Ida Haukland, Marius "Silver" Bergesen, Tor Ole Byberg and Kenneth Tårneby are Triosphere, a Norwegian heavy metal band created in 2004 that has been rocking the stages even since, with their powerful choruses, power metal-like melodies and progressive elements. We’ve talked to Ida, the frontwoman of Triosphere and here’s what we found out:
M.I.: Firstly, I’d like to get some sort of an “intro” on you guys, so: to those who don’t know you guys yet – or who do know you, but not that well –, how would you describe “Triosphere”, who are Triosphere?
We are a Norwegian quartet who’s been touring around Europe and releasing critically acclaimed albums since 2006. We would describe ourselves as a heavy metal band with a wide range of influences and that’s probably why we’ve been labelled everything from thrash metal to AOR. We find that our listeners come from “everywhere”, musically speaking, also from those who are very young to the well adults, so I believe most people with an interest for music with a nerve could find something they like within our – so far – 3 albums.
M.I.: The European tour has just come to an end, right? Tell us all about that adventure, especially considering the fact that Triosphere toured with the awesome Striker and the incredible Sonata Arctica.
Our latest European tour ended in March, yeah and it was certainly an amazing time on the road with both Striker and Sonata! It is, however, not our first tour with Sonata: we toured with them back in 2011 too and had an absolutely awesome time then, as well. We were, therefore, very happy to get the chance again as we became good friends with the band and also felt that their audience responded very well to us.
The tour, this year, was just as excellent as last time, with such wonderful audiences everywhere we came, who gave us the time of our lives on stage! This time, we also got to visit a lot of places around Western Europe we’ve never played before, including the wonderful Portugal! It really is a humbling privilege to get to travel around and perform our music.
And, last, but not least: this time we found some crazy cool new friends in the Striker-gang! It’s impossible not to love those guys, or their kickass tunes, so we hope to do that again some time!
M.I.: Since we are a Portuguese Webzine, I have to talk about Lisbon, which was one of the cities you guys played at, during the mentioned tour. You guys kicked some ass at “Lisboa ao Vivo”, everyone was overblown by your performance. Can you recall the experience in our country?
Lisbon was actually in the middle of our tour and I remember it VERY well: I’d been looking forward to playing there since we got confirmed for the tour several months earlier, both since (as I said in the question above) it would be our very first time in Portugal and since we’ve heard so much great stuff about the Portuguese audience! And the audience at “Lisboa ao Vivo” did not disappoint! It was one of the most wonderful crowds we had the whole tour! You were so loud and just so sincerely joyful (at least that’s how it felt up on the stage)! It sounds super-cheesy, but the whole venue was just filled with such a heart-warming atmosphere! I really hope we’ll soon get the chance to come back!!
M.I.: Triosphere have been around for over a decade. What do you believe has changed the most in the music industry in that time period?
Ah, well, you more or less don’t sell any cds anymore, but vinyls have become highly requested again! In the opposite direction, musical equipment (amps, pedals, various processors) have become smaller, lighter and more digitalized and consequently much easier to travel with (believe me, that’s a BIG deal if you’ve ever needed to fly anywhere with your gear).
Furthermore, both the music and the people behind it are lightyears more available for everyone in every way now, across the globe. That’s both good and bad: for instance, it keeps us all “on our toes”, if you understand, but it also has made it much more challenging to become – or remain – visible amidst the hordes of artists and bands. It feels like you can no longer establish the position of a band with just releasing highly acclaimed music, you need to constantly be out there – visible –, perform live and post something on social media on a daily basis.
M.I.: And how about Triosphere? What has changed in the past thirteen years?
Hehe, it certainly feels like both a lot and nothing has changed. The years have first and foremost matured our musical skills, so that we certainly feel each album has surpassed the previous one. We’ve always created the music we wanted and have felt in our hearts, without letting it be dictated by commercial interest and I feel we’ve only become more and more confident in this formula over the years. And I believe we will keep evolving and learning, so even though I’m very proud of everything we’ve made so far, I think the best is yet to come!
M.I.: You guys have release three studio albums, so far. Which, in your opinion, is a better representation of your music and why?
Oh, tough question. They all represent us, just as much today as when they were made, but, of course, our latest album “The Heart of the Matter” feels – for now – as the best one! This has to do with (as I was talking about in an above question) the fact that our songwriting has matured a lot between each album and our latest one has even stronger melodies, hooks and production than any of the previous ones.
M.I.: And, what about a song, is there a song that you’d chose in order to show what Triosphere are all about? Is there a particular “triospheric” song that you’d like to highlight?
Hmm... there are several ones who I feel would do that, each their own way, but perhaps “The Sphere”, from our latest album and “Death of Jane Doe”, from our second album “The Road Less Travelled”.
M.I.: How is the compositional process carried out? Does, every member, have a particular role or do you all contribute in the creation of the songs and, even, in the writing of the lyrics?
Simply put: Marius makes all the music and I make the vocal melodies and lyrics. The songs can potentially undergo a great deal of rhythmic adjustment and somewhat, also with regards to the arrangement, when Marius presents the ideas to us, so everyone can contribute and add something to the songs.
M.I.: Last but not least, which are Triosphere’s plans/goals for the future: short-term and long-term, of course?
Our goals are the same as always: to create and release the best music we can and to tour and play more live in more places around the world than before! Our 4th album is in the making, we’ll finally perform in the US for the first time next year at Prog Power USA (which we are looking VERY much forwards to) and hopefully there will also be a new tour in 2018! All our fingers are crossed for the chance to come and play in Portugal again and thank you for promoting us in your webzine!!
Thank you all so much for your time;
keep Metal alive and come back soon!
For Portuguese version click here
Questions by Evie
