Interview with Fenriz of Darkthrone Summer 2007
By Bradley Smith
How is the new album F.O.A.D.(Fuck Off And Die) coming along? I have heard from
a really, really reliable source that you guys are finished with 6 songs
already. Any song titles yet? What about a possible release time frame?
haha, i NEVER know when stuff is released - it's not like people are lining up
in the stores for our brand of extremely old school metal anyway. isn't it still
the modern plastic shit that sells?
also, i never understood why people care about seeing SONG TITLES before albums
are released. are people so shallow they think it's a kind of crystal ball, they
can see what the album will sound like if they see some song titles? HAHAHAHAHAAH that's double-nuts.
I understand you are releasing an EP before the new album as well which I
believe you have titled NWOBHM. What does that mean and what will it feature?
everyone into metal knows what nwobhm means, but the ep is called NWOBHM - new
wave of black heavy metal. instead of what nwobhm REALLY means - new wave of
british heavy metal. what is the difference? we are a band that's been to hell
and back, so to speak, our sound is a result of most of the styles that led into
metal since the 50s, and we have a primitive studio so we do not sound modern.
so STAY AWAY plastic motherfuckers. hail cirith ungol.
You guys released the Forbyggende Krig 7" in the not too distant past. Can you
tell us a little about the release? Why did you choose the Testors to do your
cover of? I must say your vokillz on that song are excellent. Also what exactly
was the goal of the 7"? Perhaps to tide the rabid fans over until the new album?
WE didn't release it, PEACEVILLE released it. WE make the music, peaceville
releases it.
you think Cronos was the driving force behind all the zillions of venom releases
out there?
ANYHOO, testors is a KILLER band, and if we hooked ONE person onto buying the
testors discography, our goal was achieved. uh!
my vocals aren't inspired by sonny vincent (testors vocalist) cuz i don't have
that kinda voice (i have lotsa voices but not THAT one, grrr), my vocals on that
song are inspired by eric anderson (new bomb turks) and the sonics vocals. for
those of you who don't know these bands...666 steps ahead! and i can't be
traced! where am i now? what will happen next?
With The Cult is Alive you left off the lyrics for a few songs. I always thought
that the lyrics were one of the angles that made Darkthrone special and helped
you guys stand out from the horde of clones and weak imitators. And now I have
heard there will be no lyrics attached to this album. Why is that?
there will be dedications and explanations instead. go figure. i don't read
lyrics anymore anyway. i understand when ozzy osbourne sang I DON'T KNOW,
though. i didn't get it when i was a kid, but BOY do i get it now!!!
I have noticed a rise in the FOAD attitude/stance from a lot of the black metal
bands such as Carpathian Forest, Thesyre, Craft and so on. Why do you think this
complete lack of regard for other people is becoming so popular in extreme
metal? Does it have to do with so many other people trying to dictate what other
people should be doing?
somebody gave me a copy of the latest Thesyre and it sounded like they cared a
lot about other people. i gave this cd away to a girl at work that often wears a
cradle of filth shirt. Thesyre is a good band, really - they kinda make riffs
that i would make, so it's too close to home for me. i prefer older sounding
stuff. never heard this craft. Nattefrost released a fantastic album, BLOOD AND
VOMIT in 2003, i think.
we care too, but mostly about looking for the source of metal, early 80s, 70s,
60s, lots of interesting music which you can hear leading directly to what we
call metal today (1986).
Do you like making moves with Darkthrone that piss off people and do you still
like the title of "the most hated band in the world?"
aha, that title was because at that moment in time, and for some years ahead, we
were the most boycotted band in the world. distributors, magazines etc.
i honestly think that people have lousy taste, they want instant gratification
instead of LIVING FOR REAL, they want a diamond in their face instead of finding
it, they want mcdonalds - not an acquired taste - IN MUSIC!!! in music i like it
differently than most, than people dare to play on radio or present in their big
glossy magazines.
luckily there are hordes of people out there that UNDERSTAND how cool it is that
motorhead has conquered the world with raw sound and a mix of rock'n'roll punk
and metal. HAIL!!!
