Tommy Olsson might
baulk at the term “veteran”, but the guitarist’s contribution to the gothic
rock scene now stretches back over a quarter of a century, from his early days in
the mid-1990’s with The Morendoes through his time with Theatre of Tragedy and
then Elusive in the new millennium before his involvement over the past decade
in two projects at the forefront of the genre, Long Night and October Burns
Black.
Based in Western
Norway in a beautiful coastal region between the ports of Stavanger and
Haugesund, it would be cliched (although not entirely untrue) to say that
Olsson’s melodic style and tone reflects the open spaces and dramatic
landscapes of his native land, but his distinctive style has made him one of
gothic rock’s most enduring and respected guitarists.
His main band
Long Night, fresh from the success of 2018’s debut album Barren Land has
recently released a very catchy new single, Tick Tock, an uptempo rocker
with a real earworm of a chorus which marries traditional goth rock elements
with the very latest studio technology to create a song which, but for the
current lockdown, would surely be filling the dancefloors of goth club nights
from Berlin to CDMX.
I was delighted
to get the chance to interview Tommy and discuss his overall contribution to
the goth rock scene as well as his involvement in October Burns Black (the goth
“supergroup” project also involving members of The Wake and Sweet Ermengarde
amongst others) and the exciting new Long Night single (Tick Tock),
which is available in two versions on Swiss Dark Nights.
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1.You’ve been involved in the goth scene since the
early 90’s, originally in The Morendoes before starting Elusive, also with the
late Jan Kenneth Barksted on vocals, as well as of course working with Theatre
of Tragedy and taking them in a more classic goth direction. After working with
your brother (and former Tristania drummer) Kenneth on The River Knows, you
formed Long Night with former Tristania vocalist Østen Bergøy, ultimately
releasing your debut EP in 2016. Was the aim of Long Night to produce a more
classic goth rock sound, rather than the more symphonic goth metal of some of
your previous projects?
Tommy: Yes! I grew up on early The
Cult, The Mission and The Sisters of Mercy and that was always the type of
music/band I wanted to do. Before Østen joined Trisatnia he was the vocalist of
The Morendoes for quite a few years after Jan decided to leave after There
Is No Salvation, so in many ways we come from the same starting point.
2.The first Long Night EP Sorrow Returns on
Gothic Rock records got great reviews, but it took a year before the video of
the up-tempo title track came out. Why did it take so long?
Tommy: Haha, oh dear.. We weren't
involved in the making of the video apart from meeting up with the director Jon
Helge Hesby and giving him some info on the song so we had no idea what was
coming. The guy is a perfectionist to the fingertips as in he would wait for
weeks just to get the correct light and stuff like that. I think it nearly
killed him, but the end result was fantastic! I actually asked him to do one
for Tick Tock but he seems to have disappeared off the grid at the
moment.
3.The EP, like your subsequent releases has been a mix of slow-burning, more cinematographic tracks like Ruins on the debut EP or Dying on the new EP, and faster tracks like The Night’s Ablaze from the album Barren Land and new single Tick Tock. Which style do you prefer?
Tommy: I don't think I have a
preference as such, it depends on what mood I'm in but they represent different
challenges in terms of writing/production and, not least, playing them live. What
I need from the music whether it's fast or slow is tension, there has to be a
feeling of "something's at stake" in every song.
4.Tick Tock is only just four minutes long,
Long Night’s shortest to date, and has a more modern, electronic feel to it. Is
this indicative of a change of direction?
Tommy: It's hard to tell really,
right now it feels like it… The world seems to be going slightly crazier every
day and you just want to clench your
fists and scream a little louder .
5.The initial CD of Tick Tock sold out and
you’ve put out a different edition with the track Dying replaced by A
New Void. Why did you decide to put out the two different versions?
Tommy: The first edition sold out
really quickly so it was the record label that wanted to do a collectors’ thing
and we had these songs left over from the Barren Land recordings.
6.You also play guitar in goth supergroup October
Burns Black. How difficult is it to schedule recording and live dates when you
all live in different countries and all have your own successful bands to think
about?
Tommy: All of us have recording
facilities so that part is fairly easy, for everything else we have Manager
& Superhuman Ed [Shorrock] and I don't know how but it works.
7.You often play a 12-string guitar and have toured
with The Mission in your Elusive days. Was Wayne Hussey a big influence on your
style? Which other guitarists influenced you?
Tommy: Oh yes and Simon Hinkler, I
stumbled upon The Mission in a small record shop in Denmark on vacation in my
teens, it was a video called Crusade and I bought it on a hunch because
I thought the cover looked awesome. I put it it on and I was mesmerized from
the very first chord of Wasteland and I probably watched that video over
a hundred times that summer alone. 12 strings, ebow, guitar effects and the way
they played the guitars which I could never fully figure out back then. So my
playing is pretty much based on misunderstanding what they were doing. Other
guitarists that had a great impact would be The Edge, especially the Achtung
Baby album, Billy Duffy, Dreamtime - Love era and the Gretsch
guitar of course!
And the Morricone western themes
though I have no idea who the guitarist is.
8. As I said at the start, you’ve been active on
the goth scene for nearly thirty years. How would you assess the current
strength of the scene (ignoring the current Coronavirus hiatus)?
Tommy: Can we make that twenty-fiveish?
It feels like a hundred… It's
refreshingly good at the moment, lots of great music, with guitars! And now
because of the current situation there are live concerts and festivals
streaming so I get to see a lot more of what's going on than I usually would. I
think both songwriting and production has taken a huge leap in the last 10-15
years, it's going to be hard for old-timers like us to keep up.
9. Which other bands on the current scene have
impressed you?
Tommy: I saw this really cool video a
couple of days ago with Then Comes Silence doing All Tomorrow’s Parties
so I've been listening to their latest album which is great stuff! Others would
be The Rope, Sonsombre (hats off to Brandon for pushing the whole scene),
Caroline Blind, Kentucky Vampires and the list goes on..
I watched the Gothicat Festival and
there were a couple of bands/songs that really stuck with me, Casual God
by Black Nail Cabaret and Future Anthem by this Eternal Decay so they
are on my to-do list. I also discovered Wovenhand a couple of years ago, the Refractory
Obdurate album and it's just insanely good!
10.What’s next for Tommy Olsson? Are you working on
new material for any project at the moment?
Tommy: Well, I'm in a bit of a rut
now as I'm doing promotion for Tick Tock and that requires a very
different skillset, (one I'm not very good at) from being a musician. But
hopefully soon I can get back to it. Things I'm supposed to be doing is working
on the next Long Night album, writing music with Liv Kristine (Theatre Of
Tragedy), music for an OBB album and I'm also going to redo the 3 Elusive
albums and hopefully have them released on vinyl some day.
My grateful thanks for Tommy for taking the time and trouble to respond to my questions. You can click these links to view his present and past projects:
- Long Night - Sorrow Returns - Barren Land
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