Christian: Well, that scene is growing. And we´re growing out of
it.

Anders: For example MUSTASCH are from Gothenburg as well and
they´re
pretty close to our style. But I don´t think there´s many more good
ones.

Christian: No. It´s us, MUSTASCH and BOOGIEMAN, of course.
They´re from the
same town as well. And we share a rehearsing room. A funny thing with
MUSTASCH is that they actually formed after seeing a show of ours. And
we´re all friends, so it´s quite fun.

MUSTASCH do have a major record deal and seem to get on pretty well
with
it, if you look at press reactions or all the advertises they get.

Anders: Umm...

Christian: That´s the big, big difference between being on an
underground
label and being on a major label. But, as I told you before, we know the
guys in Mustasch pretty well and - it´s not easy being on a major label
as well. There´s good things and bad things.

Anders: The good thing for us to be on a small independent label
is that
we have complete freedom about what we want to do with the music. And,
for example at Mustasch´s, the record company comes in at a very early
state and tells them what is okay and what´s not about the songs. And
that may pull down someone a bit.

You´re signed to Dortmund based "I Used To Fuck People Like You In
Prison", or People Like You in short form. Even compared to
other underground labels they´re not an ordinary label.

Christian: Yes, that´s true.

Anders: And they´re growing as well, our label.

But why did you put a link to Warner Music on your web page?

Christian: It´s our publishing company.

Anders: Since our last album Warner bought the publishing rights
from
the old publishing company. That´s very good for us, because they now do
work for us...

Christian: ...the other company simply couldn´t do. Because Warner Bros.
is
huge. And it´s pretty cool to have the logo of Warner Bros. on the
records as well.

Concerning the record: Did you produce this record yourself again as
the
last one "Under The Influence"?

Anders: No, this time it was a guy called Roberto Laghi. He´s
known very
well in Sweden. He´s produced MUSTASCH´s first album.

Christian: First two. The EP and the Album.

Anders: And you´ll probably know HARDCORE SUPERSTAR? And B-THONG,
TRANSPORT LEAGUE. So he´s a big producer in Sweden.

The other bands do mainly so called "Alternative Music". And he
created
a pretty modern sound for the latest HARDCORE SUPERSTAR album.

Anders: Yes, but we definitely knew what we wanted to do. So he
didn´t
change hardly anything about our music. He just connected with us on a
kind of level...

Christian get´s more concrete: He pushed us a little bit more.
(Christian is
acting like Roberto Laghi: "This was good, but you can do it better
again"). That´s something everyone needs, because sometimes you think
for yourself "Well, this is good." And two years later you listen to it
again and you´ll think: "Oh no! Why didn´t I just have one fuckin´
more try." Roberto´s such a good pep-talker, he´s really a pusher. I
think I put down guitars for four tracks in a row while I was putting
down the guitars. When I was going for song no. 5 he said: "Let´s take a
break". I always brought my dog to the studio. And he said: "Let´s take
a walk with your dog. We stop working, come back later." And after that,
it was all fluently again. On the previous album that we produced all by
ourselves, we didn´t have that input from another person. Ok., the guys
who worked in the studio, but they were not really listening, it was
always the same "Umm, it´s good."

Anders: We always had to decide if it was a good take or not.
Christian: This time, we, too, recorded our songs by ourselves on a
demo,
before we went to Roberto.

Which studio have you been at this time?

Oral Majority in Gothenburg.

So it´s his studio where he works mainly?

Together: Yes.

Christian: Hardcore Superstar where there two month before us.
And after
Hardcore Superstar there was a german band, and then he did us, so he´s
very booked. He´s well known for all his skills like doing the sound and
pushing the musicians to the greatest.

For your first album you worked with Andy LaRocque (guitar player of
King Diamond - ed.). He produced several so different albums from black
and death to classic metal. What was it like to work with him in
comparison?

Christian: Well, we already knew Andy LaRocque personally. We got
in contact with him and asked him if he was interested. And he said
"yes, I don´t wanna do death or black metal at the moment, I want to do
something more alive." And... (pausing) ...good friends work great
together.

To point out some good friends of yours - I don´t know, if you´re
good
friends, but I heard that some guys of In Flames and Tiamat have been in
the studio last time?

Anders: Yes, for the last album "Under The Influence"

But this time you had no guests?

Both together: Tobbe, the drummer from BOOGIEMAN, he is on the
on "The
Ghost of Patroklos".

