“So how did it start?
I can remember sitting back in Danny’s old boy room just jamming with
three guitars. And suddenly there it was, the first Course of Fate
riff.”
Course of Fate started out in Fredrikstad, Norway autumn of 2003 when
Kenneth Henriksen, Ove Tindlund and Eivind Gunnesen - three boys who had
been friends since junior high and played together for a few years - met
Per Håkon Søderberg, who played in a band called Signs of Time. We then
started jamming together, just playing for fun. Another member then came
along, Ole Daniel Martinsen (Danny), who had also been a friend for a
long time. The band had three guitar players, so when making music it
was very important that we made different voices for each of the
guitars. We discussed what kind of music we where going to play, we all
had kind of a mixed taste of music at that time. One liked power metal,
another thrash, black metal…–you name it! Everything from Mayhem to Pink
Floyd. So we figured; why not play it all? Trying to mix different
genres into the one and same song, and still make it sound like music.
Our first gig found place in November 2003 at The St. Croix House in
Fredrikstad. The excitement was big, we all where trying to deal with
our nerves. We sat backstage tuning guitars, trying to relax, when
suddenly the message came “guys, you’re on”. Surprisingly the room was
almost packed. We went on stage, played our songs, people seemed happy,
we were happy. I would call it a successful concert. It all ended
there….
After the first gig we never really got back on track. Per Håkon was
busy playing with another band, called Vetrarnòtt, while the rest of us
had other things on our mind. And by the spring of 2004 we had
completely stopped rehearsing. Per Håkon quitted.
A few months went by, summer came along, and once again we were hungry –
hungry for playing music and becoming a band again. We then started
searching for a new drummer; meanwhile we practiced without a drummer.
At the end of the summer we got a call from one, he really wanted to
play for us. But after about two rehearsals, we gave up, he just didn’t
fit in. So again we stood there with no drummer. After that we just
played now and then, but with no man behind the drums.
Winter was approaching and I was moving away. I was going to work at a
hotel almost 240 miles away. We had gotten contact with a drummer who
lived not so far away from where I was going to spend my next three
months, and I was supposed to visit him. But that never happened, so
that opportunity just slipped away from us. While I was up there all
alone I bought two new guitars, started making music and writing lyrics.
And a little spark lighted the flame again, only stronger.
At the start of March 2005 I went home to celebrate my birthday with
friends. I had been away for two months, with one month remaining. We
all were really ready to get the band going again. A friend of ours said
that he could fix us up with a drummer. Finally things seemed to go our
way. I went back for a month (witch felt like a lifetime), came back and
we all were much exited to start the band again. Of course that didn’t
exactly turn out the way we had planned. The drummer that our friend had
fixed for us didn’t have the spare time to be part of a band. We ended
up recruiting our friend to play drums (although he’s not really a
drummer), so we played with him for a few months. But in the end that
didn’t work out either, so there we where – where we had been so many
times before: With no drummer…..
In the mid summer of 2005 something happened. Our original drummer Per
Håkon called us up, wondering if we where interested in jamming together
again. A suggestion we just couldn’t pass. His other band (now called
Tyrant Imperia) then was becoming less active as the weeks went by. We
got together to play, and it was just like putting on an old pair of
shoes: It fit! We now got the feeling of being a band again. Except from
one thing; Ove, our bass player, stopped showing up at the rehearsals.
So we made the tough choice, to replace him. Fortunately finding a bass
player wasn’t by near as hard as finding a drummer. The replacement was
Marcus André Skaar Lorentzen, witch originally was the guitar player in
Tyrant Imperia. He turned out to be just the right man for the job. We
then started rehearsing for real – Course of Fate was back on track!
The following months it all went on well. We made some new songs,
thrashed some old ones, and worked our way towards a new concert. We got
a gig, and the date was set. But then a new problem came up… Eivind, one
of the guitarists, started skipping rehearsals. Only two weeks before
our gig we had to let him go. Witch now made the pressure on us before
the concert increase. We decided to not find a new guitarist, but
instead go with the two we had. That meant I had to sing while playing,
a lot more than I usually did. And we had less than two weeks to make it
work…
Two weeks went by and the big day arrived. Nervous? Oh yes… About ten
times more than the first time! We all had a mixed feeling because of
all the things that had happened recently. There was about three times
the crowd as last time. Would we be able to go through? We did. And
people seemed to enjoy the show. We enjoyed it too!
A great feeling….
Finally we’re back! I think we have learned a lot from our own mistakes.
We now have stronger bonds as a band. Our influences have become more or
less the same. We are starting to find an own sound. We’re aiming higher
than before. I think now we are on the right course... The Course of
Fate.
Kenneth Henriksen
Guitarist in
Course of Fate