Your new album "Proxima Centauri" has been recorded in a Swedish studio. Why did you choose a Swedish studio and not a Norwegian or an Italian?
- We were thinking about the Abyss studio and then we changed our minds. We wanted a more personal kind of sound. In Norway there are some good studios but Los Angered was suggested to us and Jacob Hansen, the guy that produced the album, also suggested it. Which studio you're recording in is not so important. The producer that's working with you is. We wanted to work with Jacob Hansen because he knows what we want and he's a very good guy to work with. For the period of time we wanted to record Los Angered was available so it was a good opportunity for us. In Italy, the times we have recorded here I haven't liked it too much. Many times the Italian people are very laid back and have a lazy attitude. "Halls Of Eternity" was recorded in Italy that was probably the worst recording experience I've ever had. Things were moving so slowly. The atmosphere in the studio was not good. It's much better in Scandinavia and the people are better to work with. We've never tried to go to Germany but it's worked very good to work in Scandinavia - Sweden, Norway, Denmark. The next time I think we'll record with Jacob once more.
He's very effective and did a really good job. 

Is it like coming home we you go and record in Sweden or is it much different from Norway?
- It's similar to Norway, the language, the money and the food is similar so in that way it was good. We recorded outside of Gothenburg (in a suburb called Angered, hence the name of the studio - AE) so it was a place that was quiet and more like a small village kind of thing. That was a good working atmosphere. More than anything it's the people in Scandinavia that has a different kind of attitude than the people working in studios in Italy. When we recorded the "halls Of Eternity" I think the whole recording took 320 or 350 hours mostly because the people in the studio dragged out the time. Before we went to Sweden we had just 20 days booked in the studio and I was afraid that we had too little time because I've been recording in Sweden and Norway before and I know of the difference in working atmosphere and how it goes. If we spend to long in the studio I think we start to become bored and the whole creativity goes down the drain. 

Looking at the cover to "Proxima Centauri" I can't quite figure out what it means. Is there a connection between the cover and the title?
GroM - Basically it's inspired by a movie called Event Horizon. That's where I took the main idea from. It talks about a star, which is called Proxima Centauri in Latin - The star closest to us in English. I elaborated the idea for all this scientifically mystery that surrounds this star. I imagined that it could be a dimensional portal, a black whole leading to another dimension of pure chaos and pure evil, which poses a threat to our existence and planet. If you read the lyrics to the title track you'll be able to get a much clearer idea of what I mean and the message that the title tries to put across. One thing I'd like to say is that it's important that the people don't confuse this concept with modern day science fiction. It's more of a horror/fantasy style theme. Many people think that when you talk about space and stars and that kind of things you mean things like Star Trek but it has nothing to do with modern day science fiction. In reality the space and stars are much more ancient than we are, if you allow the play of words. 

Ancient is originally from Norway but you've been round the world having lived in the States and now residing in Italy. Do you still feel that Ancient is a part of the Norwegian black metal scene?
- I don't really consider Ancient to be a part of the Norwegian black metal scene. You can call Ancient a band that is half-Norwegian and half-Italian. I'm the only Norwegian guy in the band but I write most of the music. That we are a part of the Norwegian scene is wrong to say. 

Ancient has a specific sound. Was it hard to find it or did it come naturally?
- Actually it was not so hard. From the first album in 1994 we had our own style. We didn't look too much to other bands. We were doing our thing. We don't care too much about trends or standards. Our style is not pure black metal. There are a lot of influences from different kind of metal; death, thrash and heavy. The style we have is just something that came natural to us. We don't try to force ourselves to be different. I think we are playing a different way than other black metal bands. 

