Far away from the streets of metropolitan Oslo, tucked next to the Atlantic Ocean is a city in desperate need of a good public relations specialist. Bergen, Norway is music’s best kept secret, playing muse to some of the most inventive and inspired progressive music the world has ever seen, all without the slightest bit of fanfare.
Bergen’s very own Shaman Elephant are out to prove to the wider music world that momentous things are happening in Norway, thanks in part to the band’s clear understanding of what made 60s and 70s psych rock so immersive and expansive. Bass player Ole-Andreas Sæbø Jensen recently sat down with The Progressive Subway to discuss the musical direction, style, and influences present on Shaman Elephant’s recently released album “Wide Awake But Still Asleep”.
I’ve personally been a fan of Shaman Elephant for a while now, what can fans of Crystals and More expect with the new album, Wide Awake But Still Asleep?
Shaman Elephant: Our new album, “Wide Awake But Still Asleep” (W.A.B.S.A) is our attempt at making a more mature album than our debut album “Crystals”. We also wanted to try to merge one melodic concept into many different songs. The main melody which is featured on the first track can be found in many of the other tracks as well. It was a very fun and rewarding challenge for us to make the same melodic concept work together with different rhythms and grooves.
Something I love about Shaman Elephant is that the band has a very classic and eclectic style that is fresh and new at the same time. Is a classic sound something that Shaman Elephant aims to capture?
Shaman Elephant: We´ve never sat down and decided what kind of sound we´re aiming for – it´s something that happens naturally as we write and rehearse the songs. That being said, we´re well aware that we are influenced by our heroes, especially Bushman´s Revenge, Elephant9 and Motorpsycho.
What bands or artists have been the major influences for Shaman Elephant?
Shaman Elephant: All of the band members have drawn huge inspiration from all the classic prog and rock bands like Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, The Mahavishnu Orchestra and King Crimson. That being said, we´ve also been greatly inspired by lots of more modern bands like Motorpsycho, Bushman´s Revenge and Elephant9. All of us are also HUGE fans of Steely Dan – in my opinion they are the greatest song writers in history.
Is there any concept, message, or major idea behind Wide Awake But Still Asleep?
Shaman Elephant: The main concept of W.A.B.S.A is a melodic one, like we mentioned in the start of this interview. Instead of focusing on just writing songs and putting them on an album we wanted to write songs that sound like they belong together.
Regarding the lyrics, we´ve always wanted the listeners to decide for themselves what they think the lyrics are all about. We love the idea that something (and this goes for almost any kind of art) can mean different things to different people.
That being said: The third song on the album, “Steely Dan”, is a (pretty obvious…) tribute to our long-time heroes with the same name as the song. We´ve taken song titles from Steely Dan´s catalogue and tried to make a song out of them. We love you, Donald Fagen, please don´t sue us!
What sort of challenges did Shaman Elephant face during the writing and recording process with Wide Awake But Still Asleep?
Shaman Elephant: This album was a lot harder to make than our debut album. It took four years of writing songs, changing them, discarding them and sometimes re-writing them completely to make them fit the sonic concept that we wanted to create. One example is the song “Ease of Mind”, which we probably rearranged at least four or five times before it ended up sounding like it does on the album.
What type of equipment was used to record Wide Awake But Still Asleep?
Shaman Elephant: We don´t know how specific you want this to be, so you can just pick and choose what you´d like to put in the interview:
We used a lot of different equipment, too much to compile a complete list. For amplification, Eirik (guitar) used an Orange Rockerverb mk II together with an Orange 4×12 cabinet. His Custom Shop Fender Stratocaster went through a hand built fuzz called «Embla» by the Bergen-based pedalbuilder Fjord Fuzz. A Gibson SG was used on the heavier parts and an old Martin guitar was used on «Ease Of Mind».
The Fender Precision and Jazz bass that Ole was using during the session went through a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 before ending up in an old Sovtek MIG-50.
Jonas (keys) actually used two differently voiced Fender Rhodes, a MK1 and a MK2, via a vintage Space Echo and a lot of guitar pedals into a Fender tube amp. A Nord Electro 5 was used for the organ sounds into a Leslie 122. All the Mellotron sounds were made using the new digital M4000D mini.
Jard (drums) had a lot of fun by using a slightly different setup for each song. The base setup was a Gretsch-set with a Slingerland bass drum – but both the snare, the bass drum and cymbals was chosen to fit each song individually.
The Bergen music scene is one of the best scenes in the world in my opinion, how has that affected Shaman Elephant as a band?
Shaman Elephant: The Bergen music scene has always been very good to us. We have lots of friends who play in lots of great bands – and we like to think that we all support each other and draw inspiration from each other as well.
What are Shaman Elephant’s plans after releasing the album?
Shaman Elephant: Before the Covid-19 pandemic we had plans of playing concerts both in Norway and as many European countries that we could – however, travelling outside of Norway seems unlikely to get to do any time soon, so for now, we´re focused on playing gigs in Norway as soon as possible.
We also want to start writing our third album sooner rather than later. It will be interesting to see where that road takes us – I have a gut feeling telling me that the next album will be quite different from “Crystals” and “Wide Awake But Still Asleep”.
Are there any other local Bergen bands that you feel deserve more attention than they are getting?
Shaman Elephant: Some of our favorite bands from Bergen are Knekklectric, Kosmodome, Trojka,SevenImpale, Kongle and Kryptograf. All of these are more or less in the same genre as we are. If you´re into heavier stuff, we also recommend checking out a band called Fretmiden – they are the Meshuggah of Norway!
Thank you so much for talking to us! Is there anything you would like to add in closing?
Shaman Elephant: We just did a live streamed concert which can be found both on Youtube and our Facebook page – we´d love it if people wanted to check it out! Also, we hope that everyone is as safe, healthy and happy as possible in the weird and challenging situation we´re all in right now. In closing we have to say the usual band stuff: Check out, and like, our Facebook page; buy, and enjoy, our album(s); check out the other Bergen based bands that we´ve mentioned and last but not least: Take care of each other and enjoy some great music, some delicious food and a glass of your favorite drink – the little, everyday pleasures are the keys to happiness!
Shaman Elephant’s social links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shamanelephant/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4nH9TkL-LzN4jBw0MCmvYQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shamanelephant/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1bA1j1Wd0eDKqbsxON4a7d?si=xAwQ7QyKT8We4BZDhM8iRA
Bandcamp: https://shamanelephant.bandcamp.com/
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