Anders: We´ve got Tobbe from THE AWESOME MACHINE playing in one
speaker
and Tobbe from Boogieman playing in the other. And there were some more
guests...

Christian: Björn Hedin from AGENT ORANGE - they are a very good
band, but
they didn´t release anything.

Anders: He was a co-writer on one song...

Christian: On the title track "The Soul Of A Thousand Years".
But, the
friendship from the UNDER THE INFLUENCE-Album once again. Anders Iwers
of Tiamat is a very good friend of mine, we live 10 minutes walk from
each other. He works at a big record shop nearby and we often hang out
with each other. Me and him are big fans of Thin Lizzy and when I was
thinking about that guitar solo, I was thinking: "Anders is going to do
this with me." And he did, brought his guitar and said: "Here we go."
Jesper Strömblad and Björn Gelotte from IN FLAMES helped us out,
too. We like IN FLAMES, they like us - and we just asked them. Jesper
lives a little bit further down street as well. It is a small community
in Gothenburg. Everybody knows everybody.

I think, the songs of "The Soul Of A Thousand Years" are more on the
knob. I think, The idea behind was brilliant but sometimes you lost
yourself in "Under The Influence". Did it help you to ask your friends
about it (both say "No") or has it been the influence of the
producer?

Christian: This is very much the benefit of the producer,
Roberto. But as
well we´ve grown as persons and song writers. Because we toured a lot
after we released "Under The Influence". And, yes, I think Roberto has
one big, big part of this. When we rehearsed before the recording, he
came down to our rehearsal room and listened to us. It was quite odd,
standing there and playing a song and he goes like this, right in front
of you (he´s pantomiming a concentrated Roberto, Anders is laughing). I
was asking myself: "Am I doing something wrong?" But he just
listened.

Anders: And afterwards he knows every part!

Christian: ... and knows where to push in the studio. And he
never says "You
suck", he just suggests "Ok... May you try this one? Or that? Or we´re
don´t do anything, because it´s all good already."

Who´s writing your lyrics?

Anders: Mainly, 95 percent, Lasse. And sometimes Christian comes
with
something, once in a while some other comes with some words here and
there, but mainly it´s Lasse.

So, what´s up with your singer Lasse now, he´s not with you on this
tour.

Anders: The problem with Lasse started already in the studio for
the
recording of "The Soul of A Thousand Years". He got throat infections.
We had to stop in the middle of the recordings for about two weeks,
because he couldn´t sing at all. After that he came back and did a
marvellous job, but when we started to rehearse for the tour again, it
happened once again and then again and again. So he rested for a while,
we tried again, and it happened again. Finally he went to the doctor´s
and they told him if he wanna have any voice at all, just for talking or
whatever, to stop singing for a long time. So he don´t know if he´s ever
going to sing again.

Shit. Especially after those brilliant lines he sung on "The Soul Of
A
THOUSAND Years".

Anders: Yeah, that´s right.

Christian: Everybody´s says that. And it´s a shame,
because...

Anders: I think the problem was that he pushed himself to do such
hard
things that were right on his limit. He made it but it was right on the
limit. So his throat turned itself in and out.

Christian: On one track you can actually hear when his throat
cracked. Every
time I hear that song on the album I remember that time. He went out of
the cabin and couldn´t talk at all anymore. He sounded like a vacuum
cleaner. Everyone went "Oh shit, this is bad".

Anders: Andreas Thomasson is singing his part on our tour. He´s
singing
in a local band in Gothenburg as well, called Roach. They´re a very,
very good live act and even on recordings. But they´re unsigned for the
moment.

Christian: He was the obvious choice to bring on for the tour.
Because it´s
an important tour to do for us right after the release of the album.
We´re coming back in april and hopefully we´ll have Lasse with us then.
But Andreas is doing a hell of a job.

... as everyone could see at the gig afterwards. Now for a funny
thing,
you have a beer sponsoring. Ok., beer is very expensive in Sweden, so it
makes sense...

Anders: Yes, booze is expensive, but the main part is that this
is...

Christian: ...our favorite beer...

Anders: ... of all categories. It´s Samuel Adams from Boston in
America.
And it´s a very special beer, we think.

How does a band from Sweden come in contact with a beer from
Boston?

Anders: I drank it first time when I was in America. But then in
Sweden
this brewery is not very big. We´re not a really big band, but they´re
even a smaller beer brand here in Sweden, so why not just go for it. So
I called the agent in Sweden and said, "well, we could help you." And
they said, "Well, ok, let´s go." We got some beer, they made some shirts
for us.

