Spektralized

First of all, tell our readers a little bit more about "Spektralized" and about yourself! (Rickard Bjørklund)
- "My name is Richard Bjørklund. I am 26 years old, born and raised in Fredrikstad/Norway. I started to get excited about synth music when I was about 12 years old. Bought my first synth, it was a Poly 800. In late 1993, I and two other guys started our first band which is Spektralized. At that time I was only the vocalist, but I was still learning the basics about how to make music. Almost one year after we started, we released our first demo cassette called 'Genetic'. We released it only in 100 copies for our first concert. That concert gave us a shock, to say it properly, we had 350 sold tickets and we sold 78 copies of the demo. So you could say we had a successful start. More successful concerts followed during the years, but then things started to go wrong between us. I think that we started to grow away from each other. But our biggest and most meaningful concert was right around the corner, so we decided to wait and se what happened after that gig. At the concert we were a warm-up band for Elegant Machinery when they played in Fredrikstad 1998. Spektralized broke up after that. So I asked the guys if it was alright if I used the same name and kept going on my one. That was all fine, so I started to do everything by myself and made Spektralized my one band. From that day, I've been eating, sleeping and been Spektralized to 100% so to say. I have tried to bring in members of many kinds during the years, playing different places in Norway and one time in Stockholm, as a warm-up for Icon of Coil. One of them is named Bjørn Harald Bjørnli and has been with me on live on keyboards for almost five years now. Many others has been tried out, but believe me, it's not easy to find the right ones. After recording the album 'Elements of Truth' I wanted to bring a guitarist with me live as well. So I tried out with a guy I met earlier named Ken Arve Nilsen and it fitted like a glove. So we brought him along on the 'Elements of truth' tour to Germany in February 2003 together with Icon of Coil and Assemblage 23, and it went very well. A few more concerts were played and a couple of months went by. Then in December 2003 we were going on our second tour to Germany. This time it was the Accession-tour and we were playing with Diary of dreams, Psyche and Lights of Euphoria. This tour was just as successful as the first one, so we went home with a smile this time to. Since then I have been working with the new Spektralized album, and have just released the first album from a side project which I have together with Sebastian Komor from Icon of Coil called Monofader."

Tell us more about your debut album 'Elements of Truth'. Did it turn out the way you were hoping/expecting?
- "The album 'Elements of truth' were put together by using my favourite songs I made during the years of Spektralized since I've done it my own. I am very pleased with the result of the album. Some things can always be done different or better after listening to it a couple of times, but I think the album turned out great."

What inspires you and what music do you personally listen to?
- "People that are doing their best in every situation, no matter how bad or hard the situation is. They put on a smile and try even harder. Never give up on themselves and that inspires me allot. Music that have been inspiring to me is within the pop genre is; Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, Alphaville, New Order, Ultravox and many more. EBM/Industrial/Rock: Frontline Assembly, Skinny Puppy, Front 242, Nine Inch Nails, Fear Factory, Rammstein, Laibach, Einstürzende Neubauten, Korn, Slipknot and many more. I am also a big fan of watching movies. What people do, think and feel is very inspiring to."

It's been a little bit over a year since you released your first album. What's your release plans for the nearby future?
- "I am working with the new Spektralized album these days, but the release date is not yet set. We were supposed to give out a "My needs"-single, which were going to include things like the "Allied"-video and an Apoptygma Berzerk remix of the track "Stop and rewind". But that didn't happen, because that someone did not they work as they should do. But we will have the new Spektralized album ready any time now, so keep your eyes and ears open."

Why did you choose Sebastian R. Komor (Icon of Coil) to help you with the production of your debut album "Elements of Truth"?
- "I actually didn't choose. Sebastian and I hang out allot and we both are working with music. One day we were sitting in Sebastian's studio and we talked about producing. Sebastian said that he would like me to bring some of my songs one day so that he could try to produce them. So I brought some songs with me so that he could start on the first one, and that was "Allied". That same day, almost ready with the producing, someone knocked on the door to the studio. That was Jon Sverre, the manager of Apoptygma Berzerk, he were wondering what we were playing and we told him what it was. He said that it really sounded interesting and would like to hear more of this. We continued producing a couple of more songs and then played them for him. Then he said that this was something that they would like to release on their record label called Hard Drive. After talking to the guys and hearing what they had in mind I agreed to sign with Hard Drive. So I and Sebastian got to an agreement so that we could finish to produce the rest of this songs before the album were released."

Spektralized are signed to the German label Accession Records (together with bands like Plastic, [:SITD:] and Painbastard), how come you finally choose that label?
- "During the time we were licensed both Hard Drive and Accession records and we got to know the guys from Accession quite well. I feel that Accession is the right label for Spektralized at this moment because they do a great work for their bands and work together with many off the most meaningful promotion- and distribution firms in the electronic music scene today. And that's just what Spektralized needs. And by getting to know the guys behind the label, you know who you're working with, and that's very important."

You also have a side project together with Sebastian R. Komor called Monofader. Please tell us more about this project and which band is more important to you personally?
- "Me and Sebastian were sitting in the Icon of Coil-studio one day in 2001, playing around with the equipment when we suddenly got this great idea for a song. We started working on the idea, and hours went by. When the song started to shape and sound quite good we found out that we were going to work with it the rest of the day, and the night to if necessary. We called it a twenty-four hours project in the beginning, but we were so pleased with the result that we wanted to do more with this. We called the first song "A Lie". The track was released on a Norwegian electronic compilation called "Serial Killer Electronics" under the name "Off Tribe". After that release we got a lot of good feedback from fans all over and that made us think even more about making a project out of it. We decided to start with some new songs as soon as we both had the time. By the time Spektralized were going on the Accession-tour we had six songs ready. I brought the songs with me on the tour so that I could spread some demos and show it to those who would be interested. One day on the tour while I was talking with Torben Schmidt, he came to mention that he had just started a new record label and that he would really much like to listen to our stuff. This may sound strange, but he listened to the CD while he went to bed. Then a couple of hours later he sent me a SMS that said: "This is just awesome. You have to talk to Sebastian as soon as you come home, because this is something that I really would like to have on my label". So I talked with Sebastian when I came home and soon after we signed a contract with Torben and Infacted Recordings. And of course we found out that we wanted to change name on the project from Off Tribe to Monofader as we thought that Off Tribe"sound too much like techno."

What did you expect from the Swedish crowd at the Arvika festival and do you think you fulfilled their expectations?
- "I don't think I expected too much, since we hadn't played in Sweden more than one time before and I knew that we had not been promoted that much in Sweden. But I had my hopes and butterflies while I was waiting for the day to come. I got really surprised to see all the people that were waiting for us when we went on stage. And the only thing I was trying to think about was the rumour that I have heard about the Swedish crowd, which is that the Swedish crowd is really good at showing up and supporting their artists and really express if they are having a good time or not. I think the concert went alright and I hope that people liked what they saw and heard even if the stage crew fucked it up in the end."

The manager for the stage you played at during the Arvika festival cut you off right in the beginning of your hit "Allied". Why did they do that and what are your thoughts about the whole situation?
- "First of all I would like to say that we are very sorry that we suddenly had to go off the stage. And that we hope to come back and play for you guys once more, to really make it up to you. The reason that they stoppe