1. Can you introduce yourselves and tell us about how you formed Magenta and the circumstances involved?
Anders and I met at a party in Oslo in 1993. We immediately hit it off, and shared lots of the same ideas and intentions. Unfortunately we lived in different cities, and were involved in different projects, so we couldn’t do anything together at the time. We kept in touch, and when I moved to Oslo in 1995 we started to make music, and Magenta was formed.

2. As your label RE:POP took a little longer than planned to get up and running, was it becoming a stressful time for yourselves with the delay of seeing your releases become available to the public?
No. I don’t think about that. I do have a life. It must have been more stressful for the guys working there.

3. You are a two-piece band, but the album features many guest musicians, how did you select these musicians who played, and do any of them join you for your live performances?
Yes we are a two piece band, but we enjoy company, so invited our friends to come and do stuff on our album. And if anybody came to the studio just to say hello, we insisted they had to do something before they left. So no, we didn’t actually select people to be on our album, apart from Chris (Arcturus and Ulver). We have worked with him before and we are impressed by his talent and professionalism so we wanted him on the album.

4. The single “All Over” has become quite a hit in the German DAC charts. Did you expect such a promising response so soon?
When I write music I don’t think about the response. I can’t make music with the intention to please others. Music is too personal. “All Over” is a good example, I wrote it to my lover, so it is personal and private. Having said that – of course, it’s wonderful that people enjoy the song and respond well to it.

5. Can you tell us about the recording process of your album “Little Girl Lost”?
Well, we pre-programmed a lot of the songs at home, before we went into the studio to record it. Very often Anders has the guitar thing ready, and I have the lyrics and melody ready, but when we have recorded it the way we first intended, we often find out that we should do it again a different way. We experiment a lot, trying to get the right moods and feelings to come forward. This time Vegard Blomberg produced the album, and he is one of my favourite people. I think he is extremely talented and I am proud to know him. Well, the studio is in the middle of Oslo, so we had lots of visitors (as one can see and hear on the album), and we did a lot of drinking and partying, and generally had a wonderful time.

6. Who are your musical influences, there is a nicely varied theme throughout the album, but for example, when I listen to “All Over” in particular, I have a vision of a style that’s crossing the likes of Blondie with Garbage (does that sound strange to you?).
No it doesn’t sound strange to me – believe me I have heard worse comparisons. Of course one gets influenced by music, but I can assure you that none of us listens to Garbage ( I like Blondie though…) The fact is, we have very different influences and listen to very different music. We have problems agreeing on everything, and for us to make music together we have to compromise. And our compromises are called Magenta. My influences are the Pixies, Cure ( I saw them live last week at the Arvika festival – wish I had not) Hole, Type O Negative, Foo Fighters. I like this nu-metal scene too. I like Linkin Park a lot. And I adore Blink 182. At the moment I listen to Korn ( their new album is brilliant!) And Wannadies. (their new album is ok, but I used to be in love with the singer there, and they are the best live band I have ever seen. I have seen them a lot, latest at the Arvika festival last week – they did an excellent show). Having gone on like this, I must say that music is such a personal experience, and I do not like to put labels on music. I can understand why journalists and critics wants to have a “label” to put on a new band, to put it in a category to explain what kind of style the music is. But for me, I want the music to speak for itself. What kind of “label” you put on it has to do with your past experiences anyway. Well I do not care, as long as the music does something for you, you can compare it to what ever you like and call it whatever you like, for me.

7. Can you talk us through the song “These Things”; is there a message within this like “Enjoy life’s small pleasures”?
No it was not, but it can be now that you have made me aware of it! There was no intention behind that song; I just wanted to get a feeling through. The one you get when you have been out drinking. It is October, it is getting cold. It is 2 am, it is dark. And you walk home listening to music on your walk man. And you were drunk, but the cold fresh air is making you a bit more sober. That kind of feeling. But that is just me. People can interpret whatever they want to into the songs.

8. One track that caught my attention was “I take the blame”. The song is based around the mind of a child whose father abused both him and his mother and their only solution was to poison him, of course the child blames himself for the situation. This sort of thing happens too much in the world today and too many people are left suffering in silence. What influenced you to write about this, and what are your thoughts when you hear or read about such a thing happening?
Again, that was not intentional. The song was originally without that part. But it turned out to be just a normal whiny love song about a relationship gone wrong, so we added the thing about the boy child, and , well you have heard the result. As for my reactions to things like that happening – I am human, and I think it is horrible. I can’t help wondering though; has it always been like this, we just didn’t know earlier, and now get it in our faces all day with the newspapers, tv and internet. Or is it true, that everything was better before and now the world has gone mad? I don’t know, but it is horrible that so many people have horrible lives out there.

9. Two songs cover addiction, “I need my love” touches the subject of drugs and with “air” its glue sniffing, are these inspired from experiences close to you?
In some ways you always use your own experiences when you make something, conscious or not. And yea it is from experiences close to me in this case. But I can assure you, I have never been an addict!

10. Can you define the darkness encountered in “Never fall again”?
Again, it is up to the listener to interpret whatever he wants to into the songs, but this darkness is a relationship gone wrong, and about the girl, who is angry, taking control over her life again.

11. Not all your songs are factual; what’s the story behind the ballad “Mermaid”?
It is a fairytale, nothing more nothing less. The music was quite grand and epic, so we needed a fairytale for it not to be too much.

12. Can you recite your favourite piece of lyrics?
What, my own or other peoples? If it is my own it must be the lyrics for “Little Girl Lost”.
As for other people’s lyrics… There are so many good ones that I like out there. At the moment I think it would be Escobar with Heather Nova “Someone new” It goes:” You gonna find someone new I really hope you do, because I love you The sun will come on through, its gonna shine for you `cause I adore you” Or something like that anyway. I saw them live last week (again at the Arvika festival) and they were brilliant. When they played this song, it was so intense I almost cried. I could feel my lip starting to tremble and I had to put my sunglasses on to keep my image, you know..

13. So, what’s happening next with Magenta?
Well, we are making songs as always. We had planned to record some of them this summer, but time goes so fast. I have been travelling a bit around Norway meeting friends and family, going to festivals, partying etc… But we are soon going to put together a live set, so we can do some gigs.

14. Any last words?
Hope to see you soon, and enjoy the rest of the summer!