Venger kom med sitt debutalbum tidligere i år, gitarist James henger med i svingene.

Yeah James, welcome back to Heavymetal.no! Life is good?

«Hi Yngve – life is always a patchwork of ups and downs, but I’m keeping busy and enjoying music, so yes!»

Earlier you’ve represented black metal and pagan metal here at Heavymetal.no, as well as your kick ass solo effort Ewigkeit. Now, with Venger, you’re a part of a classic metal band. How come? I know you are a big fan of Maiden etc., but what made you take this detour?

«I had a growing number of tracks with a classic Maiden feel, and just didn’t know where to put them (i could hardly use them for Old Forest….) – so when I met up with Doug, and we decided to write a track or two to see what happened, it was the perfect place. I’m not sure how many of those tracks actually made it into Venger, but the intent behind them did, which is what counts most»

Les anmeldelsen av skiva HER.

Your drummer, Sven, told me you and guitarist Doug lived in the same neighbourhood, was this the reason you came together and started Venger? This kickstarted it all?

«Me and Doug live fairly close to each other in a suburb of Brighton, where we are both from. We actually have a mutual friend for over 30 years who had been meaning to introduce us, but it just never happened. Also, I had met all the guys in Saxon briefly in a hotel bar after the Graspop festival in 2016 (where In The Woods… played early on the middle stage and Saxon were main stage). Doug and Nigel were both surprised to hear that I was not only from the same city as them, but worked in an office in their immediate area :). In the end, it was a chance meeting at a pub in town, and we exchanged contact details and met properly a few weeks later.»

Venger@Facebook

And can you present the band? And perhaps what bands you guys have been in, and are active in?

«Doug is lead and rhythm guitars, also of the mighty Saxon since 1995, and a well respected guitar wiz. He’s regularly on tour all over (but you know this).»

I get the «You remember which album came out, and whot played on it, but not how old your nephew is?», so yeah, nerd alert!

«James (me) is rhythm guitars, keys and backing vox – I’ve working with various underground bands over the years (Old Forest, Nattehimmel, Ewigkeit, ex In The Woods… etc)

Franz is lead vocalist, also of the Austrian traditional Metal band Roadwolf, who are on their 3rd (?) album, via Napalm Records

Sven is the drummer (and video editor!) who is also with me and the Botteri brothers in Black Metal band Nattehimmel, and also with them in the more progressive Strange New Dawn.»

I know you are working on a new Nattehimmel album, and Doug is in Saxon, where is Venger come priority? What kind of ambition level do you have for Venger? Is it just to get this off your chest, to get an album out? Or is it a dream to be able to tour, build a cv?

«It doesn’t have any less or more priority when it’s being worked on in the moment. Whatever is the work at hand gets 100% attention. There’s no point at all in making something half-arsed.

It’s always possible that we could do something live if a good opportunity came up, but it’d have to be at a level to justify the effort; we’re not really up for playing the local bar.»

I kind of feel the album is meat and potatoes metal, but at the same time the songs are strong and do have the strength to separate itself a bit from the bands in the same genera. What kind of feedback have you received on the album so far? And is the feedback what you expected, or better, worse?

«It’s what you could call Pre-micro genre Metal; in the vein of Maiden, Priest & Saxon. Metal suffers from an absolute balkanisation of nonsense-sub genres in the last 20 years, in my opinion. Metal is Metal, and thats it ! Feedback has been really positive – it turned out far better than even we thought it would!»

What’s the story behind the cover? Any deep thoughts? Or just a cool cartoonish epic one?

«All the song-themes are represented in the cover artwork. None of it is too far out of the content of what you’d expect, but that was entirely the point. My idea was to have something that looked like a summer blockbuster movie poster from the 70s or 80s ; Star Wars, Never ending Story, Back to the Future etc… something EPIC (like the music!).»

Lyrics, same question, any theme, any deeper message, or is Venger not about anything else than the music and being metal?

«There’s no deep philosophy on the album; it’s certainly tried & tested themes. In that respect, it’s thematically cliché, but then that is what Metal trades on ; being a parody of a parody of a parody. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you are entirely aware of it.»

How is it to run a band with members across the sea? Sven living in Norway, I guess he doesn’t come over to rape and pillage too often? Is most of the process done digitally?

«When it comes to the writing of songs, Doug & myself put together the riffs, then I’ll usually go away and construct a rough demo and add keys. Of those, Doug will choose which he likes, and then we’ll start recording. Drums & lyrics / vocals will always come last, and Sven and Franz were able to get those done in Kristiansand and Vienna respectively. It works for what we want to do.»

Songs for a possible next album? Has the process already started?

«We’ve got 2 or 3 tracks done, yes. Is along the same lines, musically and lyrically. Classic no-nonsense Metal with epic themes and face-melting solos.»

Silver Lining Music, guessing hard on Dougs link to this label were handy. Was the deal for more albums? And how is it working with the label? Any money yet? ;).

«We were talking with a few labels, and actually Silver Lining came at the end. I belive Biff Byford actually asked Doug why he hadn’t sent it to them, and so we did! The album got into the top 20 of the UK independent rock albums chart for a week, which was very unexpected and great!»

Thanks a million James, for taking of your time to hang out here, hopefully the album and the band do well! Any last words for the readers? Hate, love, words of wisdom, games preferred, movies we need to watch?

«Will just say that if you’ve not given Venger a listen, and are a fan of Maiden, Priest & Saxon, then go stick on Impaler of Souls at full blast ; you wont be dissapointed!»