Our John chats to Kim Stenberg & Eirikur Hauksson ahead of the release of Magic Pie’s latest album, ‘Maestro’.
JWS: Magic Pie are somewhat new to me as I’ve not really heard much by you before, how would you describe your music?
Kim : I would describe Magic Pie as a mix between progressive rock and classic rock, with some tendencies towards prog-metal. With a focus on good melodies, plenty of harmonies, and the big chorus. With some instrumental passages along the way – so we can have som fun as musicians 😉
JWS: I hear lots of classic band influences in your sound, like Deep Purple and other 70’s bands I like, is this deliberate or accidental?
Kim : Mostly accidental I would say. I didn’t have any connection to progressive rock growing up in the 80´s but it’s fair to say that I couldn’t escape the influence from my parents with bands like Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, Kansas, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, The Beatles and so on. After I heard ‘Space Revolver’ with The Flower Kings and ‘SMPT:e’ with Transatlantic in 2000 (or something) I started doing a little research and took a deep dive into the 70´s prog scene. I discovered a lot of great music, but found myself enjoying the more hard-rock oriented bands the most.
I’m not sure why our music has that 70´’s feel, but I much prefer the production from the 70’s and the overall vibe. Not so polished, slick and perfect as todays productions. There is also something special about the vocal melodies from the 70´’s – hard to describe, but it just speaks top me in a different way. Since I’m also the producer I tend to gravitate to what I like. There was never a deliberate thought to make it sound 70´s.
With Magic Pie, the goal is to bring all my influences into a mix of its own. The big chorus, the recklessness from bands like Deep Purple, the vocal harmonies from Queen and City Boy, the progressive metal with influences from Dream Theater, and since I’m first and foremost a guitarist, a tiny bit of fusion and extended guitar solos to top it off. Mix all that with the structure and epic songwriting from bands like The Flower Kings, Genesis, Neal Morse etc and you have the essence of Magic Pie.
JWS: You seem to like long multi part tracks, why is this ?
Kim : I feel like long epic tracks have a little more staying power. I really like to think ofeach track as a little short story in itself. I need a beginning and an end, with twists and turns along the way to fully fulfill the essence of what I try to convey. As a composer I really enjoy the long song format. There is so much more you can do when not being stuck with a time limit. We don’t make any money on our music, at least we can have some fun with it.It really doesn’t matter if the track is 4 minutes or 30 minutes – I just think its easier to tell the full story when I can take my time and build the song like it’s supposed to be. I never write long tracks, just for the sake of being long. Most of our epics have been shortened to not overstay it’s welcome. And btw; writing short songs is difficult! 😉
JWS: What are the main themes to songs like King For A Day, Opus Imperfectus and A Life’s Work ?
Eirikur : I think it is safe to say that the main theme to those three epics is life itself with it’s curves and bends and ups and downs.
A Life’s Work is a part of ‘Suffering Joy’, our album number 3, and the first one for me as the band’s main songwriter and lead voice. Here you get to follow this specific character from his birth to his death. He was a welcomed child, with normal and happy up growing. But he never liked school and really had but one wish in life, – and that was to get rich. He loved and he was loved, but threw all that away determined to reach the top. All the other songs on the album can connect to the Epic, so it is in a way a theme album, even though it never was quite intended as such. Even the album cover reveals our guy.
“What a joy on this day of May, – a child so precious, bright and fair. A welcomed boy, born on “Mother’s day”. The smell of springing in the air”.
King For A Day: I had written a pop-song titled “King for a day”. Not meant for myself, but it never made it up from the drawer either. When I got the demo from Kim, I started using parts and pieces from that song and I just spun it from there. Well into my work I realized that I, – unwillingly, was under some influence from that great-great movie “The Fisher King”, and I wondered if I should dare to take this any further. Luckily I managed to direct this into a story of its own…and yes, – it´’s a pretty sad one. To cut a long storyshort;
“Shots rang out, the Earth stood still…and all that I loved took a second to kill. I woke up to collide with reality’s oncoming train, just a simple man, voluntarily going insane”.
Opus Imperfectus: When I heard the intro I immediately became a time traveler and woke up in the time and age of the old masters, like Beethoven and Mozart. I created this young boy who was the assistant of a great composer, and he tells his story. Our “Maestro” composed his greatest symphony – ever. But he was not pleased, because he felt he still missed that final-chord. After the premiere of this masterpiece he disappeared to never be seen or heard of again.
“Opus Imperfectus would be his claim to fame. Although in his heart, he never accepted it would be the one to always bear his name”.
JWS: What groups have influenced you the most?
Kim : Oh, it’s so much. Growing up it was the music my parents listened to (Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Deep Purple and so on). In the 80´’s it was bands like Kiss, TNT, Bon Jovi – all the ‘hair-metal’ bands. And of course guitar heroes like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert. Before I started Magic Pie in 2001 I was a big Dream Theater fan and was more into the prog-metal scene. As mentioned earlier, that all changed when I heard Transatlantic and The Flower Kings.
Transatlantic led me to Neal Morse and my view of songwriting changed forever. I’m still a massive Neal Morse fan, but with the overwhelming onslaught of new music released everyday it’s impossible not being inspired by all kind of music. Other honorable mentions would be City Boy, ACT, Queen, David Bowie and all kinds of jazz-rock and fusion music – with Guthrie Govan being my biggest guitar hero at the moment.
JWS: Give me a brief history of the band please.
Kim : I started the band in Moss, Norway in 2001. Originally just for fun; to let out some steam outside the usual cover bands. We started out playing covers, but it didn’t take long before I wanted to try writing some songs on my own. We’ve had some line-up changes throughout the years, and I’m actually the only original member left. The current line-up consists of Eirikur Hauksson (Lead vocals), Lars Petter Holstad (Bass, vocals), Erling Henanger (keyboards, vocals), Martin Utby (Drums) and myself, Kim Stenberg (guitars, vocals). Only Lars Petter and myself are the remaining members from the first album.
We have released ‘Motions of Desire’ (2005), ‘Circus of Life’ (2007), ‘The Suffering Joy’ (2011), ‘King For A Day’ (2015) and ‘Fragments of the 5th Element’ (2019). The new album ‘Maestro’ will be released in just a few weeks (16/5/2025).
JWS: Are you influenced by any literature genre at all?
Eirikur : I am a fan of horror, be it books or films, – but no – I am not directly under the influence of this genre. What I guess influences me more than anything is my own life…and in particular my dreams and fantasies. When connecting with these thoughts, – I usually know when and why they begin, but I never know where they will take me…and most importantly how my stories will end.
JWS: I need to check out your back catalogue which do you especially recommend I hear?
Kim : I would start with ‘King For A Day’. This is a time when all worked out great in the band. Our spirits were high and we felt very energized. After this album we/I had some tragic events with some serious health issues and life altering family events happening – this delayed all progress and my songwriting was affected since I wasn’t quite present when writing. ‘King For A Day’ is my favorite epic and I still wouldn’t change a thing. That’s not always the case 😉
JWS: Thank you for you answers.
Kim: Thank you for the interest in our little Norwegian prog ensemble!
‘Maestro’ will be released on 16/5/25 and can be pre-ordered here:
