The last 9th April we could get in touch with a multifaceted artist well-known within the more symphonic branch of metal, the Norwegian singer Liv Kristine. With a wide and varied career behind her, and different chapters in her personal life that have kept her somewhat out of the spotlight, we held a relaxed and very positive conversation about her current moment in life and what she has in store for the future, an important reflection on leaving behind the traumas of the past and focusing on the present moment, something that we all have been able to experience in these times of pandemic.
Leticia Ballester
M.S: Hi Liv! Welcome to our website. How are you? It’s so nice to see you! It’s been quite a while!
Liv: Hi! Indeed! I’m trying to remember when was the last time we met… Was it when I played solo?
M.S: No… I think it was 2015 in Madrid.
Liv: Right! It’s so good to see you again!
M.S: Same here. It’s been a crazy year with the pandemic, so tell me a little bit about your 2020.
Liv: Well, 2020 was really really crazy I have to say. But the positive thing is that I have a safe job. I’m a teacher for children with special needs, and young people with special needs, and they need to be taken care of, so my job is safe and my salary is safe and I’m really happy. The situation back in 2016 when my life took a turn and I had to leave my old life, I had to search for a job; I needed to get some income. And then, somehow the Universe gave me the chance to work with young people who have special needs and abilities, especially with autistic children. It’s just something that I never studied really, but it’s like an inner goal during these times when it’s hard to be a musician because you can’t perform live, you can’t reach out to your audience in a direct way. But still, I’m having my safe job and that brought me to the point where I said “Okay, if I can’t play gigs, what can I do?” So I started giving vocal coaching sessions, and I have to say it’s been a rough year, I’m kind of tired, but at the same time I’m happy and tired, so it’s good. It’s good. It’s been an amazing year, and I’ve cleaned up so much stuff in my life, I’ve had time to go inside and really rethink my whole life and to reorganize my whole life and I have to say… It’s a blessing that we are safe and sound, and I hope you are too!
M.S: Concerning health, we’re all fine, we’re good. And as you said, 2020 has been very challenging and we all had time to rethink everything. There’s been both good and bad things, on one hand I still couldn’t go back to my main job, and on the other I had time to focus on the secondary one… last year I was giving online dancing lessons from my living room hahaha. As you said, I needed to reinvent myself and we all had time to rethink everything that’s going on in our lives. We have to think about the positive things that 2020 left.
Liv: Yes, absolutely.
M.S: After all these years, and especially as you said this last year that has been quite rough, you are coming back renewed and with a lot of strength with two side projects, which is on one side your coming back to the solo career, and of course with Coldbound which is a brand new project, and they are so different between each other. What can you tell us about both? And also, what does this difference give you?
Liv: Well, I have to say it feels like going back to the 90s when there was Theatre of Tragedy and also my solo project. Having these two channels to express my art… And the Coldbound story started with Pauli getting in touch with Michael, my fiancé, because they’ve been friends for many years, and Pauli had this great song and he said “Could you please show this to Liv?”, and Michael showed me the song, he said “It’s for Pauli, for Coldbound. He’s one of my best friends, have a listen.” I had a listen and I thought “Okay… Okay, I need to do this song. I really need to do this song. This was written for me.” So I recorded it and sent it to Pauli, and he said “Okay, this song was written for us” and I thought “Okay. So, what if there would be more music like this coming from Pauli, coming from Sweden?”… And then there was more coming. And at some point Meiju had joined Colbound, she is the master of ethnic sounds, she brings in the Universal sounds, and I thought it was great because I’ve been following her work and Pauli’s work for so many years, and then they asked me to join. And it’s a magic triplet. It’s the three of us, and you know what? We never met! We never met because there was Covid in between, and my flights have been canceled so many times, but it doesn’t matter, technology fixes it, and I’m about to start building up my own little recording set here so I can record the vocals… It’s the only way; it’s the only solution now to continue with everything.
