NB! Please note, this interview was conducted while Dustin still was a member of Grimfist.

FROM HELL AND BACK

A couple of hours prior to their concert at this year’s Inferno Festival in Oslo, I met up with vocalist Frediablo and guitarist Ole Walaunet of Grimfist and had a little chat with them about their upcoming album, as well as their recruitment of a new drummer from the US. For those of you who are not familiar with Grimfist, I can tell you that their music is quite aggressive and that it incorporates various elements from black, death and thrash metal. After having consumed some whiskey and exchanged a large dose of perverted humour (most people would probably say ‘bad humour’ if they had heard us), we got down to business and kicked off the interview. I should add that since the interview turned out to be rather short, I mailed Ole three additional questions some time later on after they had finished recording their upcoming album.

# What can you reveal about the upcoming Grimfist album? Will it be similar to Ghouls of Grandeur in terms of style and lyrical content, or will it be different from it?

Ole: “Lyrically and musically it will be both.”

Frediablo: “Lyrically it’s pretty much the same. There is some personal shit in the lyrics, but there is also more non-personal, fictional stuff in them. More atmospheric stuff. Only parts of it are different to Ghouls of Grandeur.”

# Is it still as aggressive?

Frediablo: “Yeah, some songs are more aggressive than on Ghouls of Grandeur, but then again some songs are much calmer and atmospheric.”

# So it is a more diverse record?

Ole: “Yeah, a more diverse record, but we got the brutality in the songs.”

Frediablo: “The first album was just overrunning people. This new one is a lot more diverse.”  

# Grimfist is hard to categorize since the music contains references to various musical genres. What are you inspired by when it comes to writing and composing Grimfist songs? Any particular bands?

Ole: “I listen, basically, to old music. Black Sabbath and all that. I don’t listen to new music at all. There are not many new bands that I can think of. They are just boring for the most part!”

Frediablo: “I’m probably the opposite (of Ole). I listen to a lot of brutal music such as Darkthrone, death metal bands, metal-core bands, etc. The 80s metal is not my style [Frediablo makes some weird high-pitched screams], but that is a good thing because Ole’s riffs are very 80s and I add my brutal vocals on top of that, and that creates a real fucked-up combination. But that is Grimfist because not too many bands have that; at least not the ones that I have heard, ha-ha. But I think that is what makes Grimfist what it is. It would probably sound generic and sterile or boring if everyone in the band had the same taste.”

Ole: “It would probably be a down-tuned 80s heavy metal band then [laughs].

Frediablo: “Yeah, that’s a good idea [laughs]. Let’s do that!”     

# How did your new drummer Dustin become a member of Grimfist, considering the fact that he lives in L.A whereas the rest of the band lives in Norway? How did you hook up with him?

Frediablo: “First of all, he’s not a full-time member. He is on a trial-period still because there are a lot of things that have to work out before he becomes a full-time member. There is the distance between Norway and the States that makes it hard – and sometimes impossible – to do one-off shows. It costs like 6000 ‘kroner’ [approx. 900$] just to fly him over, so we will see how it works out and if he moves over here or what. We are just going to record the new album and see how that works out. He is a real bundle of energy [laughs].”

Ole: “Yeah, he seems very energetic. Maybe he is high on speed or something [laughs].”

Frediablo: “He is a very talented, young guy.”

Ole: “He did the audition with Slayer [between Bostaph’s departure from Slayer and Lombardo’s return].

Frediablo: “It will just have to work out practically with the distance, because we want to play as much as possible.”

# Do you want to tour with Grimfist?

Frediablo and Ole: “Yeah!”

Frediablo: “Now we are only doing one-off gigs. The concert at Rockefeller tonight is the second gig ever!”

# Can you reveal the title of your upcoming album? Perhaps you can reveal a couple of brutal song-titles for us as well? What about the release date of the album?

Ole: “The album is called 10 Steps To Hell, and includes titles such as “Separation of My Soul”, “Unborn”, “Ashes of the Gods” and “The Power” to name a few. We haven’t got a release date yet; probably sometime in September/October. Stay tuned on www.grimfist.com for the latest news and updates.”

# Isn’t it very easy and relaxing to write music for Grimfist when you are only two people in charge of it? I mean, it must be easy to agree on things and complement each other’s ideas and stuff when you are only two people in charge of everything…

Ole: “Sort of, yes. It’s a different way of working since we don’t write the music at the rehearsals, but instead we’re doing a lot of pre-production. But it’s easier in terms of how we want it sound since the two of us are writing all the material, yes.”

# Finally, what are you currently listening to at home?

Ole: “Lately, I’ve been listening to the 10 Steps To Hell album due to us getting different mastering versions and figuring at the final version. Other than that it’s mostly old-school: warming up with the Sabbath discography for the gig in Bergen on Saturday! I also got the new System Of A Down, and some BLS, the new Nile album as well as a lot of moody, more atmospheric stuff. Contrary to what I said earlier in the interview (drunk in a hotel-room somewhere?! HAHAHA), I do listen to some new stuff as well.  I work at a record store in between, so I get to check out the new music that comes out – which is very cool.”
 

Conducted and written by Svest.