PORTAL TOMBS – FRED FORSBERG, DADDE
Art: Stuart Lippincott
Fred: Our music deals with the apparent nihilism of modern society, where no one believes in anything anymore and can’t envision a better future or a way out of our predicament. We’re trying to awaken what is a suppressed but highly potent feeling of emptiness, loneliness and meaninglessness inside us and bring it to the centre of the stage. It’s primarily an attempt to capture that feeling to the best of our ability. The ritual is life – and it’s grim, peculiar, obscene and esoteric enough as it is; you have to look at the right places and keep your mind open. I think it’s a fixation in life in general, not necessarily tied to music. Music is merely a medium to convey ideas and to feel where words and social interactions fail.
Dadde: In 1999, Neurosis released the ‘Times of Grace’ LP and played Stockholm with Voivod and Today is the Day. That gig is still, after 24 years, something that embodies everything that I want to feel and make others feel when it comes to playing live music. That- if anything- was as close to worshipping heavy music as I have come—a larger-than-life experience.
Fred: Any vices: Kill your darling, I don’t know if that counts, but a really important part of the creative process is to be able to let go. I will probably delete 50% of what I work on.
I’ve always been fascinated by Tarkovsky and Kubrick’s work. They have a genius level of creativity but are also not overtly simplistic in their message. Art that is profoundly personal yet open for interpretation is the kind of art I’m drawn to.
I see music as an alternative communication; you can express and present ideas, emotions, etc., almost subconsciously. You can evoke emotions the listener didn’t know they had inside of them, and that’s powerful. It’s entertainment, too, but I’d say that’s secondary. I’ve been deep into Scott Walker for quite some time now, trying to recommend it to everyone asking. Scott 3 is superb.
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