Interview
with Fenriz of Darkthrone December 2012
By
Nazar
(originally for Moonlight Dominion zine)
1. Thanks for
opportunity of making this
interview! I am excited because of “Underground Resistance”, but also
what
makes it even more interesting is a news about 10-minute song lengths,
which
differs “UR” from your latest records. Some people may think that it
marks a
return to style and sound of “A Blaze in the Northern Sky”, but I
suppose that
it is rather inspired by great prog-rock epics of 70’s. Make the
situation
clear, please! What course do you take on forthcoming record?
BREAK
THE CHAINS!!! Listening to INEPSY “city weapons” from 2001 on vinyl, I
got
laundry day today, 3 washes, doing this interview and tending to my
vinyl
buyings online is all I gotta do today, it’s a north wind outside and a
blizzard that so far lasted all Monday and this night and now all
morning this
Tuesday the day before my 41th birthday.
HAHA
if
just song length would be indicator of style…well, I can actually see
how that
is possible. Well, my 14 minute long song LEAVE NO CROSS UNTURNED
actually has
my quintessential typical heavy slower Celtic Frost parts in it (a lot
of those
in “kathaarian life code”, opening track of a blaze in the northern
sky”) but
apart from that the rest of the song is in my usual 1984/5 style, Agent
Steel-like. We are more metal again on this record, but as the album
starts
with Ted’s song DEAD EARLY which has most metal-punk vibe to it, most
people
will maybe say we didn’t change from out previous albums. Whatever, all
our
4-5-6 previous albums had lots of different metal on them, more and
more freestyle.
As usual we follow our hearts and we never seem to have any plan at all
about
direction or style. This time we mastered at Jack (World Burns To
Death/Severed
Head Of State)’s studio ENORMOUS DOOR in Texas (no we didn’t travel
there, I
don’t travel) to get the trusty organic punch that he always delivers.
2.
Personally I am fascinated with the role you personally
played (and
still play) in revival of the interest to vintage-sounding true metal
underground music. You already did for this movement what Quentin
Tarantino
does for trash and B-category movies or Borges did for obscure writers,
or even
more than these guys did for their field of the interest. Is it hard
for you to
be not only a person but also a living symbol of a powerful musical
phenomenon?
What do you think of responsibility you have been taken – the
responsibility of
shaping the musical tastes of a few generations?
No
it
isn’t hard, it’s what I always wanted – I guess. As from a small age
whenever I
heard a neighbor play something that I thought was weak, I would play
“dreamer”
with Uriah Heep at a volume where I hoped they would listen and wonder
and
think “what is this great music, that is clearly cooler than what I am
playing
myself?!!!”, hahaha, and I never lost this naïve but still judgemental
stance,
I guess. It’s also a kind of one way-communication, one that I was also
seemingly always fond of. I like to state something, and then swiftly
move on,
not listening much to response. This has it’s pros and cons, but then
again
almost everything on this planet seems to have pros and cons, so…
It’s
hard to see many take wrong choices for sound in metal. Just last night
I read
a DERKETA interview that they went to record in the 90s and studio
asshole
wanted to change their sound into gothic style cuz it was in at the
time – and
then one of the members even thought it was a GOOD idea, ultimately
causing the
band to break up. This is rule number one, NEVER listen to asshole
studio sound
guy, jbut many don’t know the difference of studio guy basic tips and
when they
actually try to change the band. Ultimately everyone should have all
equipment
in the world to choose from, the equipment should be instinctively easy
to
use,… no even better, the sound that is in your head when making a song
should
be INSTANTLY transferable to sound file
J
but, it is it not this way. So I am one of the people
trying to tell
what works and what doesn’t. and “what’s cool and what isn’t”. for
instance
most of the bands in India are sorry ass copies of usa late 90s/early
00’s type of
“metal”, a whole nation gone astray,
so to speak. People need to know this. People need to know CULTIVATION
and
taste. India needs to listen to a band like DREAM DEATH instead of
modern
metal.
And
so
you can see how I am, haha.
