Situated in the heart of Oslo is an artist who is as lively as he is dedicated; as fun-loving as he is hardworking. He is a masterful, well-versed, and skilled craftsman and a music theory wizard with a musical mind as nimble as his fingers. On both guitar and violin he proves not only virtuosic, but daring and bombastic. Arranger, performer, and the bright light in every room: Konstantin Helmers is an undeniable talent.
FP: Where and when were you born?
KH: I was born in Oslo, Norway on 14 October 1997.
FP: How were you introduced to music?
KH: When I was a kid, my neighbor was this classical pianist. She was a professional classical pianist and her daughter was a year younger than me and we played a lot together when we were kids. For her 2nd birthday she got a violin from her uncle and I was really interested in it. Everyone tried the violin but I wanted to play it more so I borrowed it an went into a room and started to make it work. I wanted to borrow it all the time. At a certain point, my parents got me my own violin. But the thing that's really funny is that I later discovered that her uncle is a really well--known Norwegian jazz violinist. I actually didn't know that until I later enrolled at the Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH) on jazz violin. That was interesting for me to discover. Seems like it was destiny. We didn't have a piano at home when I was younger. And my mother was working a lot...but she's also a musician. She also helped me get started in music when I was a kid. That's where a lot of it came from.
FP: Which artists inspired you then/now?
KH: I grew up playing classical violin, so most of the music I did (when I was younger) was classical music. I've always been into 60s and 70s rock, mainly because of the influence from my uncle, who is a rock history enthusiast. He's shown me a lot of different styles of rock music over the years. He gave me my first record when I was four or five, which was a KISS record. It's really weird because he doesn't really like KISS. There was one tune on it called "Black Diamond", a really cool song that stuck with me for years. I think that's my earliest influence. Gradually, I started playing the guitar in about 7th grade, the last year of (Norwegian) elementary school. It was very easy for me to pick up the guitar because I had already been playing the violin for so long. So I started getting into actually playing rock music, which I found really inspiring. It really opened my ears to playing, not only practicing, but playing for the sake of making sound. Then I gradually moved through more genres. Ever since then, it's been anything. Nowadays, my biggest inspirations are...the Coltrane stuff. I've also been recently listening to a lot of solo guitar in a lot of different genres, specifically Paco de Lucía and Ted Greene. I've also been working on that sort of stuff...I haven't done much solo guitar work without accompaniment of some sort. That's what I'm into these days. Oh, and Anderson .Paak!
FP: How do you approach songwriting/lyrics?
KH: The thing about my writing is that I don't really have a lyric approach to writing songs. My angle has always been more of a composer one. If I talk about lyrics, then I would say that my general approach is almost always related to how words sound. I tend to look at vocals as a part in a score. The last five months or so, I've been writing a lot for my band, Three Souls, where I've written a lot of lyrics. Actually, this is the most lyric-heavy music I've written. I tried to make more of a songwriter-approach to get to the core of the music and that was very new to me. I'd never done that before. What I very quickly discovered was that that really helps get the core of the music very solid, so it's more efficient to write other parts and get the arrangement going. I also discovered that the sound of lyrics can also help shape what kind of pattern I'm making for the comp section. I think many of the lyrics that I've done now aren't really written from my perspective, necessarily. They're more like general things. Some of them are inspired by recent happenings. One thing that's very lyric-specific is...I don't really like lyrics that much if they are about the people writing them; the me, me, me thing. Lyrics like those of...Jim Morrison or David Bowie or people like that...they're in character when they're writing. To me, that works a lot better. I feel like I get more out of listening to people who write like that. I feel like I can be more free...I have less obstacles (when I write that way)...I guess I've always been very independent in terms of working by myself and not really wanting help. My entire process is very soloistic. I get an entire idea and I don't feel like I need that much input a lot of he time. I almost always get an entire idea; it's rarely just a fragment.
FP: To what extent does your upbringing/hometown influence your music?
KH: I think it's really hard to get around the fact that you're shaped by who you are, who you're with, and what kind of childhood you have...Oslo has really been a very nice place for inspiration for me. It's a city that has a lot of things to offer because it's...got that capital-city-vibe...It has a stressful and tight inner-city life but then at the same time it's very roomy on the outside. If I need space or if I need noise there is always something somewhere. I can always go somewhere to get either. For me, that's really nice. I think it has inspired me a lot more than I think, especially because I'm a busy person. I think a lot of my music tends to be a bit chaotic (in a good way). Especially after I moved to the city center, most of my writing has been urban-influenced. When I was back home it used to sound roomier.
FP: Has your time at the Norwegian Academy of Music changed the way you approaching music making?
KH: Yes, a lot...I used to have a very different approach to making music. Everything changed (at the Academy). For some reason, I feel like I've always had a certain type of teacher who would always push a lot of formalities on me (like)...institutionalized/classical music and classical craft and compositional techniques and theory. They...pushed me so much that I feel like I sort of lost a grip on my intuition...At the Academy, when I was taught by people...who were way more open-minded and didn't only want me to do technique all the time but...make music...That was a really inspiring reminder. I had worked that part of me away...so I sky-rocketed playing-wise and creatively when I got into the Academy. The vibe was way more challenging and inspiring. It was overwhelming at first, but I really got a lot out of it by rediscovering that part of myself. It has opened my eyes to new ways of writing songs...using techniques that I thought existed to make music that I hated.