Does it ever bother you when you like a band that is mostly overlooked and other
people can't see the magic in them or does it make them more special to you,
like your own little secret? I mean for instance the first metal church is a
truly special album but a lot of today's metal heads don't recognize this.
EVERYONE i trade with or hang out with loves that album. GET RID OF IDIOTS
AROUND YOU - OR TRY TO MAKE THEM SEE THE REAL METAL SOUNDS! hail OMEN.
You guys finally re-established a website. Why did you dissolve the old site?
Had it become too much of a soap opera with the "Necropit" forum and all the in
fighting and "I am a better Darkthrone fan" foolishness some people had? Will
you ever open a new forum on your current website or have you learned from past
mistakes? Heh heh.
i never saw that page. maybe some people thought i cared. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
On a similar topic with The Cult is Alive/Too Old Too Cold you did some firsts
like a cover and a video. Have you heard Screams of "Sellouts" from some
sections of the underground? Why do you think that people have a double standard
for you guys? I mean it appears to be just fine for some extreme underground
bands to do covers and videos and such but then when you guys do it some people
say it is inexcusable. What do you think of the people who say things like this?
you say YOU like we are ONE PERSON. darkthrone is ME, TED and the machinery
armour around us (peaceville, snapper, razamataz).
i only deal with the music and lyrics, ideally. darkthrone is a box of jackals
that ran out of control already in 92-93, and i have no huge desire in
controlling everything. control is very christian, always controlling nature.
instead, i have taken control of my own life and fate. i have no time to deal
with everything darkthrone. why didn't people scream sellout when we released
transilvanian hunger? no original riffs, everyone in the scene played those
riffs then. people are fucking losers, and my hate to the general mindset of
people is a strong driving force for darkthrone. the cult is alive is EXTREMELY
old school and anti sell-out. playing fast with plastic sound which most "BM"
bands have done since 94 is extreme sell out in MY eyes. we are into HONEST
metal, so people can follow our path or they can NOT.
but it is you who bring me this info about what people say. normally i don't
hear their feeble cries. how would i? read a FORUM?! HAHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!
there are also crap music videos for little kids and there's honest videos.
honest videos are not popular because they are not marketed for little kids who
likes to watch spikes, make up, tits, computer "special effects". HELL IS OTHER
PEOPLE (imperial leather)
Do you think that a vast knowledge of musical history is essential to metal
heads? I mean there are so many people who are into black metal these days and
then dismiss Hellhammer as garbage and so on? I mean it is ironic when they
can't even see the roots of these founders in their favorite band's music. How
do you feel about people who lack the knowledge or who basically dismiss earlier
bands as not near as good as modern ones?
i don't feel them. Of course it's extremely ironic, but they are kids (i hope)
and they can't see the past, so they are excused. many of them will leave metal.
many of them will become idiots. but many of them will become MASTERS OF METAL.
who is more interesting, a 14 year old with slipknot t-shirt, or a 30 year old
with BROCAS HELM patch? i rest my case.
dismissing hellhammer isn't even an option. but as a kid, i didn't understand
it. kids like to write on forums, so maybe the voices you saw/heard were from
little kids? i certainly hope so. as one gets older, one can of course see why
hellhammer is so INCREDIBLE influential. just check all the -HAMMER bands.
almost as many as the DIS- bands (influenced by discharge)
I know that you go hiking and camping in the forest quite often. What sort of
hardships and adventures does this sort of trek entail? Do you see a lot of
wildlife and how far do you travel to your camping grounds? Do you use the same
spots over and over or do you like to use new ones all the time? What do you do
while you are out in the forests camping?
i started hiking FOR REAL in 96, thanks to another freak (thanks Mekki) who gave
me a map over half the forest around oslo. i still hike on a weekly basis, that
means daily trips. i also got into forest preservation shit the last years, you
can say i'm quite into the scene here. i do something called the KJENTMANNSPOST,
y'all can look in up in GOOGLE.