What
is
hardest about my role is when people just don’t get it, they put the
NON
TRIGGERED DRUM sticker (that Arjan made for our global organic metal
movement)
on recordings that really has no triggers – but it SOUNDS triggered
anyway, so
what’s the difference?! Not a lot. People trying to make metal punk
with clicky
bass drums is also a problem, metal punk (like Inepsy, Whipstriker etc)
was the
last style that EVERYONE involved understood could have no modern or
clicky
sounds, but it almost got as trendy as people started to make it sound
wrong
(just like with black metal from 94 and onwards). This is the hardest
part of
being me but it’s also the reason I started the fight against plastic
sound
already in 89. I am very tired of the fight, very tired of myself in
this fight
too, but every time I hear something good with wrong sound I get a bit
sad and
very angry and the fight continues.
3.
One of the noticeable elements
of the last records by Darkthrone is a sense of humor, which sometimes
takes a
great postmodern forms like a patches with the names of good new bands
on
jacket of Mr. Necro. It is more than just interesting because
practically all
bands which define themselves as black metal look like the ones who
don’t know
what good laugh is (at least when they deal with their own music; and,
by the
way, I don’t think that lack of humor is a big trouble for metal band).
Where
was your humor back in nineties? You just left it out of music then? Or
maybe
some part of you changed in new century, so you started to use it with
full
force?
4.
The choice of ideology seems to
be one of the most significant steps for black metal band. While some
musicians
choose for themselves Satanism, Heathenism, misanthropy, Nazism or
whatever
else, you two seem to have as ideology a music itself or, to be more
precise, a
metal in its primal form and essence (a perfect choice of ideology, as
for me)
and became a some kind of metal sound philosophers. Is music a main
spiritual
path of yours? What other ideological aspects would you represent
through
Darkthrone?
ANSWER
TO QUESTION 3: No, the black metal bands with no humour are the ones
that are
sheep, followers. All the people in the Norwegian black metal scene up
to 92/93
had lots of humour and Venom had lots of humour too, forgot their
interviews?
No, it’s the sheep that had most problems. But listen, we can have
humour but
the art we make can be pitch black, just like a jeweler can have lots
of
humour, but that doesn’t’ mean he puts smileyfaces on his jewelry.
Anyway,
it is a long time since we said we made black metal. Our main period
was in 91
and 92, as the others moved away in 92 and then Zeph quit. Then the
project
darkthrone started, like a dark metal version of STEELY DAN, but little
by
little the black metal was replaced by metal again, more and more like
it was
in our minds in 1988 but at the time what was in our/my head when I
made songs
sounded so far from what came out.. lack of skill, lack of sound
control, etc…
I’d
say
it was extremely more humour in the 90s than now, cuz then I started my
social
chain at elm street with more and more humourous people to join me, and
everyone who EVER knew me even from little age know I am obsessed by
humour.
And I will only hang with people with humour and musical input. But we
ofcourse
don’t put this into our music, but on the thanx list in a blaze in the
norhthern sky lp there is lots of humour, no trying of hiding the
humour there.
I
don’t
think it’s humorous to put patches with good bands on a mascot. But as
a person
I will say something funny and if I can’t I am bored. Everyone knows
this, man.
In the 90s when all the blackpackers and sheep came to elm street to
try and
find some black metal icons to hang with, most were disappointed that I
was
deeply into humour, as they ACTUALLY thought I lived in a cave. But if
the
idiots thought I was grim and living desolately, why would they come to
elm
stree to try and find me?! EXTREMELY
idiotic behavior!!!!
Also,
in
the heaviest hitting years of our black metal I didn’t do many
interviews, and
that left out any public humour really. From 91 till 98 almost no
inteviews,
since 98 I did extremely many interviews
ANSWER
question 4: well, as we grew up with archetypical heathen bands, and
then more
and more satanic throughout the 80s, the same happened with us, and
then when
getting older it’s mixed with more heathenism again – but musical
always had
me. A VERY big part of me. So this is my main drive, my main obsession,
my main
possession; so it is my religion. Music gives me goosebums, not beer.
5.
Once I noticed the strange and
interesting side to metal music (or maybe rock in general): very often
it turns
to be a huge, determinative part of life for its listeners, while other
forms
of popular music, like pop, rap or club music more often are just a
tool for
relaxation, entertainment or social status finding for those who are
digging
them. Will you agree with this? And why do you think it goes this way?
Is there
something special in rock and metal music and/or subculture?
For
hip
hop, it’s got 4 elements to it (turntablism, graffiti, breakdance, rap)
and is
quite a big part of a lot of people’s life it seems, also cuz the roots
stem
from funk and then one can dig deeper and find out, just like with
rock, the
roots aren’t definable, it’s like evertything ultimately floats over
into
everything. Pop isn’t a musical direction, it’s basically softened up
styles/crossover. Like damage inc by metallica is most likely not
pop(ular
music) but “one” would be/is. Depends also on what country you see it
from.
Metal is extreme, and in many ways extremely ridiculous, it’s the music
form of
those that has an extreme need to SET THEIR MARK. And those people
quicky
connect, I remember when I was a kid going on holiday, I would be
extremely
curious about other kids that looked like they could have an interest
for hard
rock. We are just very much more visible than other styles of music
often, the
extreme fuzz guitar music (punk and metal).
6.
Did you ever notice that there
are some bands which have really worthy songs/albums spoiled with
stupid
trigger productions? I mean that many hordes from so-called new wave of
thrash
metal actually play good music but it is just destroyed with that
plastic
sound. Or, for instance, the veterans like Overkill whose latest
records could
be a masterpieces if they would not sound like lamb of god or something?
Extremely
good and accurate question. But yeah,
this happens ALL the
time, and when bands ask if they can send me stuff I gotta tell them in
advance
that I can only listen to REAL drum sound. I also think last Portrait
album has
too plastic drum sound (I also think king diamond had this, so I never
bought
any king diamond album except for fatal portrait) but the music is so
incredible that I can live with that. Same goes for first WOLF album
from
Sweden, total worship, I just wished the drums sounded more organic.
This is my
fight AND MY CURSE hahaha.
Hahaha
I
thought the very same when I heard a song from new overkill (well, I
TRIED to
hear the whole song but had to switch off after some seconds)
Thrash
with real sound where people care about the sound and even make the tom
toms
sound like the typical 1986 sound is NEKROMANTHEON “rise Vulcan
spectre” album,
and with rawer sound but still perfect heart for thrash try EVIL ARMY.
Anyway
the ANTICHRIST album forbidden world is my fave thrash album since 87,
along
with Aura Noir’s HADES RISE
7.
Bands rarely change the albums
artwork for re-editions of old records, and you belong to minority who
did it
(I mean the recent new covers of “Plaguewielder”, “Goatlord” and
“Ravishing
Grimness”). Why did you decide to do that? By the way, I like new
covers, and
the one for “Ravishing Grimness” perhaps belongs to the best metal
covers I’ve
ever seen.
That’s
a
great thing to hear for the artist! We had a competition where people
could
send in art that could end up on some of our re-releases. I was in
charge of
album covers until TOTAL DEATH album in 1996, then I lost interest in
the
visual thing. Unfortunately that meant that PHOTOSHOP technique snuck
into the
covers of darkthrone, and I didn’t care much until I took a bit charge
of album
covers again in 1997, with F.O.A.D. album which was me and Ted who
agreed on
using Dennis Dread as we liked his coves for autopsy and also we wanted
hand
drawn covers. In this 10 hour period my fave darkthrone cover was
ofcourse the
brilliant cover for SARDONIC WRATH in 2004.
So
when
the re-releases was decided upon doing (it was the moonfog-albums, they
wasn’t
pushed anymore and that meant 7-8
of our
albums was about to be forgotten) it was clear that I was in a period
in my life
when I cared more than usual about album covers and wanted new hand
drawn
covers for the ones that unfortunately ended up having photoshop-covers
or
otherwise weak covers.
8.
One of the key elements of 70’s
and 80’s charm apart from music was a huge amount of horror and
exploitation
movies which represent the cinematographic style which is almost
completely
lost today but has many ardent fans (including some vintage metal sound
followers among them). Do you have any preferences in the world of
retro-horror?
Are you the fan of this genre?
Nope.
I
like ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT series.
9.
As I know you have a taste not
only for music but for musicians interviews too and even said about
your
favorite part of interviews – the name dropping. Your adoration for
some
records and bands is well-known. But do you have a favorite musicians
in terms
of giving interviews?
Haha,
good question but a bit innacurate – I really don’t like to read about
music at
all – nor write about
it myself. Many
wants me to do it, but if they see all the blogs I made (hundreds) on
the BAND
OF THE WEEK page, they see I mostly just write a couple of lines and
make the
music speak for itself. I have no favourites at all, I fail to find
someone
with more eclectic taste than myself anyways, but people I will read an
interview with if I come over one, is Joel Sundin (Entrench, hin haale)
and
Peter Stjärnvind in general, these are CURRENT favourites, things might
always
change and has changed. I never followed anyone in reading, I have
enough interviews
to do myself unfortunately. I think Nicke Andersson had the coolest and
most
important taste in the whole world probably in 1987 and 1988 and it was
great
that he became my mentor then, more or less. And he was half a year
younger
than me!!!
