the loop and what do you have added after recording?

Nothing in the loop. I think Jacob may have added some compressor in the low end range of the guitar sound and some EQ. Some small delay effects as well on the lead sound.

No Boost pedals either?

Nothing.

When you're playing live, is it the same gear as in the studio?

Earlier it used to be the same, without the stuff that I use in the loop live. On both Conspiracy and Waves I used my old ENGL Savage 120 for recording and also live, but I sold that one, to cut down the weight of stuff to carry when we are out playing. The plan for recording the guitars this time was to use my Mesa Boogie TriAxis setup in the studio, as this is what I use live these days, and I just love the sound that I get out of this pre-amp. But all the guitars were recorded so they would be re-amped later on in the process, and the fact that I had to leave for home before the re-amping started – and I needed to bring my gear back home with me, the final guitar sound that you hear on the album is a blend of Jacob's amps and mine. But I trusted him 100% in getting the best possible sound; he has a great ear and he knows what’s working and what's not.

In the previous interview, you'd mentioned you'd like the bass better recorded. It's obviously more upfront this time. Happy with it? Really dig it when you lay your vocals with just bass and drums going on. Very crisp.

For us, the bass is just as important as the guitar, and on the earlier albums it was a bit too distant and we wanted it to be heard a bit more in the final mix.

Surely the mix is great, I especially noticed more intricate hi-hat/cymbal work (on this album than before) during the verses when the groove itself is simpler. We were discussing some of our favourite little things in music and I was mentioning this as one of mine.

That is also something which we think has been a bit too far in the background earlier. We wanted the cymbals to be a bit more upfront so you can hear it ring. It gives you more details that may pop into your ear which you didn't hear the first time you listened to the album.

Indeed. At this point in life as a guitar player, take us through your regular practice regime. We suspect you've already given up being the world's fastest sweep picker so what do you concentrate on? Are you still working on the technical aspects and learning new scales and licks all the time, or is it just a matter of keeping in touch with what you already know and just work on coming up with innovative riffs/songs?

I can't say that I have a "practice" regime actually. Trying to find time to sit down is the most difficult part these days, as long as I have daytime work and a family that also like to spend some time with you. So those few hours I have during a week where I can actually work on something, I usually spend creating new stuff. Most of the time, I sit down during late evenings and nighttime to get something done, and then I don't bother practicing scales and stuff like that. I have never done that, and even before I started to play guitar I always skipped the solos when listening to an album. Sometimes I have tried to sit down and force myself to learn this stuff, but after 15 minutes I get totally bored and slip into my creative mode and leave all scales and sweeping exercises behind. Even today I can't play a single scale if you asked me to play one, but I know what tones that I like and what gives a nice ring in my ears and I try to follow that, and I think that gives me more room, and adds more personality to my playing style.

So how do you approach those solo spots? We both play in bands and are scratching our heads trying to come up with solos that make sense instead of just a bunch of licks and patterns in a given key.

I just go with whatever feeling I have. Usually I try to have as few of these spots as possible, because I’m not good at playing solos, but sometimes there is a part in the song that needs something extra, and then I try to make it more like a melody that fits into the overall feeling, instead of trying to put in something furious fast stuff that might impress people.

As mentioned in our review, your vocals sound even better on the new one. I also really like these more epic choruses with big backing vocals on this album. Especially dig the call and response choruses between you and the backing. Take a bow!

Thanks. I have always tried to stretch my limits and to make the vocals as varied as possible. I can do a lot of different stuff with my vocals and still discover new stuff that I'm able to do. Of course, I have my comfort zone where I like to place my main vocals, to be able to do full shows and sing the songs live – as many of the high-pitched stuff and especially the lower parts wear me out much faster, probably because I'm not a trained vocalist and have never taken any lessons. As long as it's just small parts and not whole songs that are too far out there, it works to do these parts live as well.

Any advice for guys who want to sing and play guitar at the same time? Besides a lot of practice, of course.

When I'm learning new stuff to sing and play the same time, most of the practice goes on inside my head without playing. It's pretty strange!!! But I imagine myself playing the guitar part in one side of my brain, and then imagine (humming) the vocals in the other side of my brain, trying to separate the two things that I am trying to combine. Then I add left hand fingering position on the guitar and right hand picking into my imaginative practice room – then when I have it nailed, I move on to the vocals. The singing and the playing have been separated now to work individually. Don't know if this works for other people, but that is the way I do it. Now it's only on the more intricate stuff that I need to sit down and focus on, as the easier stuff just comes naturally, having done it for a long time now.

What's with the campy part towards the end of Raven's Cry, with the slightly upbeat guitar part happening? Was it premeditated or were you just trying something different and decided to stick with it?

You are thinking about that Pink Panther kind of theme? It was just something that turned up at a jam that we had and it turned out so cool that we wanted to add it to the song, and it made a break to the song that was both cool to play and a bit challenging when I added vocals over the same guitar frame. Try to sing and play this at the same time.

Oh, has Erik finally got a job?

No! Don’t even think that he has been looking for one.

Played the Guitar Hero video game yet? If so, which one Communic song would have in the game, if you had the choice?

Not tried it yet. Communication Sublime would be a cool choice for this one.

Your compatriots Sahg might be playing India later this year - Any developments on Communic being able to also drop by in the near future?

That would be sweet, to be able to do that. We are willing to do whatever but somebody needs to be willing to book us and to pay for the flights to get us out there. Just contact our booking and we are ready!!!

Got to keep that in mind. Are there any other new bands you're familiar with that you think deserve more exposure and recognition, besides you?

There are many new bands out there that slay whatever the well-known metal acts are releasing these days. Crappy albums that still sell millions of albums just because of their big name, using the biggest producers, yet still ending up with crappy sound - while the underground bands keep releasing killer stuff that the masses will probably never hear. Too bad, but no names mentioned!

Thanks for another killer interview and hope you keep kicking ass. Any word to the KvltSite readers about what to expect from Communic in the days ahead?

Thanks for the interview. In the near future, we're trying to get a tour going. We are also planning to make a new video clip and then work on yet another album, to be released in a year or two… Rock on!