Christian: With the "Samuel Adams" logo on top of ours.

Your Tattoo Endorsement deal seams quite more common.

Christian: Yes, it is. The thing is that most people don´t
ask.

Anders: Many bands think that it´s so hard to get sponsoring. So
they
don´t even do the call. But we just go for it. We had some people say
"no" of course but many people say "well, cool. Yeah. Let´s do it".

Christian: It is quite good, because I remember when METALLICA
was sponsored
by Carlsberg. And now we are sponsored by Samuel Adams.

Anders: The Tattoo sponsor is really nice as well, we have a new
sponsor
there, Harai Tattoos in Gent in Belgium, so me, Christian and Frederik
from BOOGIEMAN have Tattoos made on this tour. Very good.

Christian: It´s funny, because Shawn, the guy at Harai Tattoo in
Gent, he is
an Awesome Machine Fan. And he saw us twice on the last tour. When we
played in Leuwen together with Karma To Burn he and his girlfriend were
there with two friends, and they were cool. On the third tour we did
after that together with Mushroom River Band, we walked up to them and
talked to them and changed email adresses. And when we found out that we
are coming to Gent on this tour, we wrote: "Hey, John, we´re coming to
your town. Do you want me to put you on the guest list?" "Oh, can you do
that?" "Of course." Then we were starting about tattoos, and he said
yeah, but this was the last time we were there. First we didn´t care
because if people are drunk. But he said: "No worries, I will do" We had
a day off before, so we went there and I did a big thing here, and
Anders did a big thing on his arm as well, it was quite hard to play
that night."

Anders is scratching his arm unconsciously on this words, Christian
is
looking same direction, grinning. And what´ your part in those
sponsoring deals?

Anders: We´re wearing the T-shirts.

Christian: And we are telling the press about href="http://www.haraitattoo.com"
target="_blank">www.haraitattoo.com.

To change the topic towards music once again, I thought over the last
year, that stonerrock as a music family has come to an dead end where it
can´t go further.

Christian: In the end it´s just a term. There´s some bands in the
genre,
that just paint themselves in a corner. But the thing with THE AWESOME
MACHINE was never to do that. We like to try other things like some folk
music, some bluegrass. We recorded a track, that didn´t come on the
album but gonna be released like a B side, and that´s pure grind. People
don´t expect that, but we´re try all things. Sometimes it´s crap, but
this is really good. And there´s always a red line from the hardest song
to the softest song on the album. We want to spread. Some songs on this
new album even my mom likes to listen to. And that´s a good point. And
there´s heavy sounds on the album as well.

My mom was young in the seventies, maybe that´s the connection
between
the seventies music and what you´re doing now...

Christian: I´m very influenced by the music that my father
played. He played
The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Cream, The Doors, Psychadelica ... It
makes my music decision quite easy. I would have liked to grow up in
that period.

What are you listening to nowadays? Still this old fashioned stuff,
or
newer bands as well?

Anders: That´s very separated. I think all four in the band
listen to a
wide spectrum of music, starting with Elvis, The Beatles, The Doors,
Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple. Today there are good bands
like Entombed or In Flames.

Christian: The Crown! I used to work in a post office sorting
mail together with Magnus, the
bass player. We stood at the same spot, listened to heavy rock and
sorted: "That goes there, that goes there, that goes there..."

In the beginning of 2003 the old singer Ragnar Vikse quit and
founding
member Frode Glesnes took over the microphone. You changed a lot
musically. I think your new album "Blot" includes lots of Black Metal,
many orchestral parts.

G: I think we maybe changed a bit, but at least we developed. This way
the music has become a lot more - maybe not complex, but the
arrangements are more complex at least if you compare it to the early
stuff. But I think there is a red line our style is still the same. It´s
just a healthy development, I guess. Maybe it sounds more black metal
because of the vocals, you know?! We have more grim vocals now, which I
think sounds a lot better.

Not only that it sounds a lot better, but even your sound is a
lot
better. I don´t have "Norwegian Native Art" as a direct comparison, but
compared to your old records: Now your one man less but you sound like
you´re two men more.

G: Yes, I know. "Odin Owns Ye All" and "Norwegian Native Art" were
produced
in Los Angered Studio in Sweden. But "Blot" we produced ourselves in a
local studio. It would have cost too much if we would have produced it
in the same studio as the other albums. So we had to produce it
ourselves and we had a lot more time.

