Notes From The Other Side

I had a lot of fun talking to Circus Maximus vocalist Michael Eriksen. He’s a delightful, fun guy. His laughter (which really does sound like “he-he-he” at times) is infectious. He’s passionate about life. And he’s a fantastic singer. In fact, the vocals on the five-member Norwegian band’s incredible debut album The 1st Chapter are among the best in power metal — which fit nicely with the musicianship, which is downright jaw-dropping.

I interviewed Michael the day after Circus Maximus warmed up for Jorn at a gig in Norway. We talked about everything from the stories behind each of the songs on The 1st Chapter to where Circus Maximus is in the creation of the follow up to their first album to what Michael does in his “spare” time to — and this was a huge surprise (not to mention an honor) — Michael’s song “Back to Atlanta” which he said he composed and recorded just two days before our interview. He wanted me to share the song with everyone. So I did. It’s at the bottom of this interview. Simply click on it and it’ll play from my NotesFromTheOtherSide.com page. Or you can right-click on it and download it to your computer to play in iTunes or Windows Media. Thank you for this great song, Michael!

ME: Right on time!

BM: [laughs] I try to be.

ME: [laughs] Hello, how are you?

BM: Good. How are you?

ME: I’m with some friends and we’re watching a movie, Saw Number One.

BM: Oh really?

ME: Yes, have you seen that one?

BM: No.

ME: Oh, it’s an American thriller.

BM: Is it good so far?

ME: Nah, it’s ok, but it’s actually a pretty good ending on it. It’s a strange ending. So it’s not like every other movie. So it’s pretty cool, yeah. So how’s the weather over there?

BM: It’s about — I don’t know what it is in Centigrade, but it’s about 80 degrees Fahrenheit here, and it’s overcast.

ME: Oh, that sounds good.

BM: Yeah, well it’s warm, that’s for sure. I understand you had a wild night last night?

ME: Yeah! Oh, I came home because I got a little stressed with a pile of delays and stuff. So I fucked it up big time I thought. So I came home (I was so drunk), and I sent a pile of e-mails right away. So I looked at sent e-mails, and [laughs] it was great spelling. [laughs]

BM: [laughs] Yeah, I could tell you had fun. That’s great.

ME: Yeah? [laughs]

BM: So how was the gig with Jorn? Was it a pretty good time?

ME: Oh, yeah it was a great time. Our concert went really good, and after that we watched Jorn’s show, and of course, he’s the greatest singer, for me that is. He sings so great.

BM: Well, let me ask you that question. I was going to ask you this towards the end of our interview, but which band are you most looking forward to at ProgPower this year?

ME: Oh Jorn, of course, yeah.

BM: That’s what I thought you’d say. [laughs]

ME: Yeah, of course, I’ve been a Jorn fan for many years now, so I’m really looking forward to seeing his show. Of course, I hope for more — if they all play like they did last night, it was a great show and I like it, but I want to hear more from, all kinds of stuff from his career, you know?

BM: Oh yeah.

ME: Not just Jorn songs from the Jorn solo albums. I want to hear Masterplan and Ark. I would love to hear that because they didn’t play songs like that yesterday.

BM: Oh really? I thought they would have. How long was his set, though?

ME: They told us that it was one and a half hours, but it didn’t seem like more than one hour or something, I don’t know.

BM: Wow.

ME: But it was great.

BM: Well it’s good to talk to you today, thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

ME: Yeah, thanks for doing this interview. I’ve been looking forward to this, so this is just great.

BM: Oh good, good. Well tell me — You know what, The 1st Chapter is a fantastic album. I mean, from the artwork right on.

ME: Thank you.

BM: Are you guys surprised by the worldwide popularity of it?

ME: Yeah, yeah, it took us by storm. We were hoping to make a good album that we could be–this is something we’re proud of doing and let’s see if people like it. So it’s so fun to see that, not only in our own — people like Symphony X, Dream Theatre — but people that also listen to AOR and melodic music, because that’s the main theme in our songwriting still — to get a good melody into it. Not just fast guitars and odd time signatures, drums and stuff like that.

BM: That’s what I like most about your album, I think, ‘cause there’s a lot of bands out there that have a lot of heavy guitars, but there’s no melody there, so there’s no hooks. I can’t hum along with it, you know?

ME: Yeah. I can’t tell you how many times – “Oh, check out this band.” “Ok, I will.” I went to this store and go, “Hey, I want to check out the new band. Let me hear it.” And I put it on, I put my headphones on, and it starts pretty cool with great riffs, “Yeah, it’s really cool.” And then the vocals start kicking in, and it just collapses because they haven’t worked on the melody lines, you know?

BM: [laughs] Yes. It’s true.

ME: Yeah, then it’s not worth buying, because for me then the vocal melodies are the most important thing you listen first.

BM: That’s what seems to be missing from a lot of bands these days, is they can’t sing as well as they used to. For some reason, my favorite bands are ones like Journey, you know, Steve Perry.

ME: Oh yeah!

BM: Those kind of vocals to me are the best there ever was. But you guys put a lot of time and work into your vocals, and I can hear that. You do a great job.

ME: Yeah, thanks. Have you got your Def Leppard/Journey ticket?

BM: Well, I wish I did. It sold out before I could get tickets. [laughs]

ME: No! It did?

BM: They sold out big time, real fast in the US.

ME: Oh! I hope they’ll come here.

BM: Yeah, I know.

ME: But we’ll see. [laughs]

BM: You know what, tell me about your next album, your website (http://www.circusmaximussite.com) says you’re hard at work at it, you’ll go into pre-production in a few weeks. For all the people out there, what does pre-production mean?

ME: Pre-production is instead of going straight into the studio and record the new album and do all work on it there, we make the songs ahead, and we record it — not as good as we will record it when we do the album, but pretty good stuff — and we listen to it, and go by the song and go, “Oh, maybe that’s not so cool. Ok we’ll change that for the recordings.” So we will see how the song will end up, because last time on The 1st Chapter, we did not use any pre-production. So we just went straight into the studio and started recording. And then suddenly time flies by you, and then next day you have to be in Denmark to mix the album. And you have two songs left to do vocals lines for and stuff. So the pre-production is just to be more prepared. So you don’t have to waste time and money on the recordings and be disappointed with the final product. Because you have a lot of time in front, the pre-production is good to do.

BM: That’s another thing I was going to ask you. Do you listen to The 1st Chapter now, yourself, and if you do, is there anything on it you’d change, or is it perfect the way it is.

ME: Oh, I haven’t listened to it in a while now, but of course, when it came out and we had the final product in our hand, I listened to it everyday. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

ME: When it comes to — I hear small parts, you know, “I shouldn’t have done that there.” For instance, when we play the songs live, I change some of the melody lines. Just small, small minor stuff, you know? Just have some fun with the melody lines. And sometimes, “Hey, that’s pretty cool. I should have done that on the album.” But done is done, you know?

BM: That’s true. What’s an example of a song on that album that you wish you’d tweaked a little bit, maybe done a little differently?

ME: Well actually, one thing I’ve been doing now, is on the opening song, “Sin,” there’s just a minor thing, because I think the guys sing, “electrifying”, and I’ll sing, “it’s the end of your life. It was the night the stars would shine ‘cause I told you.” No, that’s not the part. I can’t think of the part I like now, but some parts, I take the voice a little higher or do some cool line switch on it. Yeah.

BM: Do you guys have a working title for your new album?

ME: No, but we have some now. No, actually no.

BM: [laughs]

ME: [laughs] We had some — me and Lasse were talking ‘cause we had this idea for a song. And I was writing some lyrics on it and it started revolving about mind games. You know mind games, the word mind game. And we started talking about the story about the song, and somehow it came to world domination. [laughs]

BM: Really, wow!

ME: That will be cool second album, world domination. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

ME: But of course, with no necessary meaning to it, but world domination like a scary, dark chapter. Yeah. But no, we don’t have any title yet. Actually, no.

BM: Do you guys have a goal, sort of when you’d like to see it come out?

ME: Yeah, sure. We hope that it will be out this year. But on The 1st Chapter of course, we were finished recording and mixing, everything was finished in November 2004. And then you’ll think, “Oh, two months from now, probably the CD will be out.” But it takes time, so seven months later, then it’s out. So if we are finished recording the album, let’s say in October everything finished, maybe half a year later on, because contracts and stuff. But since most of those things are already taken care of, maybe just two months later it will be out, hopefully.

BM: That would be great. What’s been harder for you, recording your first album, or working on the next one?

ME: Well, we haven’t…of course we are making — I think probably it will be — I guess actually The 1st Chapter, we were six months in the studio, everyday, 24/7, especially me, Mats and the guys, because working melody lines and everyday changing stuff and singing. So that was pretty hard. We will not do it like that this time. We will take our time, don’t rush anything and get all stressed out and sick and stuff like that. [laughs]

BM: You guys have learned from the first one how to do it better for the second.

ME: Yeah. That’s exactly, because that’s why we wanna do this pre-production. We just record everything in our own studio, and listen to the song and see how it goes. “Yeah, we can record this, we like this.” Or, “Oh, that’s not a good song. It doesn’t do it for us.” Stuff like that.

BM: Was it a surprise to you when [keyboard player] Espen left the band, or had you guys seen that coming for a while?