CAMPING:
backpack weighs 20 kilos. usually i have to walk 1.5 - 2 hours with that
backpack to find camp. i use A MIX of some classic personal fave spots and
finding new ones(this year i expect to camp at ten familiar spots and hopefully
up to 15 new ones). the forests around Oslo (Norway's capitol city) are 1600 km2
large, so it's enough to last for a lifetime. a man should have his own tent.
but it is easy for me to say, the nature here up north is EXTREMELY camping
friendly, not many dangerous animals or insects. 2 nights ago i woke up in the
middle of the night to big birds mating games, that is some of the wildlife, but
i am there for the ATTITUDE of it, to GET AWAY FROM PEOPLE and to drink beer and
listen to music in the nature too.
last year i had 23 trips, this year so far 4 trips (season starts in mid-april,
lasts till september-october) (the date now is 3rd of May). it is weather
related, like all outdoor interests.
it is a complete lifestyle, equipment, clothing, weather reports, orientation,
maps, map reading skills, collective travel skills (i don't use a car) etc. but
it's not a very expensive lifestyle.
You receive a lot of music. How many albums/CDs do you receive per week on
average? How do you find so much time to listen to music? Have you made any
crucial discoveries in the recent past?
60 albums a month, 14-15 a week. but that's through trading, what people give me
or what i buy myself. i listen to music at work (that's why i bother to work, i
wouldn't listen to music 8 hours a day if i didn't work). well, last week i
discovered AGE from japan, superb credible metal punk from, not typical japanese
crust. and i discovered another GUILTY PLEASURE, the "secret society" album by
europe, hehe! Of course i discovered lots of other stuff, but not worthy to
mention. oh, candlemass are still cool, my friend played it for me on the last
tenting trip.
One thing you told me is that people should stop looking for Echoes of metal in
Techno/electronic music. What exactly do you mean that they are doing? Do you
find this to actually be a problem?
it's not a problem, but i did this myself when i got into techno in 92 (with no
mentors, self taught as usual) and i ended up listening to alot of CRAP cuz i
couldn't resist techno that had "metal riffs" - and that is the crappiest
techno. it's as bad for techno as LINKIN PARK is for metal. but i learned from
my mistakes. it is easier for people who have mentors, people that can show the
way in different music style. maybe everyone should have this...but i am pleased
with finally finding my way MY WAY
I know you have recently expressed to me a certain Anti-autograph mentality. Why
do you dislike them so much and how do you think they devalue the album that the
autograph is put on?
of course. it is the first rule of DON'T BE A SUCKER. "ARE YOU A SUCKER? yes
because you are a person that thinks an autograph is swell". just think about
it. does Lemmy go around asking for autographs? i don't think so.
How is it going with Tyrant Syndicate? How are the upcoming releases from
Abscess and Obliteration? What is next fro Tyrant Syndicate? Any new bands you
have your eye on to possibly sign?
it is not my underlabel. it is Ted's idea and his underlabel. i get NOTHING.
tyrant syndicate has released 4 fantastic albums so far. no plastic kiddie
stuff. i would have signed CORRUPT from Sweden, if it was up to me.
our releases so far is AURA NOIR "the merciless" (extremely true thrash), OLD
"down with the nails" (extremely true black metal in 80s way with a little
motorhammer, ABSCESS "horrorhammer" (MORE SICK DELIGHTS) and OBLITERATION (old
school death metal from hell in our home town)
I'll leave Final Words to you? Anything that is currently burning you up inside
and you need to get out into the public forum?
STAY AWAY WHITE MAGICIAN! and support a band called BLÜDWÜLF. then you can hear
what i am talking about.
i would also urge all real metal fans out there to try to listen to ALPHA
CENTAURI and DEMON's GATE. that's the sound i am very interested in now