Who produced you in Los Angered Studios? Andy LaRocque
himself?

G: Yes. And his assistant.

And now you produced it all yourself and got such a lot more
volume in
your sound?

G: Yes, because we had a lot more time this time. We could be there like
two month for the third of the price because we didn´t have to pay for
the producer. We could experiment more and could add more guitars and
stuff like that. Our guitarist played the bass line this time.

Your new label is pretty much unknown in Germany.

G: Tabu is a sublabel of Tuba Records. I think they´re pretty big,
they´re a distribution company here in Norway and distribute everything
from Nuclear Blast to Century Media and some of the major record labels.
Tabu is founded like a sublabel of them, because they want to specialise
more in metal. They also released the sampler for the Inferno-Festival
and the debut album of LUMSK. We released our last album "Norwegian
Native Art" ourselves and I think it was too much work. Really! We´re
not businessmen, we´re musicians. We wanted to have a real record label
this time. And it´s norwegian as well, if we want to communicate and
stuff, then Tabu is just over the mountains and we´re there.

Are you still in this kind of viking scene?

Gerhard: Yeah. I think it´s too late for us now to change anything
within the band like the topics and stuff we write about. We´re still
doing that viking stuff and mythology stuff.

There are not many bands left making viking metal. For example
VINTERSORG completely changed their style, and I didn´t hear a word of
ENSLAVED for a long time.

G: Enslaved are still going, but I haven´t heard the last album. I don´t
think they´re that much viking metal anymore, as well. More progressive,
I think.

In the beginning especially some german journalists wrote about
you in
reviews like you´re "copies of Enslaved". But you started the same time
with Black Metal, did you?

G: I think it was about a year later or something. At least it was more
Black Metal that time than it is now, anyway. Our first demo "Aurora
Borealis" I would already classify it as Viking Metal. Enslaved were a
lot more extreme in 1993 than us.

What was your first intention to do this Viking
stuff?

G: I don´t know, I think we were listening a lot to Bathory back than.
And at least with "Twilight Of The Gods" we were completely freaked out.
We wanted to make something original because I think Bathory is
extremely original.

How do you get information about the viking ages?

G: Yes. Basically our source is the elder Edda. We have different sagas
we like to read, the "Icelandic Saga" for example. And the Snorre Saga.
There is a lot of sources we can get information from.

But while the vikings had their high times during the eighth
century,
all those texts are written down between the 13th and the 14th century.
The Edda, for example, was compiled in 1250 as far as I know. Viking
time was over at that time and they were already christianised at least
in central Norway and Sweden, aren´t they?

G: They were written down in 1250 but the stories are older than that.
At least Snorre lived in the 12th century and he was a christian, so I
don´t know how much we should trust it (laughing). But that´s all we
have. We don´t have much from that time left.

But now to your latest album "Blot". Why did you name it like
that?

G: I don´t know, I think it was a cool title. "Blot" means sacrifice. We
worked extremely hard on this album. Our previous album was released
three years ago. All that time we had been compiling this album. So I
think it was a sacrifice for us, too, and we have sacrificed a lot. It
was a lot hard work.

I first thought blot is another word in the indo-german language
family
which is similar to the english "blood" or the german
"Blut"...

G: No, no, no. It´s an old norse word, it´s like an pagan sacrifice. We
wanted to have a simple title, but it turned out not to be that simple
at all.

What is Frode singing about on your second title "Ironbound"
which is
your video single as well?

G: Well, it´s taken from Edda as well. It´s like a part of a trilogy
about Loki. His path to his doom, choosing his side, which is not the
good side.

I visited some shots from the making of that video on your web
page.
Where can you see the whole video, or is it to be released in some
way?

G: I have no idea. We don´t have it ourselves in fact. We just got it
and saw it once and sent it to the record company. So we don´t have it.
They sent it on the norwegian music TV channel once, I heard the other
day. So I don´t know if they´ll re-send it. Maybe we´ll probably put it
on the web page if we´ll get it back.

I didn´t see you on tour for a while, last time I saw you tour
Germany
was in 1998 with CRADLE OF FILTH.

G: 2001 was the last time we were in Europe. We toured with KING DIAMOND
after the "Norwegian Native Art" album. We were in Germany, Belgium and
those central european countries. But we haven´t been on tour for this
album yet.

