Intervju - Mats Haugen, Circus Maximus Circus Maximus släppte tidigare i år ett av de mest intressanta proggressiva albumen på länge. Ett ypperligt norskt Dream Theater, om ni så vill. Dessutom betydligt mer vitala än de gamla hjältarna från New York. Vi tog tillfället i akt och drog iväg lite frågor som vi tyckte att vi behövde få svar på. Här har ni resultatet, signerade gitarristen Mats Haugen. First of all, tell us the story of Circus Maximus so far! Mats: Truls and I have played together for about 11 years or something. We played together in a band called Total Blackout. Michael joined the band and the three of us played together for several years before we started to look for the rest. Then one night Michael was out drinking and partying with some friends. He took a cab and of course talked to the taxi driver about everything. The funny thing is that the taxi driver happened to know a bass player named Olav Dale. Mike got his number and called him. He was very interested and we started to rehearse at once. The only thing we needed then was a keyboard player. We got in touch with Espen through the Norwegian Scream magazine. Finally the circle was complete. Or at least for about two years. Olav left the band due to personal reasons. Then we contacted our mutual friend and bass player Glen Mollen. He wanted to join and convinced us with his great playing. The rest is history. Who came up with the name and why that name, since there actually is a big circus of that name? Mats: Well, the name came from a computer game that me and my brother (Truls) played when we were young. Somewhere in the game you enter a computer within a computer and the password was 'Circus Maximus'. Then we thought it was cool, so we decided to use it for future band or something. Let´s go through the album "The 1st chapter" song by song! Who wrote it, fun memories from the recording sessions, story behind the song etc? "Sin" Mats: The music is written by Truls ,Glen and me. Lyrics by Michael. This was the first song we recorded. Lyrically it´s a story about good and evil. "Alive" Mats: Lyrics by Mike and music by me. Lyrically it´s kind of a love story. We liked to joke about this song being our contribution to the Eurovision song contest...hehe "Glory of the empire" Mats: The music is written by Truls, Espen and me. Lyrics by Mike. The story is influenced by Roman history. This song is one of the songs that got us signed with Sensory Records US. "Biosfear" Mats: Music by Truls, Espen and me. We had no fun recording this song...he-he. "Silence from angels above" Mats: Written by me, both lyrics and music. It´s a song about a schizophrenic man that is locked inside an asylum. "Why am I here" Mats: Music by Truls and me. Lyrics by Truls, Mike and me. This song is the one based on some of our oldest ideas. "The prophecy" Mats: The music is written by Truls and me. Lyrics by Mike and me. This song is about the end of the world and man trying to prevent it. "The 1st chapter" Mats: Music by Espen, Truls and me. Lyrics by Truls, Mike and me. This story is inspired by the album cover and Greek mythology. The most annoying song to record on the whole album. "Haunted dreams" Mats: Music by Truls and me. Lyrics by Mike. This song is one of our oldest. It´s from our first demo and we didn´t re-record it. What would you say are your major influences? There´s a lot of Dream Theater in there, right? Mats: We have a lot of different influences in the band. Since this is our first release we will be compared to similar acts. That I can understand. I am actually honoured if we are compared to the great ones. They have of course been an inspiration to a lot of bands and generally music lovers. My major influences come from mid 80´s thrash metal and heavy metal like Judas Priest, Testament, Megadeth and Metallica. On September 16 you played with Stratovarius, Angra and others at the Prog power festival in Atlanta, Georgia. Tell us about that! Mats: That was one hell of an experience. The best time in CM´s history at the moment. No doubt!! We played a set for about 45min and the reception from the crowd was overwhelming. We sure want to go back there... What´s the story behind the album cover art work? Who did it? Mats: Mattias Norèn from Progart Media did the cover. I dont know what his story is about it, but we made up our own. What made you decide to produce the album yourselves? Mats: Having total control of our debut was something we´ve always wanted. I think it would have sounded somewhat different if someone else was uttering his opinion about how it should have been.... Are there any other Norwegian prog metal bands we should know of? Mats: We have progressive acts like Pagans Mind, Tritonus and Illusion suite which are all good friends of ours. They represent Norway when it comes to progressive metal. Name five favorite albums and why those five! Mats: For the moment my five faves are: 1. Opeth - Ghost Reveries 2. Symphony X - The divine wings of tragedy 3. Judas Priest - Painkiller 4. Act - Last Epic 5. Kamelot - The Black Halo What´s next for Circus Maximus? Mats: We are currently writing new material for our follow up. Can´t wait to go out on the road and play for all the metal heads out there. Maybe we will also stop by Sweden....he-he. Circus Maximus - Official website
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