Embarking on a musical journey deeply rooted in the rich tapestry of Nordic culture, Nebala emerges as a captivating force that seamlessly weaves ancient traditions into contemporary sounds. Hailing from a region steeped in mythology, landscapes, and age-old tales, this band transcends the ordinary, offering listeners a sonic experience that transports them to the heart of the Nordic spirit. Check out our interview with Jonas!
Benedetta
Hello Jonas! How are you doing?
Jonas Lorentzen
Good. And yourself?
Benedetta
Quite good, thank you very much for asking. So earlier this year you’ve released the live concert you played at the Midgardsblot. How do you feel that the audience and the press have reacted to this live recording?
Jonas Lorentzen
The press has been extremely generous, I would say, generally towards both their reviews of live shows and also reviews of the live album. The audience, by the comments and so on online, they’re definitely seeming like they’re digging what we’re doing, so I’m pretty happy with this.
Benedetta
Yeah, definitely. The atmospheres you create in each track are so mesmerizing; I was wondering, after this release, if you have any more shows planned or maybe some new projects that are lining up?
Jonas Lorentzen
I was just sitting with my band members and we were having a meeting about what we’re going to be doing in the next couple of months. And so we don’t have any shows for the foreseeable future, we were negotiating with some in for spring and summer and autumn, but until then we’re recording a new album. So that’s what we’re focusing on right now. Winter is a great time to do that, you know? Just lock yourself in a room and try to come up with some new ideas and so on. So that’s what we’re doing right now.
Benedetta
Absolutely. And returning to the live shows I was wondering, how do you prepare the setlist for your performance?
Jonas Lorentzen
That’s an interesting question at the moment because it seems to me to be an ever-changing thing. We started with one idea for the two first shows that we played in 2022: there we had one idea and how we prepared everything and how we arranged it so we were able to play it live. That whole production was very intent on being as true to the album as we could be and creating the biggest amount of sound. But now I think we’ve gone a little bit away from that approach, and we’re going to be doing things slightly differently so that when people come to see a Nebala show they will hear the songs that are on the album but they will be in slightly new and different versions. We will change things up and we will be a little bit more free in the way we play things, which I think will give it a beautiful element of chaos, it’s going to be awesome.
Benedetta
Oh, that’s wonderful. Nebala is a group focused on Nordic culture. What kind of message or feeling do you hope that the listeners take with them when they listen to your music?
Jonas Lorentzen
Maybe I’ll answer your question in reverse, perhaps. When it comes to the feeling, that is the main focus of any kind of artist: on a particular world or a realm of feeling that you want them to get into. And I think for me, the most important thing with Nebala is to create a space of immersion into something that you’re kind of in a way transported, but not in the sense that you’re transported away from where you are. You’re transported very much to where you are. That’s what I would love to be able to do. Whatever people get out of it afterward, when they analyze the feeling that they had, or if they were in touch with their ancestors, or maybe they felt that they were in touch with just a deep sense of peace, or something ecstatic… As long as they felt that they were in touch with something and they were there present with that feeling at that moment, then I’ll be really happy if that’s what the music can do. And therefore, coming also to the first thing you said about it being music that comes from the Nordic culture, I would say, yes. That’s probably inevitable since I am from the Nordic countries and relate to the Nordics in terms of finding the Nordic animistic perspective, and then the Nordic traditions that were dead but are now being revived. I find that project very interesting, but also a sort of perennial experience: one that could, that no matter where you’re from, you’d be able to have that experience. It’s more important for me to cultivate that experience in the music than for it to be particularly Nordic or particularly anything else for that matter. Also, I feel attracted to many other traditions, and I want to feel free to draw inspiration from such cultures and traditions. If it makes sense, artistically, then I would love to do it. And if it’s done with respect and with reverence and from where you’re taking from and all that.
Benedetta
Will you share with us an unpopular opinion if you have one?
Jonas Lorentzen
Is this where we’ve come to? We’ve come to a part where having an unpopular opinion has become something that is almost dirty. Like, it’s like “I’ll show you your mine if you show me yours”. The problem with this question is probably that I have so many but I also don’t know what an unpopular opinion is anymore because I see all these woke issues, for instance, right? And I see those people who are promoting a lot of those kinds of issues to be extremely aggressive. But on the other side, you have the people that don’t like them and they’re extremely aggressive as well. It’s difficult to have an opinion about anything because you’re so quickly put in any kind of bracket… Maybe it’s an unpopular opinion to be of the opinion that you cannot have an opinion anymore. I think a lot of people are starting to realize that.
Benedetta
Another controversial question. Who is the messiest person in Nebala?
Jonas Lorentzen
Oh, shit. I think that might be me. Yeah, there was another guy, he’s not playing with the band anymore, but he might’ve been messier. But that’s not the reason he’s not with us anymore. It’s just different things that didn’t work out, timing-wise, practical things.
Benedetta
Do you think that it’s harder for women to be in the music industry, or have you ever witnessed some sort of mistreatment towards Ilaria or any other female artists that you’ve worked with?
