Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
That would be one long story, since the band started way back, but okay, story time!
Me and Ole (now bass, then guitar) and two others, formed the band in Oslo in 1998, sounding nothing like today’s version of the band, but although given the existing band name, which has stuck to the project through two decades of constant changes in lineup and sound.
At the beginning we did more of a fuzzy popish kind of thing, not at all metal, inspired by all kinds of shit (which we have always been). I think Norwegian acts such as Motorpsycho and Kung Fu Girls were strong inspirations back then.
We released numerous DIY demos during the early years, and played shows around in Norway.
After some time, and a couple of changes (only Ronny from the originals), the band then sounding a bit more punk/hardcore/stoner metal in some way, sounding a bit more Smashing Pumpkins meets early Queens of the Stoneage or something, started touring more and more abroad. We did a couple of tours in Denmark and Sweden, but mainly in Britain, where we got a good thing going for a while, and did 5 or 6 tours over there around 2002-2004.
Our first full album on a record label came in 2004. It was called “Bring out your dead” and was released by Norwegian label Reel Noise Records, with an extended contract with British label Stunted Records, which we followed up badly by putting the whole band dead for the next 3 years..
The pause had nothing to do with the album reception or anything, but due to various parallel events we had to pump the brakes for a while. The other guitarist (we were a four piece), Thomas, dropped out due to parental duties, and myself just released an album with my other band Stonegard, which immediately after our debut album got our hands full of loads of touring and stuff. Fun for me, bad for KITE. And the end of an era, which I at the moment saw as the death of KITE.
But a phoenix rose from the ashes 3 years later. (Sorry about the poor cliché, but it is a fitting one, since a rising phoenix became the band symbol on all our artwork in the coming period.)
Missing his KITE, Ronny grabbed Ole back into the project, this time playing the bass, which he had been doing for a while in HIS other band, Tombstones. They wanted to kickstart the band again, this time as a three-piece, and they got hard-hitting Jaqueline drummer Bjarne on board. The new constellation and their respective influences resulted in a much heavier sound, with influences from both stoner rock, hardcore and metal, putting the sound of bands like Breach, Refused and Kyuss into the mixture.
In 2009 we released our second album – “the hook, the line, the sinker”, an album that got quite good feedback allover, resulting in a period of a lot of touring and goodtimes all over Norway.
So we did this for some time, while writing and planning a new album again in 2012, when all of a sudden, we put the band back on that dusty shelf. This time, Bjarne got his hands full with his indie band Team Me, set for taking over the world.
This pause made room for the other bands the members were involved in as well, so all three were touring frequently abroad the next years, Bjarne with Team Me, Ronny with Dunderbeist, and Ole with Tombstones.
In 2016 we decided to breathe new life into the band, and the troops reformed. News songs were written, recorded, thrown aside, more new songs were written, and all of a sudden we had recorded “the all penetrating silence”, the recording about to be released now. The sound has evolved further, as our creativity is in everlasting motion, sucking in all kinds of impressions, churning them in the rehearsal room and studio, making something we are proud to call our own, darker and heavier than ever.
And that brings us to this day. Hello!
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
Never been much of a good describer of my own music, and with this band it is even harder than in our related projects. There is a bit of post rock/metal, a bit of doom, a bit of stoner/sludge, and even some hardcore twists from time to time. We get influenced by all kinds of stuff, and that is probably what makes the variety within our sound, being a good thing, in my opinion.
But a list of some bands that have influenced our current sound: Cult of Luna, Motorpsycho, Elder, Breach, Neurosis, Uncle Acid, Melvins, At the gates, Quicksand, Isis..+++
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
Because they sound great! Well, at least we think so ourselves. That is the musician’s privilege, you know, to make just the music you want to play, and record it the way you want it to sound. And if that formula succeeds, production-wise and all, which in my opinion it did on “the all penetrating silence”, you have created just the sort of album you’d want to listen to, and recommend. But without sounding too cocky about it, I’d add that from an objective standpoint (although objectivity in this case is doomed to fail) our music has a diversity to it, with its clever blend of different styles and genres within the heavy rock and metal segment, and without the boundaries it adds the little extra that makes the music stand out from the ocean of other records out there. So if you want plain doom, or plain death metal or straight stoner, you’d probably not approve, but if you’re into something a bit more different and challenging, I’d believe this could be something worth giving a spin or eight.
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
2004 : “Bring out your dead” (album) – Reel Noise records/Musikkoperatørene
2009: “The Hook, the Line, the Sinker” (album) – 60/40 records/ Indie Distribution
2018: “The all penetrating silence” (digital EP+ vinyl) – Sludgelord Records
That’s the list of official releases we’ve done, but we also did lots of different demos/Eps before 2004, but not really worth mentioning as they differ too much from what we are about these days.
I guess this is most repetition, really, since I mentioned all the above during the band’s history question. But the first two releases did allright, both of them. The first one got an international deal, which we failed to follow up, so that could have gone better. The second one did good in Norway, but we didn’t really try pushing it outside our home country at that point, and so it limited itself a bit.
But personally I really like most of the tracks on that one still today, and if you like our new release, you’d probably like a good part of that album as well.
The new release ( not yet released as I write this) we have gotten but one review of so far, but that was really good. And the feedback from those that have listened to it has been great, so this looks promising so far!
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
Indeed! Up through the years we have played and toured a lot, as mentioned earlier in this interview, but it has been a period of poor live activity the last couple of years, since song writing and recording has been the top priority. We’ve done a handful of Norwegian shows in between rehearsals and recordings, but it is this summer and fall we will appear more frequently on the stages. Starting with a few Norwegian festivals in June, then doing a more intense period of touring beginning in September. We’re doing shows in Norway, and this time also abroad. We are doing a tour in Germany in September, and are currently booking other shows for Europe, but these are not yet confirmed. So just stay tuned and informed on our facebook page or other social media, and we’ll hopefully arrive at some venue somewhere near!
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
We are just to put out an awesome EP,that sounds immensely heavy and groovy, with some really good tracks on it, sounding a bit unlike everything else. Other than that, we can only encourage people to give us a fair shot. We are just a bunch of happy campers, in it for the love of the music.
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
Well, the near future is all about promoting and getting this long awaited release -“the all penetrating silence”- out to the masses. Then of course it will be all about travelling and performing our music live, meeting people, and having a good time.
But actually, we are also in the process of writing and soon recording a full album. Might sound a bit rushy, but actually not, since “the all penetrating silence” was recorded almost a year ago, and we are in this everlasting creative mode, all reckless and eager to do more, all the time. So, yeah, we are already planning an album release for 2019, but more about this later.
Now, its all about the EP. Check it out, it’s quite something!
June 2018