Per Fredrik Asly

Pellek

Interviews are the place the get advice, and as is shown below, Metal musicians are more than happy to share their words of wisdom. PELLEK vocalist Per Fredrik Asly participated in a question and answer session with a few members of the PELLEK North American Fan Club, and also with Metal Temple writer Stephanie Hensley, to discuss topics such as the inspiration for "Ocean of Opportunity", his philosophy on life, advice for success, and what projects he has in the works.

By Stephanie Hensley & Pellek North American Fan Club

• September 11, 2013

Your bio says that you launched your career by posting YouTube videos of yourself performing cover songs. If a singer wanted to pursue their music career by the same means, what advice would you give them? (Joellen)

Hey Joellen! My advice would be to focus on getting better and better, instead of focusing on getting more and more famous. A lot of people on YouTube feel like they should be superstars for no good reason, and focus just on weird schemes and exploiting trends because they believe they're not getting the attention they deserve for some unfair reason. I made over 100 YouTube videos on a different channel while learning and taking advice from the viewers. I took me 3 years before I really got any views to talk about, and the reason is because I wasn't good enough yet. I still have a long way to go, and I think that if you wanna be successful you have to realise that at an early point. You need to be one of the best if you wanna be one of the most popular. Another thing to remember is that this is Power Metal. It's not Pop, and it's not gaming, or pranks. YouTube, or the world for that matter, doesn't have the audience for what we do, so don't expect to be as popular as Ray William Johnson. It's never gonna happen. Do it for the love of good music, not for fame and glory, and try to be the best! That's what I recommend.

What's your philosophy on life? Is there a longer story about the viper-snake that attacked you when you were crushing rocks with a giant sledgehammer? (Jess)

Haha, hey Jess! My philosophy on life… hmm… I'm just trying to remind myself that every day is a big part of my life. Life's fragile so I really try to appreciate everything good that happens in my life. I'm not saying "carpe diem" and "Live everyday like it's your last" or anything, I just remind myself to be thankful and happy for every good day there is, because at one point we're all gonna look back and be like "where did my life go?", you know? So by reminding myself all the time how lucky I am to have a good life, I think I'll end up thinking "I loved my life" instead. Time will tell The viper-snake is doing fine haha, I named him and we're friends now. His name's "Hoggi" and he lives in the sunniest corner of my house. We overcame our differences (laughs). I do stuff like chop wood and crush stones etc just cuz it has to be done. I own a house and need to fix things now and then, no excitement in that.

If you could sing with any band in the world past or present, what band would it be and why?(Phoenix)

That's an easy question. I would wanna be one of the guys in the Rat Pack. You know those cool actors/singers from the 60s? Just look at Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. and tell me those guys didn't have the most fun and the most class, huh? Hehe. I love those guys. They had it all, and they got it all. They could sing like nobody's business, they were funny, and most importantly they didn't take themselves so damn seriously (like everyone else in the freaking business). I hate smug people. Never being able to see any of those guys live is my biggest regret, but as Franky would've said: That's life!

What was your inspiration for Ocean of Opportunity"(Sheryl)

Hey Sheryl. I was on my way home after working a weekend in a different city, and I drove past this very beautiful Norwegian fjord, with this small wooden boat that was pulled up close to the road. I worked a lot at the time, never had time for any videos or music or anything, and I just started daydreaming about being that guy, sailing away, and I started thinking about how much you could see of the world by traveling in a little boat like that away from everyone, from life and from expectations and responsibility. Of course, I spent months and months writing out the story after that, so it changed a lot from the original idea and inspiration. If I could afford it I'd release a 70-page booklet to go with the CD to tell the details of the story, but it's expensive enough just to print the regular 12-page booklet. I still have things I would like to finish about the story. Like me and George Andrade started voice-acting a long prologue where the doctor and our hero talk to each other. I have tons of big maps I've drawn with lots of small side-stories etc, but I've gotta move on. Ocean is the album I'm most proud of to date, and the details will just have to die with me. Should I end up getting an extra life, I might publish a long book with pictures and the detailed story.

Is singing your main occupation? And if not what else do you do?(Brett)

Hey Brett. Yes. Up until late 2012 I worked as head of logistics for a company, and worked overtime as a salesman there at nights and weekends as well to make enough money to pay my bills etc. Then I had to sing during nights, and it was a bit stressful. Now however because of studios and bands around the world who are good enough to hire me all the time, I can rely on just the singing. I work ten times harder than you'd think though, it's not just a bed of roses. My daily routine is wake up, quick breakfast, sing for a paid job for about 5 hours, then lunch, spend 2-3 hours to make a YouTube video (if there is time), then 5-8 hours more of singing for the current job I'm doing. I usually don't leave the studio before the sun's going down, and 17-18 hour work-days are pretty common for me. I take Sundays off though, and when on tours I just relax all the time when we're not playing, so I get some time off too like everyone else. Working like I do now makes it possible for me to make 100-200 YouTube videos in a year, while still singing lead vocals on 6 different albums, and tour a few months as well. You can get a lot done if you just find a good routine.

Who are your top 5 composers?(Bailey)

Hey Bailey. Hmmmm… Man, alright let's see. Roland Grapow, Ulrich Kusch, Steve Harris, Andre Matos and Kai Hansen. I mean, there are many more so it's tricky you know. Those guys are at least in my top 20 though.

The following questions were asked by the PELLEK North American Fan Club admin: hat are some of your hobbies, and other things you enjoy doing?

Cooking, making videos for YouTube (obviously), playing Nintendo, watching movies, traveling.

How much time do you usually spend working on the songs for each of your YouTube videos?

The "daily" videos, like where I cover a song, usually just take a few hours, but big stuff like long medleys can take several days.

What would a perfect day be like for you?

On tour with the band, seeing a new country for the first time, it's autumn, not too warm, not too cold, having some good Italian red-wine, eating new kinds of food, and just having a nice time. Then at night, play a gig at an awesome stage, with tons of fans, and then an after-party of doom. Haha, that sounds nice.

What was your first metal album?

METALLICA'S Black Album.

Who would you say your musical inspirations are?

I get a lot of inspiration from the old works of big production houses like Walt Disney and Warner Brothers etc. I take the melodic and cheerful atmosphere from that and try to keep that feel, even though I make something completely different of it. I mean, I add double bass drums and progressive riffs and stuff to make it into power metal, but yeah, that's where I get my inspiration.

Though Ocean of Opportunity is still a new release, we were wondering if you were tossing around any ideas or concepts for a future release?

Yeah, I've written one song already for the next album. It's gonna be gritty, dark, and strange. Very different, you'll see. Before that though there's Christmas with PelleK being released this Christmas already, so you get two PELLEK-releases this year It's gonna be the funniest and most metal Christmas album you've ever heard!

On your YouTube videos, it shows that you play guitar and keyboards. Are there any other instruments you play?

I play guitar mostly, and then instruments like piano, all kinds of flutes, bass and harmonicas, and also drums. It's just stuff I have fun with. I'm not any good at the piano for instance. I am good enough to record songs in the studio on a piano or on a violin for that matter, but I wouldn't be comfortable saying "I play" those instruments. I sing and I play guitar, everything else is just for fun.

Thanks for all the questions guys! Have an awesome day and I'll see you on youtube.com/pellekofficial and facebook.com/pellekofficial m/

Pellek North American Fan Club can be found at http://www.facebook.com/PellekNorthAmerica

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