ME: Oh no, it was not a surprise. That was something that was best for the band and best for him, so that’s for him to part ways with us, and that was the best thing to do.

BM: Yep, sometimes stuff like that happens.

ME: Yeah, that’s the way it is. But of course we have a new keyboard player now, Lasse. He’s just awesome, and a hell of a guy, and he fits perfectly with the band. It’s just a pleasure. We’re pretty happy, because when Espen left, we were like, that’s four or five months without a keyboard player. We were like, “Oh we have to make a new album. We have to get a new keyboard player.” All kinds of stuff. “We want to play concerts, we don’t have a keyboard player.” And that was pretty exhausting. So it’s good to have a new member.

BM: [laughs] Yeah. You know, the forum on your website, a lot of your fans just absolutely love The 1st Chapter. They say it’s a masterpiece, they love certain songs, and it really touched their lives.

ME: Yeah!

BM: Does that kind of put any pressure on you to create something equally cool for the second album? Or do you not even think about that?

ME: No, actually not. But it’s fun to see people that say a lot of things on websites and forums and web logs and stuff like that. And they should know that most musicians and band members have their computers as well. So we of course see what people write about the album and us. “Hey, you should check this out”, this guy says that and, “Ok, let’s check it out.” [laughs] People, “Hey, they’re not gonna — Circus Maximus will not make another good album because they can’t top The 1st Chapter.” [laughs]

BM: Yeah. Does that put pressure on you? Do you say, “Hey, we can top the first one, just watch.”

ME: Yeah. We know we will top the first one, because the first one, we rushed into things, and things were done pretty fast. But of course now we’re much more prepared on how we want things to be.

BM: But you know what, Mike? For an album that you say was “rushed through pretty fast,” it sounds a hell of a lot better than most albums I hear out there that have taken years to produce.

ME: [laughs] Well, we’re lucky I guess. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

ME: Or just the ultimate team, the ultimate team. [laughs]

BM: That’s true. Speaking of the forum on your website, I noticed that you post things about every third day. That means you average about one post every third day. Do you like keeping in touch with your fans that way?

ME: Yeah! Oh yeah, sure, sure, of course. And it’s very important to keep your fans close. They take their time to attend the concerts, spreading the word about the band, because there’s so many band that I can visit a site with a band I like, and there’s nothing living on the web boards. So it’s like, I love people that take their time to do stuff like that, because it takes time of course. There’s a lot of things going on on the site, but if there’s a question or things, I don’t mind answering stuff like that, on our site of course.

BM: Well that’s great. Is that why you guys created the MySpace page, to keep in touch with your fans?

ME: No, that’s actually a good friend of ours. He asked us, “Hey, would you guys like me to do that?” I think he also made Jorn’s MySpace also. He’s great with computers.

BM: Oh good.

ME: So it’s good to have a friend like that.

BM: [laughs] Definitely.

ME: I don’t know jack shit about MySpace. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

ME: “No matter. Ok, make it.” I ask him, “What is MySpace, actually? What can we do there?” “Oh, you know, link to every other people, it’s a good commercial and stuff.” So I haven’t gotten into that too much. Do you know anything about MySpace?

BM: Well, yeah.

ME: Do you use it?

BM: I’ve got a little page on there myself, but I keep in touch with all the bands like yours, all the bands that are at ProgPower. I’ve added them as friends. It’s just kind of a neat way to keep in touch. There’s really nothing like that out there that’s that immediate and close to the fans.

ME: But can it talk to each other through the MySpace?

BM: Not one on one, but they post comments, they can reply. It’s like your forum on your website, essentially. But it’s seen by an awful lot more people that might not see your Circus Maximus site.

ME: Yeah, yeah, that’s true.

BM: Tell me about the album cover artwork for your first album. How involved were you guys in choosing what that cover picture looks like?

ME: Well, we had something, because, Mattias Noren who does the artwork, he sent us some ideas of an album artwork. And we’re like, “Oh, no, we don’t like that one. Another one.” And he sent us this unicycle guy on the sand, and we liked that. And there was some other things on it also that we took away, I think it was some castle or something. I don’t remember. [laughs] But it’s funny to see, because there’s a Norwegian band with Intromental, too, and they also have Mattias as their artwork designer. The one artwork that we turned down, they used for their CD cover. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

ME: So, I remember that one. It’s like, “Oh, that was supposed to be for our band.” It was fun to see.

BM: When you guys were looking at the artwork for the album, do you see the artwork as just being a nice piece of art that stands on it’s own, or do you pick art that sort of represents what the music is about?

ME: Yeah, represents the music.

BM: Ok.

