| Hard Rock Magazine avait missionné votre serviteur à l'été 2007 pour faire subir la question à sieur Fenriz de DARKTHRONE. Et je me suis vicieusement acquitté de cette tâche! Vous trouverez ci-dessous la version anglaise intégrale de l'entretien paru dans HRM 14 |
Darkthrone interview (august 2007)
English version below
Prince de Lu : I've got a very important and non-musical question to start this interview. There is probably a misprinting on the NWOHBM cover: where is Nocturno Culto's hair? Is that a new stage in his life?
Fenriz : the photo is from ca 1997. it's one of my fave photo, it have been hanging around the places i've lived, and now i could finally use it for a cover!
Logically following the path of your previous releases, your musical journey leads you closer than ever to Crust and old Punk bands. I agree with you when you connect black metal to punk bands, and the links are obvious listening to the first wave, like Venom and Celtic Frost. But could you define the black metal part of Darkthrone now? Is it necessary to keep a link with the black metal scene, as you go further and dive into punk scene?
You can't be serious. EVERY ONE else says we are now less punk and more heavy metal. which is true. anyway we are in the middle of nwobhm, 70s heavy blues based rock, punk, thrash and black metal now. i never forced anyone to follow our path back through time.
"Canadian Metal" is a weird tittle. Which bands are you referring to?
That is the big competition this year, to know all the bands we refer to. would you rather that i make boring song titles?
You talked several times about the priority for a band to control its sound. Are you satisfied with the Necrohell Studio 2? Does it allow you to create the right sound for Darkthrone freely?
No, i never talked about controllig the sound, i talked about NOT controlling the sound. we don't even have soundcheck these days, only line checks! it's all very coincidental, just like 80s demo tapes. controlling everything is so CHRISTIAN.
Fans are expecting Darkthrone to have this "true"-vibe, to act with a big "fuck off" attitude. That's what you did again, with your new release NWOBHM. Is this not limited and frustrating to be the keeper of the true-vibe?
Why would they expect this from us, when all we always do is CARE for music, NOT have a glossy plastic sound. we just follow our hearts and we lose many fans in the process but gain ALOT of new fans. it's just like life, you lose friends but gain new ones. WE ARE REAL. and in the musical crossroads that we are right now, our freedom to go on is better than ever. and the more i know about the history of ROCK that led us here, the easier the road ahead will become, enabling me to choose the best and coolest paths. maybe.
I guess FOAD will be in the same vein as NWOBHM: primitive, old and organic? What's the next boundary you're going to exceed?
Manilla road already put life on Mars (blowing air into the soul of the legends of old), maybe we'll go to...NEW FOUNDLAND! HAHAHA! we pretty much broke a boundary when we have a riff inspired by HUMBLE PIE on one of the songs (humble pie was the first band that got the word HEAVY METAL attached to them)
You declared three years ago that "playing other people's songs and singing other people's lyrics is more often than not fake emotions". Why have you chosen to cover songs from Sioux & the Banshees and the Testors on your latest EPs?
Great question! Ted asked me to do covers for EP's. and in a relationship you know it's about GIVE AND TAKE. so then i said "ok, but it will be ME who decides the cover songs". i am glad there will be no EP for our next album, which we start to record the 2 first songs for in October now
I found some of your words about your website in 2004. There was only the Darkthrone logo on it and when the journalist asked why, Fenriz answered "we don’t intend to become MORE in the spotlight". Now, you have a website, MySpace profiles and you make videos. What/Who has convicted you to use such modern tools to communicate? Is that a way to control better the informations?
It was a lot of promo around our change back to PEACEVILLE, our old record company. but when it comes to myspace, i discovered it only last year and i saw how it worked as a mini-underground for alot of great bands, and on my paths in myspace i discovered no idiot bands because i follow the "right" paths. so when people click on darkthrone official, it is MOST IMPORTANT for me that they discover new bands through our top friends! THAT WAY myspace rules.
