CD: Just what does Sahg mean? Is it a reference to wonderful Indian cuisine?

TT: He he, no not exactly. The name started out as a joke. We were having too many beers one late evening, and started fooling around with the concept for the band. We soon found out that we all had a fascination for chainsaws and saws in general. Sahg could have been referring to this deadly tool, but the letter h turned us into a turnip. So no Indian cuisine involved I’m afraid.

PW: You work fairly quickly. This is your second album in just under 2 years. Considering that there is involvement in other bands and Gorgoroth (if we can call them that without threat of legal action) in particularly being prolific recently, how do you fit it all in?

TT: Everything goes in periods and the project that we’re working on right there and then always gets full attention. So it’s basically a matter of planning things in advance. You always know when somebody is going on tour for a longer period of time, so it’s usually no problem planning things. When it comes down to writing we very often work in groups of two and two, so if one member is occupied with another project, the rest of us will write and rehearse without him. It hasn’t been a problem so far but of course it can become one if every band we’re involved in start’s to tour for 6 month after each album. But I don’t see that happening in the near future though.

PW: Speaking of which, where would you place Sahg in the grand scheme of things? There is no mention of ‘side project’ in your biog and indeed I would have thought that was selling things short. Are there musical priorities that could possibly affect the way you work in the future?

TT: Sahg is definitely no side project. When we’re working on Sahg it gets our full attention and no other band is more important right there and then. And for the last year and for the next 6 months Sahg is going to be our main priority.

PW: I am assuming that you all live fairly close together and you physically get together and jam rather than swap files over the PC and record that way?

TT: Everybody works on things at home on their computer or whatever, and then brings their ideas to rehearsals for everybody to jam on. We all live pretty close so we don’t bother to swap files. Usually Olav and I have worked out a pretty good sketch before we bring it to the rest of the band, but sometimes we write everything from scratch through jamming as well. This is a very time consuming process, but I hope we can work more like that in the future.

CD: Those listeners who have followed your careers but not the band might not be expecting Sahg to sound as they do. Is Sahg necessary to express musical ideas not “allowed” in your other bands?

TT: We all like different music that we express in different bands. So every song and idea has its place. But 70s music is what we all grew up with and inspired us to start playing music. When we formed Sahg we had a very rough idea of what we wanted to do, but when we started to write songs this was the sound that came out. We find inspiration in all kinds of music, and that’s what makes Sahg stick out of the big mass and makes it interesting. You could say it's the sheer urge to carry on the tradition that formed our own musical interest and abilities that has been the driving force for this band, but we are doing it our own way.

CD: Just how did you end up signing to Regain Records? Their roster isn't exactly full of doom bands?

TT: No Regain is more known for their metal bands than their doom bands. I think we’re the only stoner band on the label. But we are very happy about how things have been working out so far.
We actually signed with Regain just a couple of months after forming the band. After we sent them our first demo it only took two days before they called us back and wanted to sign us. They gave us an offer we could not refuse so to speak.

CD: The album title harkens back to the naming trend of bands like Zeppelin and Sabbath. Was that a reference point for your band, or is there another reason behind the naming?

TT: We all grew up with Zeppelin and Van Halen and all these other great bands that have numbered their first albums so I guess we wanted to be a part of that tradition. It just seemed to fit the records, so far at least. We’ll see what happens on the next record. If we come up with a great album title that suits the next record we’ll probably go for that. But until now we’re showing everybody that we are great with numbers.

PW: How would you say the music of Sahg has progressed between I & II?

TT: I think the new record is much more focused in one way but at the same time we have taken a lot more risks. There is much more variation in the material on 'Sahg II' than on our first album. There are more of the fast, heavy tunes, but also more of the experimental, psychedelic ones. We allowed ourselves to be more open-minded this time, when it comes to sources of inspiration. When we recorded 'Sahg I', the band had existed less than a year, and the time to experiment with different musical directions had been limited. So we just went along in the direction that we had started out, which was quite doomy and Sabbath-like, I guess. That considered, 'Sahg I' turned out a pretty dynamic album, I think. But through more of both concert and studio experience, we are now more aware of what kind of sound we aspire. Also, this album kicks off much more energetic with an in-your-face opening track, and also contains more up-tempo, fast tracks throughout the record.

PW: The album sounds very natural and even downright relaxed. It conveys an image that everyone involved was very much at ease with what you were doing. Was this the case and what if any were the differences to recording with the other bands you are all involved with?

