Ronny Thorsen

AM : First, to begin this interview I want to ask you how you feel after all other members of the band left you in the middle of your tour in South America ?

Ronny : Well, the tour did in fact only count Mexico so North America is more accurate but to address the most important thing in your question, I guess that I feel disappointed more than anything else.
We completed 10 concerts in Mexico and so it is not correct that the guys left in the middle of the tour, we did in fact complete the whole tour but the disappointment is of course equally big, more than anything because of the way that it happened. I have to say right away to set the record straight that I am not interested to badmouth the other members because I understand their frustration, we ran into an organization that completely failed to live up to their promises and thus created a lot of problems for the band. More than anything, I am disappointed about the way that they chose to deal with this, canceling a headlining tour and a golden opportunity when things looked brighter than ever for the band, when the response and interest is bigger than ever and when we have just created the best album in our career. Despite of the problems we ran into, this is completely unbelievable to me and it was the way that they dealt with it that was the worst, going public with a short diffuse statement that the motivation was gone and that the band was finished, and doing this without informing vital partners and co-operatives directly first. By posting this statement on our official website, both Napalm who have invested huge amounts of time and money in the upcoming album, as well as Metallysee who were organizing the X-mass tour had to hear about this by tips from random people who happened to read random websites that day and I find that quite sad and expect a higher level of professionalism from people who have been in the scene for so many years. But like I said, I have to deal with the situation and I choose to focus on the overwhelming response on the new album rather than to waste my time with negative energy, what happened has happened, it`s in the past and I choose to look forward from now on.

AM : As a fan of the band, it’s quite difficult to think this happened just because of money, because you offered to pay all the debts… So what are the other reasons ? Didn’t you expect something, weren’t there tensions in the band before ? On the last interview I made with Kjetil Nordhus, I tought that all guys in TOT were real friends…

Ronny : Yes I offered to cover the loss and I have also done that now, meaning of course that I am in a world of shit when it comes to my financial situation.
If there are other reasons, then I have not been informed about it and that makes it of course even more difficult to understand. I think they acted in a moment of frustration and that`s why I hope we can solve things to the best of everyone`s interest. The ironic thing is that up until only a couple of days before I was given the message, we talked good and creatively about future plans, including details for the release-party for “Existentia” and that is why this came as lightning from a clear sky to me. Like Kjetil mentioned, the truth is that we are all indeed real friends and have been so even since years before the band was even started and that is why the disappointment is even bigger now, when someone you care about goes and pulls something like this the effect is naturally even bigger. If I didn`t care about the guys it would actually be easier because I could rise above it, but that is not the case and everyone knows that it feels worse to be hurt by a friend than by a complete stranger.

AM : And how about Napalm Records, what do they think about this situation ? I must say that they still continue to promote the new album, I think it’s a very positive attitude…

Ronny : How would you feel if you were running a record company who had invested a huge amount of time and a lot of money into a project only to find out by a five sentence statement that was made public without your knowledge, that the band is officially broken up? Everybody with an IQ above an average vegetable will understand that is a fucked up thing to wake up to. First of all, the band was never broken up, I never gave my approval to this as it was online and public before anyone had the chance to react.
After constructive talks between myself and Napalm they have understood the situation and that this was not my decision and thus given me an overwhelming support which I am eternally grateful for. It was important for me to underline that the band is not dead and will continue as I`m not prepared to let the best album of my career simply vanish into oblivion, Napalm fortunately sees this and are so far doing a great job with the album.

AM : Do you think the other members are going to stay together and form a new band ?

Ronny : I can`t really see that happening at this point. Jonathan is still in Sirenia and Kjetil has Green Carnation of course, for all I know the recent events could only be the excuse they needed in order to quit and focus on these bands, but that is merely speculations of course. As for Runar, I believe he is more comfortable in his father role now which I totally understand and respect and as for Kjell, well hard to say but I hope he gets to utilize his talents in some way or another.

AM : Even despite these events, “Existentia” is still going to be released. What is the musical evolution into this new album ?

Ronny : Well, for me listening to the album now I feel that we have taken two steps back in time musically and one step forward! It sounds like a great mixture of old and new Trail of Tears. It was important for us this time to create an album with a stronger identity, where as “Free Fall into Fear” had some great songs I think the album lacked a red line and turned out quite schizophrenic with all the different influences. That was something we focused on a lot on “Existentia”, we wanted a strong feeling of unity while still making sure that the songs were strong enough to stand on their own. The material is noticeably more melodic and symphonic and of course you have the element of the female vocals back to the sound, though in a different way than you might expect.

AM : You’re back to work with Terje Refnes in the Soundsuite, why this choice, the production of “Free fall into fear” was awesome …

Ronny : Again, it`s a matter of taste. Like I mentioned earlier, I have no desire to ignore “Free Fall into Fear”, the album holds some extremely strong songs but one of the things I don`t like about the album is precisely the production. The production is awesome like you say but for me I think a good production is one that fit the actual material at hand and in that sense I think the production turned out too extreme and deathmetal-like. As a result of this, the album kind of fell in-between two chairs. Our fans found it too extreme, while our potential new extreme metal fans found it too soft and thus the album lost some of it`s purpose to a certain extent.
That is partly why we chose to go back to Soundsuite and Terje, another reason was that it tends to be more creative and focused when you travel away from your familiar settings to do an album rather than to record in your home-town like we did with “Free Fall..” simply because you can put the rest of your life on hold and only concentrate 100% on the recording. It also has to be said that I find it more interesting to spend six weeks in the south of France in summertime accompanied by redwine and sun than several months in Norway during winter like we did the last time :)

AM : As for the studio, the female vocals are back again, why have you decided to bring them back ? is “Existencia” an album that sounds more like what you did before “Free fall into fear”, more into gothic metal ?

Ronny : We didn`t at all intend to use as much as we did, the original plan was actually to include more choirs this time but we soon discovered that the songs would loose a lot of their instant appeal and direct approach if we were to include as much choirs as we originally intended. So we decided to use Emmanuelle`s voice more instead and looking back I am extremely glad we did because her vocals really add a new dimension to the songs. And more importantly, I don`t feel that I have to explain this part at all, her voice speaks for itself and everyone who listen to the album will understand that we used it for a purpose, namely that it adds something extra rather than to just use it for the hell of it. Very rarely will you hear such a strong and different voice in a metal band today where most so-called “female fronted gothic metal bands” (god I hate that term) use bad soprano clones completely without personality, character and with the only wish of being the next Tarja Turunen. Yes, call me a blown up prick but what I say is a fact. There are a lot of amazing female singers out there but the trend and explosion within this kind of music has unfortunately also led to the fact that a lot of labels sign worthless garbage bands as long as they have a good-looking female face in the line-up.
Anyway, like I said I regard this album to be a fresh sounding mix of old and new Trail, with some new elements and with a twist on the old influences, it contains some of the darkest music we have ever made but also it is more uplifting. More gothic? Definitely but still heavy and darker than ever.

AM : What are your plans for 2007, how will you proceed to rebuild Trail of Tears ?

Ronny : Plans are in the making and at the moment there are a lot of things to be solved, molded and shaped. I feel very enthusiastic based on all the support I have received the last weeks and looking forward to next year where I`m sure a lot of great things will appear!

AM : Thanks for this interview, all the best for Existentia and for the resurrection of TOT, now the last word is yours for your fans…

Ronny : Again, many thanks for your understanding and support! January 26th, Existentia!
See you all in 2007