Coldbound
So, then “Slumber of Decay” was released and it seems like the Universe, the fans were really happy about it. And at the same time my album with Tommy Olsson, my solo album, is nearly ready, but I also wanted to go to Norway, the same situation, I couldn’t go to see him. So, I have three songs left to record and then we will have that album finished too. But we released the EP because I just felt like my patient fans and followers and friends, I really want to give them something, so that’s why you have me on vinyl for the first time. That’s why you have recordings of live shows next to new songs. So yes, lots of stuff happening and I have to say it’s a very uplifting frequency to have both, because of course I missed Theatre of Tragedy when they weren’t there anymore, and I missed Leaves’ Eyes when I couldn’t be there anymore. So it feels like “Okay (sighs), I’m home. I’m home.” It’s good. It’s great. I’m so grateful.
M.S: We all missed listening to your music. For us as well is like going back home. After quite a while without listening to some new stuff from you, within a couple of months we had “Slumber of Decay” and the new EP… I can’t but think “Thank God we have Liv back”.
Liv: Thank you so much. Thank you.
M.S: Talking about “Slumber of Decay”, it sounds amazing, and as you said, it’s going back to your roots, very 90’s, very Theatre of Tragedy…But if you think about it, it’s kind of fresh because that kind of music is not sounding nowadays, and many people don’t know much about that kind of music. What can you tell us about this?
Liv: Yes, you’re so right! It’s a very very good question! We were in the middle of creating the Beauty and the Beast concept and including classical instruments with metal, making romantic metal I would say, Shakespearean metal, which was called Gothic Metal, the Beauty and the Beast concept, and that came out of Norway with Theatre of Tragedy at the mid 90s, and then somehow many many new bands came and adapted to the style and even made it better, some bands did it differently, and it was a very creative period of time for this kind of music, very innovative time. And then I had the feeling that it kind of just flattened out. And I kind of missed it but I thought “Well, it seems to be a natural process that after the peak it’s going down. So let’s see what happens”. And I really thought “Okay. Let’s wait for the gold moment to bring it back on spot”, and the good thing is that we still have the audience back from the times of Theatre of Tragedy and we have new listeners and that is just a wonderful wonderful situation for us, because we can show our creativity to people who already know this kind of genre and to people who are interested in getting to know it. So it’s a blessing I have to say, it was the right kind of time, so I had a break and it seemed like the world had a break from this kind of music. So here we are back on spot.
M.S: And now people go back to those roots and investigate a little bit more, which is kind of nice. Also this year “Velvet darkness the fear” from Theatre of Tragedy is turning 25 years old. People can go deeper into that kind of music.
Liv: I really want to honor this creative process and its genre that blossomed with Theater of Tragedy back then, I want to honor my former band, and I have to say that there is just some magic to it, to these albums and to “Velvet darkness they fear”, and yes, absolutely, it feels like coming home again, and I’m so happy that we have been received in this positive way, so there will be more.
M.S: Perfect! We’re waiting for it! And just wondering, now that you’re in a Swedish-Finnish band, and because you have a deep love for languages, will you try singing in Finnish?
Liv: Who knows? Well, you know, I actually… I think you learned Finnish, right?
M.S: A little bit, yeah, a few years ago. You remember!
Liv: Yeah! I have to say, some people say that it’s not a really good language to express oneself artistically. I think it’s great. I don’t know Finnish, but there is a genre in Finnish music which is called “umpah-pah”, it’s some kind of Folk Music, and I just listened to it and I recorded myself reading the Finnish lyrics and recorded it for Meiju and Pauli as a funny Friday night, Saturday night joke, and you know, it’s a completely different musical style from what I’m usually doing, but I just had so much fun and so much pleasure in expressing myself in this language somehow. I don’t agree with those people saying that Finnish is not a good language.
M.S: Me neither. I think it sounds different and beautiful too. So talking about your new EP, for me this is the essence of Liv Kristine, and despite how much I loved your past bands’ music, I’ve always thought that your solo career has always been more meaningful, because it has always given you the space to explore, to innovate with new things, to try new things. “Serenity”, the first song of the EP is an example of this, it’s very catchy, it’s very 80’s… What can you tell us about the new EP? The whole album was supposed to be released last year, right?
