PRESUMABLY YOU’RE ALL STUPIDLY EXCITED ABOUT TOURING WITH SLAYER AND ANTHRAX?
Erlend Hjelvik (vocals): “I’m very excited that the ‘Big Three’ tour is finally happening! Everyone who knows their metal history would be stoked to see this. We’re working on our third album at the moment, so we might be playing a new song from that. It’s still a little early to say, but the few songs I’ve heard so far have a certain classic rock vibe. The new stuff will definitely sound like Kvelertak.”
HOW DO YOU INTEND TO WIN OVER THE FAMOUSLY DIFFICULT SLAYER CROWD EVERY NIGHT?
“I’ve heard before that it might be a thankless job to warm up for Slayer, crowd-wise, and if this tour was in the States I might be a bit more worried, especially after watching the famous Slayer fan documentary with the gangsters, bikers and all. That being said, I’m confident that the crowd knows that Slayer won’t be hitting the stage any sooner if they yell ‘Slayer!’ throughout our show. We’re up for the challenge and we’re certain we’ll be blowing at least a handful of minds every night, ha ha ha!”
HOW ROCK’N’ROLL ARE KVELERTAK AFTER A FEW YEARS OF TOURING?
“These days we are 50% rock and 50% roll. Much better than before, when we used to be 67% roll and only 33% rock.”
SUPPORTING SLAYER IS A DONE DEAL… SO NOW WHO TOPS YOUR LIST OF BANDS YOU’D LOVE TO PLAY SHOWS WITH?
“I’ve been saying before that it doesn’t get much better than warming up for Slayer. They were pretty much on top of that list, but the only band that would be better would be Black Sabbath or AC/DC… but preferably in the 70s. I’ve put a time machine on our rider, so maybe that will happen sometime in the future!”
