Hedvig Mollestad Trio: Hive Minded

After a four-year absence, Norway’s premier jazz-metal guitarist Hedvig Mollestad has reconvened with her longtime trio to deliver a powerful new album, Bees in the Bonnet.

The combo’s eighth LP finds Mollestad, bassist Ellen Brekken and drummer Ivor Loe Bjørnstad craft a new sonic universe for fans to explore, flanked by fiery guitar heroics that owe as much to Alex Lifeson as they do Terje Rypdal.

“There are open parts, but also there are structures in this record that are very long, quite complicated, and written out as a score,” said Mollestad, who has also played with Nels Cline, Trevor Dunn, Colin Stetson, Ingrid Laubrock and Shahzad Ismaily.

HM3 are taking Bees in the Bonnet on the road with extensive touring across Europe in the summer and fall of 2025 before making a long-awaited return to America in 2026.

Rock & Roll Globe had the pleasure of catching up with Ms. Mollestad in the days leading up to the release of Bees in the Bonnet, which is out now via the trio’s longtime label Rune Grammofon.

 

Please tell me how Bees in the Bonnet came together. 

Well, it was about time for the trio to make another record! We hadn’t been in the studio since the pandemic, only touring our Ding Dong. You’re Dead., so then I had to buckle up and get going with songwriting for the trio. I had been doing quite some projects since then, so I was very ready to start shaping the music for our upcoming records – and not least tours! I really hope that at least a couple of the tracks will be our personal live-faourites in the years to come. I was working on the music in the spring of 2024, and then in tha fall me and Ellen met to play and jam and melt our brains together in a creative process, so we kind of co-wrote a lot of the music. I think the music is a snapshot of our emotional state of mind – both the fear of war and general despair concerning the feeling of human beeings not taking responsibility for our planet, neither the climate nor the people. But at the same time the appreciation of live, and the fact that we truly believe in focusing on creativity, playfulness and joy, a lot like children, actually. I hope the title mirrors what we try to capture these aspects in the music we make, both live and on record.

How does Bees sets itself apart from your other albums, in your estimation?

I am glad you added that last part of the sentence, because the artist has a way of looking at their own art from a different aspects then its consumers. I think the biggest different is that this album feels slightly less experimental than the previous, actually, maybe because it is such a long time since we made music together? Less experimental, less down-tempo doom but more heavy rock? Maybe the references are clearer — at least to me both ZZ Top, Rush, Rypdal and Motorpsycho has their loud echos inside here.

 

What is it about the trio format that makes it your thing?

The trio format is my thing, but I also feel that when I am in a 12-piece or a sextet or quintet…..so this is not about the format, it is about the trio. Because the trio is really my thing! In the beginning, when we formed, it was the freedom, you can’t hide. But, as we know freedom is a great power and with great power comes great responsibility, hah. You gotta mean it. Even when you don’t play, you gotta mean it, because the consequence of not playing is huge.

 

To what do you attribute your chemistry with Ellen and Ivar through the years and albums?

Yes, this is what I am talking about! And even though chemistry is somewhat of a mystical default that seems to just be there from the start, it is definitely something you have to take care of and develop. We have, as many other bands, also been through harder times, with periods of musical disagreements, stressful situations like long travels with little rest, tense studio sessions, private issues that you bring into the mix etc etc., but we have managed to come through it with a strengthened friendship and a true feeling of gratitude, to the band and to each other. Sound a little religious, maybe, but considered the times we find ourselves in now, both localy, privat and not least in a global perspective, it is important to be thankful for what you’ve got, cause things can change in a blink. I hope this attitude makes us work better, to make better music, cause that is our mail goal.

 

You’ve been on Rune Grammofon for a while now. What is it about the label that keeps you there?

Rune Grammofon seems like a label, but truth is – it is one man to rule them all! Rune Kristoffersen has embraced me and our music since the first time we started to work together, he has given me a total artistic freedom, and at the same time he just grasps the music. And for us, when he signed us a s an unknown band in 2011, we were so proud and excited to be a part of his eclectic rooster, releasing music alongside creative pioneers in the Norwegian music scene, that we really looked up to. Also, the music is what drives him, nothing else. He is trustworthy and reliable, and always does what he says. Those are rare combinations these days. We all wish there could be more money in it, it is expensive to release music properly. Even though he has been cutting down on the label lately, I do hope we have quite some more releases through his label.

 

Rush seems to be a touchstone of this new album, creatively. I’d love to hear about your favorite period of Rush and what album you love from that era.

I mean, Exit….Stage Left is definitely ticking all my boxes. So much. “YYZ.” “Spirit of Radio.” “La Villa Strangiato,” “Tom Sawyer”….what a mastodon. So obviously Moving Pictures would be a favourite, but I am not at all a stranger to “Subdivisions,” even though I do love the old guitar-driven stuff the most….

 

You are planning to come here to America to play in 2026. Are you nervous about coming out here in this political climate?

Yes, we’re planning that, but I must admit that we are constantly reconsidering the whole thing. I was there in November, touring with the Norwegian avant-jazz group Cortex, and it was absolutely brilliant, and I was determined to set things up there again with the trio. But it all changed so suddenly and with such force, and it now seems like very uncertain times, not least to arts, diversity, and of course bigger things like truth and democracy. And then there is the already complicated visa-processes, and the uncertainty towards the financial complications if something should be changed overnight. For bands like us, with small economies, that might have a severe impact. I really hope that we will be able to come, but it seems very hard to plan.

 

What city is your favorite place to play when you are here in the States and why?

Frankly, I’ve hardly toured the States, so I really wouldn’t know! I think it is yet to be discovered! But I remember our Austin show in 2014 at the Headbangers Patio with great joy, and not least the fantastic Solar Myth in Philadelphia! I really hope to come back there. It was also beautiful to visit Madison and Cleveland, and not least Constellation in Chicago. Crazy to think of the fact that the population in Chicago is half of Norway…

 

AUDIO: Hedvig Mollestad Trio “Bob’s Your Giddy Aunt”

What new music are you digging lately?

Nels Cline – Consentric Quartet!

Elephant9 with Terje Rypdal – Catching Fire

Ragnarök trio – Prepare to Die

Ingebjørg Loe Bjørnstad & Mai Elise Solberg – Rinnje

 

I love the title “Golden Griffin,” which is certainly endearing to my appreciation for Ray Harrihausen and his creature shop. Do you have a favorite mythological creature? Who is it and why? 

Haha, what a fun last question! To me it would definitely be Echidna, or Ekhidna in Norwegian, from Greek mythology, wich I also named one of my solo records after. The mother of all monsters! Half woman, half snake, like an interpretation of mankind, or should I say man-evil…..