To start off with why did you guys break up? It seems like you were right there on the verge of great things and your demise was untimely to say the least. Are you working on anything else now?
J: Ulrich simply lost interest in metal all together. I play and sing in an Autopsy cover band called Lobotomized, and maybe I’ll join a doom band soon. It depends on the quality of the riffs. I am also thinking about starting a Thrash band to sort of continue the ideas and concepts started by Ghoul-Cult, but I am not sure it’s worth the effort.
Black thrash seems to be a huge movement coming out of Norway with bands like Audiopain, Nocturnal Breed, Aura Noir and so on. Why do you think that is and where do you think Ghoul-Cult’s place was in it?
J: Ulrich and I never thought of Ghoul-Cult as a Black Thrash band. We labeled the music on the first demo Death Thrash and stuck to that. Personally I really enjoy both Aura Noir and Audiopain; they are great bands. And being mentioned in the same sentence as those bands is not something I object to, even though there are some musical and ideological differences.
A lot of your lyrics seem to be horror movie inspired, especially those movies having to do with the undead. What are some of your favorite horror movies and what do you think of all these remakes of classic movies that are coming out now like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Dawn of the Dead?
J: I have never watched a horror movie, and Ulrich has never had an interest in horror movies. But we felt the need for Ghoul-Cult’s lyrics to be about something rotten and sickening. Only one lyric includes zombies, or living dead as the song says. The whole concept behind Ghoul-Cult; the name of the band, the logo, the artwork used on the demos etc. were applied in order to get the feeling of obscurity and rottenness we wanted.
You guys will release an LP later on this year of your demo songs. What label will the record be on and what material will it contain? Any working titles for it yet? Who will be doing the cover art? Why did you decide to release this only in LP format?
J: The LP will consist of the “Night of a Thousand Ghouls” demo, one song from our first demo and the two new, and also last, Ghoul-Cult songs, which were recorded in December 2003. The name of the label is faceless.nameless.shapeless. and it is situated in Germany. The guy wanted to release it exclusively on LP, and I had no objections to that. I am actually considering two different titles, so I wish to keep them for myself for the moment. About the cover art: I had planned to use a picture for the cover, but I am experiencing a hard time finding a proper picture. But it will definitely be something obscure!
I have been listening to your newer material a lot more lately and on Infernal Upheaval I noticed an influence of Sodom’s Outbreak of Evil. Do you feel the classic thrash bands have a strong influence on your musical compositions and what are some of the more important bands to you?
J: Hahahaha, no one has understood the point of that part of the song yet. It’s the first verse and chorus from Sodom’s “Outbreak of Evil”; the only difference is that I sing in German. Sort of a cover version; but only the first part of the Sodom song is played. It was Ulrich’s idea and it worked out nicely. I bet I’m going to get some questions about that part of the song, hehe. It is a way to show what bands we have been inspired by since the beginning of Ghoul-Cult’s existence. The first demo included a cover of Destruction’s “Mad Butcher”, another great Thrash Metal band.
The classic Thrash Metal bands have definitely inspired both Ulrich and me.
These are a few bands that are very important to me: Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, Bathory, Venom, Sarcófago, ROOT and Darkthrone
Ghoul-Cult is such an interesting moniker. Is there any special story behind its creation?
J: It was Ulrich’s idea (he was the band’s mastermind, so to speak; which you might already have understood). As always we wanted something dark and nasty. I also think it was great to find something that distinguished us from the rest of the Norwegian “scene”. Norway doesn’t need another band singing about forests and snowy mountains.
And that came natural to us: to want to distinguish Ghoul-Cult from the other Norwegian bands.
Not to say that we made highly original music or revolutionized the Norwegian metal “scene”, but at least we got a very good response from people who had the same taste in music as us.
And that was a good thing. We didn’t care if some 14-year old Norwegian Black Metal nerd didn’t like our music. They were not our target group anyway. You get my point.
The two newer songs seem to be more developed and have a better dynamic than the Night of a Thousand Ghouls material. What do you attribute this to?
J: Ulrich composed “Infernal Upheaval” from bits and pieces of discarded Ghoul-Cult riffs.
When he made the song he was tired of metal and didn’t feel he had any inspiration, so he thought it was funny when I told him that people really like that song.
I really like the two new songs; I almost think that “Infernal Upheaval” is Ghoul-Cult’s best Death Thrash song. It’s really intense!
What are some of your own personal philosophies on life? How do they influence your music and the way you approach writing material? Do you think that nature or modern day society has a bigger draw on you as a source of influence?
J: Treat people the way you want to be treated. I never wrote any of the riffs in Ghoul-Cult; but my lyrics were always written under the influence of either old school Trash Metal or old school Black/Death Metal.
Only Metal has been an influence in my creative periods. I have never written a lyric inspired by some gothic lust for darkness and red wine, hehe.
Norway has had such a huge impact on the underground metal scene especially with Black Metal. Why do you think this is and are there any bands in particular that have inspired you?
J: I think Norwegian Black Metal got its huge commercial boom due to the church burnings and murder of Euronymous. I like old Norwegian Black Metal; but it got spread widely mostly due to the incidents in 1992 and 1993. If none of those things had happened, my opinion is that Norwegian Black Metal wouldn’t have had the position it does today, both nationally and internationally.
Of course the music of the early Norwegian Black Metal bands was of great quality, and was something new and fresh at the time; always pushing the music (and also image and actions) to new extremes.
But would the music and bands be as famous as they are today, and would the position of Norwegian Black Metal be the same had not the church burnings and murder of Euronymous occurred?
I doubt that.
The obvious magnitude of Norwegian Black Metal would have been less.
I owe a lot of my inspiration to Darkthrone. Darkthrone was the first Black Metal band I heard, and the music has inspired me in more ways than one.
I discovered Black Metal at the age of 12; all by myself.
Not through media hype or friends, an older brother or what not.
This way I had no prior concept of what Black Metal was, and I did not start listening to it because I thought Varg Vikernes was a cool guy, you know.
I did not come into Black Metal as the result of a trend.
And for that I consider myself lucky!
A lot of other musicians it seems listen to electronic music. Do you listen to any styles of music that fall outside the realm of metal? Do you feel it is too limiting to only listen to Heavy Metal?
J: Yeah, I listen to a lot of different music. I have just recently discovered and gotten to like great composers like Shostakovich, Dvorák and Mahler. And I listen to old blues, old country and some harder to categorize music like Diamanda Galás, Nick Cave and Sixteen Horsepower. It has become too limiting for me, yes.
This does not mean that I don’t ever listen to Black, Thrash or Death Metal, but I have simply discovered new and interesting music.
Thanks again for the interview. What will the future hold for you and any last comments for the fans?
J: Thank you! Maybe I’ll start a new Thrash band or maybe I’ll completely abandon the musician-side of life. To our fans: DEATHRASH!