INTERVIEW TO MR. DAMAGE

As I said when I reviewing the World Of Damage album, their debut Invoke Determination, has been one of the great surprises of the New Metal Season. Therefore, the natural evolution of my behavior after listening to the creature, is to know about the father of it. So, with the fateful heat that floods us here in the Mediterranean, I contact Mr. Damage in the freshest Norway, to answer a few questions.

K.: First of all, thank you very much Mr. Damage for taking a few minutes of your time to attend me for VALENCIA’N’METAL AROUND THE WORLD.

Mr.D.: My pleasure! Thank you so much for having me!

K.: When you started playing the guitar? Were you self-taught musician or did you take classes?

Mr.D.: I first started out playing the piano when I was around six or seven years old. I liked it very much, but then I remember seing Skid Row with ‘Piece Of Me’ on TV, and from that moment I was sold to Rock N’ Roll. Right there and then in 1989 I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to play guitar and be in a band. It still took some time before I got hold of a guitar, but when I was around eight years old I got a cheap, used nylon guitar which I started to play. I didn’t know a clue about how to play guitar back then, but I got a chord book from my parents, and soon I was on my way, learning AC/DC songs all day long. At age ten I got my first electric guitar, a cheap Levin Stratocaster copy that I practiced on, day and night for years to come. I am basically self-taught, but I’ve had three different guitar teachers over the years.

K.: Which band, guitarist or band album give you the final motivation to arrive here?

Mr.D.: As I mentioned earlier, Skid Row was the first band I saw on TV, and I was totally blown away. I thought they looked so bad ass, and the song ‘Piece Of Me’ was so damn good! Right after that, my older brother introduced me to AC/DC, and when I saw Angus Young in the Live In Paris concert from 1979, my jaw dropped. I loved Rock N’ Roll, I loved the energetic performances and the larger than life attitude. I was nine years old in 1991, and I consider myself very lucky to experience all the great music that came out back then. That year Guns N’ Roses released the Use Your Illusion I&II albums, Metallica released The Black Album, and Ozzy Osbourne released No More Tears. The year before in 1990, Pantera released Cowboys from Hell, and AC/DC released The Razors Edge. All of these albums set the foundation for my musical expression. I think it is hard to pick just one album, one guitarist, or one band, but Angus Young, Dimebag Darrell, Slash, Zakk Wylde, John Petrucci, Yngwie Malmsteen and Randy Rhoads are very important for me, my technique and my style for sure.

Original photo by Peder Klingwall

K: When did you know that you wanted to be a professional guitar player?

Mr.D.: I wanted to be a professional guitar player right from the very start, but I didn’t know how to make it, and I didn’t know when it was going to happen, but I sure did know that it was what I wanted to do with my life. That being said, the road has been much longer than I could ever imagine, and there has been times when I thought about quitting the whole thing. Seing friends taking their education and making good money, while I worked as a forklift driver and played in pubs every weekend for years, made me question if I took the right direction after all…not to mention how exhausting it was. I was in a band called BreeD at the time, and one day in 2012 I just had enough of it all. I quit the band, and I decided to get back to school and start on an education, and so I did.

Soon after that decision, I got a phone call from Shagrath (Dimmu Borgir/ Chrome Division) and he asked me if I wanted to come on an audition as lead guitar player in Chrome Division. I said yes, did the audition, got the job, and before I knew it, I sat on a plane on our way to Brazil, to do a tour there. So…there I was, touring Brazil at night, and doing math-homework during the day. Crazy times!

K.: Some people say that one of the guitarists’ great ambitions is to come up with the perfect riff. Do you agree with this? Who is the referent for you in this case?

Mr.D.: Yes, I really much agree on that. I am still working on my perfect riff, ‘cause I feel that I have not invented it for myself yet, but when it comes to other riff makers, I go back to the music that first influenced me. Pantera’s Cowboys from Hell is timeless! Same with ‘Walk’. So simple, yet so powerful and reinventing! Same with ‘Back In Black’ with AC/DC…not to mention ‘Enter Sandman’ with Metallica. I’ve always been weak for juicy, heavy riffs.

K.: Could you tell me how a ‘normal’ riff differs from an awesome one?

Mr.D.: That is an interesting question, because I have many times made riffs that I think sounds great! But then it doesn’t always work so well in a song when the vocals comes on top of it. Other times, I don’t know if the chords or the riff will work out well with the vocals, but then I get blown away when it all comes together. It was like that with ‘Faith Bloody Faith’, which I co-wrote for ESC2021 and performed with JORN. I co-wrote it with Åge Sten Nilsen from Wig Wam and producer Eirik Renton, and Åge had these chords for the chorus. I didn’t know if it would work out with the rest of the song, but goddamn…it turned out to be just perfect! I am very proud of that song!

Oroginal photo by June Witzøe

K.: When I reviewed World Of Damage’s debut album Invoke Determination, I used your own words to point out that the idea came to you as early as 2016. Is Invoke Determination a consciously created?

Mr.D.: The reason why it took so long from start to finish it, was that the other bands and projects had a higher priority at the time, so my own project was something I did on the side. That was also kind of the meaning behind it. It was ment to be something joyful to do when I wanted to do it. I must admit that I was a bit afraid to finish it, because I was all alone with it, so I did not know how to represent it, and I surely did not know how it would turn out in the end. The only thing I was sure about, was that this was going to be an album with vocals, and not just another guitar album. I am personally not the biggest fan of instrumental guitar albums, even though there are exceptions of course, the latest John Petrucci Terminal Velocity album, being one of them. I love that album.

