Bienvenue sur / Welcome to

Profilprog (PP): We are incredibly pleased to have a chat with Thomas A. Andersen, keyboard player, and lyricist, from the Norwegian band Gazpacho. Thank you so much for giving us time to answer our questions.
Gazpacho (TAA): Thanks for having me.

PP: Although Gazpacho is almost thirty years old, some readers and music lovers may lack knowledge about the band. Would you be kind enough to tell us a little bit about its origin a little and its history?
TAA: Gazpacho started as a project between Jon Arne Vilbo (guitars), Jan-Henrik Ohme (vocals), and me back in 1996. I was running a studio at the time, living off making jingles and music for ads. Jan-Henrik was great at creating vocal harmonies for radio jingles, and I knew him as a great singer. We met in the studio one day to see if it was possible to make a band that could tackle the kind of subject that Marillion or similar bands might do, except we wanted to see if it could be done in the style of Latino music, as a joke. When we made the first song, “Scares Me” – it’s on our first EP if you want to hear it – we realised maybe we had a band with some potential, and we took it from there. The music became increasingly serious, but we kept going, never looking back.

PP: What music and musicians would you consider influential for you? And the band in general?
TAA: I’m extremely influenced by Kate Bush and Massive Attack, with a light mix of Marillion Hogarth era thrown in. Jon-Arne is a huge Radiohead and Muse fan with a secret passion for the post-rock of Sigur Rós, which I’d say makes up his mix of favourites. Jan-Henrik is a fan of an eclectic bunch of artists and loves a lot of stuff. Tom Waits, Rolling Stones, maybe some of Roger Waters’ stuff, but he’s all over the place. The band in general is very mixed in what we all like and listen to, which I think is a good thing.

PP: There is a feeling of constancy when searching and reading about the band. The players, three of you have been there since the beginning and the other three have been there for a long time as guests or members. The albums, twelve in twenty-two years, are quite consistent too. Would you say this feeling is accurate and what’s yours about that?
TAA: We’ve been very constant because we are only interested in the music. Making it is a team effort, and when you have a bunch of guys all committed to creating something that counts, a very strong bond is formed. We also share all profits equally, so there’s never any arguing over silly things like money. The biggest reason bands break up is that you have a bunch of poor guys working hard as hell and that is a recipe for disaster.

PP: In my review, I wrote about the band’s sound. That blend of different influences that gives a distinct Gazpacho signature. When I hear your music, I know it’s you guys. I find that genuinely nice for a band to have such a strong identity. Did it come naturally or is it something you worked on and wish to have at the beginning?
TAA: The identity was there from day one. We’ve discussed what we think it is, but I think if we knew, maybe we’d lose it. It might be the mix of Jan-Henrik’s very impressive vocals combined with our love of minor chords. That’s the closest I’ve come to a theory, but I do know that when we compose together, we always get “that” sound.

PP: Writing about your sound, I also noted that overall, it made me think about some kind of Scandinavian spleen. Have you ever heard that, and would you like to react to that?
TAA: Ha ha the “Nordic Noir” thing! Yeah, I’ve heard that, and I agree it’s there. Norway/Scandinavia is a cold and dark place. We spend the winter in almost total darkness and cold. Historically, people had farms far apart and only saw each other every Sunday in church. So, Scandinavians have an introverted side that’s very strong. The dramatic nature also appeals, perhaps, to the dark philosophical side of you with the big silent mountains and the dark wet forests with things that make noises in the night. I’m sure it’s all a part of what we are.

PP: Magic 8-Ball is your new album and although we do recognise the band, it feels different than Fireworker if only because there are no songs over ten minutes. Was that meant on purpose or is it just the way the subject and the songs asked to be presented?
TAA: We wanted to be less self-indulgent in making the long hypnotic passages that we sometimes create. We wanted something more rock and less cinematic, with more emphasis on songs. It’s always a goal for us to try to make the band progress as much as we can on every album. It would be terrible to wake up one day and find we were copying ourselves and writing caricature Gazpacho songs. So, we always try to shake things up a little every time we go to the writing room. This time things turned out the way they did. The songs get what the songs want.

PP: It is not a concept album as such but there is central idea, and you have these songs echoing each other. It is very interesting, and I noticed it following the words when listening to the record. Please tell us about that and how it came to you guys?
TAA: It’s become increasingly clear to me that as we become more secularised, we’re losing our fundamental truths. When we became the masters of earth and threw away the sacred, we replaced that force with nothing and lost hope, beauty, truth, empathy, and meaning at the same time. It seems we’re left with our destinies and fate being decided by good or bad luck. Like the throw of a Magic 8-Ball. A plastic toy.

PP: I wrote to you to have the words of the songs to be able to immerge myself in the world of Magic 8-Ball. You were kind enough to say yes and send them quickly. Thank you for that. It allowed me to notice the depth and the poetry of these words. I guess none of you as English as a mother-tongue so how come you manage to have such a level of wording?
TAA: Well, Jon-Arne and I grew up in Kuwait where we attended English-speaking schools, so that meant a lot. Also, we never dubbed foreign programs on Norwegian television. All the shows were in the original language with subtitles, and that meant we all heard English every time we watched TV. It made a big difference.

