BAND OF THE WEEK: Righteous Underground
Remember Two Trains and Beyond Dawn? Oh yeah.
If everyone keeps saying rock is dead, imagine what they think about angular, kinda weird rock, made by people that dare to start out a new record with its longest song, an almost ten-minute mood-killer/builder called ‘Hiding/Avoiding Prison’. Said record, which is out today (how’s that for good timing, eh?), is called ‘Out Of Place’, and we imagine it’s called that for a good reason. Even the name of the band, Righteous Underground, despite the inherent sarcasm, feels absolutely perfect for what we have here - these guys don’t want to be fucking rock stars and they’ll do anything in their power to stop it, even if it’s a truly brilliant album full of non-obvious tunes whose deep charms will only grow on you after the third or fourth listen. Then again, the people behind it have been at this very particular art form for a while. If the name rings a bell to you, that might be because you had the good taste of being a Beyond Dawn fan back in the day, and yeah, Righteous Underground is precisely Espen Ingierd and Dag Midbrød plus another drummer (Kai Christoffersen, after Stig Wålberg held the post for a few years). And if you’re wondering, yes, Espen is the one whose voice used to sound a lot like Michael Gira, though he sings much more dynamically and differently here (without losing that charming sort of morose atonality that is so characteristic of his vocals), adding a lot of subtle range to the tunes. And you know what? That’s really all you need. You can go ahead and dive in already.
Because though Espen utters the awesome line “I am the undisputable king of complicating things” during ‘Wave Of Idiocy’, he really is not. This is refreshingly simple, smart, agile rock, a sort of stripped down and even more deadpan version of the last years of Beyond Dawn (minus electronics) and its charm relies precisely on the fact that it does absolutely nothing to please you. They’re in their corner doing their own thing, no pandering, no bullshit. On the song after ‘Wave Of Idiocy’, the delightfully titled ‘Hideous Things’, Espen starts with “I don’t like people in general, that’s true / and when they get too close, I get nauseous / it feels like abuse / get your filthy hands away from my shoulder”, which has just made it the go-to tune I’ll play whenever you come up to me with a request at one of my DJ sets. You’re welcome!
Espen did however grant me a little period of his time (I didn’t touch his shoulder at any point, that might have helped) for a great interview, read that one after the jump.
‘Out Of Place’ is out today!
Instead of the million usual links, you can find everything you need about Righteous Underground, including the purchase of the album, right here. Go do it.
“I haven’t written any love songs.”
- Espen Ingierd
How did Righteous Underground first came together? Did you guys have any kind of goal or ambition when you first started this project?
Espen Ingierd: I think we started up around 2018. The Two Trains project kind of stranded a couple of years earlier and a I wanted to make some music again. Luckily bass player Dag was available, and we knew this drummer Stig Wålberg who also wanted to join. I already had a lot of unfinished material and ideas, so we had something to work on. There were no particular goal or ambition on my part except doing what I love and to try and create something nice. Eventually we recorded seven songs in Kai Christoffersen’s studio here in Oslo and released the first album. We also played one exclusive concert (we have not played live since). Kai stepped in on drums when Stig left during the making of this second album.
Naturally there’s an intimate connection with Beyond Dawn, with Espen and Dag in the band and having taken the name of a Beyond Dawn song (and also a compilation release). How much of this band is a sort of continuation of Beyond Dawn and, on the other hand, how much of it is completely unrelated, provided you can measure such things in any way?
Espen: Being the title of a song I wrote for the last Beyond Dawn album, I just thought it would fit for this band. I don’t see RU as any continuation of BD, though my fingerprints are of course all over both. In BD, Dag was more of a session trombone player, in RU he contributes more to the arrangements with his bass lines. It would be more relevant to compare it to Two Trains which was a band I started together with Olav Knudsen (Lamented Souls/Infernö/Nekromantheon), Einar (Beyond Dawn/Virus/Infernö) and Ole Jørgen Moe (Aura Noir and a lot more). We did one self-titled record available on most platforms and an album called ‘Wrongside’, that was never really mixed or produced properly. You can actually find it on Bandcamp and its great.
In June 2020, the first Righteous Underground album came out, a strange time to release a record, especially for a new band. What was your experience of doing it in the middle of lockdown, do you have any regrets? Or on the other hand, do you think you got any advantages out of it?
Espen: I don’t know if it made much difference. We were not going to tour and we did not know how or make any effort to promote the release that much anyway. It would have been nice to get the attention from more people than we did and I hope all of this will be better this time.
How do you look at that record now with two years of hindsight, actually? Artistically, more than in terms of promotion or something like that. Would you change anything on it?
Espen: I’m never fully satisfied with anything but I think it’s a cool album. But I had even better songs and we put in more work for this second album, ‘Out Of Place’.
So tell us more about this new one. What have you attempted to do that was different, or a growth of some kind?
Espen: This time we spent more time rehearsing and arranging the songs. I didn’t have a plan for how the album should sound or any concept beforehand. It starts with me sitting alone at home with my guitar creating riffs or ideas and then it slowly turns into song structures. The melody and the lyrics are usually written at the end.
Did you have any objective of any kind that you wanted to achieve with it?
Espen: Only to make good music that hopefully some people “with good taste” could enjoy.
Would you like to talk about the lyrics a little bit? Did any kind of overall theme to the lyrics eventually come up, even if not a concept?
Espen: Maybe not intentionally but I know there’s a theme of misanthropy throughout the songs. I haven’t written any love songs and in general there isn’t much positivity in the lyrics. There is some humour to them though. Some wonder and hope somewhere hidden in there. I guess the words I write are loose thoughts and observations of life, maybe they should be interpreted by everyone else but me.
Your voice has drawn several comparisons over the years, including Micahel Gira from the Swans and everything – is there a particular vocal influence that has shaped it, that you would like to share?
Espen: There was a period with Beyond Dawn, mainly the first two albums, where my vocals bore similarities with the vocal style of M. Gira. I had been a fan of Swans for a time and of course I was inspired. It also kind of suited our sound and also my voice to sing like that. In fact there are lots of voices that have meant a lot to me and that I’ve been inspired by. I can mention some: Robert Smith, Matt Johnson, Morrissey, Shane Macgowan, David Byrne, John Lennon, Brian Wilson…. The list is long I guess.
Is Righteous Undergrund your only current musical project right now, or do you have anything lined up?
Espen: Nothing seriously. I’m working on some music from time to time in my tiny primitive home studio. Some of the ideas might turn into RU songs but maybe there will be a solo release sometime in the future. I have also been doing some guest vocals on a couple of songs for a band called Funeral. They play some sort of doom metal and it turned out quite cool. The songs will appear on their next album that will be out there this summer or fall I think.
How do you see the future of this band? Do you feel potential for real longevity here? And Beyond Dawn, if you don’t mind the question from an annoying fan from back in the day, is it a definitely closed chapter?
Espen: I’m scared of the future in general. I haven’t made long term plans for this band (or anything else), but I’m sure there’ll be a third album. I hope to be able to create music for as long as I can. Beyond Dawn is definitely a closed chapter though I can’t deny the possibility that some of us might collaborate again in the future.