ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 Cover Issue 24 | Page 38

PAGE 38 THE NORSEMAN COMPANY ROCKNATION ISSUE 24 Hello Geir with The Norseman Company and welcome to Rocknation. You are a drummer from the band Humbucker and now your new band is called The Norseman Company. How did you come up with that name? Thank you! I truly highly appreciate you having me here! Well..the name.. although the album might be described as a solo album, (I have written all the songs, are co-producing and organizing everything), I had no desire to have my own name on the cover. Let’s be realistic, I am not Paul Stanley nor David Coverdale, so I thought it would be wiser and more exiting for people to have a project name... Besides, it really is a company of people making this anyway...I am not alone, so it felt more right. You have some amazing artwork going on please tell us how you hooked up with the US artist Eric Ridgeway for that. Thank you! I will make sure to tell Eric that! I am very happy and proud of this cover! It is everything I wanted and more! I was originally going to call the project The Lynchburg Company, simply because I like the sound of that word and I am also a big fan of US western movies, so I thought it sounded good. I was looking online for a cool rock and roll outlaw picture for the cover and after a month or so, I found a really cool one. The artist was Eric Ridgeway, located in Detroit, USA. I found his contact info and sent him an email asking if I could use his image. He was all cool about it and very nice to chat with. But why not make an original one? Good idea! After a while, one thing led to another and the image turned into a viking. Now the word Lynchburg suddenly sounded very misplaced and I decided to change it to The Norseman Company. Norseman is the old word for Norwegian or Scandinavian and with the Viking on the cover, this made the package so much more right. I live in Norway, the majority of the musicians is Norwegians/Scandinavians...It all felt right... Please tell us about what musicians are involved in this band. Sure. I am a very lucky guy... Some of Norway’s finest musicians will be on this album. I am very proud of that! We have all ready recorded guitars with legendary Norwegian guitar hero, Peer Gynt on one track. We have also one of Norway’s finest piano players on that track too. Daniel Roessing was chosen by Chuck Berry when he did his tour in 2007-08, and a better recognition as a piano player is hard to get. He layed down some groovy Jon Lord’ish red hot rock and roll piano on it. That song is “Dirty Nelly” which will be a classic rock and roll song in the Whitesnake/ Mott The Hoople style. I also have Mike Noberg from Sweden’s Blacksmith Legacy playing bass and singing one song. Danish vocalist Martin Steene from Danish metal band Iron Fire is singing on two songs and I got my good friend, legendary Canadian rock star, Brian Vollmer, singing one song. I can’t reveal all, it’s over twenty people involved on this album, and there might still be some minor changes but I can’t remember last time I was this exited! You have a huge lineup of producers and studios for this release please tell us about that. Well, I always believed that one should do the best one can when making something others might buy. A homemade half way done album is not something I will do. And never change a winning team they say, so I have my dream team from Humbucker’s second album ‘King Of The World’ also doing this one. That means we are producing the album at Stargate Studios in Trondheim-Norway. My buddy Hallgeir Rustan (Stage Dolls, Cher, Elton John) will produce it together with myself. It will be mixed and mastered in the US by legendary producer Beau Hill ( Ratt, Warrant, Winger, Alice Cooper, Europe etc..etc..) and the CD and vinyl package will be designed in the UK by Hugh Gilmour ( Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Humble Pie, Whitesnake etc..etc..). I want people to get value for their buck when purchasing this album, and I truly believe that is secured...! Humbucker your last band had some music placements in a movie, please tell us about that. Sure. That is really cool. I have a publishing deal with acclaimed music supervisor Michael Davenport and his Expressive artists Company in the US. He has placed ‘Dipstick Joe’, a song I wrote for Humbucker’s first album ‘R.O.C.K.S’ in a new US horror movie called ‘Happy Hunting’. Go see it if you get a chance! In today’s business it is important to be able to stand on more than one leg, and I am looking forward to see what Mr. Davenport might get out of the new songs as well when they’re done! If you had to tell someone what your music sounded like, what bands would you mention? Without a doubt Kiss, Whitesnake, Helix, Poison, Aerosmith etc.. I am a big fan of the eighties and that’s the kind of music I write. What plans do you have for 2017? This year we will record as much of the album as we can. It will be out late 2018, but the plan release wise this year is to have a 3-track EP out as soon as possible, probably this year but very early next year at the latest. That will be Dirty Nelly together with two more songs. I am also just about done designing the new website and t-shirts are being designed as well. A lot of stuff are going on at the moment! Thank you for taking time for this interview any last words to the fans? Thank you Sir! It’s an honor! I hope the fans will embrace this album when it’s out. I have had some wonderful years with Humbucker in getting connected with a lot of fans out there and hopefully that will continue. I truly appreciate everyone who has followed my work so far and hope that everyone will enjoy The Norseman Company as well! Please visit and like The Norseman Company on Facebook... you will get all the progress info there. Thank you each and every one of you out there! Cheers from Norway everyone!