ME: Yeah, because for instance, we got all hyped about the artwork when we saw it. “Oh cool!” And we saw that little book, you know, in the sand there? There’s a little book in the sand, yeah. And of course then we started writing lyrics about that book and how it got there in the first spot. And we changed the story thousands of times, thousands of times. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

ME: Yeah, the story started off by being, the book was the secret to life. And it was created by the gods, or some kind of god, something far, far away on the other side of the universe. And it had been developed for millions of years. And suddenly it appeared on this earth and that unicycle man finds the book, and a lot of stuff happens. [laughs] But we had to take that story down because it went too crazy. [laughs] Spaceships and aliens and stuff like that.

BM: [laughs] So the artwork actually inspired you to create a different kind of songs for your album?

ME: Yeah. Like for instance, on the song “The Prophecy.” [sings a few notes] I have to remember. [sings again] I don’t remember correct now, but I sing something like with “in the sand.”

BM: Yep. The lyrics say, “When there’s no love nor hate in the world, when we reach out our hand to someone, the world ain’t no longer hello, can anyone hear me.”

ME: Yeah. I think on the second verse, I think it goes something with sand.

BM: Yep.

ME: Yeah, and “it’s written in the sand” or something, I can’t remember right now, in front of me, but that’s something we can have connection with the songs. Because “The 1st Chapter” song, that of course is about the artwork.

BM: Well, let me ask you that, then. This is a great — I’m glad your answers are dovetailing with the questions I want to ask. Let me ask you about each track on the album for a minute. Tell me about “Sin.” What is that about? Where did that idea come from?

ME: Lyrically, I remember sitting at home and singing — I always have my computer on — and if the guys kind of have a riff or song idea or something, I sit here with a microphone and sing and stuff. And I just blabber about singing and stuff. And I said something when I was jamming that was pretty cool, and I started writing a story about that. And the story about the song is…actually that’s pretty cool. Because the first words of the song? That is the story of a guy who’s evil. “All my life, I’ve been a drifter, going down the paths that had no ending, with Satan on my shoulder.” That’s the lyrics there. The pre-chorus, the first pre-chorus there, that’s an angel. [sings] Well, I have the CD book, it’s right here. I had to get it out, because…[laughs]…I get confused. I have it here now. “You’re losing all, losing all control, in the end you will fall.” That’s an angel. And then you have the second verse, “What you have taken away from me.” That is actually a father, who is singing out to that guy, ‘cause that guy has killed his daughter. And then you have the second pre-chorus, “Listen son, I’m the one, can’t you see.” That is God, who’s saying, “Why did you go and do the wrong stuff? I was there all along to protect you and guide you, but you didn’t listen to me. So now the price you will pay, and that is going to hell.” [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

ME: So in the last pre-chorus, that’s the devil singing. “You’re in my world now, your soul to keep, eternity is a long way to go.” That is the devil. But we are not a Christian band, that is for sure.

BM: I was gonna say, that’s another answer that you made on the forum, people asked that and you said no. You just happened to write about good versus evil.

ME: Yeah, that’s true. Good versus evil, stuff like that. That’s the right thing to say.

BM: What about the song “Alive”? Where did that come from, in your mind?

ME: Oh that’s a typically love song. If you have problems in your relationship and you don’t know what to do, but you love your girl, stuff like that. And you want to pull through, and you want this to keep on going. So that’s actually a love song. Yeah.

BM: How about “Glory of the Empire”?

ME: Well, that song is — actually I was, as I mentioned, we were six months sitting there and writing lyrics and singing and just blasting our heads off, if you know what I mean. So I got tired out of trying to make lyrics and stuff. So, “What the hell are we gonna write about?” “Well, I have an idea. I love this movie.” So I put on Gladiator, the movie, yeah? I put it on, DVD, play, and I sat down with my pillow and blanket and a cup of tea and my sheets, and I just wrote anything that came to mind. So that’s actually the movie Gladiator.

BM: Oh, that’s cool. Very cool.

ME: Yeah, so that’s pretty fun.

BM: How about — obviously “Biosfear” is instrumental.

ME: And that’s actually, “Biosfear.” Do you know what that means?

BM: I’m thinking it has something to do with being afraid of — no you tell me, because I’m probably…

ME: No, you were actually –

BM: Computers?

ME: The computer.

BM: Yeah.

ME: Yeah, in the bios, in the computer. Because Mats, he is a computer geek, genius, gets a kick out of it. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

ME: And the song is very odd time signatures. It’s an instrumental song, where the guys have some fun and go crazy. So the song and the name is “Biosfear”, and don’t go into the bios if you don’t know what you’re doing. Something like that. Because then music like “Biosfear” comes popping out.

BM: That’s cool. How about “Silence From the Angels Above”?