Liv: Well, I have to say that the process of writing songs with Tommy Olsson, the composer of Aegis, has started back in 2015. And then my life crashed in 2016, and Tommy was patiently waiting. He said “Take your time, whenever you are ready to sing again”, because I kind of lost my singing voice, not in the physical matter, but I just… I lost my dignity somehow. I lost my faith, and I lost my feeling of groundedness, and I felt like I just couldn’t bring my voice out. I needed time to heal and time to find my way back to me again, to solve my trauma, and Tommy said “Take your time.”
When I was ready, I wrote Tommy an email. I said “Send me all the songs you’ve got”, and “Serenity” was the first song. I just felt like this is exactly where he picks me up at the right spot. It is filled with positivity, and power, and it’s groovy, and it takes you into a joyful moment, a precious moment, and the same with “Gravity”, and the same with “Skylight”… Tommy has that ability to pick me up where I am. So these songs are not only Tommy Olsson’s compositions. They are very very important signs and step in my own progress. And that is why when you listen to these songs, I think you can feel the spirit, and that is really what I would like to show the audience too, my fans and friends and followers of all these years.
You know different facets of me, you know different sides of me, but these songs represent my here and now. We have about three songs to do, to finish, they are roughly written, composed, and I need to record my vocals, and I need to set up my little studio here at home. And I think that the full-length album will be ready next year. You never know due to certain situations like the ones we had in 2020 and 2021. But I’m so ready for this release, but there is no need to hurry, and each song is a pearl. I would say I use art to express a prayer. Every song is a prayer to the Universe.
M.S: I was about to ask you to define the new EP with one word, but I think you already said it: prayer.
Liv: Yeah, it’s a prayer; art is a way of sending of prayers to the Universe.
M.S: It’s a very good definition. And as you said, it kind of represents right now who you are. It’s a statement, “This is Liv Kristine right now.” It really is amazing, I loved it.
Liv: Thank you so much Leticia.
M.S: If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to your 17 year old self? It’s been almost 30 years in this industry, right?
Liv: Yes, it’s crazy. Oh dear. Well, first I would like to revise my question. I would like to say, how much younger are you than me?
M.S: We’re not so apart. I’m getting closer to 40, it’s just a few years difference, you know…
Liv: True. I feel young, I feel so young in my soul, and so young in my spirit, and there is so much power, and I really feel that the gates are opening right now. Of course, I felt the gates opening when I was 17 and I was, you know, seeing what came out of the creation, of the creative process with my friends back then Theatre of Tragedy, still my friends, and it’s been an amazing ride I have to say. There were ups and downs, but that’s what life is about, right? You are getting tested, you have to deal with life, you know, life sometimes means suffer and complications, and you need to deal with it. But the most important thing that I would have told myself back then is… there are two very important places of being, and that is the being of your soul, the being of your soul and your spirit, that is the place where you came from, it was there when you came into existence, before you got raised and you got to school, and you got to learn the rules of society.
When there was just the soul, when you were born and you entered this world, when you are in the womb of your mother, it was a place of love and peace and creation, you felt the creation. I’m sure that this place… I guess Buddhists call it the spirit, and we call it the soul, or whatever it is. It’s that safe place of love. So, keep this place separate and safe from the crazy world outside, especially the music business, which is a place where a lot of narcissists, egoists and money controlled egos seem to meet, and if you are an empathic person, if you feel the love of what is going on in the Universe, if you have an open heart, you might get stabbed in your heart. So, it’s very important that you know that is the outside crazy world, that’s where the brain fuck is, that’s where I have to deal with complicated stuff, whereas my soul is the place where I can go back, I can retreat and rest and heal, and that is something I guess we all know, but it comes to surface after you have been smashed, after you hit the ground, the bottom rock, after your heart got broken open, and people kept stabbing into it. Then you wake up and then you realize it seems to be the path inside us human beings that we need to hit the bottom to get to know this, and I did that when I was 40.
M.S: Absolutely, as you said, the things that are from the outside is something that you cannot control, and I think humans tend to try and control everything, even if it’s not in our power. And as you said when you are at your worst is when you realize you have to focus on the only things you can actually control: my life, my body, my mind… And the rest, whatever happens is not in my power. So let it be.
