La Baza Gatului: When did you start playing music and when did you first realized that this was going to be “your path”?
Peter Kolstad Vegem: When I first heard KISS at the age of 6. The elder brother of a friend of mine down the street had the "Dynasty" album and I got instantly hooked. I got "Unmasked" for my seventh birthday in 1980. I played that album until it turned to dust and fell apart. I rapidly dived into the KISS back catalogue and when I heard “Alive” for the first time it felt like my head exploded! My rascal friends and I made drums and fake guitars out of whatever we could find. We made costumes and painted our faces and invited our parents and other friends to “concerts". It didn’t take long before I discovered bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motörhead, Ozzy and so on. I was a full blown metal head by the age of 9. When I turned 11 I finally got my first guitar. I began writing songs that very same day. I had a bunch of “songs” ready before I even knew how to play the damn thing. That describes me pretty well. I have never had a guitar lesson in my life,
but I have always been creating music. I tend to do things the hard way… It’s a blessing and a curse.
La Baza Gatului: How did you come to founding Mongo Ninja? What does Mongo Ninja mean and how did you choose this name?
Peter Kolstad Vegem: Kristopher and I used to play together in a punk band called Datsun back in the 90's. We slowly drifted apart as I dropped out to focus on my other band at the time, Hellride. Kristopher also had his other band The Cumshots and I started up Blood Tsunami in 2004. During the summer of 2009 we met by coincidence. We were both in a piss-miserable mood and bored out of our heads. I said something like …"Damn, wouldn't it been great to play in a band like Zeke and don't give a flying fuck about anyone or anything?" “Let's do it" was Kristopher's quick reply. There and then Mongo Ninja was born… Well, we didn't have the name ready at that point. The name was something Kristopher suggested as a possible album title, but after a while, in a drunken haze we changed our intoxicated minds and baptized the band for Mongo Ninja. What it means? A Mongo Ninja is a guy, or a girl for that matter, who is full of hell, totally unpredictable, happy as a kid at the circus, but also aggressive as a wounded grizzly and of course as stupid as a well done pork chop. You can never predict this idiot's next move. He will probably give you a hug and buy you a beer before he suddenly rips your head off and piss down your throat… or in the opposite order. He will cause some serious damage to his surroundings and he will most likely punch himself in the nose and pass out before the cops arrive.
(Photo by Kenneth Solfjeld)
La Baza Gatului: Since Norway is musically renowned mostly due to the black metal scene, when Mongo Ninja was founded, weren’t you tempted to choose the “dark path”?
Peter Kolstad Vegem: The whole point of Mongo Ninja is to play whatever sounds good and whatever we feel like playing. We don't care if we mix rock, metal or punk. We’re content as long as the music has a high level of energy and aggression. No matter what we do it all ends up sounding like Mongo Ninja anyway. We are old men playing teenage music. We have no boundaries. We've been in so many "genre-tied" bands in the past so it was about time to kick back and don't give a shit. I like Black Metal, but I have never been tempted to play that kind of music. I adore the first wave with bands like Venom, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate and so on... and of course Bathory. That is absolutely my cup of blood, but the second wave, didn't hit me in the same way. Not at first... I truly love bands like Darkthrone, Mayhem and Immortal, but I have never felt an urge to create such music. And I must confess that the "Lost-Panda-in-the-Forest" images turned me off when they first started popping up back in the days. Haha, fucking morons was my first thought… I'm a more thrash and punk kinda guy. I like asphalt and concrete. Anyway, we have Faust in the band so we have our share of pitch black Norwegian darkness. He is our Black Metal alibi. He's been out there in the woods with his cape and his sword. His previous paths were so dark so it’s actually mystery it didn't grow tentacles from his forehead... With swinging light bulbs attached at the end. Like a deep sea fish.
La Baza Gatului: Even though the band has a quite short history (it was formed in 2009), you have managed to release 3 studio albums and 1 live one. Where do this enthusiasm and inspiration come from?