ME: Yeah, that also is evil, it’s a guy who is in asylum. That is Mats who wrote that lyric. It’s a guy who knows he’s going to die, but he has all sorts of thoughts in him mind as he’s sitting in this little room, looking out the window.

BM: [laughs] The song, “Why am I Here.” The three of you guys wrote the lyric to that one. How was that collaborating? What’s that song about?

ME: Well, actually, the chorus, [sings] “Why am I here?” You know that part? Is something of, when me and Mats the guitar player and Truls the drummer were playing as a trio before we got the bass player or keyboard player, we were jamming along in the rehearsal room like six or seven years ago and I always back then recorded stuff when we were jamming. And that chorus is something I just jammed out, and the guitar is also, it just popped out there. So we kept that “Why Am I Here” melody line and evolved the lyrics around that. And Truls, the drummer, he had an idea, and Mats and Truls and myself just sat down and wrote that together actually.

BM: Cool. Tell me about “The Prophesy.”

ME: Well that’s more like, it’s the end of the world, and there’s like one guy left. Yeah.

BM: [laughs] Yeah.

ME: And he has the key. [laughs] He has, I don’t remember, I think there was a strange story about that, but it’s this guy who did not die because he had some kind of — he is the key. We actually very fond of keys. [laughs]

BM: Yeah, I noticed. [laughs]

ME: And mysteries of books and stuff. [laughs]

BM: Where do these ideas come from? Before I ask you about the last two songs, where do these ideas come from? Do you read a lot of Science Fiction or Fantasy, or watch a lot of movies? How do you get these stories?

ME: I love Science Fiction. That’s my favorite category movies. And the guys and myself we like to play video games and stuff like that, so you get all kinds of strange stories in video games, that’s for sure. [laughs] So we just, you know, whatever comes to mind we just starts writing and see how it goes. And sometimes, for my sake, when it comes lyrically, I sit here with my guitar and I jam along and I sing something. I don’t know what I’m saying, I’m just saying something. And when I listen to it later on, I then hear that lyric, and “what am I saying there? Wow, that was a cool lyric and cool line actually.” And I build the lyrics around that little line. So it’s a strange way to do things, but that’s the way I do it.

BM: [laughs]

ME: Actually, I have to show you this right away, ‘cause then you’ll know what I mean. I mentioned [in an e-mail a day before] that I have a treat for you. [laughs] On Friday, I guess, I have my guitar like this — wait, I show you here. I had my guitar, and I just [strums guitar] I don’t know if you can hear it playing? And I recorded something, and I thought — because last year, on the ProgPower festival last year, I did an interview, and I made a song for the interview.

BM: Really? [laughs]

ME: Yeah, like a half an hour before the interview, “Oh, I just want to make something fun.” So I made a song to Atlanta, just some stupid, fun stuff, you know? And so I made this song Friday, and the lyrics, it’s so stupid. It’s just fun, but it’s a great melody, I like it. I’m singing of Atlanta, stuff like that. Can you hear this, “testing, testing”, can you hear this?

BM: Yes.

ME: Let’s see. [plays intro to song] Did you hear that?

BM: Yes, definitely.

ME: Ok, then I’ll take it again, just listen to this. [plays rest of song] Well, you get the story. [laughs]

BM: Wow, that’s fantastic!

ME: [laughs]

BM: Wow! So you wrote that song Friday just to surprise me in the interview?

ME: Yes, because I have this little, you know the melody [sings] and hey, I can just write some Atlanta tribute stuff for it and show it to Bill Sunday.

BM: That’s fantastic. Man, you have a great voice!

ME: Well, thank you. So I actually called it “Back to Atlanta,” and I will send it to you so you can use it for the interview and people can listen to it if they like. [laughs]

BM: You can send e-mail me the mp3?

ME: Yeah.

BM: Oh please do. That would be great.

ME: Yeah. But remember to the people that listen to it, this is something Michael just did for fun of it, this is not something serious and the sound of course is the best it can be at that moment. I had a friend of mine coming by yesterday who just did something to the sound to make it sound a little better.

BM: Wow. Yeah, please do send it, they’d like to hear it all.

ME: Yeah, cool.

BM: Gosh, that’s amazing. Dude, hey –

ME: Yeah?

BM: You know what? When I said that your first album sounds better rushed, as you say, than most albums do that take years, and you said it was that you got lucky…that’s baloney. It’s not luck. You guys are just damn talented.

ME: [laughs] Well thank you. Let’s see, I have it here, ok. This is actually a year ago, then. This is something I made in 20 minutes before the interview. So here you have the Atlanta song for 2005. [laughs] Listen to this. [plays song] [laughs]

BM: Wow.

ME: So you see, that was the old version of Atlanta tribute. [laughs]

BM: Wow. That’s amazing.

