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Interview with Satyr and Frost in Munich before the concert 19.03.2003
At first of all I want to welcome you here in Munich
Satyr:
Thank you!
Let me start with some questions about the past of Satyricon:
Tell me, what did you want to achieve with Satyricon all the years ago when you started and do you feel that you have succeed in realising your goals till now?
Satyr:
Each goal you reach triggers a new goal you know, in the beginning it was to get a record deal and having an album out there and later on, you know we put on new goals and we worked hard trying to reach everyone of them but it takes time, ah I believe in a combination of talent and hard work and I think - I think ah the talent is there and the attitude for hard work is the right one for everyone involving , ah being involved in this process so ok!
Would you just take another look in the past for me and tell me something bout the musical development and the different members of Satyricon over the years.
Satyr:
Ah I don't see anything grasping in the musically development its all been a very natural progression, ah and to me its like its always been in the way that has its foundation in rock based black metal music And being from there on everything is very, ah with a very broad perspective and there are no limits how far we can go with what we do trying to achieve new things, explore new music and personally with every new album we do and - ah to me what ever we do its only Satyricon.
I don't want to ask you directly about your inspiration for your music and the lyrics, because I think this is a theme of it's own. But what about the nature, the woods, the sea of your home country Norway? Isn't it a big part of it and a very important thing for you?
Frost:
You speak on how we feel on a personal level - or what has direct impact on our music, you mean? Well that are two different things you know. It means a lot to both of us because there is also ah - its great to refund but it is different from the later albums referring to the earlier ones and that. It is not any main source for the lyrics and its gracing on the music anymore at this time We've been there and in the way it still has any impact on what we do it's a bit more hidden not that direct.
So tell me which part in Norway are you both from?
Frost:
Ah I am from the eastern Part of Norway a bit north from Lillehammer originally but I've been living in Oslo for several
years now.
Satyr:
Well I've been living in many places till now but the place where I consider, which is more home then any other places, that I have been living along in my live is a small peninsula right outside of Oslo The peninsula is very different from Oslo there are only 15000 people so a very countrysidish environment but its still only 20 minutes with the boat and 45 minutes in a car to Oslo. So as said I have lived in many places but that's the place, you know, ah where I belong to.
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Alright! Lets go over to your actual album Volcano:
How would you characterise the music on Volcano, if you compare it to your earlier albums?
Satyr:
Ah I don't have to compare it to earlier Albums but I can characterise it the way it is. To me it's very direct its quite strict and minimalistic, the frame work on it is hard ah and it's a very dark album quite heavy and it has a great variety how you see on "Fuel" and "Black Lava" as the examples of the great numbers the album deals with "Fuel" is being a song which smacks very much in your face, very direct a lot of intensity and well, "Black Lava" its a fifteen minutes affect journey very atmospheric but it still makes sense to have them both on the same album. Ah, so it all ah, you know, ah...
It all fits?
Satyr:
Yeah it all fits!
So ah for this record you became the chance to work together with the major label Virgin here in Europe! Was it difficult to get such a good contract for you as a band playing such extreme music?
Satyr:
Ah well they asked, you know!
They asked you? They came up to you?
Satyr:
Yeah! For us it was the best thing to do in that moment because it benefits the band and took a long time especially for the European release that was a lot of hard work but ah I think there have been good and bad things about it in certain countries virgin really did a god job other countries they don't do a good job. Ah, all together at the moment we did the deal it was the best thing we could have done and we will see what the future holds ah I think I would like to cooperate with them in the future as well. I think it would be better for Satyricon if in the next time everything is organised internationally in and out of Norway. Its not a thing we can organise from Norway and I don't think that's best for me and the future. Right here in Germany Virgin did a very good job and in many other countries, but like in Austria, Switzerland and Belgium and such places they sucked!
Alright so you just answered my next question about that it must be a great chance for Satyricon to reach a brighter range of crowd with their music with that. So lets go to my next one:
Where have you taken these great photos inside the cover booklet?
Satyr:
Iceland!
Iceland? Not Norway?
Satyr:
Iceland!! (he starts to smile!!)
So why did you choose Iceland? (smile)
Satyr:
We ah, we had many different Ideas. I am not gonna tell you about the other ones because we want to do some of them in the future. This place had a natural surrounding that would fit with the you ah you know how it is with Satyricon its like everything goes very hand in hand like the graphic design and the music, its very much about totality and obviously you know ah I have already explained my own perception of the music on Volcano and I wanted the lyrics to be like that so it wouldn't be something as simple as for example in the surrounding of the environment in a studio and so why not go to Iceland We actually have the smoke coming up from the ground and you have the big black stones and ah the roughness you know so it was just actually almost easier to do that and we didn't know about that on before and when we heard that the light on Iceland is very special and the photographer also said that it would be something we would benefit from ah so we did it.
