print interview

D-Side 2006.

I. Each time you publish some new works, we find a usual unit, some trademarks truly appreciates : the sound of bells, the partly acoustic approach, the martial drums... Do you think that you have established some kind of rituals in your approach of music ?

Life is a ritual. Our routines, practices and actions are ritualistic.
The ritual we live is accomplished to procure stability, equilibrium and making our dreams come alive.
Sometimes we change the setting, we dress differently, we change the instruments we use, we act differently, all in favour of accomplishing a desired result, making the dream come true. And the same thing goes for O.R.E and all that I accomplish.
I have no rules, no taboos, and no premeditated direction that I follow, just sounds that I like. I do whatever comes to mind and let it become O.R.E.

People who listen to O.R.E, who attend the concerts, have told me that the music generates a sense hypnotism, and maybe it is so, maybe this IS a ritual, the ritual of roses and equilibrium.

2. You announced on the official ORE website in march 2005 that the anticipated recordings of both “Satyriasis” and “Apocalips” had begun, and at this time that their respective releases would happen on April and September 2005. If “Satyriasis” has come to the light, the new record just arrives in our hands only now. What has happened ?

I became a father in September 2004, to the most wonderful of men who enriches and completes my life [Julius Tomas Nathanael Larsen], and I suddenly realized that all the time I once had, was gone, and everything that I took for granted, was just an illusion.

Since Julius’s birth I have tried to complete both Satyriasis and Apocalips, and in August my quest will be complete.

It was better to let everything be postponed and delayed over and over again, than releasing something defect that would have been a disappointment to everyone.

3. Since “Satyriasis” was released, what have you retained from this experience, and have you still some contacts with Spiritual Front ? Do you have the project to realise some other things together ?

Satyriasis gave me much more than I had ever hoped for. I just expected Satyriasis to become a release such as any other, but it turned out to be much more. It became my return and evidently a work which featured some of the best songs I have ever accomplished.
It was more successful and appreciated than I thought it would be, and for that I very am happy.

I am still in contact with Simone and we performed together as late as last weekend, June 3rd, at the Wave Gotik Treffen in Germany.
He is a fantastic person, my brother in blood and sperm, he makes me a better man, and we do have the ambition to accomplish something more together; but whether it will become a new CD or a porn movie, time will tell.

4. Have you some other ideas of collaboration on the fire today ? For example, can we hope for some new things from the Victoria project with Peter Bjärgö? Is the project of a real album still suspended ?

I have some ambitions and I have received some requests about collaborations, but I will keep my mouth shut till something substantial has been achieved. But I can definitely say, with one hundred percent certainty, that there will be no additional recordings and definitely no continuation of Victoria.

5. Last year was the time for “Satyriasis”, this new year lets “Apocalips” come to us... How do you live the artistic process ? Can it meet some cuts in time, some pauses, or do you live it in a more fluid and continuing way ?

I live O.R.E. and I constantly carry it with me.
Everything I do can be embodied, and all I dream I wish to include.

I sometimes aspire a vacation from O.R.E and the process of creation, but it would be like going on vacation without myself… so despite my ambitions, O.R.E is constantly present, and the process always ongoing.
There are naturally moments when my spirit is low, when there is no input and no output, but in spite of this, the process always sustains, and prevails.

6. Sex, depravity, and moral stamping have constantly nourished your art. Viewed from here (perhaps I am wrong ???), their presence gives a representation: ORE seems to be like a unity devoted to the questions of the inside, the moral, and the mind. How do you conceive ORE in the way it’s a tool for you ? What for ?

O.R.E is a selfish outlet, it serves the sole purpose of satisfying myself, my desires, my dreams, my thoughts and the questions I have, what I portray is a reflection of me; and O.R.E is consequently devoted the matters of the inside sphere, MY inside sphere. And if this canalization of selfishness is able to inspire one single person to seize his or her life, realize their dreams, and LIVE life to its fullest potential, then my quest is done and it was all worth it.