ME: That’s how I am. But thank you. I’m that fun guy, like I’m fun and I do fun things. [laughs]

BM: [laughs] Wow. Thank you. I can’t wait to hear that.

ME: Yeah, I’ll send you that mp3 of the Atlanta song and I have two pictures for you if you like.

BM: Yeah, please do. Send everything you can. I’ll post it on the Notes From the Other Side website, along with your interview.

ME: Yeah, cool.

BM: Tell me about the last couple songs on your album for a minute. “The 1st Chapter,” which a lot of people say is their favorite track. How did that come about?

ME: I remember it was hell. It was a living hell.

BM: Really?

ME: Because, yeah. We had a schedule of mixing the album at Tommy Hansen’s place in Denmark, and we live in Norway, so we have to book tickets for the boat and stuff like that. So we had to go when the boat left. We had two weeks before we went to Denmark. Then we started making the lyrics and the melody lines for “The 1st Chapter” song.

BM: Wow, two weeks?

ME: Yeah, so everything you hear on “The 1st Chapter” song, we made in two weeks and recorded in two weeks. And we just sit there and made up this crazy story, and all the melody stuff, and changed stuff and deleted stuff and added stuff, and all that. One hour before the boat left, we were finished. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

ME: Yeah, I’m working here in Norway at the health club, so I was working from 6:30 in the morning till 2:15, then straight down to the studio and work there to 10:00 in the evening. And back home, and same the day after, same thing all over again. Every day in two weeks it was that way.

BM: Wow, that is a tough schedule.

ME: Yeah. So we really want to do pre-production so we know what to do when we go to record it.

BM: Did you say you work in a health club? Is that your day job?

ME: Yeah, that’s my day job, yes.

BM: How long have you been there?

ME: Nine years, actually.

BM: Wow, that’s a great day job!

ME: Because it’s close by to me and I like to exercise and always been doing that, so it’s a hobby. And of course, I can work at the daytime, early in the morning, so I have the rest of the day to make music and stuff like that.

BM: Wow.

ME: Yeah.

BM: Tell me about the last track, “Imperial Destruction.” What prompted that song?

ME: That is the song that – “Glory of the Empire” and “Imperial Destruction” — those two songs are the songs we sent out to get the record deal that we got. So we re-recorded “Imperial Destruction” for this album, and the one you have is the new version of “Imperial Destruction.” The song is just an empire, the song is about more kind of futuristic empire, like sci-fi, action. Science fiction, imperial — almost Star Wars feeling really. So this is a story about that, when the empire strikes down, it’s over. [laughs]

BM: [laughs] Do you have a favorite track off The 1st Chapter? Favorite one to listen to or favorite one to play live? Are they different?

ME: Yeah. When it comes to great, best song on the album I like personally, I like the opening song, “Sin,” because that represents us, Circus Maximus, the way we want to sound. Should be hard, with seven string guitars, and also have that great melody and same time have the progressive feel to it, with cool guitar licks and stuff. So that is my favorite song on the album. Live, | actually like them all, but lately “Why Am I Here,” actually. That one is pretty cool to sing.

BM: Really?

ME: Yeah. I like to sing it. That’s pretty cool. And then the song “Silence From Angels Above,” that song, we have a cool way to do that one live. We start off with a cool intro, and then Mats, and Lasse the keyboard player plays some beautiful chords on the keyboard, while Mats just improvises a beautiful solo. And then it goes down to the singing and the piano part. And then, on the second verse of that song live, we speed it up a little bit and get a grove on it. Like, [sings], and still have that same melody line. And on the end of the song, it gets pretty hard, actually, pretty heavy.

BM: Oh yeah.

ME: And it takes off, and I improvise, and do some cool melody lines and sing my ass off. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

ME: That’s actually, hopefully, maybe, I don’t know how the set will be for this year’s ProgPower pre-party, but maybe that song will be played live. We never know, but yeah, because it’s a very nice song.

BM: I was gonna ask you, what can audiences expect from you guys this year at ProgPower?

ME: Well, they can expect, I don’t know how many songs, but hopefully we’ll play at least three new songs for the audience. We have one new song already we have been playing. We played it yesterday also. It’s pretty cool. We’re pretty happy with it, but we have to go into pre-production of it, and see how it will develop during recordings. I think we are 98% finished of that song. I’m not totally complete happy with the chorus yet, but it is pretty cool, yeah. So for the show at pre-party this year, we’re gonna kick some ass, and just bring up the guns and play some hard, heavy shit.

BM: [laughs]

ME: Yeah. [laughs]

BM: What is it like for you guys to play ProgPower? Is it a lot of fun, a lot of work?

