Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
Brotthogg: Brotthogg is kind of a mixture of everything we consider to be the best attributes of extreme metal. Some of the tracks are very fast and brutal, while other parts are more heavy, gloomy and slow. It is not so important whether you call it black metal, death metal or blackened thrash metal, but I feel we have created an ambitious and intriguing style where we explore the duality between the melodic and the aggressive, the heroic and the chaotic and the moderate and the technical. The music is progressively structured with lots of details, drawing inspiration from bands like the latter Emperor and Dissection, but also from death metal bands. Hopefully without loosing too much of the melancholic cold atmospheres of black metal. I guess you could say we try to combine the best of both worlds
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
Brotthogg: I am from the small town named Levanger in the middle of Norway. I think I was 7 or 8 years old when I discovered metal for the first time in the late 80`s. In the years to come I was almost obsessive-compulsive of bands like Iron Maiden, Helloween, Megadeth and Manowar. For some reason I had a childlike joy of everything that was fast, brutal and heavy, so when I came across black metal in 94-95 I was hooked from the beginning. We started our first black metal band back in 1996. In 1998 we recorded our first demo with my main band for many years to come, the band Subliritum. We released two EPs and three full-lenght albums with Subliritum.
Brotthogg was founded in 2017. It all began with me having some material that didn`t fit so well in Subliritum. While Subliritum had gone more in the direction of technical death/black metal, these songs were a bit more “straight in your face” and maybe a bit more black metal oriented. So, this was the main reason to release this material under the name of Brotthogg. Our first EP “The Last Traveler” was released in november 2017. The process of recording the songs and the reception afterwards was great, so I decided early on to make a full lenght album. Now, five years later we have recorded three full lenght albums and the reception and reviews have been awesome. So this whole thing started out as a solo project. It is of course lots of work doing all the instruments and recordings by myself. On the plus side I get to control the whole process from start to end, and I get to do all the decisions myself. I don`t have to compromise anything. However, I`m no singer/vocalist so it was from the beginning necessary to have another person doing the vocals. Luckily I have now two great singers doing the vocals, and this has been a great addition to the sound. The band consists of me on all instruments, along with vocalists Craig Furunes (Chton, Demontera) and my brother Jonas Moen (Subliritum). Also, all the guitar solos on all the albums are taken care of by the great guitar player Stephen Carlson.
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
Brotthogg: Hard to say really. I never have specific bands in mind when I write music, but I guess music and bands I find interesting unconsciously inspire the song writing. Also I can get quite inspired by movie scores. But mainly I think the inspiration is making music for its own sake. Usually I just pick up the guitar and try to make a cool riff. When I have a riff or a passage I’m satisfied with, the rest of the song is derived out of this first riff. A riff has usually a certain mood or a feeling, so the rests of the song comes quite naturally out of this mood or feeling. In the beginning, we were highly inspired by the early Norwegian black metal scene, and bands like Mayhem Darkthrone, Burzum, Emperor and Enslaved were strong influences. The rawness and grimness of those bands gave much inspiration. Today I make a point of venturing beyond the frames and structures of traditional black metal, but it is naturally still the canvas for my compositions. I will also always consider the heavy metal bands we grew up with, like Manowar, Megadeth, Helloween and Iron Maiden, as important sources of influence. The lyrics deals with and reflects upon a variety of topics, everything from post apocalyptic sceneries, philosophy to northern folklore. So it is no specific concept behind.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
Brotthogg: We will continue to write and improve our music and record new releases as long it feels like a cool thing to do. I’m already composing some new songs, so hopefully it will be another album in a year or two.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
Brotthogg: Again hard to say. It is always a nice experience to be in the recording studio mixing and mastering all the
tracks and finally get to hear the final result. I think this is the driving force for me.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
Brotthogg: I think it is important to work with professionals with a big network when it comes to promotion. It is worth paying a PR agency a little bit (it is actually quite cheap) to get the information sent out to international databases of media contacts including media websites, radio stations, record labels, PR companies, web-zines, print magazines, blogs, and podcasts from around the world.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
Brotthogg: Considering this being mainly a studio project we have no plans at the moment doing any tours or gigs, but who knows what happens in the future.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
Brotthogg: I kind of miss the old days when buying an album was a highlight, but it is what it is. I use Spotify on a daily basis and have no problems with the streaming services. We would obviously made more money from physical formats, but again that’s the way it is these days. .
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
Brotthogg: Haha, tough question. Maybe a Rolling Stones song like Satisfaction. Because then I would be rich.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
Brotthogg: I`m always writing new stuff. Hopefully there will be a new album in one year or two.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
Brotthogg:
https://www.facebook.com/Brotthogg/
https://www.instagram.com/brotthogg/
https://brotthogg.bandcamp.com/
Brotthogg links:
Band/Artist location – Norway
Facebook – You Tube – Bandcamp –
Instagram – Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – Last Fm
Check our page for Brotthogg