7. How do you position yourself in the public sphere, I mean do you consciously develop with the same force some thoughts about the political matter ? If it’s the case, could you explain to us what kind of appreciation you put on the nowadays world, on its current social and political state ? For example, you explained in 2003 that you perceived Iraq and additional regimes of the Arabian community (Israel, Syria and Libya) as potential threats to the continuing existence of the world as we know it but that it didn’t justify the actions of the Bush administration. For you, have the threats moved today to some other places or facts ?

When we murdered the world on the fourteenth of May?

The same countries pose the same threat to the world’s continuation as they did in 2003, with the addition of Pakistan, North Korea and India; so nothing much has changed.

Bush and Blair decided to invade Afghanistan and Iraq; Saddam Hussein was removed from power and Iran rose from the ashes, but all this was more willingly an exhibition in military power by the NATO than any war for the sake of liberation.

The particular countries are not necessarily a threat by reason of the military force they posses, or the chaos they are able to create through war and/or general mayhem, but more willingly by how they divide the rest of the world into camps of pros and cons.
The political climate between Russia, China, USA, Israel, France, Germany and the United Kingdom makes more of a difference to the world as we know it, than any war caused by any Semitic country in the concerned region.

8. Do you assimilate the creation of an artistic shape to a political statement in itself ? Does not the artistic form ask a question to the society ?

I utilize O.R.E to advocate my dreams, desires and opinions. It is a selfish tool of personal propaganda, and if this manifestation is political, sexual or philosophical, so be it; it is still me, and O.R.E.

Should we be Sheep for a Lifetime or Lion for a Day?
That is the question of tomorrow, that is the answer of today.

9. The album is called “Apocalips”. Why did you choose to give this orthograph to the word ? What are these lips ?

Apocalips is a suitable title to describe all that is ever important.
Between the Apocalips is where we were created, and it is where we were born. They are the lips I kiss and the lips I savour. They are the lips of lust and creation, the lips we seek to satisfy and the lips for which we suffer in desire.
They are the lips that can start wars, and the lips that are able to end them.

Who is kissing your Apocalips?

10. Jews wait for the return of the messiah, the Christians want the return of the Christ, the Muslims hope the destruction before the last judgement.… all this is a little complicated, perhaps.
Knowing your opinion and interest about the Luciferian subject, what is your personal interpretation of the Apocalypse, and how do you see the way the official Christian texts (or some others, if you prefer, approach the thing like you want) describe the end of the world ?

The Jews wait for the advent of the Messiah since he has not yet come, and the Christians wait for the return of the Messiah despite the fact that they crucified him the first time, and in the meantime the Muslims build bombs and move to France.

The Apocalypse as I see it, has already started. It won’t start with the arrival of anyone or anything in particular, the Apocalypse is manmade and it has already begun.
We have already started dying from war, pollution, world starvation, natural disasters, man made diseases, biological and chemical warfare etc., etc.
The misconception is that people expect a grand finale; they keep waiting for some sort of divine fire works, and it’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

11. According to the interpretations which one can make from the 1000 years evoked by the Christian man known as Jean, the idea of the Apocalypse can be viewed like the domination of the misfortune or the arrival of happiness on Earth. How do you personally imagine the Apocalypse, arriving in the realm ? Is there an antichrist ?

The Apocalypse for me is just a process of change. It is not a permanent state as of eternal happiness, bliss, despair or misfortune, these are just religious descriptions of what the believers want the outcome of the Apocalypse to be.

Call the Apocalypse war, call it change, call it total moral depravation, call it social deconstruction, call it what you want. The end of the world has already started, it started with the genesis of man, and will sustain until the virus we call mankind is eradicated from the face of the earth.
There is nothing we can do to stop it, and the only thing we can do in the meantime is to make as much as we can of the petty time we have been granted.

As far as I have been informed, the Antichrist is already here, he is institutionalized in a psychiatric ward outside of New York and wrote me a letter about two years ago asking for my assistance.
So now you know, and now you can stop wondering about his arrival and his whereabouts. And I also believe that Jesus is next door, also eating his medication.

12. Is there not a need to make the Apocalypse escape to the concepts where official religions have enclosed it ? Can the individuals in your advice escape to the preconceived and escape to the oppression of the common religious thinkings about this idea ? What are the KEYS ?

