INTERVIEW: Jørgen Munkeby – Shining

Norwegian pioneers SHINING are on the brink of a monumental sound change, departing their own brand of saxophone-fuelled jazz metal for a fresh and energetic heaviness that wouldn’t sound out of place booming its way around an arena. Ahead of two UK tour dates in November, frontman and surviving original member Jørgen Munkeby gives Distorted Sound the lowdown on this drastic gear shift for their new album Animal and where the SHINING monster truck is heading next.

How’s the year been for you so far, Jørgen?

Jørgen: Sometimes I forget where we are in the year, that explains how busy this year has been! I like being busy though, I’d much rather have a lot to do than nothing at all. I’ve been working on this new record Animal for two and a half years so if we haven’t toured, I’ve been at home writing so the workload doesn’t change, just the nature of the work.

Has it been a tough writing process?

Jørgen: It’s been very long, I’ve spent much more time on this record than any other record I’ve ever made. There’s been a lot of trial and error and worrying, but there’s a lot of great moments where I really feel this is going the right way. This new album is a musical shift away from 2015’s International Blackjazz Society and I’ve done those before, but it’s much harder than just repeating the same sound you’ve already done on the last album. I’ve had to learn to write in a new way and sing in a different style, which takes a lot of time and effort. It’s one thing deciding I want to do something new for myself, something exciting and challenging, but it’s another thing finding out what that something is. I’ve also not used the saxophone on this record so we’ve had to find other solutions to fill those holes where the saxophone made things more interesting in the middle of songs.

Did you complete every track in one block?

Jørgen: We recorded and released two songs one year before we recorded the rest so we could get a feeling of the feedback you only usually get when you’ve finished the whole album process. That helped me decide if I liked the new direction and how far away from the previous sound I really wanted to go. There’s a lot of stuff that we haven’t used, for instance there was a section in a song where I did a rap – it sounds corny now but it sounded pretty good when we recorded it, but we all decided it didn’t feel right so we took it away and I’m happy about that choice.

What other changes can we expect?

Jørgen: We used to have only one gear, one level of intensity on an album which was cool, but for some years I felt I was missing the opportunity to have a varied and dynamic ebb and flow both on record and in our live shows, which we’ve done with Animal. When you work on a song for three months and listen to it every day, you get tired of it and start to think the entire album is exactly the same. When you’re working on a ballad, it starts feeling like the whole fucking record is super slow ballads even when it isn’t. Sometimes I wish I was able to write a song in the amount of time it took to listen to it so you could get a true feeling of how it works but if it was that simple, everybody would be doing it!

You’ve shifted styles in the past, is this a permanent move away from the Blackjazz era?

Jørgen: It’s hard to say but the only thing I can do is analyse what I’ve done before and see if we have a system. As I’m the only constant member that’s been here through every period, we have one album that defines a sound, then a follow-up one that builds on that, then there’s a change. If I were to predict the future, we’ll do a bit more like this and then change again. Which way that goes, whether it’s more aggressive or less, it’s hard to say. During the Blackjazz period, I thought we’d landed on something I would be happy to do my whole life. Looking back on it, I see that’s natural for me to get bored of doing the same thing, I need new challenges to make things fresh and exciting for myself. I’m an educated musician, I’ve worked in music my entire life – I’ve grown up on metal, I’ve studied jazz and classical, I’ve been interested in theory and now I’m producing and recording. All that makes it easier for me to change and learn new things.

You’re the last original SHINING member remaining, does that make you more determined to make this dramatic change succeed?

Jørgen: I’m responsible and I like that more and more the older I get. If people like what I’m doing, I’m better at taking compliments but I still keep working on it. If people disagree, the more I realise that nobody really has the answer so it doesn’t bother me. I see with our fans that some like one style and some like another, there’s no one single opinion on what’s good and what’s not.

You’ve opened for the likes of THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLANE before, who have been your best tour buddies to date?

Jørgen: Without a doubt Devin Townsend. We’ve been touring with him a few times now, they’re the best people we’ve ever toured with. Devin’s changed a lot of musical styles much more often than us, Devin has gone back and forth all the fucking time! His audience have got used to that and they have an open mind, a wide taste in music, so that really worked well with us and Devin’s audiences match us. We’ve shared a bus with Devin on at least two of the tours, all the members and crew are awesome. They’re not just the best touring buddies we’ve had but also the best tours we’ve ever had.

When you started SHINING aged 19, did you have any idea you’d find yourself eight albums down the line opening for Devin Townsend?

Jørgen: I had no idea, now I’ve played with people I listened to and looked up to when I was a kid. I’ve played on two MEGADETH albums and collaborated with Marty Friedman, plus I’ve played with EMPEROR and performed on the same stage as bands like OBITUARY and ENTOMBED who were my biggest bands when I was growing up. I’ve even met PANTERA’s Vinnie Paul briefly, he was one of my huge childhood idols.

What are your craziest memories of SHINING’s escapades over the years?

Jørgen: We’ve played on top of a mountain cliff in Norway for a live video, we once set up our stuff in the middle of the desert between San Francisco and Los Angeles for a video too. I remember playing Bloodstock in 2016 and I looked out into the crowd to see three big inflatable saxophones popping up in the crowd. It’s so funny to see that at a metal festival!

Animal is set for release on 19th October via Spinefarm Records.

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