One of my favorite bands Darkthrone. Fenriz gave me the opportunity to do a interview with him. This is my first interview and i couldn't of picked a better person or band to start with. I just came up with 12 question I was intersted in. I find Fenriz to be straight forward with all his responces. This is my way of supporting Darkthrone and what they are all about. I thank Fenriz for this interview and supporting and being part of Throne Of Metal!
Interview with Fenriz of Darkthrone
Posted word for word with no editing
(Lordslady) Lets start with a bit of history behind Darkthrone. As in: how Darkthrone met, where the name came from, bands that influenced Darkthrone.
(Fenriz) i (fenriz) started the show in late 86, 86 had been one of the best years (and still is maybe the best year of metal ever) of metal and i needed to play to. not that i had any skill. but i rounded up some of my friends that atleast LIKED metal and we set off to make and record songs. i think from then until 1988 my influences were bands like CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER, CELTIC FROST, METALLICA, SEPULTURA (3 first vinyls only!), ENGLISH DOGS and CRUMBSUCKERS, to mention a fewthe name came from lyrics of celtic frost "i am the king, sitting in the dark" and title JEWEL THRONE. also inspired by danish magazine called BLACKTHORNE
(Lordslady) Soulside Journey, a great Death Metal album. What made Darkthrone make the transformation from Death Metal to Black Metal and can Darkthrone fans ever exspect to hear Death Metal again?
(Fenriz) we started playing what we COULD. then we went on to thrash/epic, then deaththrash and then death, and then darker metal on GOATLORD album (recorded 90-91, then we got more black metal with a little death metal on A BLAZE IN THE NORTHERN SKY...then the last few years we had more death metal riffs again in our sound, but only a few, cuz now we play wheatever we fuckin want because we are grown men. so you can see we didn't have any abrupt changes, it all happened naturally, but ...when we went from death over to black it was a scene-political statement, and also what we did since 205 was a scene-political statement in making people think about how trendy black metal was since 1994 and how sheepish the bm crowds seem to act. any major trend in metal annoys me!
(Lordslady) The Cult Is Alive and F.O.A.D. are alot alike and a bit diffrent from past albums. Personnaly, two of my favorites, very hypnotic. How has Darkthrone evolved and grown musically through the years?
(Fenriz) everyone changes, only Rainman doesnt change hahahaha! if people don't understand that, they are like Rainman.those albums are not hypnotic style atleast, only hypnotic and repetetive album i did was Transilvanian Hunger. trendy album, hehe, it is first now that we sound like ourselves, playing exactly like we would have played in 87 and 88 if we had the skill, but now our influences are even further back in time, from 60s 70s to 80s. never inspired by 90s style except a few riffs here and there. one must remember most of what people call the 90s style already started in 80s with bathory so it's alot of 80s in the 90s style, very natural this, cuz everything is connected in a way.we have made 13 albums and most of them are completely different. some hang together like soulside journey and goatlord, hate them and sardonic wrath and plaguewielder and ravishing grimness..and foad and the cult is alive and our new album will hang together too, cuz they were done by ourselves in our own portable studio and we think the same way in this time frame that we did these 3 albums, 2005-2008
(Lordslady) Is there a fovorite Darkthrone album of yours?
(Fenriz) no, i have fave songs or parts that worked very well for me. many ask this but it's actually just destroying for others to know, because once an artist releases his music it is everyones mental property, they see it THEIR way, not the artists way. so we are always maximum misunderstood.i like alot Zephyrous song on our album Under A Funeral Moon, INN I DE DYPE SKOGERS FAVN. real black metal
(Lordslady) Norwegian culture and history is a subject that I have studied and is very important to me. What effect does this have on your music?
(Fenriz) nothing, only some lyrics and the way we are as persons. our music was since day ONE totally global! there were no scene for metal here in the 80s even, just a handful of scattered bands!
(Lordslady) If you don't mind me asking, what are your views on religion?
(Fenriz) organized religion is pissing on the parade of this world. but in the METAL WORLD it is bands like Korn who is the destroyer. and all people who choose modern sound and don't learn from their mistake.on the other hand, with so much plastic metal out there, it's better for us because a lot of people wants something AUTHENTIC. and darkthrone is VERY real.i have also seen some big death metal band talking the right attitude lately, namely immolation and dismember, so listen to what they got to say! HAIL GUYS!
(Lordslady) Where do you think the the biggest following of Darkthrone or Black Metal on general is?