Liv: You’re so wise, Leticia. And this is also a very important part of my work when I’m doing vocal coaching. It’s… you know, sometimes it’s about the outer voice, the singing voice, and I’m showing how you can optimize your voice, a couple of dirty tricks before going on stage, before being in the studio. If you want to learn a certain singing technique, we can all do that. But actually 2/3 of my singing students are looking for their inner voice, and that has to do with what we just talked about: finding peace in your soul and spirit, and that strengthens your outer voice. If you can open up your heart, not being afraid and being the true authentic self, being your true authentic self, the highest truth of myself, you will have the voice that you always wanted to have.
So that’s a very very important part of my work with people all over the world. So, if you check out KarmaSonic.net you’ll find me there, and it’s been an amazing experience to share this with the world, and it’s an inner call, it is, but I needed to find my inner voice first to be able to share it. It’s a blessing.
M.S: Yeah, and we both know this, as a teacher sometimes teaching others is what you need to learn for yourself, sometimes what your students give you back is more important than what you already know.
Liv: Exactly. It’s an exchange and it’s a reflection, and sometimes I see myself in the mirror of my student, and sometimes it’s the other way around. It’s such a beautiful exchange that we have, and my students are between 5 and 55. It’s amazing.
M.S: I have to ask you, because we already said that it’s been almost 30 years that you’ve been in the music industry… Are you planning something special for these 30 years in the music?
Liv: I haven’t thought about it, Leticia.
M.S: There you have something to think about.
Liv: Yes, definitely something to think about. If I would have the space, I would just invite the whole world, all the patient fans and friends and followers to come and have a big party at my place. But, I think right now it’s not gonna work, really, but at least I can invite you to be in that space where we have the art, we have the music, we have this genuine positive feeling and love and this wonderful exchange we just talked about.
M.S: I was reading the other day that on the new Coldbound there’s going to be quite a few collaborations, many people getting together with you guys for the new album. So, I was thinking, now that you had time with the pandemic to rethink everything, is there something, any music genre or any experiment, that you haven’t done and that you might want to do in the future?
Liv: Hmm… It’s a very very good question. Well, there was, half a year ago. And actually it has to do with art. To me it has to do with music because there is a melody to it, but I’m not singing it, but I’m singing it in my head, and that’s poetry, so in about half a year I will release my first poetry collection and that is something I’ve been having inside of me since I was a scholar, since I went to the 10th grader something I started writing poetry, and then half a year ago I sat down for, I think it was about 12 days or something, and I just wrote a poetry collection of 22 poems, and I am lucky to receive professional feedback from two well-known poets and writers in Montreal, Canada, who will read the poems and tell me what they think.
But anyway, they come from the heart, from my soul. And yes, it’s a part of that, you know, art is a way of putting prayers into the Universe so I’m very excited. Probably it’s going to be out in half a year, and I will publish it via Allegro Talent Media, as I did with with my EP too, and my single. So, that is also a very important stuff which I am evolving on, progressing on, that is doing it myself. Doing it myself, and it feels it feels so good to do it. So that’s something that goes for the future as well.
M.S: We are so looking forward to some Liv Kristine poetry. If you think about it, we’ve already seen some poetry of you, because you write your lyrics, and music lyrics sometimes seem very poetry like. Really looking forward to this new project of yours.
Liv: Thank you so much. Thank you.
M.S: The next question was about to cover this, because you have the KarmaSonic platform for the singing lessons, you are a musician, you are teaching special kids, and now you’re telling me about the poetry, you paint for quite a few years no… You are kind of a woman from the Renaissance, doing so many things, coping with so much knowledge… what’s left for you? You have no boundaries!
Liv: (laughs) Oh dear. I have goosebumps right now. Thank you. I don’t know what to say, really. I don’t know what to say.
M.S: It’s impressive how can one person cover all those things and do it so beautifully, and always from the heart as we were saying before. So thanks for coming back to us to the fans and friends, because we were missing you Liv.