Are you planing to do?

G: We really want to. But we´ll have to see what the record company can
fix for us. Because it´s their money.

Wasn´t it hard to get on the KING DIAMOND tour in 2001 when you
have to
pay it all on your own?

G: Yeah, it was extremely expensive, because we had to pay a fee just to
get on the tour, that´s a lot of money. We had to fix it all by
ourselves. But luckily we knew Andy so we had one on the inside that
could fix something for us. But still it was very expensive, we´re still
paying on it. I wouldn´t do it again unless the record company pays.

You seemed to change your visuals as well. I saw pictures with a
lot of
synthetic blood on your homepage. Is it a kind of new appearance of
yours?

G: Yeah, the blood stuff. We´ve never done anything visual live and we
now wanted to do something. And we thought, the word EINHERJER means
"fallen warriors", precisely fallen viking warriors. So we had to
present ourselves in blood. But we decided to skip it for practical
reasons, really. Because you don´t have a shower at every place you
play. And the thing gets very nasty then.

As far as I know about norse mythology the EINHERJER get up
politely
every morning again and kill each other during the days so you don´t
really need to look like freshly killed.

G: Yes, that´s correct. All warriors who´re fallen in battle come to
Valhalla. And there they´re trained for that huge battle at the end of
times. So they fight all day, drink all night and wake up fit for
fighting again.

I think a lot of armies would like such soldiers. Sometimes
mythology is
strange and is fitting very much to the times...

G: ... when it was created. Yes, it is.

Are you studying history?

G: No, I don´t. I just read of pure interest. Everything get´s boring if
you study it. It is better to choose when you want to read.

Ummm, sometimes. Where are you exactly from?

G: I´m from Haugesund. It´s a little town on the west coast. It´s 2 to 3
hours south of Bergen, between Bergen and Stavanger.

What´s the music scene like there around?

G: At this place? Well, Bergen is a strong city for Heavy Metal.
Immortal, (R.I.P.) Enslaved and bands like that are or were based in
Bergen. But in this city it´s completely crap. You have us and you have
one more band called TUNDRA. I think they´re playing more Black/Viking
stuff, our previous bass player is in that band now.

Where do you play if you want to present some new songs live?
Where
for example did you shoot that pictures?

G: We went to Stavanger, in an old brewery hall.

So there are possibilities to play live in
Stavanger?

G: It´s a lot better than here anyway. So if we want to play a gig we
usually go to Oslo, or Bergen or something like that. Some of the bigger
cities.

Are you stuck to a kind of scene there or don´t you have contact
to
fellow musicians there?

G: I don´t have personally. We used to have contact with ENSLAVED,
because they lived in this city before. But they moved around, so I
don´t speak with them anymore.

Only of that reason or is it impossible to get someone on the
phone in
Norway?

G: No, that´s not a problem, you know it´s like that we drifted. It´s
not that I know them that much anymore.

Because of the distance or did you have some kind of trouble or
whatever?

G: No, no, it´s not trouble. They´re like three hours away so it´s not
that we can spontaneously visit them.

Famous last words?

G: They won´t be that famous, but I want to advise people to buy the new
album. And hopefully we will come to Germany in 2004.

Is there a band you want to go on tour with?

Me personally? I don´t know. I think I don´t have any specific bands in
mind, but I think a band on our level. I don´t think it´s a very good
thing to go on tour with a huge band. It´s better to have an audience
that knows what the thing is about instead of a lot of old people. I
think a band of nearly our size will be perfect.

Musikalisch habt ihr euch ja sehr verändert. Euer aktuelles Album
"Blot"
enthält eine Menge Elemente aus dem Black Metal und großartige
orchestrale
Parts.

G: Klar haben wir uns verändert, aber vor allem haben wir uns
entwickelt. Unsere Arrangements sind viel komplexer geworden, gerade im
Vergleich mit unserem früheren Kram. Aber es gibt eine durchgängige
rote Linie in unserer Musik. Letztendlich machen wir immer noch
denselben Stil. Es hört sich wahrscheinlich wegen des Gesangs nach mehr
Black Metal an, unser neuer Sänger Frode Glesnes singt viel grimmiger
und böser, was sich meiner Meinung nach viel besser anhört.
(Anfang des Jahres 2003 hatte sich der alte Sänger Ragnar Vikse
verabschiedet, Gründungsmitglied Frode Glesnes hat einen Teil der
Gitarrenarbeit abgegeben und den Gesang übernommen - Anm. d. A.)

