Who are you?

I write the songs for Vortech and generally do everything in the band. I'm a 25-year-old BSc Information Technology student with a lot of spare time for various projects. Vortech is my main music writing one, while Relativity is the one with which I play live a lot. I also played death metal in Coldway, which split up a few years ago.

What's your music background like?

I started with an acoustic guitar back in Fall 1997 and then got my first electric guitar in early 2000. At first I played some classic stuff like Black Sabbath and Metallica, but soon started to play faster stuff like Fear Factory and Meshuggah. In late 2001 I got a keyboard and started to play incorporate synths into my music. I started getting into electronic music again after a 10-year break and also discovered Front Line Assembly, older Delerium and Cubanate, which have been major influences for me. Around that time, I also got into more progressive stuff like King Crimson, Mats & Morgan, Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects and Dream Theater. I also started to listen to a lot of ambient and neoclassical music in 2004.

Which instruments do you use?

Most of the time I use my Schecter 007 Blackjack into an Engl Powerball with a Mesa Boogie Rectifier 4x12" Standard cabinet. For bass recording, I use my Ibanez BTB555 MP with a DI. I don't use pedals, since I take all the effects from VST-plugins, but for the upcoming Vortech live shows I'll use a Digitech DigiDelay. When writing the synth lines and such, I mostly use an M-Audio Keystation 49e midi-keyboard. I also have a Marshall JCM900 SL-X 2500 and an Engl Vintage 2x12" cabinet, but they are mostly used for Relativity rehearsals and gigs. I've also got an old Jackson DX7 with all the electronics and pickups replaced, but it isn't used for any material anymore. For specific equipment used on different Vortech albums, you can check out more detailed information at the studio diaries for the albums under the Studio Reports section.

Okay, what about your favourite albums?

I'll try to list some of the most important ones for me:

• Arcana - Inner Pale Sun
• Arcana - Le Serpent Rouge
• Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale
• Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors
• Dargaard - In Nomine Aeternitatis
• Darkspace - Dark Space III
• Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
• Delerium - Spiritual Archives
• Dream Theater - Awake
• Elend - The Umbersun
• Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
• Emperor - Prometheus
• Fear Factory - Demanufacture
• Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects - Sol Niger Within
• Front Line Assembly - Caustic Grip
• Front Line Assembly - Tactical Neural Implant
• Front Line Assembly - Millennium
• Front Line Assembly - Hard Wired
• Ice Ages - Strike the Ground
• Karl Sanders - Saurian Meditation
• Katatonia - Last Fair Deal Gone Down
• Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
• Meshuggah - Destroy Erase Improve
• Meshuggah - Chaosphere
• Nebelhexë - Laguz Within the Lake
• Nile - In Their Darkened Shrines
• Opeth - Still Life
• Puissance - All Hail the Mushroom Cloud
• Raison d'Être - Within the Depths of Silence and Phormations
• Raison d'Être - The Empty Hollow Unfolds
• Rotten Sound - Murderworks
• Rotten Sound - Exit
• Sephiroth - Cathedron
• Sephiroth - Draconian Poetry
• Steril - Egoism
• Steril - Venus Trap
• Strapping Young Lad - City
• Terror 2000 - Slaughterhouse Supremacy
• Testament - The Gathering
• Textures - Polars
• The Amenta - Occasus
• The Berzerker - Dissimulate
• Ulver - Perdition City
• Ulver - Svidd Neger
• Vader - Litany
• Velvet Acid Christ - Fun With Knives

:P

Ehh.. Well, how about your favourite books?

Well, all of these have been a nice read

• Ryanverse books by Tom Clancy
• Nick Stone series by Andy McNab
• The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
• The Stand by Stephen King
• The Moonlight Bay trilogy by Dean Koontz
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• The Dumas Club by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
• 1984 by George Orwell

And finally, how about your favourite movies/TV-series?

Mostly I prefer black/crazy humour, 80's horror (in particular), horror and scifi.

• Airplane!
• An American Werewolf In London
• Batoru Rowaiaru
• Blade Runner
• Equilibrium
• Eyes Wide Shut
• Ginger Snaps trilogy
• Hellraiser 1-3
• In the Mouth of Madness
• Man and the Naked Gun series
• Mad Max 2
• Police Squad!
• Resident Evil trilogy Silent Hill
• Stephen King's The Stand
• Svidd Neger
• The Bourne trilogy
• The Howling
• The Machinist
• The Ninth Gate
• The Shining
• The Thing
• Top Secret!
• Videodrome