ME: Oh! It’s a lot of fun, but of course it’s a lot of fun. It’s the best experience we have had as a band, being over there in the United States and meeting the American metal crowd. They’re awesome, and the feedback over there, people are so down to earth. And they are happy people, and the ProgPower festival and the guys who work there and everything, it’s so great to be there.

BM: They love music. Shane loves music, Glenn loves music.

ME: Oh, he’s the man, yeah. But the worst part, if you can say that, is the flight.

BM: Oh, I can imagine. How many hours does it take?

ME: Oh, well it’s ok, it takes like eight hours or something. But to get into United States, you know the Customs? Oh my god!

BM: [laughs]

ME: Oh! You have to stand in the line like several thousand people around there, and you have to go up the line, and then next that scary looking policeman is going, “What are you doing here? Who are you going to visit? How long? Have you some papers with you, son?” [laughs] And so that was an experience.

BM: Wow.

ME: In Norway, you can just go off the plane and go straight into Norway and do whatever you want. [laughs]

BM: See, I was gonna ask you something about that. What is the difference between fans in Norway and fans in the US? Are they the same, or are there differences?

ME: I think they’re pretty different, yes.

BM: Really? In what way?

ME: The American crowd is much more, I guess I could say crazy, really getting into the music and they show the band that they are out there for you. I have this thing, oh, it’s so cool. When we went to the ProgPower last year, I had my video camera on stage, just one second. I just went out, actually for the song “Imperial Destruction,” I went out on stage, and I just took and video recorded out front with the audience. And they saw that I had my camera, and they went nuts. You know, [screams]. And I get goose bumps every time I see that clip. They go crazy, it’s so damn cool to see. If I had done this in Norway, I will film them, and they will give you a peace sign or maybe one or two people, “hey” instead of several hundred people. [laughs]

BM: Why is that, though? Are Norwegians just more laid back, or what causes that difference?

ME: I don’t know actually. But some concerts, people are crazy also. But we went to Sweden and had a concert with Kamelot in February. And we recorded that on our video recorders. And people there got crazy. Yeah, they were crazy, so that was cool to play there. We have a video clip of people, crazy all the time through the entire song. And that’s so cool to see, that’s cool. [laughs]

BM: Well, do you guys — Lance King, you know Lance, right? From Pyramaze?

ME: Yeah, I just read on your site. He’s a chess master.

BM: [laughs] Yeah, he is actually.

ME: You know, because I think Pyramaze is on Intromental, are they?

BM: Yeah, they are.

ME: I think there is some connection there, I don’t remember. I remember I checked out the site and Lance. He’s just like me! [laughs] He’s a martial arts guy and so am I. He’s into Muay Tai kickboxing and so am I. It’s just like reading about me. And he plays chess, and so do I. [laughs]

BM: The reason I mentioned Lance is because he told me that when they play in their cover band, sometimes they play songs that really get the audience going crazy, like something from Rage Against the Machine. And he said sometimes they worry about that because the audience gets so worked up they’re almost afraid of them. Do you guys feel that same way sometimes? Do you see the audience going a little overboard?

ME: No. Never had that. But hopefully someday! [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

ME: That would be cool. But we actually started to play a cover song now, just to get some new songs for the audience, because its fun for them to see some new songs.

BM: What do you play?

ME: Queensryche.

BM: Oh really?

ME: Yeah, “Screaming in Digital.” That song is pretty cool to play live for us. And we do the backing vocals and everything, so it’s a pretty cool song to play live. Although not many people have heard of it before. But they start kicking in when they hear it.

BM: I’ll ask you two more questions and then I’ll let you go. I know you’re a busy guy and it’s nighttime.

ME: No, no, just ask. Keep it going. No, no, don’t think about that.

BM: Tell me: Do you have a favorite road story? When you’re on tour, out somewhere, do you have a favorite story that comes to mind?

ME: Well I think I have some. Oh, I remember. This was in the autumn last year. We were booked for a concert on the west coast of Norway. And it takes like six hours or something to drive there. And stupid us, we called some kind of road company or something and asked for some tips of where to drive, just in case. And the lady on that telephone, she said that, “Oh, you guys should not drive that road because it has been raining, and it could be very slippery up there. So we suggest you go drive thorough the coast.” And that instead of going for six hours straight through Norway, we have to go all around. And we drive for 11 hours.

BM: Oh man.

ME: Yes. So that was no fun. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

ME: But I guess that’s not actually a fun story, but I can’t — well, I remember once, the guitar player, we went for a gig in Denmark and there’s a bridge over from Sweden to Denmark. A long, long bridge. And of course, he had to pee. And you can’t stop on that bridge.

BM: [laughs]

ME: So he had to pee in a bottle, yes, while we’re driving. [laughs]

BM: [laughs] Wow. You’re in another band, called Carnivora, right?

