10 Quick Ones with MAGNUS BØRMARK of 22 – October 2018

According to a recent press release: “Just after completing their European tour with Leprous and Agent Fresco Norwegian Progressive Rock Band 22 is back with a new single titled “Call Me Trimtab”. It’s the first new song taken from the double album You Are Creating, which will be released on November 23rd via Long Branch Records and Indie Recordings (Nordics). 22 have defined their own musical domain as an eclectic, melodic, energetic and stadium-appealing progressive rock outfit. You Are Creating is a conceptual album divided into two limbs, making it up to the listener to create a whole of these two parts, trusting the active participation of the listener.” We get guitarist Magnus to discuss new music, influences, and much more in our 10 Quick Ones…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets the band put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

YOU ARE CREATING is a concept album embracing the principle of the listener being a co-creator of the musical experience, and not just a passive consumer. The music on this album, and all art in general, is merely a tool which the perceiver utilizes and starts exploring their own respective emotions, thoughts and dreams. The song YOU ARE CREATING is a direct explanation of the concept, and is in itself a meta-song, claiming that the song in itself is not heard, it us being created by you. As usual with 22, there are a lot of easter eggs and hidden connections both musically and lyrically. In the artwork there is a specific code to gather that one can enter on our website an unlock some deeper content.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

My big brother played music, so at an early age I just aped after him. He was half african, so I was always jealous of his “african time”, his sense of rhythm. I played drums in a marching band for 5 years, whilst learning piano and guitar by ear. When I was 16, I heard Radiohead for the first time, and got exposed to the unusual sounds that came out of Johnny Greenwood’s guitar. That is when I realized: “I want to make weird sounds with the guitar”, worked double shifts delivering the paper in the morning, and started buying effects pedals. When I started touring as a 17 year old, I was still borrowing the guitar and the amp, but I owned  a lot of effects pedals.

3. Who would be your main five musical influences?

Kate Bush, Radiohead, The Blood Brothers, Mew, and Tool

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be?

The producer Rich Costey.

5. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before?

To some the words “modern rhythmically oriented progressive melodic pop rock” might make sense.

6. What’s the best thing about being a musician?

To be able to communicate something undefinable through rhythms and notes.

7. When the band are all hanging out together, who cooks; who gets the drinks in; and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

I cook. Andreas gets the drinks in. And all chime in for a 4-part harmonized singalong.

8. If you weren’t a musician, what would be your dream job?

Actor or farmer.

9. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over”?

I thoroughly enjoy where I am right now, and every choice and “mistake” ever done has led me to here. Hence, I accept and acknowledge the value of all haps and mishaps. It is the failures that you learn from.

10. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

I would love to a part of the Hounds of Love session with Kate Bush. As a songwriter and a producer, to me, she would not care about the conventions or what was deemed “right or wrong” at the time. She would just follow her intuition, until the music felt right. I love her ability to charge emotions in to weird sounds, bizarre affects, strange singing styles and spoken words etc etc.

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Category: Interviews