Interview with Norwegian metal elite Tore Bratseth (Old Funeral/ Bombers/The Batallion/Studfaust)

Before we we begin we i personally feel honored to interview Norwegian Metal elite Tore Bratseth. To mention he is the founding member of the legendary band Old funeral ,and non other than the Motorhead tribute band the Bömbers - The ultimate Motörhead tribute. Our interview revolves around his journey in metal music and  Bömbers - The ultimate Motörhead tribute. To mention recently Tore was featured recently by Sodom in Sweden Rock Fest.

Here is the video.

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It's been a long journey. I started playing in a band in May 1988 with Old Funeral, so it's almost 26 years in the music scene. In that time I have got to travel the world, seen a lot of great concerts and festivals, played some music, recorded some albums and singles, and met many of my heroes like members from Motorhead, Twisted Sister, AC/DC , Sex Pistols, Wasp, Kiss, etc. I have worked as a road crew for Immortal, i have done music journalism and radio programmes. Made a lot of friends during that time that I really appreciate. Hopefully I will be able to stay around for another 26 years."

                                                        ToreBratseth.

(Norwegian Metal elite. Old Funeral/Bombers/ immortal's road crew).

Without any delay here we go with Tore's interview.

Greetings Tore, it’s an honor that we are getting an opportunity to conduct this interview with you. Tell us how are things going back in Norway?

Thanks man! Things are busy but great here in Norway. I just confirmed a gig booking with Bombers in Reykjavik, Iceland really looking forward for the gig. Iceland is a fascinating country!

From mid 80’s until now how has your journey been?

 It's been a long journey. I started playing in a band in May 1988 with Old Funeral, so it's almost 26 years in the music scene. In that time I have got to travel the world, seen a lot of great concerts and festivals, played some music, recorded some albums and singles, and met many of my heroes like members from Motörhead, Twisted Sister, AC/DC , Sex Pistols, Wasp, Kiss, etc. I have worked as a road crew for Immortal, i have done music journalism and radio programmes. Made a lot of friends during that time which  I really appreciate. Hopefully I will be able to stay around for another 26 years, alright! It's a passion you don't grow out of!

As far as i have found from my research apart from Old Funeral and Bombers you are part of bands like Amok, Desekrator, The Batallion, Studfaust, OLD FUNERAL. As far as I know Amok is a grindcore band and has released 2 demos, 1 single, 3 split and a full length Necrospiritual Deathcore in 2006 and you did session guitars/vocals on it. The band has not released anything after 2006 can you let us know about the bands current status. And if I am not wrong the band had also been featured in a compilation album “BESTIAL NECROMANACY vol. 1” released by BLACK VOMIT RECORDS.

That band was started by Radek Nemec who also played in Taake, Aeternus amongs others. As a band it does not exist anymore I think.

For Desekrator’s 1998 full length album Metal For Demons you served the duty on vocals and bass. As far as I know this band was a Thrash Metal band and the band splited in the early 2000. While doing my research I didn't found much about this band can you tell us about it and your journey with the band?

Ha ha ! Desekrator was a fun project band that consisted of almost every metal musician in Bergen. I think around 13-14 people were involved in the recoding process. I played guitar and vocals on some songs, bass on one song and even drums on 1 song ! We released 3 vinyl singles and 1 full length album “Metal for Demons" through the Dutch label Hammerheart Records in 1998. We never did any shows. It was only a studio project. It was produced by Pytten, the famous metal producer in Grieghallen. I think the album sold around 3000 copies and 1500 vinyl singles.

I guess I don’t have to talk about Old Funeral I just want to ask how was the 4 years journey (1988-1992) of the band. Man the band was active for 4 years and trust me it is also considered one of the killer Death metal band of all time. Featuring guys like Padde (ex immortal) (1988-1992) on drums, Jorn from Hades, Olve “Abbath”, Harald from Immortals and non other then Kristian Vikernes from Burzum (ex-Mayhem). I think it was a killer experience and trust me Devoured carcass (E.P) is one of the best release that I have ever heard. If you ask me I urge you guys to start it over again.

Thanks for that man ! Yes, we were one of the pioneering metal bands from Norway. Abbath and I were only 15 years old when we started it. Padden, the drummer was 18. We started out rehearsing in my parent’s cellar in May 1988 and lasted until October 1992. The band had some members that became known as Varg Vikernes from Burzum , Abbath from Immortal and even Demonaz was in the band for 3-4 months playing guitar. We recorded 2 demos, 1 vinyl 3 track EP with Thrash Records from France. Later we released the live album “Grim reaping Norway" and the picture disc " Join The Funeral Procession" . Later also Hammerheart Records released the compilation "The Older Ones" in 1999. Last year I compiled all our material and released the double album compilation “Our Condoances" through Soulseller Records. In our time we played around 25 shows. 

