Exactly two years after releasing their first album "Daily Reminders," Norwegian band Kingseeker returns with the follow-up full-length "Passing Moments Caught Forever."
Hello, and thanks! So Passing Moments is our second album following our debut and EP. Doing an EP between the two albums allowed us to grow and try out new things before starting the process of the second full-length.
We've done pretty much everything differently this time around. We work hard to always introduce new elements into our sound to evolve and never make the same record twice.
Instead of programmed drums, we now have a drummer, Marius Rød Tøftum, who has been there for the whole album process. Having another musician in the group, especially a drummer, really changes how things are written. Even though I play bass in the band, I'm really a guitarist, meaning there's two guitarists and a singer writing. That's not always gonna be condusive to natural drum parts, so having Marius there who is also a great guitarist really opened some doors for us when writing.
Another thing that's really changed this time around is that we emphasized making the songs translate to a live scenario. The songs off of Daily Reminders were all written and performed part by part in the studio, which made some of the songs really tough to play live,
whereas Passing Moments are just a lot more effortless to nail live, and they sound better for it in my opinion. This involved less hectic parts, less kickdrum "bursts", and more of dividing the lead vocal role between Jan, the lead singer, and me, the backing singer.
The vocal thing really gives the whole thing an extra layer of dynamics as well in my opinion. I've always loved when bands like Billy Talent and System of a Down do the thing with multiple lead singers.
I also wanna mention the fact that we've now been a band for a couple of years and have gotten better at communicating with each other when writing has made this whole process a lot less painful than the previous ones. We're all musicians with strong opinions, and sometimes things get heated.
On this one there was a lot more cooperation as a group instead of trying to push your ideas through.
- The album sounds really powerful, what's your secret in terms of production?
No secrets, just hard work and a great studio! We self produce all of our stuff. I (Emil) am a producer, so I take a lot of pride in making the Kingseeker albums all sonically different from one another.
Production-wise, we did things a bit more old school for this one and more "rough around the edges" so to speak. We recorded real amps, live drums, and in general just edited things way less. There are a lot of parts where the vocals are not tuned, and there's virtually no vocal dubbing whatsoever.
We wanted that old school, more personal sound to the whole record.
We recorded the album in Toproom Studio, where a lot of great metal and hard rock albums have been made over the years. Having access to great equipment really allowed me to just not do that much in the mix, and just letting the magic of the recording shine.
- You have already shared 4 singles. What's your favourite and what's the one most representative of the album?
I'd say Cold Blooded // Ice Hearted. It has the dual vocal thing, big chords, and a colorful vibe.
- What are the lyrics about?
Our singer Jan can answer this one. Jan:
I try to give a different answer every time that encompasses the same but to me:
The lyrics are about feeling trapped in memories, fantasies and nostalgia. How you suddenly remember something and regret what you did, therefore the title "Passing Moments Caught Forever".
It's about growing up, finding out that the world is a lot more complicated and understanding the inherent biases you hold as a person. The ironic thing about it all is that while writing the lyrics I had to look back and do the thing that I'm kinda saying you shouldn't do.
But it gave me a lot of time to reflect, and understand that certain situations and ways that I behaved weren't okay. I thought I was the artsy misunderstood emo kid. But turns out I was just an asshole that led people on, and broke hearts.
- What do you listen to when you are home?
Production-wise, we did things a bit more old school for this one and more "rough around the edges" so to speak. We recorded real amps, live drums, and in general just edited things way less. There are a lot of parts where the vocals are not tuned, and there's virtually no vocal dubbing whatsoever.
We wanted that old school, more personal sound to the whole record.
We recorded the album in Toproom Studio, where a lot of great metal and hard rock albums have been made over the years. Having access to great equipment really allowed me to just not do that much in the mix, and just letting the magic of the recording shine.
- You have already shared 4 singles. What's your favourite and what's the one most representative of the album?
I'd say Cold Blooded // Ice Hearted. It has the dual vocal thing, big chords, and a colorful vibe.
- What are the lyrics about?
Our singer Jan can answer this one. Jan:
I try to give a different answer every time that encompasses the same but to me:
The lyrics are about feeling trapped in memories, fantasies and nostalgia. How you suddenly remember something and regret what you did, therefore the title "Passing Moments Caught Forever".
It's about growing up, finding out that the world is a lot more complicated and understanding the inherent biases you hold as a person. The ironic thing about it all is that while writing the lyrics I had to look back and do the thing that I'm kinda saying you shouldn't do.
But it gave me a lot of time to reflect, and understand that certain situations and ways that I behaved weren't okay. I thought I was the artsy misunderstood emo kid. But turns out I was just an asshole that led people on, and broke hearts.
- What do you listen to when you are home?
Oh man, so much different stuff. I'm huge into exploring different kinds of music, but my favourite bands are probably Billy Talent, System of a Down, and KoRn, but lately I've been really into the whole "baddiecore" thing. I've been jamming Spiritbox, Sleep Token, Bad Omens, but also
the new Silent Planet, Polaris, Invent Animate, Currents, and Unprocessed. 2023 has just been a great year for metalcore in my opinion.
- Your favourite albums?
Billy Talent - Billy Talent II
Three Days Grace - One-X
KoRn - Issues
Those are albums that I can just never go wrong with, regardless of mood!
- A musician you would like to meet for a beer?
Ian D'sa from Billy Talent, no doubt. His style of playing guitar is just so damn unique.
- What would you ask for backstage, if you were the most important band on earth?
the new Silent Planet, Polaris, Invent Animate, Currents, and Unprocessed. 2023 has just been a great year for metalcore in my opinion.
- Your favourite albums?
Billy Talent - Billy Talent II
Three Days Grace - One-X
KoRn - Issues
Those are albums that I can just never go wrong with, regardless of mood!
- A musician you would like to meet for a beer?
Ian D'sa from Billy Talent, no doubt. His style of playing guitar is just so damn unique.
- What would you ask for backstage, if you were the most important band on earth?
Probably a room full of cats. I love cats so much, and being able to chill with some goofy furballs before hitting the stage would be so sick. Capybaras are also acceptable.
- What are your plans for the near future?
We're getting ready to gig and promote this upcoming album, obviously. Other than that, we're gonna be rerecording some old songs that aren't released under the Kingseeker name yet (real OGs will know), and there's one more really big one that I'm not allowed to even talk about. Bottom line is you should stay tuned, cause we are NOT gonna be slowing down anytime soon!
This is their new album Passing Moments Caught Forever. Give it a go by clicking on the Spotify player below and remember to follow Kingseeker on social media.
- What are your plans for the near future?
We're getting ready to gig and promote this upcoming album, obviously. Other than that, we're gonna be rerecording some old songs that aren't released under the Kingseeker name yet (real OGs will know), and there's one more really big one that I'm not allowed to even talk about. Bottom line is you should stay tuned, cause we are NOT gonna be slowing down anytime soon!
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