{"id":940600,"date":"2026-10-20T23:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T23:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/940600\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T23:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T23:10:10","slug":"enslaveds-ivar-bjornson-turned-down-a-tour-with-type-o-negatives-peter-steele-because-he-had-to-go-to-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/940600\/","title":{"rendered":"Enslaved\u2019s Ivar Bj\u00f8rnson turned down a tour with Type O Negative\u2019s Peter Steele because he had to go to school"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enslaved<\/a> guitarist Ivar Bj\u00f8rnson has looked back on the time he declined Type O Negative<\/a> lynchpin Peter Steele\u2019s invitation to support his thrash<\/a> band Carnivore on tour.<\/p>\n

The 48-year-old progressive black metal player was 17 when he met Steele during Enslaved\u2019s first tour of the US in 1994. The person who booked Enslaved\u2019s tour happened to be a friend of the revered goth metal singer\/bassist, who died of sepsis aged 48 in 2010, and knew that Steele was a fan, to the point that he had a CD copy of Enslaved\u2019s second album Frost on his tour bus.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201c[Steele] was really nice, super friendly,\u201d Bj\u00f8rnson recalls. \u201cSome weeks later came the offer: \u2018If you want to hang out for another month after the tour, you can support Carnivore.\u2019 I was like, \u2018Umm, I think I need to go back to high school.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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When asked if he regrets that decision, Bj\u00f8rnson quickly says yes. He adds: \u201cThen again, I was 17, so we were barely allowed to go on tour in the first place! And we\u2019d already stayed two weeks longer than we were supposed to. We made up a story that we were staying with a friend in Dallas, but we actually spent two weeks touring Mexico. I didn\u2019t tell my mum about it until I was 26.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bj\u00f8rnson (real name Ivar Peersen) co-founded Enslaved with bassist\/vocalist Grutle Kjellson (Kjetil Grutle) in 1991, when he was just 13 years old. The band were closely associated with the \u2018inner circle\u2019 of the Norwegian black metal scene, considering founding Mayhem<\/a> guitarist \u00d8ystein \u2018Euronymous\u2019 Aarseth a mentor, but never joined because their lyrics focussed on Norse mythology rather than Satanism.<\/p>\n

Bj\u00f8rnson recalls another amusing anecdote from the \u201994 US tour elsewhere in the interview, explaining that Enslaved\u2019s van was so uncomfortable that he and Kjellson had to drink vodka to be able to sleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur van broke down while we were driving through the Bronx, so we were told to stay in the van at the garage,\u201d he continues. \u201cWhen we broke down, we were already quite far into our nightly ritual of getting dozy. At some point, it was like, \u2018Where\u2019s Grutle?\u2019 He was running around, with no t-shirt, screaming, \u2018I\u2019m Santa Claus!\u2019 Some of the other guys had to go get him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Enslaved are currently preparing to release their 17th album Mi\u00f0, out on October 30 via their longtime home of Nuclear Blast. The band will tour Europe with Icelandic post-rockers S\u00f3lstafir in February. See dates and get tickets via their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ENSLAVED – Solar Will (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO) – YouTube
\n\"ENSLAVED<\/p>\n

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