Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

OCTOBER TIDE originated with a 1994 demo tape created by KATATONIA members Jonas Renkse and Fred Norrman. Some days ago I had a chance to interview band’s founder and guitarist Fred Norrman, and he told me the latest news of October Tide’s presence and future plans.

– Hi Fred, i’m Tarja. Welcome to MSFinland! Today’s May Day, how you spent it and does it have any significance for you?

Hi Tarja and thanx! I guess i should have been out on the streets to support all the working class heros today but i´ve been busy with the new album. To be honest i´ve never been really interested in politics until we got the new blue government. The way they destroy the contry and treat people is not acceptable.

– October Tide was formed in 1994 by you and Jonas. Tell me about the early years, and is there any special story behind this band name?

Yeah, we were formed in 1994 when Katatonia split up. We recorded our first album “Rain without end ” in 1995. I can´t remember any story behind the bandname but a guess is that it has something to do with we were formed in late ´94

– You played in Katatonia from 1994 to 2009, when you left Katatonia and reformed October Tide in 2009, after a couple of “silent” years. What would you like to tell us about that change? And what is your relationship with Katatonia-guys today?

I´m still friend with the Kata guys. I came to a point were i had to make a choice, and unfortunately i couldn´t no longer continue in Katatonia. It was a hard decision to make.

– Introduce us your current members and their roles. And how’s your band-spirit today?

With me from the new start i have Robin Bergh on drums and Emil Alstermark on guitar. New members is Alexander Högbom on vox and my brother Mattias “Kryptan” Norrman on bass. The bandspirit is really good, we´re a bunch of old and new friends who enjoy playing music and of course the parties that comes along with it 😉

– You’re playing death/doom metal. How would you describe your own approach to it?

I guess death/doom with a few progressive parts it´s a quite good description.

– Which bands have influenced you the most?

Quite obviouis is Parardise lost, Iron maiden…..not really their music but i´m really fascinated by Adrian Smith´s guitarplaying, Red house painters is also a big influence

– Recently you have signed with Pulverised Records. How do you see this new label will change the band’s future?

What i know about them so far is only good. I can only hope they will promote us the best they can. It can´t be worse than Candlelight who didn´t do anything
– You’re currently working on your fourth full-length which will be recorded during May and June. How it’s proceeding?

It´s going really well. All the songs are finished and now we´re rehearsing and making them better.

– What can you reveal us about the this upcoming album?

It will be better than A Thin Shell 😉 I tried to mix our past with the new and fresh. It´s a lot more guitar harmonies like the ones you find on the early OT/Katatoina albums

– How it will differ to your latest release “A Thin Shell” (2010)?

Like i already said the whole guitarwork is different. On ATS i wanted the vox to do the main job.

– How in generally your new song sees the daylight? and from where you take the ideas for the song-themes?

Normally i come up with a almost finished song and than we get together and make changes and finish up the arrangement.

– Between the studio-sessions do you have time to play live? and how will your summer be? any festival-permormances?

We havn´t played that much live so far so yes we have plenty of time 😉 We have a few fests this summer in Estonia, Germany, slovenia and sweden.

– Thinking these past years, what have been the most immemorial moments in OCTOBER TIDE’s history?

Of course when we decided to start the band after Katatonia´s split up which was quite turbulent. We weren´t really a band in the beginning. more of a project since we were only me and Jonas, no gigs or whatsoever so there´s not so many moments exept for the making of the albums 😉

– And where would you like to see yourselves in 5 years from now?

That we´ve released a 5th album and made a few tours.

– Some words about you and the guitar… at what age you started to play and what was the moment you knew it’s gonna be the life-time relationship?

Think i began to play at the age of 11-12 something, started out with covers but quite soon i made my own crap 😉

– Fred, thanks a lot for this interview! Now the word is yours, anything you’d like to say to our (worldwide) readers and to your fans?

Be good and support the underground, check our webpages for the latest news. Cheers//f

Interview by Tarja Virmakari

For more information, please visit: http://www.octobertide.net