FP: Tell us about your band Three Souls
KH: It's a seven-piece band: 3 horns, vocals, bass, drums, and guitar. We also have some keys sometimes. We started playing in 2015 after an event gig...The kind of band we are now was sort of decided back then. It started as a cover gig...and it was supposed to be a one-time thing but it went so well that we were booked again and we decided to keep on playing...At some point, we started messing around with our own stuff and then we signed up for a competition in 2016. We wrote 3 songs, I think, that we finished the week before the competition. We were scared shitless. It was the biggest event any of us had been to. We ended up winning the 4 first rounds and ended up in 3rd place. The prize was a discount at a recording studio so what we did was write a fourth song and we managed to record an EP, which was released in 2017. Then after that, we played a lot of bigger places and now there's a new album coming out. We've been working very hard to get it ready. It's been a huge change the style we play. We're a soul--rooted band. In one way, it's very funk--related. But also, we've done a lot of experimental soul stuff. This new album is very hip-hop influenced. There's gonna be a lot of disco--hip--hop stuff. We're really stoked to show people. Most of the arranging work was done by me. We're trying to bridge all the different genres that are influenced by soul, so it's become a unique thing. It doesn't really sound like anything I've heard before, so I find it really exciting.
FP: Tell us the story behind your upcoming project.
KH: We've been working very hard to get it ready. It's been a huge change the style we play. We're a soul--rooted band. In one way, it's very funk--related. But also, we've done a lot of experimental soul stuff. This new album is very hip-hop influenced. There's gonna be a lot of disco--hip--hop stuff. We're really stoked to show people. Most of the arranging work was done by me. We're trying to bridge all the different genres that are influenced by soul, so it's become a unique thing. It doesn't really sound like anything I've heard before, so I find it really exciting. We released a single that's kind of a gritty disco track...The band is in many ways is based on the whole Parliament Funkadelic philosophy...We can actually get away with doing a lot of stuff that other groove-based bands cannot because it's weird enough to begin with...It's been recommended by Urort in Norway.
FP: Who produced/engineered it?
KH: Right now there is a Berklee student working on the record. His name's Hans Kristian Nordin and he's a childhood friend...The single was done by Christian Engfelt and Georgeo Tanderø.
FP: Where was it recorded?
KH: We recorded the album ourselves. It was a lot really really hard work to get everything on track because the band is divided. We have a bass player who lives in Trondheim and a saxophone player and trumpet player in Stavanger. The trombone guy is in Oslo but he's moving to Trondheim soon. The singer is in Oslo and the drummer is in Kristiansand but moving to Oslo soon, which will make things easier. Recording the entire album has required us to get a lot of work done in a really short time, during the few times we've been able to meet together. Our drummer found a guy that lent us an insane stash of equipment and we set up in his basement and we had to learn to work an Apollo Twin, which was not so easy. We had guitar amps stuffed into a coat closet with sofa pillows as an iso booth because there was a sleeping baby on the other side of the wall next to the amp. The singer was standing in the hall doing dummy vocals. We were there for 7 or8 days straight, 13 hours a day, to get the rhythm section together. I was up at Hans Kristian's place and did the guitars there: overdubs took 3 or 4 days. Then we had a horn session and we're going to have another one soon. Christian Løken....has a studio where we did horns and lead vocals and background vocals. I also had a separate disco string section where we recorded me and Larissa Tereščenko. We did one tune together and played a lot of parts. We also had two choir ladies, Alice Lewin and Jenny Oloka. They're a superstar team. I'm so glad I got them to record for me...A guy called Audun Haave Reknes played keys for the album...As you can probably tell, there are lots of parts. One of the tunes has choir-sung synth melodies, 4 strings, 3 horns, and overdubbed horns. The score looks like a symphony orchestra. It's the trickiest score I've ever written in my life.
FP: Who are the other members of Three Souls?
KH: Sem Petros on vocals, Mikkel Bjørneboe Brændsrød on bass, Olve Gravklev on drums, Jørgen Bjelkerud on trombone, Henrik Smelhus Sjøeng on trumpet, and Lars Fauchald Hartmann on saxophones.
FP: Who is it for?
KH: The thing about Three Souls' music is that it's really complex but it doesn't necessarily sound like it is. It's very melodic, or catchy. I've never really been into pop, but...what we've done here is make stuff that is made for anybody really. It touches a lot of styles that are very popular now but it's never based on one. There's something for hip-hop people, jazz people, pop people, people who like to dance, and pretty much anyone else. I wouldn't say that it's for anyone in particular.
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*~*fresh pressed five*~*
FP: What is your favorite sound unrelated to music?
KH: It's really weird but...I like the sound when a cat jumps down onto a wooden floor. It makes a very very special sound that I really like. They usually don't land on all their paws at the same time so it's kind of like a little flare. At the same time, it sounds like one sound with multiple attacks. They're all very present but they're very dull at the same time.
FP: What makes you swoon?
KH: Kittens...and pretty hair.
FP: What is one thing on your bucket list?
KH: I want to skydive so badly.
FP: What color makes you most emotional and why?
KH: Blue, I think. It's a color that I really connect to things that I used to do all the time...some of my favorite things in the entire world that I don't have time to do anymore. Especially now with the whole Coronavirus thing I get really emotional about the color blue...like the sky, which I don't see as much these days...or the sea, or the blueish hue of the snow.
FP: Where is your happy place?
KH: My happy place is on stage with people who play really well, especially if it's jazz or if it's some kind of music that really takes away the entire concept of time. When I'm onstage I feel like I kind of disappear for an hour and a half and that is my happy place.
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Three Souls' latest single "State of Mind" is available on Apple Music/iTunes, Spotify, and Tidal.
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