RICOCHAT: an exclusive chat with Norway’s Ricochets

words: John Simandiras

That’s exactly how a chat with Ricochets should be called: Ricochat. Chatting with us through the Net: Alexander Kloster-Jensen, Ricochet’s fabulous guitarman. (Alex used to guitar also for Hello Goodbye). No strangers are Ricochets to diamondists. They’ve been regular on-air visitors to our radio show, since their second studio album, the stunning ‘The Ghost of Our Love’ (2003). Their third shot, last year’s ‘Isolation’, has gained them new and passionate fans, and a reputation for being one hell of a melody-masters. Friends an neighbors, may we present you our friends from Norway, RRRicochets!

‘The Ghost Of Our Love’ almost made us cry, whenever we aired it on the radio, while ‘Isolation’ has firmly and undeniably established Ricochets as the new cult heroes of ‘diamonds’…
It’s nice to hear that our music touches the souls of Greek people. It is heart-warming to know that our music is played and listened to many miles away… that it has a life on its own.

What is it that makes Norwegian rockNroll so appealing to the Greek audience?
You know, it’s quite strange the connection between Greece and Norway. Here, Leonard Cohen, another gloomy and dark artist tops the charts, as you put Norwegian acts like Madrugada on the top of your lists. As far as I know, that’s quite unusual. Maybe, there exists a secret musical doctrine between the two countries.

Some Norwegian artists/groups that you deeply appreciate?
Serena Maneesh, Mira Craig, Madrugada, My Midnight Creeps, Mari Boine, Quarter Past, Camaros, Ane Brun, Erik Bye, The Cheaters, King Midas (one of the best bands in Norway)… to mention but a few.

Autheniticity: here’s what makes Ricochets so special. A factor that is so rare in today’s -plastic- rockNroll. Sometimes, you seem not to play the song… it seems as if you’re living the dam song!
That’s really how it is… the songs really are lived. Trond, who writes most of the songs, puts everything of himself in the songs. And that’s not bullshit.

Trond Andreassen, the singing/songwriting force in Ricochets, putting everything in the song

There’s a straight line that connects the 60s to Ricochets and vice versa…
Old or new, it doesn’t matter, if the music is good, it’s good. There will always be good music hiding somewhere.

Who deals with the sequence of the songs on your albums?
The tracklist is very important. It’s like setting up a menu. You have to build it right, so that the whole experience will make sense. We are very into the album thing. All our three albums are concept albums.

Which one of your three albums was more fun to record?
I really don’t like recording. And none of the three records was fun to record, they were all quite painful, I must say. You see, once it’s recorded, it’s finished, and there’s nothing more you can do to change it… it’s a nightmare.

Alexander Kloster-Jensen on stage with Ricochets

Should one expect a political album from Ricochets?
No. Just a musical one.

Is black the color you like most?
Black is not a color. It’s the absence of all colors. I wish black was the color of my skin…

Which Ricochet spends more time in front of a mirror in the morning? Or is it noonday already by the time he wakes up?
It’s already noonday, when I wake up. My mirror is very small, so there’s not much point standing in front of it. But in the backstage mirror, I would say you truly spend the most time in front of it.

Is it true that you once got into fights with each other, while performing on stage?
No comment, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Can you describe the typical atmosphere backstage, five minutes before you walk on stage?
It’s like being a meteor heading for earth, bursting into the atmosphere, coming from the cold eternal, infinite space.

Do you nowadays write your songs faster that you used to? Do ideas come more easily, as time goes by?
Something has to trigger the writing. So, if there’s something significant happening in Trond’s life, it will soon be transformed into a song.

In terms of your next project, what are your ideas?
Lost of ideas but it’s a secret… I’m currently recording the second album with My Midnight Creeps, together with Robert Burås, the guitarist of Madrugada. It will be released this autumn. Thanks again for the request, and it’s always nice to hear from Greece. Love to everyone in Greece! Yours truly, Alexander Kloster-Jensen

R i c o c h e t s / band info:

Trond Andreassen: vocals
Alexander Kloster-Jensen: guitar, backing vocals
Knut Olsen: bass, backing vocals
Sven Poppe Jr.: piano, organ, B3
Glenn Vidar Solheim: drums, percussion