(Fenriz) in people's minds. i care about the right and real metal, not necessarily these subgenre-titles, in our circle we always listened to all kinds of stuff, but it's important to have the right ironic distance etc HAHAHA every genre has crap and gold.everyone can click our map at our official myspace page and see where our following takes place. central amerika, south america, north america, europe and in the east. this is what happens when you fight the real metal fight for 22 years, one gets a wide spread fan base with lots of different cool people that like your band. not one stereotype fan base that are trendy to the max, fuck that
(Lordslady) Other projects: Isengard and Neptune Towers can we ever expect anything new or is your main focus on Darkthrone?
(Fenriz) definately only darkthrone these days, but i did a Fenriz solo demo in 93 that hasn't been released yet. it was some talk that Nattefrost should release it on a split single/cd, but nothing has happened for YEARS. i might have to release it myself? i am only making songs for darkthrone, made the final one last night for this new album "DARK THRONES AND BLACK FLAGS". it seems the song will be called "the wind they called the dungeon shaker" and is suddenly sounding like we did in 91 92. i am always skeptical to my own song, i never know until ca 10 years after a song is recorded if it is any good.this makes me think that all music reviews should be done atleast 10 years after an album is done. then we would loose they hype and see what was REALLY good. it's mostly all about marketing, why do you think everyone suddenly listened to TRIVIUM? it's because money people can DECIDE what people will listen to and buy.it's not because they will make music that will get cult status and influence lots of people in the future. oh no.
(Lordslady) being a dj also. I Just wondering how your dj'ing at the Oslo Spotsbar is going for you?
(Fenriz) great, did 3 compilations for those nights which people love. when i make private compilations (usually only 30-50 copies)it is more important that people understand those comps than my songs! m u s i c f r e a k
(Lordslady) What is your opinion of the music scene these days? What I mean is the main stream and the Underground. I feel that I can speak to you one on about this subject. I'm pretty sure we share alot of the same views.
(Fenriz) i think it's the same as always, it is in marketing and philosophy a known thing called the 80/20%. so right off the bat, we can dismiss 80% of what's going on as total overground idiocy and most of these are the bands you see on front covers and lots of big advertissements about.best bands tend to be in the underground, or atleast they have underground SOUND.
BIG DIFFERENCE:
in the 80s and before, only major label bands could get PRO sound. since 89 it was easier to get a pro sound very CHEAP. so that means a band could choose underground or overground sound. which means THE BAND CHOOSES IT'S PATH both musically and soundwise. underground is for me deliberately trying to sound like pre-89 sound that was NOT major label. example slaughter, hellhammer, sadus etcwhile others choose to get a plastic sound like we had on our first album. but we learned from our mistake.so to conclude, people CHOOSE their status, and those who want plastic sounds are in my eyes traitors of metal, but as i said earlier - they create a market for us too, because if someone wants to escape their plastic world, the darkthrone village is a great place to be!
todays tip on great bands are from brazil, ATOMIC ROAR, EM RUINAS, FARSCAPE. you can check them on myspace.
(Lordslady) What bands, new or old, do you listen to or follow on a regular basis?
(Fenriz) each year i write a list of every title i buy or receive. every year its minimum 400, maximum 800. like last year i got so many releases i had to say DON'T SEND ME to alot of people. not many can picture this, but every man wants to listen to what he WANTS - not what other people says he needs to listen to.STILL i listen, every day, to a release i don't really wanted to. but sometimes it's good. sometimes it's not. but many times i don't have time to listen to stuff i bought myself! most of my records are listened to just 1-3 times! SICK!
so, you see, i can't write a list of what bands i follow, cuz it would take up most of the magazine. but ok..., maybe the only band i follow since 80s are......MANILLA ROAD. most bands from 80s quit and then start again because some festival and that is NOT interesting for me.
it seems the most interesting thrash bands to follow are CORRUPT from sweden, and NEKROMANTHEON and DEATHHAMMER from Norway
(Lordslady) Finally, can Darkthrone fans ever exspect to see you live in the United States?
(Fenriz) Finally, can Darkthrone fans ever exspect to see you live in the United States?
yeah. we are touring DULUTH for 6 weeks straight in august/september with Jimi Hendrix.
THANXXX FOR THE SUPPORT! support real metal! buy LIEGE LORD and ATTACKER today!!!
Written By Lordslady and Fenriz of Darkthrone
Any reproduction is a violation under copyright laws