Meet the regulars #1

We thought it would be fun to present some of the guys and dolls that hang around at Karmøygeddon Metal Festival at a more or less annual basis.

First up in this series is Yngve. He is well known in the Norwegian metal community as Heavy Metal-Yngve, as he runs the biggest metal webzine in Norway; heavymetal.no. Even though he is well known to many of you online, he seems to keep a low profile at the festival, focusing on the music and taking his notes to be able to give his readers the best possible recap of the festival in written form. He´s often observed with his hoodie over his head and black shades, but the immensely long beard gives him away. He usually interviews others, but we thought it would be interesting to do it the other way around this time. Here´s what he had to say:

Name: Yngve

From: Eksiltrønder bosatt I Kristiansand

When I'm not headbanging at Karmøygeddon, I'm...working my ass off running a metalzine online, running a family of four and working two jobs in the health care system. And playing drums in a band.

1. When was the first time you visited Karmøygeddon and how many times have you participated ever since?

“I was aware of the first one, back in 2004, but back then it was basically a local happening I guess, it’s always hard to participate on these first off rounds as they kind of hit you when it’s over. I did see the add for the festival, but regarded it as a local small festival, and I wasn’t ready to travel all the way to Kopervik on the west coast back then. But I did attend the following year, in 2005, the lineup in 05 was awesome, and Mercenary alone was enough for me to drive to Stavanger and boat my way towards Kopervik.

I haven’t missed one year since, that is pretty die hard, even most of the local metal head can’t front statistics like this.”

2. Describe what Karmøygeddon is to you:

“A festival where I get to see a broad variety of bands, to meet up with people (even if I’m a retard light socially), but yeah, see bands. I am one of those dudes who pretty much always try to see whole gigs, I hate to miss anything.

And Karmøygeddon is a festival where the atmosphere is present, good vibes, I haven’t always clicked on the lineups personally, but I haven’t regretted being there, ever.

Karmøygeddon is one of the few festivals in the metal scene proving the spoken “ten years cycle” wrong 😊. Inferno and Southern Discomfort being the remaining two.”

3. What is your best Karmøygeddon memory?

“There are so many. Meeting all of you guys and girls behind the festival, seeing how dedicated you all are… worth the trip alone. Having breakfast with Ross the Boss at this year’s festival was gold! Eating dinner with Doro and the band when they played in Haugesund, being able to take part in the festivals growth, visiting Shabby Records to work on my “not buy anything ‘cause you need to stop-program”, and perhaps the best memory/memories is/are when Johnny Angelund finally get to see a band he likes, and to see how much he loves what he does.”

4. What is your favorite metal genre and why?

“I hate this one, almost can’t be bothered to answer. I’ve been a metalhead for almost 40 years, I like what I like regardless of where the bands are located genera wise. I’m more controlled by content I guess, I don’t support bands into Satanism, violence, nazi crap, promoting drugs etc. In general, great music is great music, from the mellow stuff like Anathema to Anekdoten, from dirty death metal from Diskord to finesse extreme like Aspeherium and Ram Zet. Thrash occupies a large piece of my heart, due to me discovering this style back when it was born, these days secured by the excellent and Karmøygeddon 18-band Vorbid. Nwobhm, guess that’s the love of my life, and prog from the 70’s and the insanely great prog scene counting Änglagård and Landberk.”

5. What would be the ultimate band to play at Karmøygeddon - yes, you can pick ANY band you like, both split/dead/non-existing/existing! “Hm. Non-existing? That’s a tough one 😊. But if you ask me to name bands I would drag to a desert island, albums I never gets tired of, bands I would see over and over again; Änglagård, Rainbow with Dio on vocal, Metal Church on The Dark era, Warlord, and Metallica anno 1983. Man, feeling the sweat drops already.”

6. What band(s) do you look forward seeing at next year's festival?

“In Vain, Allfader and Vorbid. And I’m thrilled to see Cor Scorpi, though not the biggest fan of the genera, I find this band interesting.”

PS: Be sure to check out his webzine: heavymetal.no