Dear readers, in this article we have the pleasure to offer you an interview with a Norwegian band with Heavy Jazz and Prog Rock sounds, who recently released their third album “Summit” via Karisma Records. We welcome Seven Impale.
Hi guys, how are you?
“Hello! We are doing well! Summer and vacation time is coming up, and up north here in Norway the days are endlessly bright and comfortable!“
Your sound incorporates elements of Jazz, Prog and Heavy Rock, where does your passion for these genres come from and what are your sources of inspiration?
“For us the passion is mainly coming from heavy and jazz. We’ve all listened a lot to quite a bit of metal. Bands like Meshuggah, Mastodon, Pantera, and Enslaved have been important influences for quite a bit of the “colours” we want to capture in our music. Jazz artists like Jaga Jazzist, Ola Kvernberg (Steamdome++), Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tigran Hamasyan, Joey DeFrancesco, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Frisell, and John Scofield have also been ringing in our ears during the years! When it comes to prog-prog it has mainly come secondary. The original prog bands were fusing rock with jazz, or rock with classical, or all three together. For us prog is more about the fusion of a broad palette of musical influences. Hopefully you come to a point where it all makes sense together. That is at least our goal!“
You recently released your third album “Summit” via Karisma Records, how would you describe this work?
“Short story; a mix between City of the Sun and Contrapasso. But yes, it is quintessential Seven Impale from start to finish! It is 43 minutes of A LOT of musical information. We do think we’ve managed to give a bit more space to breathe here and there, but when it all catches on fire it really burns! We think we’ve managed to create a “better” album than our two first ones. More dynamic, more lyrical depth, better
phrasing, better form etc. We really want to emphasize that our music isn’t the easiest to digest, but our goal has always been to create something that grows and grows for every time you listen to it.“
Both the sound and the vocals are very intense, what themes do the lyrics deal with?
“The lyrics considered, we think the intensity of the sound is very important. It is not a concept album in the traditional sense, but the theme of the album has a red thread throughout. The four tracks are describing, and criticizing, some toxic human traits that are getting more and more space in our society. Leaning politically to the left we are strongly opposing the anti social individualism that so many people hold as virtues today. Romanticizing violence, blaming others for your shortcomings/mistakes, reaching for
fame and stardom, and the capitalistic chase to the next economic summit. Hunter, Hydra, Ikaros, Sisyphus.“
Long tracks characterised by elaborate textures and long instrumental sections, how do you compose the tracks?
“Through the years we’ve developed our kind of music, in a way. The music is mainly jammed out at our rehearsal studio. Everyone of us are invited and encouraged to bring ideas. Then we try it out, and ask ourselves: is this Seven Impale? If yes, we start building around that idea, small or big, and see where it will bring us. The goal is to always keep the process organic, and filled with playfulness and curiosity. In some cases it does happen that some songs are more “finished” before brought to the rehearsal space. That is the case for Hunter and Hydra on Summit.“
Yours is a very involving sound, will there be a chance to hear your music live in the near future?
“If we could create our perfect world, we would be playing live all over the world as a full time job! Sadly, that perfect world is now very, very, very far from reality. We see ourselves as a very good live band. The records are mainly recorded live in studio, so we have this almost sixth sense playing together. Even in the world of prog music we’re quite far out, so our audiences are few (but incredibly dedicated and wonderful!) and spread all over the world. We’ve also been off the radar for quite a while, and it will take some time to stabilize this next phase of Seven Impale. Our next goal is to connect more with the international concert market in our musical context, and see where we can get from there.“
This is your third studio album, how has your sound evolved over the years?
“The City of the Sun session anchored the sound quite a bit! Although it is safe to say that the COTS sound is drier, “smaller”, “shallower”, and more youthful. Contrapasso adds quite a bit of darkness and weight to that. Summit takes those two albums and stretches all those parameters further north, south, west and east. It is more three-dimensional, and at times it almost comes with smell and taste. Iver Sandøy is the man behind this. We are still talking about how lucky we were to be put in touch with him almost 11 years ago!“
What advice would you give to young bands approaching music with a more sophisticated genre like yours?
“Do as much as you can in the start! Practice together a lot! Jam, play as many gigs as possible, and don’t be a stranger in your general music community. Don’t put yourselves on a pidestall just because your technical skills are further developed than most others. Complexity should never be the goal. It is only a tool for communicating. Therefore; have an idea over what you want to communicate. Find a producer or external ears that has experience. Someone to stop bad ideas, but also hear the things that you don’t hear. Also you should start straight away with creating filmed content. The longer you wait, the harder it is to make things happen. Take that from someone that have waited far too long, haha!“
Do you have any anecdotes or special memories from your tours that you would like to tell us?
“HA! Well, first of all we’re quite nice and polite boys all six of us, but we do like a party. I think the most crazy was when we got a phone about one of the members waking up in the streets of Apeldoorn, Netherlands not knowing where he was and without much memory of what had happened. We are six close friends, so none of us have any wish to fly around town to party with any other people. It has been a while since we’ve been out touring and playing, so let’s hope for some more fantastic adventures soon!!“
Music and Prog are constantly evolving, how do you see the future of the genre?
“We have no idea what is “prog”, to be honest. Some parts of “prog” seems to be devolving, some staying still, and some moving forward. There are so many different expressions it is hard to see the relation between many bands/artists. How do the different relate to the word progressive in this context? You’ll probably hear as many different answers as there are artists. For us being identified as this or that is not that important. We have found our musical mindset, working method, and, to a large degree, our sound. Let’s hope the future of Seven Impale is bright!“
Do you have any other passions or artistic activities outside of music?
“5 out of 6 members are keen gamers. 3 out of 6 enjoy fishing. 6 out of 6 enjoy hanging out over a beer or seven. We are also now starting to get more into filming etc. Hopefully if you follow us, or will be following us, you’ll see much more filmed content about our music and general fun stuff! The most important thing for us six in Seven Impale is that we are first and foremost six close friends having fun!“
I thank Seven Impale for the interview and wish them all the best for the continuation of
their artistic career.
“Thank you!“
read our review of the album here: [Review] Seven Impale – Summit
Purchase the new album on Bandcamp: https://sevenimpale.bandcamp.com/album/summit
