Leprous mainman Einar Solberg says the secret to the band’s creativity is their sincerity.
They released fifth album The Congregation last month after aiming to ensure it was every bit as honest as 2013’s Coal.
Solberg tells Prog Sphere: “I think sincerity is the main problem for people – they’re too afraid of reactions. They’re too afraid of disappointing their fans.
“If we’d started considering all the feedback we get from everyone we’d be completely confused, and we would be losing ourselves completely. It’s just chaos if you start to consider all those things.
“In a composition process, the most important thing is to keep your distance from all expectations – just let the creativity flow. You’ll always disappoint someone no matter what you do.”
He reflects that it’s impossible to please everyone anyway. “Being an artist is not exactly a win-win situation normally, because you always have people complaining no matter what you try to do,” he says.
And that can lead to insecurity. “I can recognise myself very much in that,” he admits. “Sometimes it takes one negative feedback to destroy 10 positive ones. But eventually I learnt to distance myself more and more from it. I don’t take it very personal.”
But Solberg can’t avoid getting upset sometimes. “Especially when people appear to think that they know how things work,” he says. “That tends to irritate me a lot – I should just try my best to stay above it.”
Leprous tour Europe in the coming months, including three UK shows in October:
Jun 25: Metropolis Fest, Belarus
Jul 10: Tech-Fest, UK
Jul 11: Be Prog! My Friend, Spain
Sep 21: Athens An Club, Greece
Sep 22: Thessaloniki Eightball Club, Greece
Sep 25: Bergen Garage, Norway
Oct 02: Copenhagen Forbraendingen, Denmark
Oct 03: Euroblast Festival, Germany
Oct 04: ProgPower Europe, Netherlands
Oct 05: Paris Le Divan du Monde, France
Oct 06: Nantes Le Ferrailleur, France
Oct 08: Lisbon RCA Club, Portugal
Oct 09: Madrid Caracol, Spain
Oct 10: Murcia Garaje, Spain
Oct 11: Barcelona Apolo 2, Spain
Oct 12: Lyon Ninkasa Kao, France
Oct 13: London Garage, UK
Oct 14: Manchester Ruby Lounge, UK
Oct 15: Bristol Fleece, UK
Oct 16: Maasmechelen Jan Hertog, Belgium
Oct 17: Karlsuhe Substage, Germany
Oct 18: Munch Backstage, Germany
Oct 19: Milan Legend Club, Italy
Oct 20: Aarau Kiff, Switzerland
Oct 22: Brasov Rockstadt, Romania
Oct 24: Bratislava Majestic Club, Slovakia
Oct 25: Prague Nova Chmelnice, Czech Republic
Oct 26: Warsaw Progresja, Poland
Oct 27: Riga Rockcafe, Latvia
Oct 28: Helsinki Nosturi, Finland
Oct 30: Stockholm Bryggarsalen, Sweden
Oct 31: Oslo John Dee, Norway