When you moved from the States what made you chose Italy because Italy don't seem like the first choice to move a band to?
- I think a lot of people don't have the right impression of Italy. It's very different in the north than it is in the south. A lot of people would say that Norway is the best place to be for a black metal band. For some things it can be right. When I moved out of Norway I was a bit bored of the place in general. I wanted to see different places and also I wanted to have Kaipas in the band so I moved to the States. I came back to Europe because I got tired of the US. The reason I chose Italy instead of Germany or any other country was that I found a girlfriend here and I liked the country. We have no real problems finding good musicians here. In the beginning it took a lot of time but I think this line-up I have now is the best. Also for touring purposes it's very good to be smack in the middle of Europe. In Italy there are some festivals and it's very easy for us to get in the van and go to Germany. Had we been in Bergen, Norway or some other place isolated from the continent it'd been a problem for touring.
- The scene in Italy is not a small one. It's actually a very strong underground scene here and there are a lot of black metal fans. When we headline here in Italy we sometime get 1000 people and that's more than we get in countries like Switzerland or France.

Throughout the years Ancient has changed some members. What is it that makes some leave and others staying?
- Actually the only person that left the band was Grim and that was mainly because he wanted to go a different way. Today he's doing acoustic, melancholic, atmospheric music that has nothing to do with black metal. He basically got tired of the black metal thing. When he quit I decided to have Kaipas as the new singer because he had a very good voice and he was very creative. I moved to USA because I wanted to have him in the band. While I was there I established another line-up. When I moved from the US I didn't exactly have a choice because they was not interested in moving to Italy with me. Jesus Christ lives in New York and he's still a part time member of the band. The members didn't exactly quit the band. For them it wasn't realistic to follow me to Italy. The main reason for the line-up changes has been that I've been moving around. I was not able to stay in the US because of problems with the immigration authority and visa trouble. It's not easy to live in the US if you don't have a steady job. 

It's no lie to say that the Catholic Church is strong in Italy. Do you as a black metal band feel the presence of the church?
- Not really. The church is important to some but in our daily lives it means nothing. People around here are not more into Christianity than anywhere else. I don't think it has made any difference. Maybe more so in the US because if you wake up on a Sunday morning you can find 50 television channels preaching to you. So going from the US to Italy I've come to a country that is less into Christianity. 
- Especially young people they don't care too much for Christianity. In general I don't have an impression of Italy as a very Christian country. In the south it might be different. The people have a different mentality. I haven't been there so I can't really say.

If you look back on all the records Ancient has made is there something you would have liked to have done differently?
- Not really. I don't think there's something I would want to go back and do differently song-wise. Production-wise things could have been done better. Especially "Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends" could have been a better album if it had had a better production.
Apart from that there's nothing I really want to go back and change. When I listen to the old albums they are done in a very good way apart from the production. 

How important is it that not only you contribute to the ways that the songs are being written?
- I think it is very important. On "Halls Of Eternity" it was pretty much I who wrote the songs and I have to tell the drummer how to play them. We realised that that drummer wasn't right for the band. He was not professional enough. It's much better to work with GroM because he has the same background as we have. I think it's very important to have a drummer that is very involved in the way the songs come about. The drummer is a very important part of the song. The rhythm section is the backbone of the whole song. If one person or two persons are writing the songs can sometimes be a huge difference. The way we worked with this album the drummer was very involved. It worked better than for "Halls Of Eternity". 
- If there had been more people involved, like four or five, it could have been difficult and it would have taken longer. Two people working together is usually not any problem. Sometime I have an idea or the drummer has one but there's not too much problems working together. It also depends on how you're used to write. Some people prefer to write songs alone and know exactly how the drums should be but I think it works good for us.
- Jesus Christ alone wrote 2 songs on this album. I was not having any kind of influence on it. He has a very different style but I think it works out great. If there were another guy who wrote in a style that would not fit the band you would have to tell that it's not working out. The songs of Jesus I think worked out very well.

So it's more the whole that is important instead of the individual needs of each member?
- That's what will make the band big in the end. The goal is to make a great album and the number one thing is not personal glory for each individual member. We're in it together. It's not one person getting famous and the others don't. We're all part of this thing.