Mayflower Madame, the Norwegian Post-Punk / Psych band comprised of Trond Fagernes, Håvard Haga, and Ola J. Kyrkjeeide, are excited to premiere their album, Prepared For A Nightmare, here at DISARM!
The album is being released digitally on March 27, to be followed by the physical release, on both vinyl and CD, May 15th via Only Lovers Records, in collaboration with Portland’s Little Cloud Records and Parisian label Icy Cold Records.
While you enjoy the stream of the new record, you can also check out these DISARMing questions we asked Trond Fagernes. So press play, enjoy the record, and read on!
DISARM: What are you listening to right now?
Trond: Right now I’m listening a lot to LA band Sextile. They’re doing some kind of raw combination of Post-Punk and Synth-Wave that I find really, really cool.
What was the first LP/tape/CD you remember owning?
I remember getting some Beatles CDs when I was really young, one of them was Revolver. The first two CDs I bought myself was Nirvana’s Nevermind and Unplugged in New York which I still can very much enjoy listening to today.
Vinyl or CD/Digital?
I prefer vinyl, but still listen to CDs also. I’m definitely a sucker for the physical format when it comes to music.
What are your favourite bands?
Hmm, always a hard question, so many to choose from… The first that comes to mind are early Clinic, Psychic Ills, DIIV, and Bauhaus. I should also mention Sextile again. And Nirvana will always have a special place in my heart.
Why do you live where you do?
Simply because Oslo is the most central place to be in a small country like Norway.
What is your favourite journey?
Also a hard question, again so many great to choose from… But I guess there’s not much that I have enjoyed more than doing a road trip along the US west coast or driving in between the mountains and national parks of Utah.
What’s your idea of a perfect Sunday?
Sleeping undisturbed until I wake up (without a hangover) after staying up late the night before. Then a long breakfast with my girlfriend before I go to our studio for a couple of hours (feeling very creative and motivated of course). After that perhaps going to a museum or gallery followed by a nice dinner with some wine and then a lazy evening watching a movie and listening to some of my favourite vinyl.
What essentials do you take on a plane or tour bus?
Preferably someone interesting to talk with and a good novel (or a band or artist biography if in the need for some “easy entertainment”). A notebook is always handy as well.
What is your dream vacation if money was no object?
I guess it would be the same answer as for my favourite journey. Either that or traveling throughout Japan for a month or so.
What do you do with 4 hours to yourself in a new city?
I would definitely look up the best art gallery/museum and the best record shop. Then I would find a nice neighbourhood to stroll around for a little while before wrapping it up at a cozy bar with great drinks and good music.
What inspired you to take up music?
As long as I can remember, I’ve felt the need to express myself creatively. I was not impressed by my own drawing abilities and I think I’ve always been too impatient to be a writer, but when I first picked up a guitar it felt right at once. It didn’t take that long before I could copy some of my heroes and then I found out that it didn’t require that much technical abilities to create something myself that I actually also thought sounded cool.
What was your most memorable day job?
My first day job was as an assistant janitor at a nursing home for elders with dementia. It was kind of ironic that I ended up there because I was not a “handyman” at all and I didn’t really enjoy my tasks at that time, but I learned a lot, mostly from the contact with the patients (I’m still not a handyman), and even today I think about that job quite often.
What advice should you have taken but didn’t?
I don’t really remember any, I must have ignored/suppressed them all. You learn as you live – I guess that’s been my motto.
What should everyone shut up about?
Everyone who says global warming and climate change is not real should shut up right now.
Who’s your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what the menu be?
I would invite Bill Hicks for some tacos and discussions about music, art and politics. I imagine it would be a fun meal.
Who is your favourite hero of fiction?
Hmm, I’m not sure if I have any particular fictional heroes anymore, but as a kid I was a really big fan of Zorro!
What was the best live gig or music festival you attended (as a fan or artist)?
As a fan I think it’s either Pulp at Oya Festival in Oslo during their reunion tour in 2011 or Clinic at Oslo Psych Fest in 2015. As an artist it’s just too difficult to pick out one or two, but maybe one of the more obscure ones that I really enjoyed was a house show in Boise on our first US tour in 2017. A big living room in a suburban house packed with really cool, friendly people and goats in the backyard. Great vibes.
What are your “must” read magazines, news, websites, blogs?
Another difficult one. For news I do my best to avoid the tabloids and I prefer a Norwegian newspaper called Aftenposten. I don’t really read that many blogs or magazines regularly. There’s a lot of great music blogs out there though – like Disarm Magazine 🙂
Name something you consider a mind-altering work of art.
German Expressionist painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s street scenes from Berlin 1913-15. I wrote my master thesis in art history about these works and I would gladly do it again – they’ve never stopped fascinating me. If I had to pick one of them, it would be a painting called “Potsdamer Platz” from 1914.
What does the next 6 months look like for you?
I guess we’ll be either stuck at home because of the Corona virus pandemic or touring around Europe and North America in support of our upcoming album Prepared For A Nightmare.
Which musician rule do you agree with? Always meet your heroes or never meet your heroes?
Meet them!
Thanks Trond! You can check out more from Mayflower Madame and get Prepared For A Nightmare on their Bandcamp page HERE.
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