Guess what kind of question will be the first one? Right, it’s the one regarding your bio… Prophecy Productions calls you ‘the latest newcomer from Norway’, so you strike as quite young band… am I correct?

- Yes, the band has existed for about 3 years now. We got the deal with Prophecy after playing together for 2-3 years, so I see this as a very positive thing, knowing that we have a lot more to give concerning the future development for the band. We have only just begun, so getting a deal this early will hopefully help the band to reach heights that we newer else would have managed.

Perhaps, your music is rather original, however, when I was listening to “Plan Be”, I couldn’t escape comparing you to another Norway’s band, BEYOND DAWN…

- Actually I’be just heard one song with the band, but using this as a reference, I would maybe compare the “moody” sides of both bands…?

Getting back to your bio by Prophecy… They labeled DRAWN as ‘innovative metal band’, but in my view this is too indefinite definition…

- I know ‘innovative metal’ doesn’t describe our music very well, it’s just that there’s no particular band that we could be compared with (what about IN THE WOODS…? – ED). To describe all elements in our music, several bands would have to be mentioned. This would then be misguiding because the bands would have been very little alike, something that would have made a confusing picture of the band as a whole. Anyway, some of the most used elements would be psychedelic, progressive rock, metal and ambient.

Does DRAWN have anything to do with black metal?

- No.

If I’m not mistaken, “Plan Be” was originally released as a self-paid MCD, however later it was re-issued by Prophecy… Wouldn’t it be better to released brand new stuff after singing with that label?

- It was actually Martin (Prophecy’s boss – ED) who wanted to re-released the MCD. In his opinion it was a good idead introducing the band with “Plan Be” for so to “open some doors” for the coming full-length album.

Your MCD’s coverart seems to be extremely impressive one, besides it fits your music really well… Can you tell me what appeared as it’s author and does it mean anything? By the way, the same question goes for the album’s title…

- The woman at the front page is actually my father’s girlfriend. This picture and some of the others were taken at the art school 10 years ago. The whole concept concerning the cover artwork is designed by a friend of the band and the band itself. It doesn’t actually symbolise anything. We just wanted to make a cover art which fits the atmosphere / moods in the music. The band does not have a certain imag, this because we want the music to speak for itself. In this way, what people think of our music is then very honest.

All the songs featured on “Plan Be” carry rather intriguing titles, and I suppose that the lyrics also appear to be exciting ones…?

- “Be” is actually a keyword to the whole concept concerning the lyrics. They’re about thoughts upon psychological issues. This subject is of course very open for interpretations, and thereby the “real” meaning of the lyrics is purely individual. I don’t want to explain the real meaning of the words since strong, personal interpretations make the listening experience even more intense.

Among others, your band’s lineup includes female singer – and it looks like widely spread thing nowadays… I mean, female vocals become almost as usual as male ones when it comes to contemporary metal music. What do you think? Isn’t it a sort of a cliche? And what were you guided by inviting a girl in DRAWN?

- I totally agree with you. But I think it’s different with DRAWN since she’s not a member of the band. She’s only used to amplify the feeling of that particular song. Also her musical influences are more near to pop / soul, so her contribution to the song doesn’t become like typical “angel” vocals, way to often used together with growling, but more like an exciting mixture of hew own sound and ours.

In the beginning and mid-nineties Norway’s scene was known mostly thanks to the great number of BM bands (now some of them even turned to ‘underground legends’!) but how are the things going with your country’s scene now, in 1999? Are there many bands who ignore black metal and prefer to compose their stuff in a different way from typical DARKTHRONE-alike buzz?

- I don’t know much about that issue since I’ve actually neven been really into the metal scene (then WHAT ‘scene’ have you been into…? – ED). Of course, I respect that a lot of bands have managed to do great things, it’s just that my inspiration and interest comes from a lot of different directions within music. Metal is not my first “priority” but an interesting expression among others.

Prophecy isn’t a sort of label dealing with christian bands, so I believe that DRAWN supports another kind of beliefs (if you ‘support’ anything at all?) By the way, what about ‘viking-trend’?

- The viking / pagan trend is something that we can’t identify with at all. We are not barbaric, frightening and cold people who live alone in the forest with all the night creatures. Also we don’t have any swords or axes, something that makesit hard for us to be real vikings. But to be serious: we respect the fact that people want to use this image to emphasise certain moods and feelings in the music. I think the most important thing is to have an image you can stand for and that’s not shallow. As mentioned, we don’t have any specific image. This means that we have no political or religious message.

Do you know anything about Russia? Any Russian bands you’ve heard lately?

- These things entered my mind at once: alcohol, communism (Gorbatsjov), Jeltsin touching our queen Sonja’s ass, big winterfur hats and Dostojevskiy. My knowledge about Russian bands is, as for the rest of the metal scene, very poor.

Well, thanks for your answers! Now it’s time for the concluding words of yours…

- Thank you for the showing interest in the band. I hope you keep on supporting new bands as this is a great opportunity to get known in the scene. It’s also inspiring knowing that people believe in the band, so thanks again for contacting us!

Contact through Prophecy Productions -
Email: prophecy@t-online.de