I think you are being a bit bored so let’s go beyond the band for some time. As I have known you, you are a die hard fan of MOTORHEAD tell us how your journey in metal and rock and roll begin. And I am expecting you to tell us how you and your childhood friend Abbath decided to start BOMBERS.

Yes. I got into music at a really early age. My father is an oldschool rocker who has a large record collection starting back from the late 60's. I discovered Motörhead, Black Sabbath , Sex Pistols, Led Zeppelin etc through the mothers milk. I had already heard Motörhead when I was 6 years old in 1979. I remember the " Bomber" album from when my father played it. I got to know Abbath in the summer of 1982. He was then already a Kiss fan. You can see a lot of Gene Simmons movements in his Immortal stage persona. Through the years we have had music as our main passion. Motörhead has been close to our hearts for a long time. So in 1996 we started Bömbers with our other friend Pez, who had played drums in punk bands since 1981. And we are still playing together almost 19 years later! All right!

Besides Music what are you engaged in for your livelihood?

I have what you call a normal day job as well. I am a web advisor of sorts. In my free time (which is almost non excistant ) I love to travel and collect rare vinyl records and go to see other bands.

Coming to the Norwegian Scene we all know that it has one of the most healthy metal scene especially black metal. Tell us in much elaborated way about the scene back there.

 There are indeed a lot of active bands in Norway. In Oslo there are gigs almost every day of the week. The metal scene is alive and well, but I prefer the older bands to be honest. It's probably because I am old myself! ha ha ! The problem of the young scene is that no bands are making any money anymore. Almost everybody is forced to have a job besides the band to finance the rehearsal place, instruments, studio bills etc. Still , you can't stop rock n roll ! As long as there is spirit and love for music the scene will be active

Coming back to your bands, currently you are active in 4 bands i.e Almost Funeral, Studfaust, The Batallion and the Bombers. Can you tell us about the first 3 bands In brief? We will talk about BOMBERS in the next question.

Almost Funeral was not really a band and it certainly does not exist anymore. We only released 1 demo in 1989 ! Studfaust is a band I have with Faust (from Emperor, Blood Tsunami, Mongo Ninja) and Pete Evil (from Blood Tsunami, Mongo Ninja) . We have released 1 7" vinyl single in 2012 and we just released an album called "Where The Underdogs Bark " on Soulseller Records. It's really good record if you like Motörhead, Sodom, Venom and that kind of stuff.The Batallion has released 1 EP and 2 full lenght albums. We are currently looking for a drummer as Mr Morden just quit.

Bombers the ultimate Motörhead tribute how did the concept of starting the band came. I found out that you Pez and Olve “Abbath” are childhood friends share the same love towards the band. Tell us how have the journey been from 1996.

Man , it all started with the love for Motorhead's music and attitude towards life in general. We though it'd be fun to pay tribute to our favourite band in between our other bands. You know rock n roll just for rock n roll's sake!  Since the beginning we have probably played around 150 shows with Bombers. We have played countries like, Holland, Germany, France , Italy, Malta ( !!), Poland etc. We don't think of stopping just yet! It's great fun and there is no management or record company who pressure us.  I do all the bookings myself. I think, We have become a pretty good tribute band through the years.

If I am not wrong you guys have been witnessed by Motörhead tell us how you guys felt playing infront of your idols?

Yes, that was in 1997 after Motörhead played a gig themselves in Bergen. We made an after show party for them . It was really nerve wrecking to know that Lemmy was standing right in Front of us. The members of Motörhead also have our 2 vinyl singles that we released. Lemmy also made an intro for us to use before concerts. We are really honored that he did that! He is such a gentleman and also a great inspiration as a decent human being! The best there is!

So Bombers will be playing in Blastfest headlined by SATYRICON in February how is the prep going for it. Any updates before BLASTFEST?

There are only the usual rehearsals as in front of any show. It's at Garage which is a venue we have played probably 30 times, so it's an easy gig ! But we are looking forward to that. A lot of people come from all over the world.

So, we are almost at the end now. You are one of the elite musicians from Europe and I am pretty much sure that in your journey you have seen a way lot of ups and down so any suggestions to the bands and musicians from Nepal and other part of the world. Your suggestions shall be fruitful to them.

The best tip I could give is to NEVER GIVE UP. Never deviate and keep the spirit alive. Don't let downtrips make you loose yourself. But most important of all : Be true to yourself .

Wrapping up with the interview any message to the fans Tore?

The only message I have to fans or any other people for that matter . Whatever you do , let your heart be your guide. Thanks for the interest, all right !!