“The Story of Radiate and Novocaine” is the second effort for Gunman & The Holy Ghost. The album’s title and the name of the band are enough to suggest so many images and stories, but they are indeed only a treasure chest for a heart-taking collections of simple, bare-hearted and timeless songs.
Hákon Aðalsteinsson, an Icelander living in Berlin and main man behind the moniker, has been making music for a lifetime, first with Singapore Sling then with The Third Sound. For sure his writings as Gunman prove to be personal and accomplished, so we wanted to know more about this definitely not-so-new venture and about other sides of his dense artistic life.
“The Story of Radiate and Novocaine” is out now on 8mm Musik, and it’s available directly from the band in blood red vinyl, cd and digital.
Q – This is the second album for Gunman & The Holy Ghost. Was it planned from the start to have more than a one-off release? Do you have different expectations and goals for this album compared to the previous one?
Hakon – Gunman and the Holy Ghost wasn’t planned at all. When I moved to Berlin I was living in a one bedroom flat, had no internet and the only furniture was one chair, a table and a bed, it was February and freezing cold. I borrowed an acoustic guitar from a friend (that I still haven’t returned) and all those songs just came out, so I decided to do an album. The next summer I recorded most of the album with my friend Hallberg in a 40 hour sleepless session.
I then did few live shows in Berlin with help from friends but kept writing songs and soon enough I had material for a second album. This was done when I had spare time from my other band, The Third Sound, but Gunman somehow developed into a band as well. The second album was then recorded with another friend, BJ Nilsen, but took quite a long time to get it right. I don’t know what expectations I have, all I know is that we are now a more solid band than ever before and we wanna spread the music to those that want to listen.
Q – The album has been recorded in Berlin, and released by 8mm, that’s also from there. Berlin is a popular destination by now for people into arts wanting to move abroad. What’s your view of the city as insider and do you feel a creative connection with it?
Hakon – Berlin has been good for me creatively, not because of any scene or anything like that, but just because I feel like I am in some sort of a bubble, isolated from the rest of the world and that allows me to focus. But I also find life in a big city (at least compared to where I am from) inspiring, in many different ways.
Q – The album is deeply rooted in american country music, for lyrics and imagery more than style. What’s your relationship with the States‘s history, music and literature? Is it just a charming cultural background or have you been there and experienced it for real?
Hakon – American culture is obviously all around but when doing “sort of” country music I feel like I am doing it without the cultural background and the actual knowledge, which turns it into something different. The closest example I can think of are Italian spaghetti westerns, they weren’t like the original westerns and maybe even a sort of misinterpretation but at the same time creating something new and beautiful in it’s own way.
Q – Gunman’s songs are never loud, and there is a careful balance between each instrument’s expressive potential. This is a very different approach from the wall-of-sound dear to other projects you’ve been or are involved into. Can you explain what are the differences, in terms of songwriting and recording?
Hakon – When those songs started coming I knew they had to be approached differently than the songs I had recorded as The Third Sound, which had more emphasis on sonic layers and loud sounds as you said. The lyrics often had more storytelling elements and needed to be more up front and the songs themselves were sort of melancholic ballads and I guess the arrangement reflect that.
Q – Radiate and Novocaine has been filed as “alternative country“, that’s clearly just another of many labels used to pretend to understand music. Do you actually know and like other bands related to that scene?
Hakon – A while back we were playing a show in Berlin and the promoter took the liberty to label our music as dark, alternative country by putting it on the poster and I thought it sounded kind of ok so we just stuck with it. Maybe it is not very accurate, those sort of labels never really are, but at least it saves time and energy when people ask me to describe the music and it underlines that this isn’t traditional country music. I like a lot of different kind of music and I guess some of it has been labelled as alternative country.
Q – You’ve been recently on tour with Tess Parks and Anton Newcombe. What do you love to recall the most from those days?
Hakon – It was a lot of fun doing those tours, they are all great people and we connected very well musically. The shows in France, both in Paris and at Levitation were pretty amazing.
Q – Can you tell us more about Vatikan? I’ve heard the EP Cafè Sin that’s once more something completely different, based on minimalism and electronics, and it’s pretty interesting!
Hakon – My friend BJ Nilsen that I mentioned before came up with the idea of making some music together after we finished recording and mixing The Story of Radiate & Novocaine. Although our backgrounds are very different we like a lot of the same music and working together with him was great fun. We just went to a rehearsal studio, had few drinks and made up songs from scratch. We then re-recorded some of those ideas, making them a bit smoother than the previous rehearsal studio versions. We actually have a lot of unfinished songs and are talking of doing more sessions, although he has moved to Amsterdam since we last worked together.
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