Seven Questions. This week: Emil Nikolaisen from Sereena Maneesh

Good name for a band - where did it come from? Are you into buddism or something?

It came to me in a dream. I was out in the deserts of New Mexico, learning how to sample the sound of the wind, and for a second I heard the words...ssserena.....maneeesh... coming to me. I scratched them into my guitar with a knife and read them again in the morning. they were beautiful.

You're from Norway. I can't think of many great musical outfits from that part of the world. What do you think of the music coming from there?

We have an outfit that looks like a (os mutantes) jump suit playing nice melodies. Besides of that we treasure our folk/ medieval heritage. Then came so called black metal. Amongst quite a lot of moderate stuff there' s some interesting, slightly twisted pop acts from out of here. robert birdeye, loch ness mouse, årabrot, biosphere..

What was it like supporting the Dandy Warhols? Were you a fan of their's previous to them inviting you to support them, or did you just think, This will be a great opportunity?

Personally I did not really know their catalog much on beforehand except for the stories told and a little of their character. We knew of some great tunes of their early albums as well as the hits. The tour came about in a strange way, but we thought we should definately do it since it was an opportunity to play to a large audience every night. The people in the band were very nice and we had an amazing time. You know the Holmstrom' s, Peter and his wife, especially, blew us away. Genuine people and very inspiring. Memories like walking around Montmartre with them one day in the sunshine..

Playlouder described your performance at the Ova festival as the "first and only mind fuck." I'm quite interested in mind fucks, an interesting subject, certainly. How exactly would you define a mind fuck?

Whoever wrote that, I am not sure of a mind fuck. We do not use language like that. However, that' s what we do.

Describe your music in seven words.

Waa Waa Woo Waaa Weeer Wuurr Waaaar. Hand-drum, mallets, wah-wah, Rhumba, echochamber, crumar, maraccas. clear-lake, single-malt, trout, mountain, guitars, guitars, guitars. 777.

Are you the new Primal Scream?

Hopefully not.

And finally, what would you be doing if you weren't in a band?

Travelling the worlds handgliding festivals and eating cakes in a teepee with The Wandering Hand and Baba Upanishama. I could always dream as a little kid to become an archeologist, architect or ski- jumper. But there really was no other option, believe the cliché or not. If we weren' t doing this..? I wouldn' t dare to think..