Adventure is a band which I affiliate with the New Wave Of Norwegian Prog Rock scene. Adventure is perhaps not as well known as other bands in this scene. But nevertheless, they should not be ignored. They have released two albums so far. I caught up with Terje Flessen for an update and overview of this band.
Please
tell us more about Adventure's background. Where and when was
Adventure formed and who was it's musical inspirations ?
Adventure
was formed in Trondheim around 1996 by myself(Terje Flessen) and Odd
Roar Bakken. We
had played together in a prog/classic rock band before with some
friends..we made a few demos. Our
musical inspirations was bands like Uriah Heep,Deep Purple,Jethro
Tull,Kansas,Camel and many other
progressive/symphonic/classic rock bands from the 70’s that we grew
up with and loved… and
still do!
I
guess Adventure is more a project than a touring band or am I wrong ?
You
are right about that. At least it has been up to now.We are now a full
band, and are playing some
concerts in the near future.We will never be a touring band
,though.None of us has the time To
do that because of various commitments. Music is not a full time job
for us, just a hobby.
Both
your albums are essentially self-released. Please tell us why you
went down that route and the pro/cons of doing everything yourself ?
What is the availability of your albums ?
Our
first album ADVENTURE is self released.We had to do everything
ourselves,because we did not have
a record deal,and we wanted to be in total control of the music ,the
lyrics,the artwork..the whole deal. ![](https://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/2274/cover_232718512006.jpg)
Please
tell us more about your debut album Adventure from 2000.
That
album includes music written over a long period of time..also some
stuff from pre-Adventure bands. That
album is available through our website http://home.no/adventuremusic - - http://home.no/adventuremusic and
at http://www.progrock.no/ - - www.progrock.no It
was re-released on the Russian label Mals in 2005.
![](https://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/2274/cover_1636102832009.jpg)
Please
tell us more about your second album Beacon Of Light from 2009.
The
Beacon Of Light album was again self produced.On this record we had a
lot of great musicians involved,including swedish drummer Magnus
Forsberg,who has played with countless great musicians and
bands,including Pat Metheny. We signed a record deal with Progress
records http://www.progressrec.com/ - - www.progressrec.com for this record. It was released worldwide in June last year and has
gotten lots of great reviews.. The lyrics I wrote for this
album deals with lots of important issues,like religion,racism and
global warming.
There
was a nine years gap between your debut album and your second album.
What happened ?
Adventure
was never more than a hobby,and recording and releasing cd’s is
quite expensive. Besides a couple of years was wasted working with
musicians who was simply not good enough to take part in the
recording of an Adventure album. Beacon Of Light was finally recorded
between 2006 and 2009.
The
art work on both albums has got a lot of positive comments. Please
tell us more about the art works.
The
art work for both albums was done by a friend of mine called Tor Erik
Ledang. I just gave him a description of what we wanted and he came up
with these great covers!He has done lots of covers for other
Norwegian artists,including TNT.
Music
wise, I guess both albums is somewhere in the area around Ayreon and
Camel. But how would you describe your music ?
I
would describe it as progressive/symphonic/classic rock in the 70’s
style. We are influenced by our favourite bands like Kansas,Jethro
Tull,Uriah Heep,Deep Purple and Camel
The
prog rock scene in Norway is very much an underground, student and
social outcasts scene these days, but with a substantial fan-base
outside Norway. How do you feel about this situation ?
Well,
the prog rock scene in Norway is very small, so you have to look at
other markets. There’s a healthy prog scene in countries likeHolland, Poland, Italy, Germany and some countries in South America. In
our hometown,Trondheim we get ignored even by our local newspaper !
They probably see us as old dinosaurs !
I think they would had given you good press exposure if you were dinosaurs, though..... But I agree with you. What
is your plans for this year and how do you see the future of
Adventure as a band/project ?
I
hope it can stay a band,but with limited live playing it might turn
into a project again. It is hard to get people to come to progrock
concerts in Norway, and we don’t do any touring because of
family/work commitments.
What
is your five all-time favourite albums ?
That’s
hard! Deep Purple:Machine Head,Kansas:Leftoverture,Jethro Tull:Thick
As A Brick, Uli Jon
Roth:Beyond The Astral Skies, Uriah Heep:Demons And Wizards…..not
necessary in that order….it changes all the time..tomorrow it might
be others!
Anything
you want to add to this interview ?
I
wish the press and public would be more open to our kind of music.It
was totally on the same level as
pop and rock in the 70’s …populartity wise…why can’t it be
like that again?
I think that is a sentiment echoed by many other members of ProgArchives too. A big thank you to Terje Flessen for the insight to Adventure. Their PA profile is http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2274 - and their homepage is http://www.home.no/adventuremusic/ -
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