Just one year has passed since their last record, Motorpsycho are already ready with a new (double) album: Inspired by the Tower of Babel, "The Tower" is a fascinating total work of art from cover to lyrics to music. eclipsed spoke with a good-humoured Bent Sæther about the new creative phase of a band that has just repositioned itself in terms of personnel and style.
When Bent Sæther calls punctually from his mobile phone, eclipsed sends a message that due to a cold the voice is not so firm, which makes the motor psycho head laugh: "That's bad. We're rehearsing, and I'm deaf as hell. You must speak loudly now!" However, as Sæther is in the best of remood, this does not pose a major problem in the further course of the game.
At the beginning of the conversation there has to be the question about the new drummer Tomas Järmyr, who integrated himself into the band in no time. After the departure of the formidable Kenneth Kapstad, however, the Norwegians did not have to look long for an adequate replacement: "Tomas went to the same jazz academy as Kenneth. We know the people there and we're in touch with them. You have to imagine it this way: These are all musicians who are drilled to play jazz, and they want to break out at some point to do something loud and wild, and motor psychos are perfectly suited for that."
Sæther muses that there have certainly been some changes with the new drummer, but as a musician you have grown too close to your own sound to be able to name these changes. "It's like my grandma's three-legged bedside table. If one leg breaks, the others can't stand. So we stabilize each other and influence each other's play in an elementary way."