Nicht nur, dass der Gesang viel besser klingt, auch der Klang ist
viel
besser. Ich habe "Norwegian Native Art" nicht als direkten Vergleich,
aber ihr seid jetzt ein Musiker weniger, hört euch aber nach mindestens
einem
mehr an.

G: Das stimmt. "Odin Owns Ye All" und "Norwegian Native Art" wurden
damals in Schweden bei Andy LaRocque im Los Angered Studio aufgenommen.
"Blot" haben wir selbst hier in einem kleinen Studio in der Nähe
aufgenommen. Es wäre zu teuer geworden, wenn wir es ebenfalls in
Schweden aufgenommen hätten. Also haben wir alles selbst gemacht und
hatten sehr viel mehr Zeit.

Moment, Moment. Wer hat euch denn im Los Angered betreut, Andy
selbst?
Und nun habt ihr alles selbst gemacht und einen so viel fetteren Sound
bekommen? Beeindruckend.

G: Ja, Andy LaRocque und ein Assistent. Aber unser Geheimnis war die
Zeit. Wir konnten in diesem kleinen Studio für ein Drittel des Preises
zwei Monate lang bleiben und mussten uns keine Sekunde lang darüber den
Kopf zerbrechen, wie viel Geld uns in dieser Stunde gerade der Produzent
kostet. Wir konnten experimentieren, haben mehr Gitarren draufgepackt,
und ähnlicher Kram. Unser neuer Gitarrist Aksel Herløe hat dieses Mal
auch den Bass eingespielt.

Dafür ist eure Plattenfirma in Deutschland bisher unbekannt.

G: Tabu ist ein Sublabel von Tuba Records. In Norwegen sind die ziemlich
groß und vertreiben alles mögliche von Nuclear Blast bis Century Media,
und auch einige Major-Firmen. Tabu wurde vor kurzem als eine
Unterabteilung gegründet, um sich auf Metal zu konzentrieren. Außer uns
haben sie bisher den Sampler zum Inferno-Festival und das neue Ding von
LUMSK veröffentlicht. Damals haben wir versucht, "Norwegian Native Art"
auf eigene Faust rauszubringen, und letztendlich war das viel zu viel
Arbeit. Wir sind keine Geschäftsleute, wir sind Musiker. Dieses Mal
wollten wir eine richtige Plattenfirma. Außerdem wollten wir wegen der
ganzen Kommunikation gern eine norwegische Firma. Tabu ist im Land, wir
müssen nur über die Berge, und schon können wir mit ihnen Auge in Auge
reden.

Themenwechsel: Seht ihr euch noch immer als Teil der Viking Metal
Szene?

Gerhard: Klar. Ich denke, jetzt ist es zu spät für uns, noch irgendetwas
an unserem Image zu ändern, oder an den Themen, über die wir schreiben.
Wir beschäftigen uns immer noch hauptsächlich mit den Wikingern und
deren Mythologie.

So viele Bands sind nicht übrig geblieben. VINTERSORG haben sich sehr
verändert, und ENSLAVED haben lange schon nichts mehr von sich hören
lassen.

G: ENSLAVED gibt es noch. Deren letztes Album habe ich mir nicht
besorgt, aber ich denke, sie sind nicht mehr so richtig "Viking Metal".
Zuletzt sind sie doch ziemlich "verproggt".

Ganz am Anfang eurer Karriere haben euch einige deutsche Journalisten
für Kopien von ENSLAVED gehalten. (Grummeln am anderen Ende der
Leitung.) Dabei seid ihr doch sogar zur selben Zeit mit Black Metal
gestartet, richtig?

G: Na, so ungefähr, nicht ganz ein Jahr später. Auf jeden Fall war das
damals wesentlich eher Black Metal als heute. Unser erstes Demo "Aurora
Borealis" war schon damals eher Viking Metal. ENSLAVED waren 1993 viel
extremer als wir.

Wie seid ihr damals darauf gekommen, euch so intensiv mit den
Wikingern
zu beschäftigen?

G: Keine Ahnung... Wir haben damals von früh bis spät BATHORY gehört.
Spätestens zu "Twilight Of The Gods" war es um uns geschehen. Und prompt
wollten wir auch etwas völlig originelles machen, denn ich denke,
BATHORY waren einfach unglaublich originell.

Wie informiert ihr euch über die Wikinger?