Peter Kolstad Vegem: Now and then my ADHD kicks into full bloom and when that happens I can come up with a dozen songs and a zillion riffs in no time. I was one of those irritating kids that had a blast running around in circles and screaming my lungs out to KISS for hours when everyone else had gone home and fallen asleep. I seriously try to slow down now and then because I tend to go on people's nerves. There's never been a lack of inspiration. I mean, hey, just take a look around! Humanity will never stop to amaze, scare or entertain. It’s so many stories out there. Just dig'em up. If you take a look in the daily newspaper you will quickly have enough stuff to write a new album. Now we have decided to have a short break from the studio. We can't continue to throw albums at people all the time. We must play some concerts too. At least our label thinks so.
La Baza Gatului: If we would meet in a record store and I had money to buy only one CD, how would you convince me to buy Nocturnal Neanderthals? Would you by any chance use a miniature Thor’s Hammer haha?
Peter Kolstad Vegem: Yeah! I would stand behind you doing my very best to drive you nuts. Eventually you would have bought the damn CD just to get rid of me. No, seriously, if we're talking about old school metalheads and punks, I absolutely believe they will enjoy the album. Frankly, I can't think of one good reason why they wouldn't like this album. But, of course, if we're talking about some lame ass dork who believes that Bullet For My Valentine is metal and Blink 182 is punk… Well, then we have a problem.
La Baza Gatului: If you would be a journalist, how would you rate Nocturnal Neanderthals (on a scale from 0 to 10) and why?
Peter Kolstad Vegem: I reckon I would have liked the album because of its sheer devilish attitude and the intense level of energy. I would probably have given it a ...7! But, to be honest with you, the album could have been better, if we had given ourselves more time in the studio and maybe stayed sober for a few seconds while recording the shit, but that's not the way we work. We like to throw things out without giving it too much thought. That’s more fun and it adds some edge to it all… In my opinion an album is a testimony of a short period in time. If you spend ages recording, re-writing and a start up a “second-thought-marathon” the album will lose its spontaneous vibe and its pure energy and to me that’s very important to maintain.
La Baza Gatului: What can you tell me about the lyrical concept of your latest studio album haha? What is with all those Neanderthals, bums, whores, sharks, etc.? As a personal favor, could you please tell me what the hell is a Piss Piñata?
Peter Kolstad Vegem: Some of the songs are true stories, like "Ota Benga" who tells the story about this poor little pygmy back in the beginning of last century who was abducted in Belgian Congo and sent off to the US where he was put on display in the Bronx' Zoo. "Victim # 13" deals with the horrendous fate of a teenager named Konerak Sintasomophone. He was Jeffery Dahmer's thirteenth victim. Of course the 12 previous victims also experienced to die gruesome deaths the "dahmer-way", but what makes Konerak's story so special is the fact that he actually managed to escape from Dahmer. He even encountered some police officers that night, but what those cop-idiots did was to escort the naked and terrified kid back to Jeffrey's apartment and straight into certain death. Another song that deals with true events is "The Bible and The Beatles". This song is about Charles Manson and his infamous "Family", but it's not so much about the well known Tate/LaBinacha murders in 69. It's more about Manson's "Helter Skelter" theory. He wanted to trigger a racial war between blacks and whites. That's why they killed Sharon Tate and all the others. He expected that all hell would break loose and the plan was that Manson and his family would seek shelter in a hidden city underground while the war raged above. Then, when the black man had won and soon realized that he was too stupid to lead the people, Manson would emerge and become the leader of the new world. Now that's a fascinating prediction from a truly twisted mind. Other songs are simply about drunk idiots, fucked up retards, stupidity, self loathing and general bad behavior. We have added some "romantic" stuff too in songs like "Horrified and Horny" and "Fuckher". Haha. A Piñata is this Mexican tradition. I guess you already know this, but it's a cardboard figure covered with paper-mâché. It contains candies and sweets and the kids beat it with a stick until it breaks and the candy falls out. Great success at birthday parties and so on... "Piss Piñata" is about a guy we know. When drunk he always piss the bed. Both he and the unlucky bitch sleeping next to him are condemned to wake up drenched in piss. No exception to this rule. He's a real "Prince Charming", but he's also a non-stop pissing Whitesnake.
La Baza Gatului: When it comes to musical creativity, Norway certainly stays somewhere in the front. What is the explanation for this multitude of projects, bands and very good albums?
