Suddenly PAST - THOM HELL
Writing and recording this Thom Hell album has been a reinvigorating activity, to say
the least:
- Had I not had this safety valve, I would have been fucked. I would not have managed
to get over it. If it wasn't for song writing, I'd been lying in the gutter. I would most
certainly not be with a different person now. It's all about being able to finish things
off and get back on track again as quickly as possible. If not you're done for. Without
sounding overly dramatic, this album definitely did a lot of good for me.
He elaborates:
- I don't exactly seek self deprecatory situations. In that sense, I almost would prefer never to be able to write again. My last album was written and recorded while I still was together with the person who today is my ex-girlfriend. So I had to go back, dig out old stuff, reminiscence about former loves, and think about how these persons treated me. There is always something to find if you're willing to look or search for it. Otherwise, there's a plenty of good TV shows to source material from A meeting at "Godt Brød" (literally Good Bread) in Grünerløkka, Oslo set the scenery for a chance encounter between Thom and the musical ex-girlfriend who is portrayed in the song Killing Me and
also appears in character on other songs on the record.
- I believe it should be possible to have healthy relationships with your ex. After all, we've been together for three years. I also wanted for us to hear each other's songs before anyone else heard them. I played Killing Me to her . "It's not as bad as it sounds like," I burst out, laughingly. The lyrics describe what I felt there and then, while I wrote them. In hindsight, I could laugh about it. Maybe because the recording of the song turned out so well
Thom Hell is clear about one thing:
- I don't care what other people will think or say. Everyone will probably think that all the songs on this record and on my ex-girlfriend's one are about me and her. They couldn't be more wrong.
The breakthrough happened during the autumn of 2010. Thom Hell initiated contact with one of his musical heroes: Jason Falkner, songwriter, solo artist, session musician, Ocean's 13-soundtrackcomposer
and producer.
- The first time I met Jason was back in 2000 while I was working at Rockefeller (concert venue in Oslo) as a bouncer. He was playing with Air; I was of course the only one who knew who he really was. Something he thought was cool. I love his solo albums, every one of them, not to forget the records he made with Jelly Fish.
Thom reconnected with Jason through MySpace a few years ago.
- Some years after our first meeting he was back in Norway producing a record for Magnet. One day, while visiting a record shop he saw my first album. Remembering who I was he bought the CD and told me he really liked it. So I knew that he knew about me. Last year, seizing the opportunity, I sent him a message, asking if he was available and wanted to produce an album with me. He said yes. So we went ahead and just did it.
Producing this album with Jason meant he would break up another partnership, this time with the production team responsible for his last two records. Thom didn't stop to consider this implication, by this stage he was single minded, ready for something quite different. Thom Hell went over alone to record three songs in as many days, in October 2010. Los Angeles in the midst of Oscar hysteria. The commotion didn't affect him. Whilst signing himself into a small Best Western hotel near Jason's base his only thought were the chance to reunite with his teen role model and musical champion.
- We would give each other three days, to gage the potential. No pressure to create or produce anything for commercial release.
- "This is crazy," I thought the first day, when I saw Jason standing there, laying down backup vocals in the studio. It felt as if I constantly had to tell him: "It feels pretty surreal and a little absurd to be here," I had been a big fan. Only this time we were standing here like two musicians who just wanted to make something good together.
- You can listen to songs on the album and hear that the sound is quite playful in many ways. I recorded lead guitar and vocals, and then he threw himself down behind the drum kit and laid down the rhythm track. I can't describe it as premeditated, rather like something done on instinct. If it sounded good we continued working on the track. Conversely, if we were doing something for more than 20 minutes and it didn't go anywhere, we put it aside and started on something else. The first day
of working together went so well that we had to go out to town afterwards to celebrate.
After the first, very successful session over these three days in October 2010, Thom Hell went back to Los Angeles in January - February 2011 to complete the album. This time he stayed for three weeks.
So dedicated and excited about working with Jason that he didn't take time out to attend the Grammy award ceremony back in Norway. That said he wasn't aware that he would win an award that year in the category of best male solo artist for the second year in a row.
Jason Falkner himself is very enthusiastic for his new friend's record:
- I feel like Thom's song writing is classic which is a very good thing in my book. A lot of people have forgotten (or never learned) how to write a good song and to me it's all about a great song. I wanted to give the recording an almost 70's warmth to it without being a throwback because it certainly isn't that.
I just wanted it to ooze the intimate feeling of his songs and voice and not put too many weird things in the arrangement that would distract the listener from that emotion.
