Film School with Saint Karloff

Saint Karloff is a hard hitting doom metal trio from Oslo, Norway.

Right now, there are many people thinking..wow are they terribly brutal black metal? Norway? Wow. They must have to kill a wolf every day in order to maintain the safety of their keep.

Do those trolls get out there and try to steal their children? Do said trolls work in concert with the Goblins and Orcs????

It's a bit disheartening to find out that Oslo is Norwegian city that maintains an combined orc and troll population of precisely zero.

What they do have is loads of bands that are pumping out great tunes. One of those bands, Saint Karloff, has recently put out their lastest disc, All  Heed The Black God.

Check that out and then we're going to talk about some kick ass movies.

1. What's the first movie you remember seeing as a child?

Ole: It's hard to pinpoint exactly what movie I remember seeing first, but I believe it was one of two; either Herman, a Norwegian movie, or Predator with Arnold. But might as well have been another movie, hehe.

2. When I was little, my parents didn't give a damn about what I saw when I was little, so it wasn't until I was about 12 that my folks told me to turn a movie off. What's the first one you were told you couldn't see/finish?

Ole: I don't think I was ever told to turn a movie off, except if it was past my bedtime.

3. The only time I walked out on a movie was when I saw An American Werewolf in London. I was too scared, but in fairness, I was five. Have you ever walked out?

Ole: I have only walked out on a movie once, and it was the first Avatar movie. I had to go to the toilet, and by the time I was finished I had decided to go to the pub on the corner instead of back in to the movie theatre. It's not that I didn't enjoy the first ten minutes of the movie, I just didn't feel like finishing it.

4. Seeing The Empire Strikes Back in theaters sparked a lifelong love of Star Wars flicks. That was the first movie that I saw that brought me into a community. What's yours?

Ole: That would have to be the Thing. The community surrounding John Carpenter's work is pretty big, although I am not active in it. I really dig his films, and they are a huge inspiration to the lyrics of Saint Karloff, as is Carpenter's inspiration: H.P. Lovecraft. 

I try to make lyrics that give me the feeling I get when seeing or reading "Carpenterian" or Lovecraftian stuff.

5. For the past 25 years plus of my life, I've been watching the Monty Python flicks and give me four minutes and I'll recite any scene from Monty Python and The Holy Grail at you. What can you watch that many times?

Ole: I am really bad at remembering lyrics from music and lines from movies, but I have a couple of films I have seen too many times to count. The ones that come to mind are Stand By Me, Back to the Future(1), In the Name of the Father, No Country for Old Men and Zodiac. 

But the film I have seen the most is definitely Woodstock, the documentary about the Woodstock festival in 1969. And this last year my mind have been blow by the fact that when I first saw the documentary, in 1994, 25 years had gone by since Woodstock happened. It was a bygone age, something so far ago that it could just as well have been fiction. 

And next year it is 25 years since I first saw the documentary, and it feels like it was yesterday. That really blows my mind, and is my ultimate reference of time. I am getting philosophical just writing this down. That documentary, which I borrowed from Morten, my friend's father (I never returned it, sorry Morten) really shaped me as a musician and person. 

Woodstock is the absolute musical landmark in my life, more so than Black Sabbath, actually.

6. Comedies are the movies that really help me escape from daily life, well, those and Sci-Fi/Fantasy. What about you?

Ole: That is a tough one. It will have to be either dark dramas like Zodiac and No Country for Old Men, or fantasy/horror. 

I mash fantasy and horror into one because I am talking about lovecraftian horror, not slasher/splatter/gore. So anything from Lord of the Rings to The Ninth gate. And for all you Lovecraft fans out there, I highly recommend the movie "Whisperer in Darkness." 

It's a low budget movie, but it is really well made. It has a great atmosphere, and really captures the feel the original story. Check it out, but only after you've checked out the debut album by Saint Karloff. 

It is called All Heed the Black God, and you will find plenty of Lovecraftian elements if you listen closely.