Jonas Lorentzen
That’s actually a really good question, and I think it’s an important question. I wish it wasn’t, of course, I wish we didn’t need to talk about racism or male chauvinism or any of these things, but they are unfortunately still there. And I think in any business men and women are increasingly working together. That is a good thing, but I think we’re still at the time where we’re still working out how to figure out how to work together in these settings. In the olden times, it was different, people were much more organized into their little pockets of stuff that they did. You know, the farmer, he got up in the morning, went down to the farm, came back in the evening, and his wife had to stay at home and make sure everything was there, and make sure that he had his food when he came home. Everyone was locked into these systems. We’re not anymore. We’re all out and creating all these new worlds, creating this new world. I mean, I feel in some sense that’s what’s happening right now, and it’s not to get all too ahead of myself, and I will get back to your question. But I just feel like I need to preface it a little bit with this thing. I think we are heading into a new world and we are standing at a very interesting point in time where we can choose what kind of world we want to see. It can be a horrible world filled with hatred and an inability to heal past traumas. Or we can really envision a beautiful new world. And I think that a beautiful new world also has to maybe be based on a few things that we take from the past. I think gallantry in men has gone away quite a bit in the West with modernism because it was sort of seen as a part of the oppressor’s way. But I don’t think it is. I think men standing up and being men and also protecting women in situations where women need to be protected, (usually from other men) is a super important thing. Without taking away the differences that are between men and women, we have to go beyond that we are men and women when we’re in the workplace. When we’re in the workplace, we’re people first, and there are certain things, certain ways that you would want to be treated, and that’s equal for both sexes. With respect and dignity and to be seen. Equal pay will come as a natural cause of that. I think that is mostly been cleared out in most of the Western world and if it’s still happening I don’t think you’ll see that in 10 years. Also, I don’t think logically it would be possible because if you look at the universities right now, they’re filled with women. There are many places in the Western world and more women than men in most of the universities. So that’s just automatically going to change. I’m not worried about that one. What I am worried about is whether we’ll be able to treat each other with respect and see each other. Because that’s the one thing that I think we’re not doing well. We’re not seeing each other. In the workplace, people are not seeing each other. And in such unawareness, that’s where bigotry and oppression and all these things thrive. We have to get to that point first then I think all the other issues will clear. I haven’t seen anything with Ilaria specifically. Ilaria is pretty tough anyway. She’s an Italian woman, you know, she can take one on the chin and she can give it back as well. As long as it’s in the friendly banter or just playing around with things, she’s all good. And I’ve never seen anyone disrespect her or anything, quite the contrary. But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t seen or haven’t been in situations myself, even, where it was difficult to see where the line was drawn. This is also another thing that happens, especially when you’re in a music business, where there’s also a lot of sex. It can be so difficult to know whether you’ve crossed some kind of line because sometimes you don’t know what that other person is not saying. Let’s say you’re in a situation, and you’re flirting with someone and that person doesn’t want to go with you. It kind of feels like they have to, maybe they feel they have to because they feel you have a status over them or whatever it can be. That can be extremely difficult to notice in the situation for the person who is not seeing those signals as well. I’m just mentioning that because I have been in those kinds of situations. I’ve been in them myself. I’ve seen them with other people. Luckily, all of those situations were able to be mitigated and were able to be sorted out respectfully and lovingly. But that’s the key because you won’t be able to completely get out of misunderstandings and all these kinds of things happening. The question is whether those people meet afterward and mitigate and try to work those things out and take them seriously. That something happened here and then go beyond, move on. I’ve never called myself a feminist. Because I was wondering, “Why would I call myself a feminist? I’m a man. I can’t be a feminist.” But if feminism just means that it’s, you want equality between sexes. Exactly. And, and, and, and men, then of course, under that rubric, under those like circumstances, Oh yeah, I am a fucking feminist. Obviously, I’m a feminist. The thing is, what people don’t realize, for women to be women, I feel, men need to be men. Like, because if men aren’t being men, there is no space for women to be women, and vice versa. We’re so much stronger when we’re together. You don’t realize they have a treasure trove of awesomeness that you’re missing out on if you’re keeping your woman from being her full self. I mean, that’s when she’s the full goddess and you can like be ravaged by her awesomeness and her beauty, but when she’s kept down, it doesn’t work.
Benedetta
So, I wanted to play a little game with you, if that’s alright. If, after we finish the interview, someone calls you and says that you have inherited a pizza place, how would you react?
Jonas Lorentzen
I think I would open it, I would be excited, I’d be super happy. Pizza is my first culinary love. And if I opened a pizza place in Italy, I would call it just call it Jonas’s Pizza Place or something like that. And then the little tagline underneath it would say “Make pineapple pizza great again”. That would be such a success. I think people would come and try it just because they would feel like they would have something to hate and it would be fun.
Benedetta
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview with me. Would you like to add anything else to our readers at FemMetal?
Jonas Lorentzen
Terrence McKenna had a very beautiful one-liner. He’s a psychedelic philosopher. I think he died in the early 2000s or something like that. But anyway, at the end of the documentary, he sticks his head out of a car and says “Take it easy, dude, but take it”. This can mean so many things. Take the psychedelic drug, because he did feel that psychedelics was an important part of liberating the human mind and so on. Wrote a lot of stuff about it. The point it’s also life, you know. Should take it easy, but you should take it. Take it easy, be easy, and flow through it, it’s just a ride, but go on it, don’t sit as if you’re just sitting in a waiting room waiting for the next train to take off. Don’t treat people as meaningless extra actors in the movie. It’s not the end of the world if this one choice that you make doesn’t work out. So, just take it easy and take it.