G: Unsere Haupt-Quelle ist die ältere Edda. Es gibt verschiedene Sagen,
die uns außerdem inspirieren, wie zum Beispiel die Island-Saga oder die
Snorre-Saga.

Aber während die Wikinger ihre Hochzeit im 8. Jahrhundert hatten,
stammen diese Texte doch alle erst aus dem 13./14. Jahrhundert, oder?
Die Edda zum Beispiel wurde rund um 1250 zusammen gestellt, so viel ich
weiß. Zu dieser Zeit war Skandinavien bereits weitgehend
christianisiert.

G: Hmm... Rund um 1250 wurden die Sagen niedergeschrieben, das stimmt.
Aber die Geschichten dahinter sind wesentlich älter und haben sich in
der
mündlichen Überlieferung erhalten. Aber was Snorre angeht: Snorre lebte
im 12. Jahrhundert und er war ein Christ, also wissen wir nicht, in wie
weit wir seinem Bericht trauen können. (Gerhard lacht). Es gibt einfach
nicht viel aus der Zeit, die paar Überlieferungen sind alles, was wir
haben.

Wahre Worte. Zurück zum Album. Und konkret zu den Themen. Angefangen
beim Titel: Warum habt ihr das "Blot" genannt?

G: Es schien einfach ein guter Titel zu sein. "Blot" (ausgesprochen mit
langem "U" wie auf deutsch Blut) heißt übersetzt Opfer. Und wir haben
drei Jahre lang wirklich unglaublich hart an diesem Album gearbeitet,
uns also fast geopfert. Außerdem mussten wir viele Opfer bringen. Es war
einfach brutal harte Arbeit.

Oh. Und ich dachte zuerst, das Wort sei hier mal wieder ähnlich zum
deutschen oder englischen wie so vieles aus der germanischen
Sprachfamilie.

G: Nein, nein. Es ist ein altes nordisches Wort für Opfer, im Sinne
eines heidnischen Opferrituals. Wir wollten einen prägnanten, einfachen
Titel, aber so einfach scheint er nicht zu sein, so viel, wie wir
erklären müssen.

Worüber singt Frode im zweiten Stück auf der Platte, "Ironbound"?

G: Das Thema ist auch aus der Edda. "Ironbound" ist Teil einer Trilogie
über Loki und wie er seine Seite wählte. Und das war bestimmt nicht die
gute Seite. Kurz, über seinen Weg in die Verdammnis.

Auf eurer Homepage habe ich Fotos von eurem Videodreh zu diesem Song
gesehen. Kann man das Video auch irgendwo sehen, oder werdet ihr das
irgendwann mal irgendwie veröffentlichen?

G: Ich habe keinen blassen Schimmer. Wir konnten es uns einmal angucken
als es fertig war, dann haben wir es zur Plattenfirma geschickt. Danach
muss es hier einmal im Musikfernsehen gelaufen sein, denn mich haben
Leute am nächsten Tag darauf angesprochen. Wir haben selbst keine Kopie
davon, und ich weiß auch nicht, ob es irgendwo noch einmal gesendet
wird, aber wenn wir es noch mal wiederkriegen, stellen wir es auf die
Webseite.

Ihr seid schon eine Weile nicht getourt, das letzte Mal habe ich
euch
1998 mit Cradle Of Filth in Deutschland gesehen.

G: Wir sind das letzte Mal 2001 mit KING DIAMOND durch Deutschland,
Belgien, na, durch die üblichen Orte in Zentraleuropa getourt. Aber für
das aktuelle Album sind wir noch nicht getourt.

Habt ihr das noch vor?

G: Wir wollen es unbedingt. Aber wir müssen abwarten, was die
Plattenfirma für uns tun kann. Schließlich ist es ihr Geld.

Wie seid ihr denn 2001 ohne die Finanzspritze einer Plattenfirma
zurecht
gekommen?

G: Das war unglaublich teuer. Wir mussten uns im voraus an einigen
Kosten beteiligen, um überhaupt auf die Tour zu kommen. Es war eine
Riesenmenge Geld, und wir mussten das alles aus eigener Tasche
aufbringen. Zum Glück kannten wir wenigstens Andy, das hat uns einiges
erleichtert. Aber es war immer noch richtig teuer, wir stottern heute
noch unsere Kredite für die Tour ab. Ich würde nicht noch mal auf Tour
gehen, wenn nicht wenigstens das finanzielle vorher geklärt wäre.