K.: Of all your work at Invoke Determination, what are you most proud of?

Mr.D.: The songs that really sticks out for me are ‘I Will Not Conform’, ‘Breathe (Little Angel)’ and ‘Invoke Determination’. I really love everything from the lyrics and compositions to the energy and the vocal achievements. I am also very pleased with the album cover and the general artwork, done by Marcelo Vasco, who also did the last Slayer album Repentless.

K.: I was a bit surprised that you didn’t sing in any songs. Why you have decided this way?

Mr.D.: I don’t think I am a great singer…so I think I’ll stick to my guitar. It’s like with Slash, Angus Young, Van Halen and Dimebag Darrell…They don’t sing either, they play the guitar and that’s the way I want to do it as well.

K.: In order to choose the tremendous cast of vocalists that join you in the album, which was the criterion that you keep in mind? Was it difficult for you to count with them?

Mr.D.: I wanted to have vocalists on board that I am a fan of, and that really know how to convey & connect with the listener and lift the songs. I contacted many different singers, some answered, some never answered, and some I started to work with, but then they suddenly stopped communicating, so I can surely say that the whole experience with working with different singers has been a great lesson for me.

K.: Did you propose it to Jorn?

Mr.D.: Funny you ask me that, because I tried to contact him for this album, but I never got any answer from JORN, so I moved on with other vocalists. This was before I knew him at all, actually a very short time before I got to know him, but now he has confirmed that he wants to be featured on WOD II! Isn’t that cool? The world is full of coincidences.

K.: So, we have just talked about Jorn, I would like to know how did you decide to participate in the Eurovision Contest to represent Norway? Would you have liked to win the contest?

Mr.D: Of course I would love to win the contest, but to be quite honest with you, I knew that our biggest challenge would be to get enough votes to get out of Norway. We are a very little country with only 5,4 million citizens, and despite the fact that a lot of Rock, Metal and Black Metal comes from Norway, most Norwegians prefers party music. The whole scene turned out just like I predicted, but I knew that if we would have been the ones to represent Norway in the international finale in Rotterdam, we would have had a good chance to win the whole thing, in my opinion. Sadly it did not turn out that way.

Performing live ‘Faith Bloody Faith’ in Melody Grand Prix 2021 (Norway)

It all started with a songwriting camp late of summer 2020. I got invited by my friend and bassist Øyvind Strønen, who works for Arctic Rights Management, and he told me that ESC Norway wanted more Rock N’ Roll.

So, I said yes, and some time later I found myself in a room with Åge Sten Nilsen (Glam) from Wig Wam and producer Eirik Renton. We went from not having any ideas to walk out of the studio with a demo of ‘Faith Bloody Faith’ hours later, sung by Åge Sten.

Later on, we discussed who would fit to do this live. Åge Sten was in the middle of the release of Wig Wam’s comeback album Never Say Die, so he could not do it. He then suggested to contact JORN and ask if he would like to do it, and JORN immediately said yes! That was a big dream for me to come true. I’ve been a big fan of both JORN and Åge Sten Nilsen for MANY years, and now I suddenly got to collaborate with both of them!

That proves what has been said many times before: never, ever stop dreaming! Keep on working, stay positive, and great things will come your way, I guarantee you!

K.: Let’s go back to World Of Damage. Although the album was available in digital format when you launched it, you recently announced that Invoke Determination album will be to purchase it in physical format through the www.artistmerch.no website. Why you decide to do it?

Mr.D: I first thought this album would be released via Nuclear Blast or another major label, but shopping record deals in the middle of a pandemic with a brand new band that no one has ever heard of before, turned out to be much of a bigger challenge than I imagined. So, therefore I decided to start my own label, called «WOD Records» and release it all by myself. Being the first time, ever to release my own material, it turned out to be a bit of a «learning by doing process», and I soon discovered that pressing vinyls are both expensive, and delivery time is often set several months down the road. That’s why I just had to pick a release date for the album digitally, and hope for the company that manufactured the vinyls to be able to deliver the records on time. Unfortunately they were not able to deliver them upon the digital release, which was June 11th 2021, so that’s why the album was first available on all streaming services before releasing the vinyl version on www.artistmerch.no. If you hurry up, you can get your hands on the vinyl, limited SIGNED edition on www.artistmerch.no

K.: Before we finish the interview, are you involved in new compositions in this moment or have you edited something new yet?

Mr.D: I am always working on new stuff, and right now I am releasing peaceful, mellow and instrumental acoustic songs on Spotify every third week under my own name, Kjell Åge Hartveit Karlsen. I am also working on my YouTube channel with playthrough videos of my own music, to give an insight on how I play it. Last but not least, I am working with Eddie Guz (The Carburetors/Chrome Division) on his new project called The Cult Of Destiny. We released the self titled debut album late 2020 and the second album will be released sometime in 2021, I think. I will also start writing for my second WOD album sometime this autumn, so there is a lot of cool things going on!

K.: If you want to say anything else… you are welcome.

Mr.D: Thank you so much for having me here, and thank you so much for checking out my music! As I said, be sure to get your hands on the signed, limited edition, double black, gatefold vinyl of my latest album, Invoke Determination before it’s too late!

K.: Mr. Damage it was a pleasure to interview you for VALENCIA’N’METAL AROUND THE WORLD. Thank you so much for everything.

Mr.D.: The pleasure is all mine! Thank you so much and keep on playing music LOUD!!