Interview

THE BIRDS ARE SPIES, THEY REPORT TO THE TREES

Mardi 21 août 2007

1.To begin, let's start wit this : why chosing a name like this one? From where does this come? And is there any special meaning?

Kjetil: Henning pulled that one out of the hat. Think there was some other suggestions at the table and i wish i remember them just for the laughs. It's too long and we should have named ourselves Cheap Beer or Party.

Henning: I guess I'll answer this one since I came up with the name. I'll reveal it has to do with Alen Ginsburg and drugs. I thought I was being clever, but in retrospect it may come across a bit pretentious. Luckily our music is pretty down to earth. Ha ha.

2.Many people compare you to CATENA COLLAPSE

CATENA COLLAPSE

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since you share members and the same kind of sound. Does this bother you?

Kjetil: Not at all. All three of us also play in Catena Collapse, so that the bands end up sounding similar is just natural. However, the bands take totally different approaches when it comes to writing songs. The lack of a complete line-up in TBASTRTTT makes rehearsing hard, so we usually just end up recording whatever we can come up with at the moment (and forgetting how to play the songs two minutes later). It's a funny approach as we do not always know how the
song will end up sounding until we have the finished the recordings. Catena have the (dis)advantage of having a real drummer and bassist, and can do things more like a normal band i guess.

Henning: Nah, I don't care. We are 3/5 members so there are bound to be similarities. We wanted to play punk rock but failed miserably and made straight up retro music instead.

3.Along this new record, have you scheduled any new euro tour? It might be awesome to make you hit the place here. Would you then tour alone or with another band?

Kjetil: Naahh.. i would be surprised if we will ever play a show again. We never intended for this to be anything else than just the three of us having fun and recording whatever we felt for at the moment. Catena had to cancel a european tour due to lack of drummer once, but the remaining 4 really wanted to tour. So instead we decided to find a drummer and play TBASTRTTT songs. That tour and a show when we came home was the only shows we ever played. Would not rule out completely that we will play live again, cause who knows what will happen right?
Guess it is more likely that Catena might include a TBASTRTTT song or two when playing live.

Henning: The Birds Are Spies... will never tour again (although we said that last time too, ha ha). Catena Collapse might embark on a small Eurotour in 2009 and we may or may not play some Birds Are Spies Songs.

4.What is the importance you put in the lyrics you write and the message it contains? Is this important to you?

Kjetil: Lyrics is Hennings departement. I tried writing one once loosely based on the movie "enemy at the gates" and a conversation between Vasilli and Tanja, but for some totally unknown reason we never used that one.

Henning: I'll answer this since I write all the lyrics. The lyrics are important since they give identity to the songs beyond the music itself. But that being said most of our lyrics were made in a stream of consciousness way and while they certainly make sense to me I don't expect other people to relate or find them important. If people do that's cool. If they don't that is fine as well.
Sorry for being cryptic but I never thought the answer to anything could be found in band lyrics. If people want enlightenment they should read a good book. Ha ha.

5.How do you feel about today's Norvegian scene? Would you pinpoint for us a couple of bands of today and yesterday that are worth discovering?

Kjetil: Scene?? Not sure if there is a Norwegian scene. We have a bunch of good friends that we hang out with and that's about it. A few of the current bands that i really enjoy: Death is not Glamorous

Death is not Glamorous

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, Angora Static, Kaospilot

Kaospilot

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, Snöras

Snöras

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, Common Cause, 2:20, Hevn and a bunch of those Metronomicon Audio bands. In the past there has been to many good norwegian bands to mention, but a few has a special place in my heart: Life...but how to live it?, So Much Hate and Kafka Prosess.

Henning: What scene? Ha ha. Norway is super small. Everybody pretty mush knows everybody. We don't subscribe to any scene though. We hang out with our friends and family and that's pretty much it. But there are a few good bands. Current bands: Hevn, 2:20, Haust

Haust

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, Oslo Rektum, This Thing Called Dying and Meta Forever.
Old ones: Kafka Prosess,Brent Barn, Smorgasbord, Skarnspage, Lack of Zodiac and Homouka.

6.I talked about bands, but labels and zines are an important part of the DIY community. Is there nice stuff in the North to chekc out? Is there any zines or label that have touched you along the years you have spent in the hardcore scene?

Kjetil: There is, and much to my surprise, more and more zines coming out nowdays. Sjølstyrt Liv, Dönk, Sight Beyond Sight, Outta Stomp and No Cage Is Big Enough are a few and they cover different aspects of the punk lifestyle and some is in norwegian and some in english. Hopefully the people behind these will continue doing them and that more will start their own as well. Not too many labels up here now days, but Sjakk Matt plater and Nakkeskudd are still releasing records quite regularly. If we include Sweden i would like to highlight the job Matthias is doing with Release The Bats, super nice dude with tons of good releases.

Henning: These labels have been important for me over the years: LaNuGo, X-Mist, Ebullition, sncl, Adagio 830 and Release The Bats, Norway Rat and Ape Must not kill Ape. Doing a label and distro like these people have done all these years is truly inspiring even to an old jaded guy like me.

7.What are your feelings about DIY and growing older? What is it like for you integrating punk into yourlife as you grow up, going more responsabilities, etc?

Kjetil: When it comes to my personal life it's a fine balance between keeping to my ethics and getting everyday to go by in regards of economics and the people around me. Guess as you grow older it's easier to see and understand that everything is made up of compromises. It's just a matter of feeling comfortable with the everyday choices you make. Worst thing for me, is being dependent
on a pretty high income each month...money can make you loose focus on the things that are really important in life.

Henning: I don't have any trouble with it. I still have my personal set of ethics (which I don't impose on anyone) that are pretty much the same as when i was 19. God that's depressing. Ha ha.

8.Is the band a side-project of all your other activities, or a full-time passion like the rest?

Kjetil: This band could not be more low-priority for us. It is basically for fun. How we have ended up touring and releasing records is beyond me. It was never a plan, but that's what making it fun i guess, doing things spontaneously. Can't imagine this will change in the future either. Guess with this band things happen if they happen.

Henning: All our bands are pretty much side-projects. We don't have the time or any interest in doing this full time. We do this pretty much for ourselves. That people have cared enough to put out our records and want us to tour is really mind-blowing, and we are really thankful for it.

9.What is the worst Norvegian metal band for you? Were you scared when you were younger by all those stuff around the black-metal scene like burning churches, axes on stage, etc. You surely see what I mean.

Kjetil: There are probably a lot of really bad metal bands around here, but i only listen to the good stuff! Was not scared at all the acts of what the inner circle of the early norwegian black metal scene did. Most of these, including the famous suicide, murders and church burnings, acts was before i got into punk or music at all, so i guess i reacted as most young teenagers would, by not caring at all. This was something you read about in the newspaper or saw on television. Also all this happened far away from where i was living back then (way up north, Where Cold Winds Blow). Later i became more and more intrigued by the uprise of the norwegian black metal scene and how they could take thing to such extremes. If someone has original pressings of the early Darkthrone

Darkthrone

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albums please get in touch!

Henning: Black metal never scared me. That whole scene is pretty funny. Don't get me wrong I love me some black metal but scary is hardly the word that comes to mind. Besides, we support burning churches. The only truly terrifying band ever to come out of Norway is DDE.

10.Thanks for this interview and your cooperation on this. I hope to see many records released by the band, and even a show over here. All the best... the last word is for you.

Kjetil: Thanks Julien for doing this and remember: Fuck the rat race man!
Henning: Thanks to you. We'll hope to make it Belgium one day (if we aren't dead and gone by the time you read this).

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