PP: We are strangers is a real earworm song as far as I am concerned. In another era, it might be an FM hit. You have the knack to create these kinds of songs. Is it a conscious process? And do you realise the power, the appeal, of some songs afterward?
TAA: We always realise what we’ve done after the song is finished. We usually have an idea that this is something special, but once you’ve heard a song hundreds of times while working on it, you become a bit deaf to what originally turned you on about it. Only after a couple of years can I really judge what songs are better than others, as it seems my ears and brain need to reset. I can’t even listen to a Gazpacho album until a few years have passed, as I hear all the little mistakes and things that could have been better.

PP: How is the composition process working for Gazpacho? Is there leadership from one of you and then each one adds his talent? Do you craft them together in some vicinity? It is always interesting to learn about that from different artists.
TAA: We like to meet in my studio for jam sessions. This can be Jon-Arne, Fido (bass), and Mikael (violins and guitars) but never Jan-Henrik. He only comes in when we feel that we’ve created an instrumental that’s strong. Once we’re ready, we invite him, and he likes to sing on top of the new track without having listened to it beforehand. He very often gets lucky by singing what his instinct tells him, and the fact that he has no idea what is coming can make for some very lucky musical “accidents.” Once they’re there, we take those little moments where something was great and work from there. If you listen to the new album, the second half of “Starling” is exactly as he first sang it while hearing it for the first time.

PP: In many songs, you have a way of raising the intensity or creating a tension between calm sections or moments. Or you may put a punchy musical line of an instrument to create an effect in the song. You can create atmospheres and moods, Starling, or Gingerbread men for example. Would you say it is part of your DNA? How do you know when and where to put these changes in the songs?
TAA: We always purposefully create what we call the “power effect” which is, to say it in simple terms, when the music goes BOOM. A lot of the songs create an atmosphere, building up the tension, and then it all resolves when the band comes together and the power of the instruments at full force comes into play. We feel when the moment is right, and the trick is always to try and mix those moments with a particularly touching lyric. Whenever we achieve that, I feel it in my bones.

PP: You played live at Mid Winter Prog Festival and Cruise to the edge. Are those your only shows for 2025? Do you think you will be able to present Magic 8-Ball on stage next year?
TAA: We’re doing the Midwinter Prog Festival in 26 for starters and we’ll be touring the album in Europe around April of next year. If Cruise to the Edge 27 wants us, we’ll definitely do that too, as we loved the last time we were there. We expect to be playing festivals over the summer of 26 and we’ll keep you all posted once we have anything confirmed.

PP: What is astonishing from our Canadian perspective and relatively poor prog scene is the amount of Norwegian prog bands in proportion of the population. Do you have an idea why and is there some kind of prog scene somehow?
TAA: I think because the Norwegian music scene is so small and there are only a handful of artists in rotation in the Norwegian mass media, it’s created a large space for underground artists to work and develop themselves in relative obscurity. The main artists in Norway now are political rap groups, and there are many people who just aren’t interested at all. There’s also a culture for being a bit of a weirdo here, and because the vibe of the people is so introverted, many feel they can only open up more when they’re speaking to an international audience. Prog is itself the music of the introvert, isn’t it? So to me it makes sense that prog is the way for those who aren’t mainstream. Who would have thought that prog, which was once considered music for dinosaurs, has become the soundtrack for the modern revolutionary.

PP: On a more sensible subject, the Russia/Ukraine war is still going on. It looks like Russia is evaluating its limits, increasingly, with other countries and NATO. Do you feel that tension is also rising in your country, and does it create some anxiety in the population?
TAA: Well yes. It feels almost surreal that a World War One-style battle is going on that close to home. There is an anxiety in the population, but I can’t say it impacts daily life. It’s become another backdrop to the fall of Europe as an institution and a scary reminder that barbarism lurks just below the surface in all of us.

PP: Another difficult question if I may. I know that the new record is often the favourite one. But with the body of work you guys have, do you or other members have a soft spot for a particular album? And which one would that be?
TAA: I’m increasingly loving the album Firebird, which I listened to for the first time in years recently. I think it has some great songs and I’d love to revisit it one day with the tech and the knowledge we have now. It was the album before Night, which I believe is a fan favourite, and we were really starting to find the Gazpacho vibe and playing around with how far we could take it. I also think Molok is an outstanding album and maybe my favourite Gazpacho album so far.

PP: Sincere congratulations on the new album, Magic 8-Ball. I really got it under my skin, and I am sure many music lovers will feel the same. All the best to you and the guys and I’ll leave you the final words for our readers.
TAA: Thanks again for having me and I hope that those who listen to this album will give it the time it takes to sink in. Like all prog, it takes a few listens before it opens up. I hope you like it. It was made with love, for you.