Peter Kolstad Vegem: I really don't know... but what I do know it that it is OUR generation that has made Norway to a good country music wise. When I grew up, Norway sucked donkey balls. We had nothing. We had some good punk bands, but back in the 80's there was just a couple of bands worth mentioning that actually delivered some good metal. TNT was heavy metal, Equinox was thrash, Cadaver was death and Mayhem was pure chaos. The metal scene didn't exist until the "Kiss-Generation" grew up and learned how to play. Then BOOM! All of a sudden we had bands like Darkthrone, Enslaved, Emperor, Immortal and so on... What made them special was that they developed their own sound… Of course heavily inspired by other foreign bands, especially Bathory, but still they had something unique. Some damn good rock bands emerged in the early 90's. Turbonegro became huge. Gluecifer delivered some fantastic
albums and many other bands started up. I suppose all of this happened because this generation had grown up on a steady diet of hard rock. Of course, some started playing football instead, but music was the big thing for the majority of the kids growing up back in the 70's and 80's.
La Baza Gatului: What is your opinion about the actual metal scene in general and the Norwegian one in special?
Peter Kolstad Vegem: My opinion is that the underground is alive and the mainstream bands only serve as a ticket into the world of real metal. Just like KISS was for me back in the day, commercial and soft as they had become at the end of the 70’s, they still was my ticket into a life of metal. That’s why I don’t bother much about all the plastic bands that rides the big waves and gets hyped into gods in magazines like Metal Hammer and so on. The kids need their Trivium, Killswitch Engage, Slipknot and all that kind of crap. Later on they will hopefully discover what real metal is all about. That said, I don’t think there’s much difference between metal in general and the Norwegian scene anymore. It was a HUGE difference in the 90’s and first half of the 2000’s, but the difference is more or less washed away. I mean, you have bands from USA that sounds more Norwegian than any of the Norwegian bands. Dimmu Borgir is one of the biggest bands around and to me the only Norwegian thing left in that band most be their passports. Genuine underground warriors and pioneers like Darkthrone has adopted a crust punk vibe that absolutely ain’t Norwegian. Enslaved has gone prog, Mayhem is still fucking nuts. Immortal still lives in their own Blashyrkh hell so I guess they are the one band that has stayed true to their own sound. But Norway is much more than just those old Black Metal dinosaurs. Devil, Deathhammer, Waklevören, Obliteration, Okkultokrati, Kvelertak, Haust and many more delivers some mighty fine metal and rock. “Divinity of Death” by Nekromantheon must without a doubt be one of the coolest old school thrash albums around and the old ugly thrashers in Aura Noir will also soon unleash a new album.
La Baza Gatului: Do you believe in good and evil?
Peter Kolstad Vegem: Yes, I believe in good and evil in man.
La Baza Gatului: European actors dream of Hollywood. What do European musicians dream about?
Peter Kolstad Vegem: I dunno… a vast amount of pussy? Playing live and selling shitloads of albums in other continents is of course a distant shimmering star. Some are lucky enough to achieve this, but most of us fuckers are doomed to roll around Europe in a crappy van and play for dirty punks at various shitty clubs… But do you know what? It ain’t that bad. We call it rock!
La Baza Gatului: Considering your creativity, should we expect at least two new Mongo Ninja studio albums this year haha? How about Blood Tsunami, the
other project you and Bard are involved into?
Peter Kolstad Vegem: Hehe… as I said, Mongo Ninja have decided to take a little break from the album-bombardment for a while and rather focus on getting our shit across the Norwegian borders and try to play some concerts before we get too drunk. When it comes to Blood Tsunami we have recently started to rehearse some new stuff. The band has been on a hiatus for a year or so. The new shit sounds killer. The plan is to record a demo soon and then plunge into a new studio album.
La Baza Gatului: Thank you very much for your cooperation. The final words are yours.
Peter Kolstad Vegem: My pleasure. Hm, final words? Naaah, buy Mongo albums and raise hell. Now, let’s get drunk!
Cheers!
Pete.
MONGO NINJA
www.myspace.com/mongoninja
BLOOD TSUNAMI
www.myspace.com/bloodtsunami
HELLRIDE
www.myspace.com/hellridenorway
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