Hello and welcome to this interview for the Rising Darkness Magazine! Thanks a lot that you are taking the time to answer my questions!

zet:
Hello to you, and that's no problem of course!


At first let me congratulate you for a real unique and very interesting album

zet:
Thanks a lot. It's always nice to get that kind of feedback of course.


When I started listening to "Intra" I came up to the opinion that all the individual performances, all the single parts are much more detailed and better than on your last album "Escape". Would you agree with me?

zet:
Yeah, I guess i have to agree with you on that one, we've spent a lot more time on both, writing the material, and rehearsing and arranging it, before we got into the studio this time, so it sure sounds better, are better performed, and got better songs.


Also the whole production has changed in my eyes, it is more powerful and detailed. Tell me, did you use an other studio for the production this time?

zet:
As before, we've recorded it in my own studio, space valley, but we used Daniel Bergstrand at the mixing part this time, and I really have to say, that we're extremely happy with the sound at this album.


As I read your lyrics are on all of your three albums about a man living in a hospital and about a nurse doing along with him there. Is this right and if, how did you come on that sort of "concept album"? Do you also use actual themes packed in this story?

zet:
That's right, even if the concept on the "pure therapy" album, was a bit more abstract, but it definitely started the making of this whole story. I guess the whole concept, sort of got born when I wrote the lyrics to that album, and then I worked together with a girl outside the band, who is a writer, on the "escape" lyrics. Then I've worked together with Sfinx on the INTRA lyrics, and we've sort of, completed the story...maybe....
I don't use actual themes packed in the story, at least not on purpose, but it could be an idea for the next one, if we don't quiet manage to let go of the subject, or the story.


If I would call the sound and the music you are playing as schizophrenic sometimes, would you agree with me?

zet:
Yeah, it's a term I've used several times myself, and maybe some of the best way to describe our music. Also, our main character in this story, is clearly a schizophrenic man, so we try to make the lyrics and the music go hand in hand, in a schizoid hell...ha ha..

It is quite an interesting fact that the bands name is taken out of the your last name Ramseth. So as far as I know Ram-Zet was at first a one man project, so didn't you think about changing the name after the band became a brighter project?

zet:
It might seem like a band from the outside, but there's only one man pulling all the strings...ha ha ha.. No, seriously.. Ram-Zet was just a name, which I definitely meant to change before the release of our first album, but then people told me that it was rather cool, and worked out just fine, so I decided to keep it. A name is something you have to get used to anyway, and people remember it, so it was never actual to change it, even if it became a complete band after a while.


Who is doing the nice female vocals on "Intra" and how did you come on especially that female singer?

zet:
Her name is Miriam Renvaag, alias Sfinx, and she's a very good singer indeed, not only this kind of stuff, but she's also a terrific jazz singer. She handles everything actually, but she's grown into Ram-Zet in a quite different way now, compared to when we did the "escape" album. I think it sounds like a complete different vocalist. Much better, I would say.
When I did "pure therapy" I wanted some female vocal parts, and some choir parts. I hired 5 or 6 girls from a local choir, and one of them was Miriam. I heard her great potential, and asked if she could do some female leads on it as well. And after the release, when I started thinking about live gigs, I asked her if she wanted to join, as a permanent member, and she said yes immediately.


I am every time interested in some more personal and different things about the artists I am doing an interview with. So tell me from which part in Norway are you from?

zet:
I live in a place called Hamar. It's a small town with about 25 000 citizens. It's down by Norway's biggest lake, Mjoesa, and about 130 kilometres north of Oslo.


If I would go over on holiday in your home country which places of interest or places of nature would I really have to visit?

zet:
Well, i guess you would have to see Oslo, which after all, is our capitol, but cities like Bergen, and Tromsø (up north) are maybe prettier. In Tromsø, at the right time of year, you can see the midnight sun, which of course is rather special. All northern Norway, are special I would say. And then you have to visit our beautiful fjords of course, with maybe Geiranger fjorden, as the most beautiful. In Norwegian mountains, you will find a lot of people from your own county, with their large camping cars...ha ha...

If you would have to describe Norway in five words, which one would you use?

zet:
Cold, hot (right now that is...) wild, challenging, and expensive!!


Tell me some "really important" words which I would have to know if I come on a visit to Norway!

zet:
Fa'an (scheisse) god dag (guten tag) Gi meg en øl (Ein Bier, bitte) talas (Aufwiedersehen)


Alright! Let me thank you again for your time! Good luck with "Intra" and I hope to hear a lot more of you, especially live! Mange tak for eur tid og ha de bra!

zet:
Yeah, thanks a lot, hope to see you, and a lot of German people on tour sometime. And thank you for this interview, with a couple of unusual questions! :-) take care!
zet


martin