10.
You are well-known true
underground metal (and not only metal) music gourmet and connoisseur of
many
metal cuisines from the different edges of the world. Do you here a
favorite
musical dishes from ex-USSR countries – my native Ukraine, Russian
vastlands,
forests of Belarus, swamps of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia? I only
know that
you praised Russian Aria and Ork Bastards in your interviews and blog.
I
am not
ESPECIALLY interested, I am especially interested in good metal only,
so where
it comes from it doesn’t always matter. One of the last good albums of
the
thrash wave was the MAGNUS stuff from 92, we were always influenced by
first
VADER demo. I dj a lot a song by MAGNIT. I like several bands from the
DDR. I
like KAT and TURBO, but also stuff like POKOLGEP and ofcourse early
masters
hammer. MOST IMPORTANT BAND was TORMENTOR, those 7th
day of doom and
anna domini are STILL one of the most important things from the east
bloc ever.
But for old metal, it seems the old Swedish bands are interesting me
most these
days, also old French stuff like blashpheme (Vengeance Ba(r)bar
HAHAHAHA), and
it is questionable that latvia and Lithuania has as cool bands as
LANDSLIDE
from Sweden for instance. In any respect those recordings must then be
from
some years after, like 1989, and for instance in DDR at that time a lot
of the
studios used drum machine but vocalists and guitarist were good…but in
Sweden
everything clicked at the right time with the right sound..and Sweden
is still
perhaps the leading country, especially if you take into consideration
how few
people live there.
So
no, I
don’t feel like an expert on those countries at all, I have the “USUAL”
metal
maniac knowledge about them, I’d say. Maybe I have a little bit more
than
normal from the DDR, that’s all.
11.
The question that is could be
called the personal one. I’ve seen your photo with some cool dog. Is he
yours?
What is the name of this four-legged buddy? Does he support you in your
music
listening habits? Once I had a cat (R.I.P.) who did not react to the
sounds of
metal music but carefully listened to speakers when they played Finnish
dark
folk project Nest…
Nice
one, but unfortunately that’s not my dog (killer line from the pink
panther
movies with peter seller, the biting dog scene)
(“ I thought you said your dog did not bite!!” - “that’s not my dog”.
The
dog
belongs to the PROFESSOR and it’s called Saiph. It’s main interest is
going on
tent trips.
12.
As I know you belong to those
have a habit of escaping from the modern media-saturated world into the
forest
trips. What feelings and experiences does it give to you? Did you ever
encounter any mystic things or entities among the ancient forests of
Norway?
Have you ever thought of traveling to forests and mountains of ex-USSR
countries? Your comrade Nattefrost visited Ukrainian Carpathians with
his band
not so long ago and he was delighted with our alcohol and local forests
with
beautiful forests, werewolves and Dragula. We understand that chances
are tiny
we would be happy to see you here one day, man.
His
camp
trip skills are dodgy, man.
As
I
don’t travel, there is no hope, and there is enough forest here for the
rest of
my life. I am known in the media here for this, just this weekend I had
5 pages
in norways meganewspaper VG cuz of tenting. Anyway, I don’t even know
where my
passport is, or if I have one. I think my subconscious made me lose my
passport
so travelling could be even more out of the question.
Living
in Oslo, one is surrounded by 1600 square KILOMETRES of forest, easily
accessible
as well. For many many people here, the forest is a lifestyle, or a
natural
ingredient in life. And forest are not just forest, some are plant
fields of
trees which for many look like forest but is actually only forest
industry with
little room for biological diversity. But a lot of it is great,
troll-like and
the atmosphere is great. Hill tops are often leading to a beauty for
the eyes
and for the inner beauty, and can feel nostalgic or melancholic too.
It’s a
culture on it’s own here, the boreal fur forests. Norwegians have a lot
of
spare time and a lot of nature to spend it in. it’s more mystical for
the new
beginners or kids, I am more used to it, and I just need to get out
there, last
time was on Sunday, before the beforementioned blizzard, we just walk
for 20
minutes and we are at the forest edge (ØSTMARKA this time) and it was
great, a
little light snow and around 0 celsius, only problems are density that
cause
slippery roots and rocks. And so goes the days up here…