Oddleif Stensland – Guitars and Vocals for Communic

1. Describe your music to people who have never heard Communic before.

ODDLEIF: Communic is a band from Norway , and was formed in 2003. We have two albums out now and the music is a blend of thrash – power – progressive, filled with melodies, emotions and topped with a certain amount of aggression. Pretty difficult to describe our sound, and it seems like those reviewing the albums are having a hard time doing it as well.

2. What are the differences between your debut “Conspiracy in Mind” and the new album “Waves of Visual Decay”?

ODDLEIF: That is basically the fact that this one is more heavy , but still quite complex. Well, it's more or less the same thing that we did on CIM, but we have become more heavy or even aggressive in some parts. I think the reason for this is the fact that when we play live, there is more energy in the band and we tried to capture some of that energy when we started to work on new songs and also in the final recording process. I think that gave the songs that little extra energy that this album needed.

3. Tell our readers about the kind of arrangements on “Waves of Visual Decay” and maybe something you can relate them to?

ODDLEIF: I make all the basic ideas and sketches for the songs, but everyone in the band is very much into the arrangement of the songs, and Erik and Tor has to come up with their own ideas regarding bass and drums – because I'm not telling them what to do or play, so all in all it's a team effort to get the songs ready and get them so sound as they do. It's really important for us that everyone is involved in the process and that keeps the “band feeling” strong and makes us work better together, and it's also a lot of fun exploring our different approach everyone has on the ideas that we are making.

4. How in touch is the band with its fans and what is going on with Heavy metal music in the States?

ODDLEIF: We try to keep in touch through our website, and we have a quite active forum where people can ask us questions or send us requests to discuss things with other fans. We also answer every email sent to the band and it seems like more and more people are getting to know about Communic .

5. Have you been offered or are there plans to play the U.S. for the new album?

ODDLEIF: No, not yet. Hopefully we can come to play in the U.S. to support the album over there as well.

6. Who are your influences for your style and technique of guitar playing?

ODDLEIF: I have never had a guitar hero that I have looked up to, so I actually don't know. I have no musical education and have learned to play the guitar by myself. If I could mention someone, it has to be Marty Friedman and James Hetfield .

7. Were there certain “Heavy Metal stereotypes” you tried to avoid in Communic's music?

ODDLEIF: No, we try to not have any rules in the making of our music. We are three quite different persons in the band and everyone has different influences and we just try to make the music the way everyone in the band is happy with. There is of course things that we probably newer would do but that is just natural.

8. Who are some of your favorite , and less desirable, artists on the scene?

ODDLEIF: I like bands like Dead Soul Tribe, Fates Warning, Jag Panzer, and also the older stuff from Candlemass , Megadeth , Metallica , Pantera , Iron Maiden and many more.

9. What are the band's plans for the rest of 2006?

ODDLEIF: Right now we have played some cool festivals in Europe , and will do some more festivals this summer as well. Later in the fall we will hopefully manage to put a small tour together and maybe something “bigger” during the winter time.

10. And after that? Future plans?

ODDLEIF: Well we have some ideas for a new album so I guess we will be around for a while, pushing our music out to the masses…

Cheers and thanks for the support.

Metal from Norway !
Oddleif Stensland .

Official website: www.communic.org