TT: As I said we took the time to experiment with a lot of different directions and sounds, and we had the time to do it. This was a very fun process also bearing in mind all the red wine we consumed through out the recording of the album. But we wanted a much more open and natural sound on this record. We actually recorded most of the tracks live in the studio, which we haven’t done with any other band before. So every take was a direct reflection of how we were feeling at that specific moment.

PW: I think there are a wide range of styles involved throughout the album. Take ‘Echoes Ring Forever’ it really reminds of Cathedral at times and then there are some real progressive flourishes flowing through the guitar work allowing the track to really breathe. Finally it spirals off into a space rock flavoured Hawkwind sort of free festival vibe. Yet despite this everything gels faultlessly together.

Chris was asking what bands influenced your sound and I guess that is what I am questioning too, in a roundabout fashion?

TT: I listen to so much different music all the time so in the process of writing a song I’ll get inspired form everything from Jethro Tull to Slayer. But I guess Black Sabbath is one of our main common sources of inspiration. In one way or the other, every metal band in the world is influenced by Sabbath, but I think we have taken the influence in our own direction. Also a lot of other 70s doom-related bands have been of great inspiration, such as Led Zeppelin, Kiss and Pentagram. Some of the "newer" stoner/doom bands also need to be mentioned, such as Kyuss and Cathedral.

PW: The instrumental ‘From Conscious Sleep’ is a real austere sounding track and it would have been the sort of song that many a band would have opened an album with, what made you decide to put it on as the third number?

TT: We actually thought it was to obvious to use it as the opening track for the album, and we also wanted it to be more then just a intro, even though we use it as an intro for our live shows these days. But by putting the instrumental as the third number on the record the track really stands out on it’s own as well as it creates a breathing space between the other tracks which again makes them stronger, I think.

Another reason was that this time around we wanted to hit it hard from the first note. On Sahg I we wanted to make a statement by opening with a long, slow, atmospheric track, but this time we wanted to burn from the first second.

PW: I mentioned the sun shining at the beginning of the album for a reason. The track ‘Escape From The Crimson Sun’ is a perfect example of what to me sounds like a very warm album. Whereas say some albums conceptually (like lets say everything Immortal have done) strike as winter albums, II to me is perfect for Spring/Summer. Would you agree or is that just plain daft?

TT: I don’t know. We recorded the album in the spring/summer period so maybe it’s a direct reflection of that. But our sound is very warm, very 70’s sound.

PW: Was there ever a temptation to add any female vocals to any of the songs or does that idea totally go against the grain; personally could see a collaboration with Silje from Octavia Sperati being an interesting proposition?

TT: We were actually thinking about using female vocals alongside Olav’s for the track “Escape the crimson sun”. It’s definitely something we’re going to consider in the future. I personally love two deferent vocal melodies sung together ala Alice In Chains or The Battle Of Evermore by Led Zeppelin.

CD: You've been touring with Trouble recently. How was that, and what do they make of your take on doom?

TT: We starting the Trouble tour in Bologna, Italy April the 7 so I don’t know yet. But we’re really looking forward to that one. We’re big fans of theirs.

PW: You are playing Inferno Festival later this month, bet that is going to be a great one and you played it a couple of years ago. You also did a bit of a tour in the USA around that time. What have been your favourite shows so far?

TT: It’s hard to pick one particular gig. We played Wacken Open Air last summer, and that one came pretty close. The US shows with Celtic Frost were a great experience musically, and a great experience crossing the continent on four wheels shore to shore. But most of all, the Celtic Frost band and crew were fantastic and treated us like no other headline act probably would do. They were supportive and helpful in every way. But the most special thing was that Tom Fischer and Martin Ain showed up at just about every single sound check we did throughout the tour.

We also did some support shows with WASP which was great. I’ve been a big WASP fan since I was ten years old so it was a pretty big moment for me personally to see them every night.

Inferno is always fun to play. It’s back here in Norway so it’s always a lot of friends, a lot of partying and a lot of great music.

PW: I was going to moan about England being missed out but see you have a gig scheduled for London Dingwalls in April (20th), what are your expectations from your debut UK show?

TT: I am very glad that we finally are visiting the UK. We have wanted to come over for quite some time but for different reasons we haven’t been able to. Hopefully the gig has been well promoted, and hopefully people will show up even though it’s on a Sunday night.

If you haven’t got it, go out and by the new record and come out to see us play at London Dingwalls on the 20th of April. Cheers!

Visit the band at www.sahg.no
www.myspace.com/sahg
www.regainrecords.com

Interviewed by Chris Davison & Pete Woods

MTUK HOME