All our thoughts and conceptions are tainted, not only our believes in how the world will end.
We believe that we are free, in mind, body and spirit, but this is the greatest illusion of all.
As I said before, the misconception of the Apocalypse is that people expect a grand finale; they keep waiting for some sort of divine fire works, and it’s not likely to happen anytime soon.
People must realize that THIS is it. The end of the world is happening every day, every hour, every second.

13. Finally, do you see a form of utopia in the Apocalypse ?

The Apocalypse itself is not my Utopia, it is just a process of evolution. Sometimes that which is foul needs to crumble and die for something new to grow and flourish. And MY Utopia is hardly a New Jerusalem in the eyes of most others.

Most people complain about life the way it looks today, about things being better in the good old days, but very very few would actually change the contemporary situation even if they had the chance, simply because the change itself is more terrifying than the situation they claim to endure.

If YOU had the possibility for a split second to press the button that would erase the entire world economy, would YOU?
I know what I would do, but do you?

14. Don’t you think that some millenarist hopes justify today some of religious excessive behaviours, for example in America ?

Sure.

15. (Joke J ) Apparently, the date of 1999 according to Nostradamus was a joke. Was he a fool in your mind ?

I don’t think he was a fool, maybe we just managed to avoid the advent of his premeditated Armageddon by reason of his predictions. But on the other hand, the Third World War has already started, some are just to blind to see it; believing it will look the same as WWI and WWII. But the times have changed and things don’t look the same anymore, and neither does war.

16. How do you see the body of the new album ? Do you think it’s a global thing, does it represent a global obsession or do you see in itself a more deconstructed thing, with separate songs and a multiplicity of approaches, of themes ?

I create songs, and through the context of O.R.E they create a concept. I don’t seek to create a concept and don’t work from a premeditated conceptual plan.

17. How do you see the content of “Apocalips” compared to your previous works? Do you think it’s a more exploded one than the previous recordings?

NOT saying and feeling that this is my BEST accomplishment ever would be completely moronic, why else would I record something new if it was NOT the best material I have ever accomplished?
So yes, Apocalips is definitely the best accomplishment thus far. It is superior in every way to all previous releases, and I am quite pleased about the outcome, and also quite curious about how it will be received.

18. Is irony a good (and permanent ?) solution to escape to despair ? Does irony help you ?

I don’t know if irony is the ultimate solution to escape despair, what do you think, is that how you handle your everyday life?
But you definitely need a sense of humour and the ability to laugh about all the shit that goes on in the world today. We can’t take life to seriously. Life is too short not to LIVE and to LOVE to its absolute fullest.
We need to laugh about the small and the big things that complicate our everyday lives, about the heartaches, the dreams that die and the love that fades away.
Unless we are able to, we better put the gun in the mouth and pull the trigger.

19. A very personal question (the more important, perhaps) : could one day your favourite colours become the pink and the brown?

Pink and Brown are already my favourite colours.

My favourite -
Food, is Sushi
Drink, is Tea
Sexual Position, is the 69
Invention, is the Hold-up Stocking
Colour, is Brown
Serial Killer, is Ariel Sharon
City, is Jonestown
Family, is the Manson family

I like to go for long walks in the forest, and I enjoy romantic candle lit dinners for two. I love all living creatures big and small, and my favourite colours are pink and brown. Baywatch is my favourite TV show and David Hasselhof is by far my all time favourite actor. I think Madonna is super, and when no one is around, I like to sing and dance to Like a Virgin and pretend that I am her. How great wouldn’t that be?

I think that all politicians do a great job; it can’t be easy making all those decisions every day and always knowing what’s best for people.
I think George Bush is a swell president and that America is the greatest country in the world. If only all countries could be more like America, everything would be so much better; people would be so happy having all those TV-channels to watch and all those hamburgers to eat....
And I think that if we all just tried a little bit harder, to understand each other better, and accept each other’s differences, then the world would be such a cool place.

If anybody feels that they share my interests and my point of views, then please contact me on the following address –
tomas@ordo-rosarius-equilibrio.net
Maybe you and I can make the world a better place