Musicscan: Tell me about your band first: Who is Extol and what is Extol doing? Extol: We're a Norwegian metal band and we play metal :) Musicscan: What are you doing in your "real life"? What kind of jobs do you have
beside playing in Extol? Extol: Three of us have regular jobs and the other two study. Tor Magne studies to
become a teacher and I go to a Bible school. David fixes cars, Jon Robert
teaches kids and Peter is into sales-business. Musicscan: How come that your new CD was released on Century Media now? Are you still
in contact with Solid State Records on wich the CD came out some time ago already? Extol: Undeceived was originally released on Endtime productions (Sweden) and
liscenced to Solid State (USA) and Avalon (Japan), but since Endtimes
distribution in Europe is very limited, Century Media decided to rerelease
it for Europe. Our future records will be distributed through Century Media
all over the world. As of now we do not have any deals with Solid State, but
we do have contact with them because our old albums are on there. Musicscan: How was/is your relation to the other Solid State Bands like ZAO or
Spitfire? Extol: Unfourtenatly we didn't get the chance to tour much with the other Solid
State bands except for Blindside. We also did a show with Spitfire a few years back. Musicscan: It´s well known that you are a christian band and that you are from
Norway.When I look at the metal scene in Scandinavia the most of the metal
bands are dealing with satanic stuff or are against christians. Is that a
problem for you overthere? Extol: No, not really. Most people and bands respect us for the music we play, and
that's how we want it to be. I'm not saying that our faith is not important
to us, because it is, but we want to be recognised on the same level as all
other bands (christians or not) regardless of what our motives are or what
believes we have. Musicscan: How important is GOD for you? Extol: God is very important to us. In fact He is all! Without Him we would have
nothing and we would be nothing. Without Him there would be no hope, no
reason to live. Musicscan: What do you think of "the other" norwegian metal bands like Satyricon,
Dark Throne or Mayhem for example. Name some if you want to say anything
about any band. Are you in good contact with some "known bands"? Extol: They play good metal in the Norwegian tradition that we are proud of being a
part of. We are definetly in contact with the metal scene and with many
bands. Musicscan: What bands would you say are the main influences for your music? Extol: Believer, Rush, Death, Bjørk, old Mortification, old Tourniquet, Meshuggah
and Vengeance Rising are some of the bands that have influenced us over the
years. One of our goals though is to create an original sound and I think we
have managed to create exactly that over the years. Musicscan: Do you guys have projects beside Extol? If yes, what kind of music are you
doing in those sideprojects? Extol: Peter, Jon Robert and Tor Magne play in a rock'n'roll metal band called
Ganglion (ex-Lengsel). David and I have a thrash project under the name of
Absurd2 and David also plays in a tekno-metal band (technical metal) ala
Spiral Architect. Musicscan: Touring or playing shows - what does that mean to you? Extol: We love touring, and playing shows has always been an important part of
Extol. We've done three US tours and one European tour in addition to
noumerous shows in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Musicscan: What impressions did you get on your Germany/Cz/Belgium tour in 2001? Extol: Those was our first European shows outside Scandinavia and it was a very
interesting experience. At times the sanitary conditions were horrible, we
didn't shower for over a week. Looking back we had some challanges but also lots of fun. Musicscan: Are there plans for any tours in the future? Extol: Next summer (2003) we'll be back in USA for a tour there, but before that we
don't have any specific plans. We might do a European tour around Christmas
or springtime, but nothing's for sure. Musicscan: OK, thank you for your time. Still something you want to say to the kids out there? Extol: God Bless and Rock on!! |