Hein Hansen and Lorentz Aspen – Theatre of Tragedy: Interview Exclusive
Written by Tazz Stander
Saturday, 03 April 2010 06:00
Tazz Stander recently sat down with Theatre of Tragedy’s Hein Hansen (drums) and Lorentz Aspen (keyboards) ahead of their last ever UK show for their last ever UK interview as Theatre of Tragedy. As it transpires all is not lost for the band, just keep reading, they’re not leaving us for good it seems. So with seventeen years marked up on the chalkboard and the slate about to be washed clean, what have the guys got to say about it?
‘Forever Is The World’, your latest album is due to be released in the next few weeks. Talk me briefly through the ideas behind it.
HH: It’s very difficult to describe, but I can say it’s very atmospheric and it’s an ‘album album’, if you can call it that. It’s not your typical hit single record. When we wrote the record, we wanted to incorporate all the elements that we’ve had with Theatre of Tragedy over the years. In the last seventeen years we have done many different styles and we wanted to make a record that was one final testament since we’re breaking up this fall. We wanted to make something that stands like a monument. We already knew when we were recording it that this would be the last record so we deliberately put in a lot of different elements that could be traced to other releases including cover artwork. It’s a very slow and atmospheric piece.
LA: It’s very typical of us.
It’s well documented that your music has changed drastically from album to album. Which album is it most similar to from your back catalogue and how would you compare it to ‘Aegis’ which was released in 1998 and ‘Storm’ which was released in 2006?
HH: I would say it is the album between ‘Velvet Darkness’ and ‘Aegis’ with a few ‘Storm’ influences.
LA: I would say that is a good description as it contains most of the elements from all those albums.
Also well documented is the fact that Liv Kristine was fired from Theatre of Tragedy. Are any of you still in contact with her?
HH: Oh yeah!
LA: I am and so is Raymond.
Something that I found quite interesting on Wikipedia was that if you clicked on any ex members names, it routes you directly back to Theatre of Tragedy’s main Wikipedia page. Are any of them still pursuing musical careers?
HH: I’m not sure why that is but it’s probably because they haven’t done anything sensible after leaving Theatre of Tragedy. As far as I’m aware, Tommy Olsson who was on ‘Aegis’, was in a band called Elusive, a gothic rock band. They put out three records but have broken up recently. All the other guys have almost quit music.
(Laughing) Because the aren’t in Theatre any more?
HH: Because they were in Theatre that’s why.
LA: They have been trying and trying but not getting anywhere.
HH: I think Tommy the original guitarist is trying to get somewhere.
If only everyone could see the little grins on your faces! Seventeen years ago it all began and here we sit doing your last ever UK interview. It’s been stated that you all want a ‘normal’ life. Emotionally, how are you feeling about not being part of the Theatre family any more?
HH: This band will always be my family. The guys and the girl we’ve got now, it’s not going to go away. Even though we won’t be in Theatre any more, we are probably going to be doing musical things together.
LA: We will be staying in touch, do music together but not the same concept as Theatre.
HH: Everything around this record has gone so smoothly.
LA: Yes it did, but it would be wrong to continue with Theatre because we all have different motivations.
HH: So the normal life part is not like we want a normal life. Theatre of Tragedy is our outlet from our normal lives. Lorentz, Raymond and I are the only three original members now and if you lose a certain amount of original members, it makes it a bit ridiculous to keep on playing as that band. I think it’s just being honest towards the fans. I think you are able to change or replace a guitar player or a drummer or even a keyboard player but you can’t replace singers all the time. That is the main identity of any band. It’s like when Iron Maiden had Blaze Bailey in the band it wasn’t Iron Maiden anymore it was something else. Even though they were still good, it wasn’t what the fans were expecting. We know that but I do think that Nell has done a tremendous job.
I must say, I do prefer Nell’s vocals to Liv’s.
LA: Us as well. The first live shows we did with her in Germany were very different but she is confident, she sings well and she also has the look. Of course we lost some fans but we picked up other new ones too.
HH: With Liv it was getting to the point where it became difficult to work together, and we got blamed for being so cruel to her by kicking her out the band, but everyone needs to understand that all stories have two sides and if people seriously think that we would kick out our main singer for no reason is deluded. It had nothing to do with Liv’s performance or voice, she’s a great performer with a great voice who has contributed to make Theatre of Tragedy what we were and still are. She definitely deserves respect and recognition for that but at the same time, it’s the band that makes the band, we keep making the music and doing it. She didn’t really contribute on the song writing process, she was more into doing vocal lines so for us it was great to have Nell in the band who is very active on the song writing side. She writes songs, lyrics, vocal lines, and even comes up with suggestions on the drums, the whole process. She is a lot more involved. She has also been kicking us in the ass to get a move on with things.
When you look aback over the span of your seventeen-year career, what would you say was the highest point?
HH: Standing on a stage in Beirut, looking out at the Mediterranean Sea and the stage that they built specifically for us to play on and looking at 2 000 crazy Lebanese fans that we didn’t even know existed before we got there. That was amazing.
Awesome. When was that?
HH: That was in 2002. I think my biggest regret would be that we didn’t do more live shows, and play in more places. We’ve never been to Japan or the US.
I guess you could always play there with whatever band you’re going to be forming after this.
HH: The thing is, with Theatre, you have a name and a reputation. It’s recognisable and people know it.
Then again, so many bands nowadays are reforming and touring so you never know what might happen in the future.
[Both Hein and Lorentz just smiled]
Finally, this is your last message to your UK fans, what do you have to say to them?
HH: For some strange reason we have always had a really hard time in the early days getting into the UK market and then after Nell joined the band, it all loosened up and we have got a lot more attention and that is quite cool as the UK is a very difficult place to get recognition. When we started out in the mid 90’s, we were frowned upon by the UK press. I do think that our music has had a lot of influences from the UK, a lot of our influences are derived from here.
LA: I just hope our fans continue listening to our albums.
Thanks very much guys and good luck with your future projects.
HH: No problem, thank you.
And with that Hein and Lorentz left me to play their last ever UK show as Theatre Of Tragedy. Quite what the future will bring these guys no one knows right now, but with seventeen years of pioneering goth metal behind them you can bet it won’t be very long before they are back on UK stages plying their trades. Whatever they decide to do Über Röck wishes them well in the future.