Hello guys! How are you doing? We really liked your new single “Still Here”. We can call this “real music”. How do you feel on this?
Thanks for the compliment. We are glad to hear that you liked our song, as we have put a lot of effort into composing, recording and producing it.
Tell us a few words about the band and the musicians that you have in the band!
Sinister King is a melodic heavy metal band based in Bergen, Norway. Our typical song consists of energetic guitar riffs, evocative synth melodies, a memorable chorus and a guitar solo. It is also well- produced, as we pride ourself on the sound quality of the songs. Some of the music is slightly progressive, and a lot of it is quite groovy.
Rune Skjønberg is the lead singer in Sinister King.. Rune grew up in Mandal, the southernmost city in Norway, and started singing at the age of 16. The band that made him fall in love with music is none other than a-ha. Rune is a singer/songwriter involved in different projects that varies from pop/rock to heavy metal. As a singer he cites Robert Plant, Tom Chaplin and Ryan Clark as his main inspirations.
Frode Andreassen is our hard hitting drummer. He’s been playing drums since he was 12 years old. His favourite drummers are Deen Castronovo, Mike Portnoy, Gregg Bissonette, Tommy Aldridge, Mike Mangini, Ian Paice, Steve Smith and Thomas Lang. Frode exclusively uses BDC drums, Meinl cymbals and Vic Firth sticks.
Ole Henrik Vik plays synth. He has been playing piano since the age of 5, and plays guitar, violin, and church organ as well. The first band he played in was an ‘Avenged Sevenfold’ cover band, where he was randomly asked to be the singer. That was his gateway drug to metal. He started listening to Killswitch Engage, Trivium and Bullet for my Valentine, before moving on to more heavier and more progressive stuff such as Stonegard, In Flames, Soilwork, Sonata Arctica, Symphony X, Opeth and of course Dream Theater. His biggest musical influence by far is Dream Theater’s early albums. The favorite song is ‘A Change of Seasons’, which he considers a modern masterpiece. He even got to hear it live when Dream Theater played it as the encore on their Barcelona-gig in 2017. Other more recent influences include Dirty Loops and Jacob Collier.
Yngve Knudsen is our bass player, and has been playing bass on and off since he was 15.
Being from Norway, makes you have a big tradition in music. What is your opinion about music in your country?
Norway has a proud music tradition, especially in rock and metal. With bands such as Stage Dolls, Dimmu Borgir, Mayhem and Pagan’s Mind I’d say we do quite well. There are a lot of metalheads per capita here.
How is your mood about Covid-19? Did this influence the band?
Covid-19 freed up time to finish the recording and mixing of our songs, so that was an advantage. A disadvantage was that we had to reschedule the recording of the music video for ‘A Cure for Insomnia’ two times due to lockdowns or restrictions.
Do you consider that being so unique as a band is an advantage or a disadvantage for you?
First of all, thanks for calling us unique. Something that can be both an advantage and a disadvantage is that we struggle to define what genre to place our music in. We fit into multiple genres.
Who writes the lyrics and what they are about?
The lyrics are written by the singer of the band Rune Skjønberg. They are about life and death and tend to be melancholic and dark.
Do you feel this about a project or a full band that will last for years?
Our plan for Sinister King is to keep making great metal music. We also want to play our music live, and there will be many opportunities for that now that society opens up again. This is a long term project, and the band will last for years. We are planning to release two singles next year, and we keep working on new ideas continually. Making new music is a passion for us.
Keep up the nice work, guys! Metal on!
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