Liv: Thank you so much. You want me to start crying, right? (Laughs)
M.S: (Laughs) No! It’s so good to see you after so many years.
Liv: Thank you so much. It touches my heart. Thank you for everything and for reaching out and I was looking forward to this so much. Thank you for your compliments, and for your big lovely smile, and for your soothing words. Thank you so much.
M.S: Let me ask you, because I was checking my Liv Kristine CD collection, and I noticed that I don’t have “Vervain”, and I was trying to find it online to buy it, and it’s not easy to find…
Liv: No, it’s not easy to find it, and I’m wondering myself why the record company doesn’t press more, why don’t you press more if it’s sold out… It’s a mystery. I don’t know. I’m looking forward to the day when I can release, re-release, my whole collection again because there are different labels, I think one, two, three… three labels being involved in my former releases, and I would so much love to have my babies back.
M.S: I tried on different websites, and some of them have it for about 50 or 55€, it’s crazy!
Liv: Yes. I actually bought it myself in used version, a collector sold it to me. He must have been thinking “What? I’m selling Liv Kristine to Liv Kristine”. But it’s true, I left everything in the old life, and when I had the time to sit down and think about my story and try to collect the pieces, I realized that “Vervain” is missing in my collection. It’s an appeal to those people who are responsible for pressing and releasing to do it, because this is the 500th time I get this question. But yes, also my version is a used version I bought from a collector (laughs).
M.S: I’ll try to get in myself. But as you said, it would be great to have all of them re-released, especially for the new fans that might want to go deeper into your old music.
Liv: Absolutely. I would love to put you covers on them, I would like to add some special editions, maybe some demos, some new photos, and just refresh it so that it feels in alignment with my life right now. And as well as keeping the aesthetics of what I did then, so I think that everything you create you do it at that time it’s the best thing you can do, so that must be kept because that’s the secret formula. But anyway, you can wrap it in in some new golden paper, right?
M.S: Right. You have a concert scheduled in August in Germany, but you recently confirmed another date, on Nagold. How eager are you for them? Are you planning anything special?
Liv: Yes, I just got a WhatsApp message from Nagold saying that “We set you up for the last Friday before Christmas as always.” It seems like it’s really going to happen, and I really hope so, and I know somebody who’s really happy, and that’s Mark from Empire Zone, he’s crazy about coming and I just made his latest interview in Spanish in English official today. So, it’s a pleasure to have my special friends from Spain. And you know, you’re also always welcome, if I can come to your place you come to my place.
For the upcoming shows I will be performing songs from my early solo albums, and of course Theatre of Tragedy.
M.S: I have to go to the Nagold concert sometime because it’s been quite a few times that I said I would go and something always gets in the way. So, let’s see if this year with the Covid and everything we can make it happen and we can finally meet again after these few years. And also, when will you come back to Spain?
Liv: Oh my God. Yes, Mark also invited me so many times, you know, and I want to meet his family and I have so many friends in Spain. Okay, we need to be patient. But first I should probably go one trip to Sweden or Finland, that would be very wise, and one trip at least to Norway. I think that has priority, and the third choice would be Spain.
M.S: How long has it been since you went last time to Norway?
Liv: I haven’t seen my family for one and a half years.
M.S: Quite a while. Well, we reached the end of the interview, so if there’s anything you want to tell our readers and your Spanish fans, this is the moment.
Liv: I just have to say thank you for being so patient, and I promise you there is much more to come, the journey has just begun, and I have to say that all that happened has led me to where I am now and you are still here. I can’t wait to to share the next step, and the next step, and the next step, and the next release, and release after that with all of you. And really, thank you for being so patient. I check my pages, my sites every day and you are the reason why I chose to sing again.
M.S: Thank you so much Liv for everything. It’s wonderful to see that you are in such a happy place, hopefully will meet in Nagold. Take good care.
Liv: It’s good coming back to my soul, and where the most beautiful art comes into existence, and that’s where creativity is, and the creation of everything. It feels good, and it was so good to see you again and to hear and see that you are well, and I’m sending you love and warm hugs. See you soon again! Thank you so much, and you take good care!
Leticia Ballester