Another of your words about his fear of playing live: "the book is better than the movie listening to albums gives a PERSONAL experience while live people see the same thing like a movie". These wise words brought me a question about the Peaceville releases. Why have you authorized the limited edition of "Preparing for War", with the DVD showing the band live in bootlegs of very poor quality?
What do you mean, "I HAVE AUTHORIZED". i haven't even looked at these videos, AGAIN it is the kids and new generations that always want something EXTRA. i hate it all, but i say no to 90 out of a 100 suggestions for darkthrone! if you could only know about all the things that are constantly being thrown my way. and AGAIN in a relationship, sometimes i have to say WHATEVER just to make other parts happy. those of you out there who does not understand this will probably never have a good relationship or get a job or a healthy circle of friends - but go on, try.
After the "Preparing for War" DVD, could we expect to see a DVD release of the Wacken gig with Satyricon members?
I will be very very sad if that would happen. i would HATE it.
I haven't understood the meaning of Nocturno Culto's "The Misanthrope"; the audience never discover the feelings of the protagonists, nothing really happens. What's the purpose and why fans should buy it?
I completely disagree, you REALLY get to know Nocturno Culto's VIBE in this movie, instead of some idiotic fast cut MTV product.
I've never really understand this gap between your "true" (and respectable) attitude and the merchandising of the band. I can't believe that a label could put a kind of pressure on the band or that a webshop can play with the band logo on silly items. So, are you playing with this "true" way of life in one hand, selling tons of t-shirts and CDs, even watches, like a commercial band in the other hand? That's really something I want you to explain.
If i should care about our merchandising, i would HAVE to be a businessman. i am a working class guy making music and lyrics. we had no control over merchandise since 1992 (it is impossible, only nerds care about own merchandise like that). also, the kids want stupid merchandise.AND if merchandise people wouldn't make all this crap, the bootleggers WILL. and they do. there's tons of bootleg DT shirts out there and we don't even get payed. i am not in the music business - but YOU are. so you should KNOW about these things.
Who do you hate the most:
1. the guy who thinks that Darkthrone carreer ended with "Transilvanian Hunger" ?
2. the yes-guy who buys all your CD without personnal taste, only because there's the Darkthrone logo on it ?
3. the guy who hates your band because it's trendy to listen to Darkthrone ?
Many people are not aware that they are searching for what they already have. they like reign in blood, so they want all slayer to sound like that. idiots, but it is unfortunately an error in "GODS" programming of our brains. transilvanian hunger was our most trendy album, everyone in Norway played those kinds of riffs at that time, but no one has discovered this. i laugh
For believers in the metal attitude, how do you analyze this incredible worship about Darkthrone?
Same thing with ramones and motorhead - they don't sell many albums but you see the shirts everywhere - they had a lot of INFLUENCE cuz they are cool bands. how often do you see someone with evanescence t-shirt? they sold MILLIONS but their music is so shitty no one wants to admit they like them. it was like with MODERN TALKING, they sold millions but NO ONE admitted to liking them.
You're staying highly connected to the underground, attending to small gigs and listening to new bands. Can you give us your meaning of the word "underground"? For example, a band which has signed a contract with a label is still underground?
The underground is a sound and a feeling and an attitude. mostly, if you connect with the underground you like playing RAW our SOULFUL styles of metal/punk whatever, the point is that it isn't really that "musician" like, it's more ATTITUDE.
Which bands are going to be released through Tyrant Syndicate?
Why do you ask me, it is not my lable AT ALL. it's Ted's label. i came up with the name for it, and wanted OLD and AURA NOIR to be signed. that's it. i don't earn ANY money on it, and i don't run it. but i think, if it's not raw, it's not on tyrant syndicate.
Thanks for your time and answers. I let you the final words for Hard Rock Magazine readers.
Support REAL METAL like DEMON'S GATE and ALPHA CENTAURI!!!