Six days before his sudden death, Hans-Erik Dyvik Husby talked about the fact that it is not a given in his industry to grow old.
On November 13, Husby appeared in an open podcast interview MelodyPipe, a newly launched social networking and booking platform for the music industry. Talkative and in cheerful words, he shared thoughts about his career, life – and death.
Six days later the news came the death of the rock star. Husby turned 49 years old.
Hank from Hell’s manager: – Hans-Erik’s body could no longer stand it
MelodyPipe has chosen to publish the over-the-hour interview in its entirety both on its website and YouTube. VGTV gets to show an excerpt.
Husby talks, among other things, about how he has been preoccupied with death since childhood.
– I thought when I was little that it’s awful that people die. That we should make a vaccine against death or something, he says jokingly, but with a clearly serious undertone.
Host Andreas Enehaug and Dyvik use gallows humor when they talk about the artist coming from Hell and that he was born in Gravdal.
– It does not look like I will survive this life either, says a laughing Husby.
It is when he is asked about “how Hank’s life is now” that Husby embroiders it with death.
He refers to his alter ego Hank von Helvete as a clear character with make-up, a kind of intergalactic rock star, and in that connection mentions last year’s album «Dead».
– Hank himself now claims that he is dead, because he has learned that if you are very famous and die, you get an incredible amount of attention at funerals. Then I became Hank at seven and a half years old and thought that the I want to see. See if anyone loves me, says Husby, as he gestures and jokes that he attends his own funeral and takes notes “to see who is crying”.
The conversation around the theme has a humorous tone – even when Husby repeats the idea from childhood that it is “unfair that you are not allowed to attend your own funeral”.
Husby’s manager Boye Nythun tells VG that he has been in dialogue with MelodyPipe and given permission for them to show the interview.
– This conversation shows that Hans-Erik looked generally bright on life and was in a good mood lately, says Nythun.
Husby had an encounter with death early in life, when his mother died of cancer on his sixth birthday. The rocker has talked about it several times how grief has affected him throughout life. However, the death of the mother is not a topic in the podcast.
– High-risk profession
Husby talks a lot about the difference between Hank and Hans-Erik, and that Hank is a male role in the repertoire of characters he has played over the years. He refers to Hank as a catalyst for him “not to go crazy”, one he can gnaw on all the difficult things.
Husby answers in the affirmative to the question of whether he is “a little Jekyll and Hyde”.
– Hans-Erik is not so fond of Hank, and Hank is not so fond of Hans-Erik, he says and gives the impression of a slightly fluid transition between the two.
Watch the entire interview MelodyPipe.com.
The former Turboneger vocalist also talks about that you must not be so imprisoned by your own character that you become self-destructive in private – but that you «Must be a little twisted ”and“ above average full of soul ”to stand on a stage with so many eyes on it.
– It is extreme sports, a high-risk profession, he says about his own industry.
– It is not a given that you grow old in this profession, even if you have great success. Just look at Elvis and Michael Jackson.
Husby says in MelodyPod that it is not certain that star worship is so healthy, and that he himself had withdrawn more from the limelight. Over time, the rocker rebel became more concerned with watching other talents flourish.
Enehaug says towards the end of the interview that he wants to ask Husby a slightly strange question:
– When you are no longer here, in a long, long, long, long time, and a memorial concert is arranged for you, as a tribute, where is that concert played, and who plays?
Then Husby answers without much time to think that it is played in Swedish Kiruna, and that Ola Salo (44) from The Ark is probably the one who performs.
– I think he will sing in a church there, and it will be streamed, because there are not enough people in Kiruna who remember or have any idea what this is about, Husby chuckles and adds:
– And Ola Salo is then 90 years old.
Husby talks a lot about artists’ conditions during the conversation, and the challenges artists encounter. He talks warmly about MelodyPipe as an important investment for the industry. The day before the interview, he was a guest of honor during the launch party in Stavanger.
–Jesper Ugland, CEO of the company, tells VG that by presenting the interview with Husby they hope to give some joy in a very gloomy and tragic situation.
– We remember our friend, Hans-Erik, and mourn his passing. He leaves a big room in the music and culture industry, and we at MelodyPipe send our warmest thoughts to all relatives, friends, family and colleagues.
Husby buried December 9th.
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