Frost:
Ahm, I think that when you have gotten the album and start listening to it and viewing the booklet you enhance the feeling that you get from listening to the music and I feel that is very much the case, you know, with all our albums and definitely with Volcano and a lot of my friends, they told me the same thing that what they get out of the pictures and then listening to the music is definitely enhancing peoples experience of the album. That is what we wanted. And we received it with that! It was hard you know to get it!
What about the front artwork, the snake? How did it come to that symbol combined with the album title Volcano?
Satyr:
Ah I know what people expect because its called Volcano they want a picture of a Volcano that erupts. Ah we all know how the snake is an ancient symbol of darkness and the devil and you know that doesn't really hurt but the main thing being that to me that's the way I look up on snakes, the way I think of them and the way they come through to me, its very much what I feel like when listening to the album actually. With a sort of, you know, very intimidating and a part of presence that they have and we took a lot of pictures of various snakes trying to get the right one and this was a particular good one because we had the snake coming down from above towards the camera like that (showing it with his hands) and looking quite menacing and that's the way like the music is to me.
Frost:
Its very much like the organic line on the album, Volcano being a natural phenomenon, something dark and menacing you know and in peoples mind a snake also is being a dark creature belonging into nature and ah the very organic sound on the album this right fits.
Alright, in my opinion the snake also has very cold and dark eyes if you look into them! So it really fits to the music!
Satyr:
Right, right, yeah!
On the last track of the album I had the pleasure to listen to the voice of Anja Garback. How did you find such a great voice for this song?
Satyr:
Ah I looked up on that old ah - if you do include things on an album which are different to ah, you know alien to what you are doing, you know and I would say in general that a female voice is kind of unusual. I know its been done many times and all that bla bla but still it is an alien element in metal music if you do in general and ah I look upon it as an instrument more as if you have a certain part that you work on and you think to yourself that - alright this part may benefit from like a keyboardline or a harmony on the base and that's the way I think up on a female vocals in our music and this part may benefit from the change of the scenario and enhance the feeling of that part and I felt that there were certain parts that we could get more out of if we have a specific kind of voice and I was not thinking about female voices in general I was thinking about something that sounded very naked and almost a little bit what I would like to call Heroin like a little bit drugged, you know and I had different things in mind and didn't really get anywhere with those I had in mind and then I thought of her and I said ok what is she doing, I heard what she did all the years and I heard her new album "Smiling And Waving" and I knew after like ten seconds and the first words that it was ideal and was quite the best voice for the part that I have been thinking about. She heard our music and she liked it and she did it.
And she really did it great!
Satyr:
Yeah, yes on this tour in London on our show in London - because she lives there - she came and did a guest appearance with us live.
At least let me ask some questions about your actual tour.
It is now slowly coming to the end, if you will take a look back and compare all the shows down here in Europe, to them in - for example earlier ones in Norway - do you think there is a big difference between them, especially if you look at the conditions you had to comply with and the audience?
Satyr:
Right now Satyricon is very much in a high in Scandinavia, the band is doing very very well in Scandinavia, all in all its probably the biggest black metal band in the region. So we had good turn out just about everywhere and a lot of our goals were fulfilled by our local promoters and the audience ah it was very much like a triumph on tour you know what I say, ahm for the rest of the shows here in Europe its like gonna be back to reality you know its gonna be like ups and down and its gonna be a six weeks roller coaster and its pretty much like it has been you know, there have been places with good turn outs and good crowds and good promoters and here's been places where has been absolutely no promotion for the shows and not too many people and just like altogether ah, you know maybe unorganised. But the band always plays well, you know you we've come to a certain level that there is no such thing in Satyricon like tonight we are gonna play bad or play good! We always play good! Sometimes we play better then good but the problems with the technical things like if there is a bad sound system you know or technical problems on stage so I feel we have come so far that those are circumstances that are not under our control And in a way having come that far is an achievement in itself but it also feels frustrating that often when the show doesn't turn out like you wanted to and its not your own fault and there is nothing you can really do. Ok we can call them and tell them that we signed a contract that they have to promote us but in the end you cannot stand next to them when they put the poster on the wall and if they place the advertises and bla bla. And sometimes you have a crowd just likes the band and just watching and stands still and enjoy it that way and that is you know, ah they are privileged as they paid to come in but it doesn't really inspire the band to give that little extra. We just do our best but its hard to do every night that extra a hundred times when people just stand up and down and do nothing.
Frost:
It is really correct that we have gone a step further but still its very much the same as the last European headliner tour I guess you asked about that? I think its very much the same. We are having the same kind of problems and circumstances aren't different from earlier times! They are slightly better but I just had hoped that a major league would have taken us more forward
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