ME: Well, I was, yeah. I was. Not anymore, because I have — when you have too much things to do, you know, you can’t, you drain yourself out.

BM: Yeah, it’s kind of like the phrase “too much on your plate.” There’s too much going on. Yeah.

ME: Too much going on, and stuff like that, it drains you out. So I get e-mails every week from different bands and projects and everything, people that ask me to participate on their album and stuff. And I’m like, “Thanks for asking, but I only have time for Circus Maximus, because that’s the main source.” But of course, me and Bjorn Jansson have been singing on the new Beyond Twilight album. And on the next album. And those things like that we can be a part of because then you don’t have to be a part of a band, like go and exercise and tour and stuff like that, because that’s what takes the time off. But I’m actually singing one song on the new Carnivora album.

BM: Ok.

ME: Just because the guitar player, Tore, is a friend of mine, and he asked, and of course, it’s fun to be part of.

BM: What do you like to do…you sound like a very busy guy. What do you do in your spare time? What’s your favorite thing to do to relax?

ME: I like to exercise, I like to play soccer with my friends, and I like to play tennis with my friends, and stuff like that. But something that actually takes most of my time, which shouldn’t [laughs] is the darn computer. Playing games on the computer. I don’t know, do you play games?

BM: No. I really don’t have time, actually.

ME: Well, I don’t have time either. It’s good for me to not think of music all the time, that kind of stuff can’t be good for anybody.

BM: Yeah.

ME: Just to think about music all the time. So I play a game that’s called Battlefield II. Where me and actually the band members, we join together and blow up some tanks and drive around the place. [laughs] So that’s what I do in my spare time. And of course, I sit here and make music and have fun.

BM: Cool. I’ll ask you one last thing here. Who are your favorite vocalists? I know Jorn is one of them, but of all time, who are your favorite vocalists, and if you had to pick like five of your favorite albums from any bands, from any era, what would those five albums be?

ME: Well, Jorn, of course. He’s great, one of the best there is right now, I think. And of course, Russell Allen. He’s just amazing. And I like Khan from Kamelot, I like his voice. Yeah, of course Geoff Tate from Queensryche.

BM: Oh yeah.

ME: Actually, there’s two more great, great singers, and that’s Keith Wier and Richard Marx.

BM: Richard Marx, really?

ME: Yes!

BM: The pop singer.

ME: Yeah, but he has this rock touch to his voice, and he has great pitch, and he writes great songs.

BM: Oh yeah.

ME: So those vocalists are great. All of those vocalists have that raspy voice. I have that clean, I can’t get that, so maybe that’s why I like them.

BM: Well you know what else they have though, most of those guys have, especially Geoff Tate used to have, is incredible range. Those notes he could hit were amazing.

ME: Oh yeah. They actually will be playing a concert here in two weeks from now.

BM: Are you going to go see them?

ME: Oh yeah. But you know what? We tried to get some kind of deal that we could play with them, on their concert, and we got a go from the place that they were gonna play, but since we had a concert yesterday with Jorn, they didn’t think it would be necessary for us to play in the two weeks again. So damn, it would be cool to play with Queensryche, that would be a dream. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

ME: But of course I will be going there to see the guys.

BM: They’re playing here in the states, but unfortunately they’re playing the same week as ProgPower. They’ll be in Michigan the Sunday ProgPower ends, so we’ll have to fly back and travel to Detroit to see them, and I think we’re going to be wiped out from ProgPower. I don’t know if we’ll make it to their concert. Bad timing.

ME: Well there’s always a Queensryche concert, but there’s a year between ProgPower concerts.

BM: We decided to devote our time to ProgPower. I’ll be able to meet you down there too.

ME: I’m looking forward to that, it will be great.

BM: I’ve got an all areas pass from Glenn, and Shane hooked me up so I’ll be able to chat with you guys. It will be fun to meet you.

ME: Yeah, it will be fun. Looking forward to that.

BM: Michael, I appreciate your time today. Thank you so much for hooking up with me.

ME: Yeah, sure Bill, it’s been a pleasure.

BM: Thank you so much, Michael. Have a great evening.

ME: That you, Bill. Bye bye.

The 1st Chapter is available from Amazon, or from Ken Golden at LaserCD.com. If you haven’t heard it yet, you need to. It’s an astounding accomplishment. I absolutely love the first Circus Maximus album!

Okay. Now it’s time for the world premiere of Michael’s song “Back to Atlanta” that he wrote for our interview and in honor of Circus Maximus’ return trip to ProgPower this fall. Click on the link below or right-click on it and download it to your computer. Enjoy!

Here’s Michael’s song:  Back to Atlanta