Eure Optik habt ihr über die letzten Jahre geändert, ich habe auf
eurer
Homepage Bilder mit ´ner Menge Kunstblut gesehen. Ist das euer neues
Bühnenoutfit?

G: Ach, das Kunstblut... Wir hatten bisher dahin nie eine besondere
Bühnenshow, und wir wollten endlich mal ein bisschen was auf der Bühne
veranstalten. EINHERJER bedeutete für die Wikinger "in der Schlacht
gefallene Krieger". Also wollten wir uns mal wie wahre EINHERJER
präsentieren. Aber wir machen das nicht wieder, aus rein praktischen
Gründen. Es gibt nun mal nicht hinter jeder Bühne auch eine Dusche. Der
Kram wird dann sehr klebrig und ekelig.

So weit ich mich mit der Mythologie auskenne, stehen die EINHERJER in
Walhalla jeden Morgen wieder quietschfidel auf der Matte und bringen
sich erst im Verlauf des Tages gegenseitig um die Ecke.
Insofern braucht ihr nicht unbedingt Blut für eure Authentizität.

G: Stimmt auch. Alle Wikinger-Krieger, die im Krieg gefallen sind,
kommen nach Walhalla. Dort trainieren sie dann für die große Schlacht am
Ende der Zeiten. Tagsüber kämpfen sie, saufen am Abend und stehen am
Morgen fit wie ein Turnschuh wieder auf.

Von solchen Soldaten träumt jeder Heerführer. Manchmal ist Mythologie
seltsam und passt sehr genau in die Zeit...

G: ... aus der sie stammt.

Studierst du Geschichte?

G: Nein, aus Interesse lese ich jede Menge. Vieles wird langweilig, wenn
man es studieren muss. Es ist besser, wenn man sich aussuchen kann, was
man lesen will, und was nicht.

Och, geht so, manchmal (leidgeprüft). Woher genau seid ihr?

G: Wir sind aus Haugesund, das ist ein kleines Kaff an der Westküste,
zwischen zwei und drei Stunden südlich von Bergen. Also zwischen Bergen
uns Stavanger. Kein Schwein kennt diese Kleinstadt.

Gibt es in der Gegend noch mehr Bands? Wie sieht die Musikszene an
der
Westküste im Moment aus?

G: Hier?! (Ungläubiges Lachen). Bergen ist eine Metal-Stadt, da gab es
IMMORTAL und gibt es ENSLAVED. Aber hier ist absolut gar nichts los.
Außer uns gibt es nur noch eine Band namens TUNDRA, die tendieren eher
in Richtung Black Metal. Einer unserer früheren Bassisten spielt bei
denen.

Und was macht ihr, wenn ihr mal ein paar Songs live ausprobieren
wollt?
Wo habt ihr zum Beispiel die Kunstblut-Fotos gemacht?

G: Wir haben in Stavanger in einer alten Brauerei gespielt. Stavanger
geht schon. Wenn wir mal ein Konzert geben wollen, gehen wir normaler
Weise nach Bergen oder Oslo, also in eine der größeren Städte.

Habt ihr da Anschluss an die Szene?

G: Ich persönlich nicht. Früher hatten wir guten Kontakt zu ENSLAVED und
haben uns mit denen ausgetauscht, die kommen ja auch ursprünglich aus
Haugesund. Aber seitdem sie weggezogen sind, sprechen wir nicht mehr
miteinander.

Ihr sprecht nicht mehr miteinander? Weil Telefone in Norwegen so
selten
sind, oder hat das andere Gründe?

G: Nein, es gibt schon Telefone. Aber ENSLAVED sind jetzt drei Stunden
von
uns entfernt, wir haben uns auseinander entwickelt und können jetzt eben
auch nicht mehr
abends einfach auf ein Bierchen gegenseitig im Proberaum vorbeischneien.

Schlusswort?

G: Hoffentlich kommen wir 2004 nach Deutschland. Und kauft unser Album,
wenn ihr beeinflussen wollt, dass unsere Plattenfirma uns das auch
ermöglicht!

Hast du eine Band im Auge, mit der ihr auf Tour gehen wollt?

G: Ich hab da keine bestimmte im Auge. Am besten wäre eine Band ungefähr
in
unserer Kragenweite. Mit einer zu großen Band auf Tour zu gehen ist gar
nicht so gut. Am besten ist es, wenn das Publikum weiß, worum es geht.