Day 2 at Tuska started very great for me, but unfortunately not so good for.the band that I interviewed that day. I had a brief chat with Nicolai Mogensen, and here’s what happened to progressive rock group from Denmark VOLA.
Hello Nicolai, how are you doing?
I’m doing very well. I’m looking forward to tonight. We’ve lost all of our gear flying here. We have been met with a lot of helpfulness, so it looks like we can still play, but I don’t know exactly how it will be. So it will be interesting. It hasn’t happened to us before. So I’m a little bit more stressed than usual, but it’s fun as well. I think it would be one of those shows you’ll remember a lot. None of the bags arrived. We have actually never lost anything and we have been flying a lot. But this time, I don’t know what happened in Copenhagen airport. I think everything’s still in Copenhagen. It should be resolved now. But of course, not the gear you’re used to. So that will be a fun exercise!
That is unfortunate! What is the feeling that you have when you play at summer shows?
You never really know exactly what to expect. So I just try to have as much fun as I can, because at the festival there will be people who don’t know you, who are just listening to the music in another way than the fans do. So it’s just about being open-minded to everything, I think. I’m always looking forward to that challenge when you’re playing at a festival where you also try to win over new people. That’s why we are there as well, to get new fans.
Are there any myths you’d like to dispel about bass players?
There are many of them. I think some of them are true. But for a long time, I considered myself a big guitar player because I started playing the guitar. Me and Asger, the guitar player, we are playing in the same octave or same range. So we are playing kind of the same notes a lot of the time. So maybe I’m not a hundred percent the bass player; that will be my excuse; I’m in between. Many of the bass players I knew have the same role in the band. Like I do a lot of the practical stuff as well. Maybe that’s a true myth, like that. For instance, a lead singer might not be the most practical guy in the band. I book all the flights and make sure our bags arrive (apparently not so well!), and I also write some of the rifts on guitar and stuff. So I’m not useless!
Do you think it’s harder for women to stay in the metal music industry?
I think in the music industry, it’s more difficult. I have a lot of female friends who play music. So I know some of the issues they face, which we don’t think about too much being a man. There’s definitely still a way to go. I think it’s better than it probably was 10 or 20 years ago. So that’s the hope that it will be getting better. And the more female musicians get out on stage, the more people will be inspired by it. I think that’s the big thing. Inspiring young kids that they can do it too, no matter what gender they have. It’s always great to see that as well. I think there are female bands that are doing really well. Most of them are just female-fronted, but there are also some cool bands where females are playing the instruments. That’s the next step because I think girls have been singing for a long time. And now it’s time for bass players, guitar players, and drummers to start getting inspired. So I hope that will happen soon and we can help it somehow. It’s not an easy question. I’m confident that it will be better, but it still takes a long time.
I wanted to play a little game with you, if that’s okay. Let’s say that after this interview, someone calls you and says that you’ve inherited a pizza place in Rome. What do you do?
Oh, that’s a good question. I will probably try and see if I can sell it. I really like Italy. Maybe it could be like a place where I could go on holiday, but I have two kids at home in Denmark and are happy to be living there. So I don’t think I would move to Rome just for the pizza place. So I would probably look at, like, how can I get rid of it. But it would also be cool to have on the resume to have a pizza place like that, but it’s too far away to take away.
Thank you, Nicolai, for taking the time to do this interview. Is there anything else you’d like to add to the readers?
Yeah, I’m just looking forward to playing tonight, and music is fun. So start playing!
Hi! My name is Benedetta, I’m 29 and I live in Northern Italy. My passion has always been music: I started taking guitar lessons when I was 6. Now I work as a sales representative, but in my free time I interview talented people, I spread the word about my favorite band (MoonSun), and I go to concerts or travel around Europe.
I am a huge collector of anything Tolkien-related, autographs, merchandise, and CDs. I am quite an original person and don’t mind being the voice outside of the choir (even though I play in the church’s choir!).
