Lasse Hoile

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Lasse Hoile

Background information
Born	Denmark
Genre(s)	Death metal Heavy metal Extreme metal
Associated acts	Panzerchrist

Lasse Hoile (born 1973 in Aarhus, Denmark) is an acclaimed artist, photographer, graphic artist writer, film-maker/director, and cinematographer. Recognized for his unique vintage style intertwined with a modern day twist, Lasse is best known for his close work with Steven Wilson and his projects Porcupine Tree and Blackfield. Lasse has also designed live visuals for the US progressive metal band Dream Theater. In the mid-1990s Lasse was the vocalist for Danish death metal band, Panzerchrist. Today, Lasse continues to create various designs used for music videos, posters, and band photography.

Lasse had humble beginnings working as an editor and producing short films in 1993. Five years later in 1998, Lasse decided to take up photography only as a hobby. The hobby grew into a passion and it is here Lasse claimed he “started doing art seriously”. Though having only started “doing art seriously” a few years ago, Lasse has wasted no time in creating several documentaries, commercials, live show projections, short films, feature films, art installations, animation, grading, and post production/compositing to name a few. Though ridiculed every now and again for some of his controversial productions, Lasse still refuses to sugarcoat “truth” such as nature itself, and the behavior of human beings.

Influenced by melancholic music, Francis Bacon, David Lynch, and Andrei Tarkovsky, Lasse continues to convey though his artwork, the world through his eyes and often realities people wish did not exist. One of his projects entitled “Recycler” (1999), which can be seen on Myspace TV on myspace.com, is simply a short film about humans and our “recycling nature”. Although prefaced that this film was graphic, hundreds of fans still continue to watch, fascinated with the idea, the “realness” and thought behind it. Many of Lasse’s photographs, such as “Patient II” and “Girl in a Box” often depict, but are in no way limited to, anger, loneliness, melancholia, or emotional struggle. This can be shown through grain, distortion, color/tone variations, and noise usage which set the mood of that particular photo. Lasse states the reason why he favors those particular colors, is because they remind him of “old masters” such as Leonardo da Vinci, and Rembrandt.

Another piece by Lasse which can be easily accessed through the internet or various photography sites is “Mail Order Babies”. The photograph depicts new born babies placed next to one another; side by side in boxes. According to Lasse, this photo is meant convey "…the western arrogance way of getting kids. It seems nowadays one can almost design their 'dream' child through genetic preference or adoption."

Lasse has also been recognized for directing videos and creating a number of their album sleeves for Porcupine Tree since the release of In Absentia in 2002. Later in 2005, Lasse was able to direct the recording of Porcupine Tree's first live performance DVD, Arriving Somewhere... which took place at Park West, Chicago.Lasse also directed Porcupine Tree's music videos entitled “Fear of a Blank Planet”. The video has been viewed over 500,000 times according to youtube.com. Most of Lasse's visual work can be seen on Youtube which already totals well over a million views. Reviews of Lasse's artwork have also been mentioned on Forbes.com

The music video, entitled “Blackfield” for the band also entitled Blackfield has been recognized for its crafty layering and vividness of winding photographs inside of photographs inside of photographs. It often has led its viewers feeling nostalgic yet intrigued. Not only has Lasse filmed music videos for Blackfield, but he has also played a major role in the recording, editing, and direction of some of their live shows, notably Blackfield Live in NY. The music video "Blackfield" has been viewed over 40,000 times and uploaded by many other fans of his work over and over again on youtube.com. Aside from Blackfield, Lasse has had the opportunity to work very closely with Israeli megastar, Aviv Geffen on both live visuals and music videos such as Black and White shot at Abbey Road Studios in London, summer of 2007. Lasse was also responsible for the visual projections for the Danish supergroup, TV-2 (band) for their tour of "De første kærester på månen" album.

In newer projects, Lasse has recently finished directing two music videos. One is Opeth's new music video, Porcelain Heart from their new album, Watershed and the second music video entitled Normal from Porcupine Tree's Nil Recurring album.