One of the nicest guys one could ever hope to meet in the Norwegian rock milieu is Robin Mortensen. Not only does he operate and run one of the best record shops in the country, but he is also one of the prime movers behind such interesting, productive, and well-respected endeavors as Apollon Records, Apollon Records Prog, and Apollon Platefabrikk. On top of that, he also works with the eclectic Is It Jazz? Records, and once upon a time, he was deeply involved in Dark Essence Records and Karisma Records. Regardless of whether you are into black metal, prog, indie rock, psychedelic music, or jazz rock, chances are that you have heard (or at least heard about) one of the many albums that Robin has had a huge hand in releasing, promoting, and getting out there to a wider audience. Enjoy our little chat below, dear readers, and do not forget to check Apollon Records out afterwards.
Greetings Robin, how are you doing? It’s always a pleasure to talk to you. It’s been a while since we last did an interview and a lot has obviously happened since then. What have you been busy doing this week, musically speaking?
R: Hi Jens, likewise, always a pleasure. Right now, I’m busy raising funds to start up a pressing plant here in Bergen called Apollon Platefabrikk.
I am curious as to whether you come from a musical home and if you had a musical upbringing? Where does your deep-seated love of music come from? What sparked that interest?
R: Yes, thanks to my late father, I was raised in a “24/7 musical home,” so to speak. He played records all the time in our household and also cassette tapes in the car while on the way to visit record stores. My very first “big concert” was as early as 1978 seeing the great Bob Marley & the Wailers in Horten, Norway. I was four years old. My sister was only 4 months old, ha-ha.
Tell me about your first encounter with heavy and hard-hitting music? The reason I ask is that I recall you telling me about being exposed to Accept many aeons ago, and I was wondering if that was one of the first classic heavy metal bands that you fell in love with?
R: I’m a big fan of Accept, especially the period stretching from Breaker (1981) to Russian Roulette (1986), and I also really enjoy the solo album Faceless World by UDO (produced by former Accept drummer Stefan Kaufmann). I’m also a big fan of early Helloween, and I must admit that I dig Manowar too. And then there is Iron Maiden, obviously. Heck, we need to include early Scorpions here also. And did I mention Ozzy? He’s in there too. Actually, it all started with the song named ‘Child in Time’ by Deep Purple many years prior to that. I found their album In Rock when scrolling through my dad’s record collection.
Have you ever witnessed a specific performance by a band changed your life on some level, or at least your perception of music and the wonderful powers that it holds?
R: Good question. I’ve attended concerts all my life, so there are plenty of magic moments stored in the back of my head, but for some reason, I remember the less than stellar ones better. For instance, I recall seeing Helloween on the Chameleon tour in Oslo, which was in 1993, and that was akin to witnessing a band almost breaking up right there on stage. Very sad. Vocalist Michael Kiske left soon afterwards. And to be perfectly honest, I didn’t listen all that much to metal for the next 10 years or so.
We obviously need to discuss prog rock and also jazz rock, or jazz prog, if you will. Whenever you and I meet, we always joke that we are way more into those genres than metal music and so on because we are getting older, and although we are being slightly sarcastic, there is some truth in that as well. Two of your labels, namely Apollon Records Prog and Is It Jazz? Records, have unearthed and promoted some of the most captivating and musically exploratory releases out there, which is obviously something that people like me are extremely grateful for. Your taste in music nowadays is nothing if not eclectic and diverse.
R: Many thanks, but I cannot take credit for the Is It Jazz? label. That is my colleague Martin Kvam’s baby. I was really only a metal head for a rather short period of time with long hair and all of that stuff… it amounted to a few intense years at most, more specifically from 1987 to 1990. I still remember my first three favourite artists: Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Mike Oldfield. Those three are still way up there for me. The 90s were not easy for my beloved metal music, and the last album that I really loved was Painkiller by Judas Priest, which came out in 1990. I gradually moved on to prog and classic rock such as Pink Floyd, Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Rush, Marillion, Tangerine Dream, etc, and never looked back, really. I also began to love so-called indie rock such as the Cure, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance (I really love the 4AD label), Nick Cave, and later on Bjørk. Come to think of it, we also need to add Bel Canto to that list. In 1990, I also started to listen to jazz, such as Jan Garbarek (I also love ECM Records) and Miles Davis. And I’m also a big fan of synth pop such as Depeche Mode, New Order, and Pet Shop Boys, just to name a few acts. I simply have to mention and include great 80s bands such as A-ha, The Police, and Simple Minds… and even U2.
With respect to genres, many of the albums you release are somewhat left-field, and I absolutely love that. You never quite know what you will get, nor what to expect for that matter. It could be krautrock, prog, jazz rock, avant-garde, art rock, melancholy pop, ambient music, and space rock just to list a few examples. Is it all about mood and atmosphere to you in the sense that genres and definitions matter very little, the philosophy instead being that good music is good music regardless of genre? I love the fact that you do not seem too concerned with pigeonholing things.
R: Well, the reason I went on to (re-)start Apollon Records in 2015 was because Karisma Records and Dark Essence Records were too limiting for me. I got a bit tired of metal (again), ha-ha.
These past twelve-fifteen years or so there has been a massive revival of Norwegian prog in the sense that bands such as Wobbler, Arabs in Aspic, Airbag, Ring Van Möbius, Caligonaut have truly carved out a niche of their own in the international prog community, and you will often find them featured in magazines such as PROG… and rightly so, if you ask me. You have played a huge part in orchestrating this “renaissance” in the Norwegian prog milieu thanks to your tireless work with Apollon Records and Karisma Records. Could you list two or three albums from your roster that you are particularly fond of and that evoke a sense of nostalgia and warmth in you when you either listen to them or think about them?
R: Thanks, Jens. That whole journey mainly started with the release of Airbag’s first album, titled Identity, in 2009, which we released via Karisma Records. Arabs In Aspic’s Syndenes Magi was a very important album for Apollon Records Prog, and naturally, being able to sign Wobbler (and also Tusmørke) to Karisma Records was like a dream come true. That was a very good weekend in Oslo.
When it comes to you running a record shop in Bergen (Playcom), do you still enjoy doing that as much as you did when you were younger? Browsing vinyls for hours on end and chatting to fellow “nerds” – what could be better, right?!
R: I still love my job and that was also part of the reason I eventually decided to leave Karisma Records. I can pretty much run Apollon Records from my shop. So yeah, I’ve been working in a record store since 1997, and I still love it.
Tell me about some of your musical highlights this year in terms of albums that have been released (not necessarily ones that you put out!) and concerts that you have attended. The one that you and I attended a couple of weeks ago (Annlaug Børsheim) was staggeringly good and mesmerising. Beautiful stuff, really.
R: I hate to admit it, but I’m so busy working with my own stuff that I don’t listen all that much to other new music. Having said that, I did see Fontaines DC at Øya Festival in Oslo this summer, which was great. I also went to a great festival in L.A. called Cruel World back in May where I saw many of my favourites from the 80s such as OMD, Madness, ‘Til Tuesday (their first gig since 1990), Midge Ure, Nick Cave, and Clan of Xymox to name a few.
Is there anything on your bucket list that you have yet to tick off?
R: Oh, I hope there are plenty of things coming up… but I would really like to see the group Beat in a live setting (it’s essentially 80s King Crimson reunited without Fripp and Bruford but with Steve Vai and Tool drummer Danny Carey stepping in).
How has music helped you deal with difficult times and when do you find it the most inspiring on a personal level?
R: For me, music and mountain hiking are the cure for everything.
https://apollonrecords.bandcamp.com | https://apollonrecords.no
