 Just like the other "additional interview" I have completely lost track of who I did this interview with. It seems like it was done in 2002 if I look at how I answere the questions. Anyway, I thought a few questions were rather funny so even though not all of them were answered in the copy I kept for myself, I thought I'd include it anyway 1) Hey Markus, please tell me the most important steps in Elvira Madigan's history comparing your releases, and reveal us the mistery that lies behind the mask of this strange band name Hello. Well, Elvira Madigan is the direct product of my experiences in a previous band I had called "Andalucia". I decided to continue alone after the band split in order to get my compositions and all my visions as close as possible to what I had always wanted my art to be. I was rather sick of even my own compositions following a certain pattern struction-wise so I needed some selfexplorationm, practice and experience in my studio from 95 (when "Andalucia" split) until I finally started recording the first Elvira Madigan tracks in 98. Those tracks recorded came to be what is now known as "the unreleased debut" whose main tracks can be found on the digipack version of "BlackArts". The CD "BlackArts" was recorded in 99 and released a year later in 2000 along with the founding of my recordcompany "Northlore Records" and "Witches – Salem (1692 vs 2001)" was released in 2001. The name Elvira Madigan hails from a tightrope dancer whose life spins around her romantic tale with lieutenant Sixten Sparre with whom she escaped from Sweden to Denmark. Their tale ends in their suicide after not accepting the fate awaiting them once being forced to return to Sweden. 2) You are labeled as a "progressive black metal act". What do you think about that? Don’t you think that 2000 music shouldn't be labeled anymore? I must label the music. It is rather sad but everyone wants to know what music You play and one can not simply say that there is no label for what you write. I myself feel rather uncomfortable thought and would be happier if I didn't need to label Elvira Madigan but this is the harsch reality. My music floats between so many genres but I try to describe my art as "Black"/"Art"/"Avant-Garde" and "Progressive" metal to give people a fair idea of what I do. I never contemplate or think about the fact that maybe Elvira Madigan became more artistic or original than expected. This was merely a sideeffect once I had thrown away the shackles of outside demands and listening solely to my inner voice and creativity. 3) Which are the main lyrical themes of Elvira Madigan? I mainly write small stories that tend towards feary-tales and folklore. I sometimes just give the listener a certain setting and a small splinter of a story or a certain individuals situation. I try at times to make the stories with indirect messages in order to give my point of view on a certain topic. As was the case especially on "Witches – Salem (1692 vs 2001)" when most stories evolve around witches in one way or another, and I jumped on the opportunity to critizise the Christian society both recent and old. If one looks at my backcatalogue of "BlackArts" and the unreleased debut, I have tried hard to make different stories with different topics although they all work within the same regions. As for "BlackArts" I dealt with dark faith at a larger extent, and not necessarily pro-dark-faith either (But, mind You... I’d never write in favour of any organised faith). With the first songs I wrote I spun around with more folk-lore and Dark-Ages kind of stuff. 4) Tell me a short story about each "Witches – Salem…"'s track. is it a conceptual album? The album is not conceptual in the essence that it tells a collective story, but rather gathers around the "Witches" subject. Since I do alot of the tracks in Swedish and a few in English it wouldn't be a good idea to have a story running through the album since those who do not understand Swedish would miss out on what happens in the story during those tracks. The music of Elvira Madigan is highly conceptual though, with melodies and riffs reoccuring throughout the album. But this is done with the sole intention of not limiting my creativity. Say if I feel a riff I already used for one song fits very well in another, then I just go with it. To give You a complete walkthrough of the album, then I'd like to start from the beginning with the two instrumental tracks "Anno Domini 1232" (title refers to when the first inquisition was formed) and "Orroborros & the Pilgrim" which is a more progressive symphonic track that sets upp pace for the third track "Lilliannah – Demonologi för Dömda" which is the first song on the CD with words. Obviously it is sung in swedish and tells the tale of a farmer or wanderer who stumbles upon a wooden entity in the woods and is seduced to such extent that she without problems may lure him under the water to devour him. Fourth track is the instrumental and symphonic "Nocturne" which paves the way to "Crestfallen". Crestfallen is sung in English and tells of one of the Devils concubines who escapes and finally makes it onto the surface (which is earth). "Kvinnorovet" is a song about the Dark One coming to a village in Sweden and manages to have it under siege through the women he seduces. This is a semiballad and not Black Metal at all. Black Metal is on the other hand the seventh track "Häxor, Maror och Vittror" which tells the story of a man lost in the deep winter but is found and brought inside by a witch and is then held captive (yet not against his will) and is somewhat exploited sexually by the lady and her two sisters. "Djävulens Novis" is a tale of a man who wakes up in the middle of the night in a pool of blood and finds himself evelved into the physical shape of his own mind. "Ecclesia Non Novit Sanguinem?" is an instrumental track meaning "The Church must stay untainted with blood?" (a phrase used by the pope who 1232 formed the 1st inquisition, stupid eh? Keeping in mind that the inquisition didn't do much else than spill the blood of others!). "Interludium I" is yet another instrumental track played only on piano. "The Kindred (Salem 1692)" is an english sung track telling a tale from different characters points of view regarding a witch trial and burning in a village not yet converted into Christianity. "Ritual (Varsel del 1)" is a newly written first part of an older second part track and tells a tale of a man performing the rituals one did in olden days in Scandinavia if one wanted to sell ones soul to the devil. "Gregory IX" is a keyboardoriented instrumental track (Pope Gregory IX was THE pope forming the first inquisition 1232), paving the way to "Dark is the Seraphim" which is a highly dramatic track with the story of how an inquisitors conductions backfire onto himself and he finds he is the only one ending up in the fiery flames of hell. An the last track is the instrumental rock/blues/metal "Honeythorne". Well, You asked for details on every track and there You are. 5) Elvira Madigan is not such a wellknown name in the metal scene, yet all the reviews I've read about you in a lot of 'zines were enthousiastic and you were marked with the highest note, how do you explain that? What can one say! I feel truly blessed!! I started Elvira Madigan with the intention of writing music I would feel was the best possible music I could make without any thoughts given on how other people would think or react. It was done purely egoistic and I really didn't expect anything. So whenever someone like what I do I feel truly honoured and flattered. And the fact that practically every Zine has given my high reviews is just wonderful and shows how fortunate I am in the fact that most people seems to have understood my intention and the sheer love I have for my mistress Elvira Madigan. The creativity and and the artistic intentions is what shines through the most I guess and I suppose that is something people can appreciate. But as I said, I had no idea the press would treat me so nicely since I do it all for pure egoistic and uncomercial benefits. There is quite alot of bands that get record deals nowadays and quite a few of them do unfortunaly not really bring much to the scene so when people see that I do this because I really love it and not because I want to be something more than I am or because my ego needs a certain boost then they react with the same kind of heart it takes for me to make these artworks. 6) I see you have a kind of fantasy aura. I think you cover art looks great. Who painted your cd covers (it seems to me that "Blackarts" cd art cover it's Luis Royo's,but I could be wrong...)? How important it's the cover? speaking of the comercial aspect of a release? The covers are extremely important. Not only because it helps selling the CD:s from the shelf but because I care immensly about the design and artworks. I am a painting artist and has been all my life. I love artworks by others and generally the erotic dark art the most. So I try to stay away a little from the "fantasy" genre and tend more towards "Sex" and "Darkness". It is truly an extremely vibrant mix with tremendous capacities and fits better to the music than a "fantasy" label. I remember starting out and trying to find an artist suitable for the musical canvas provided and ended up with a long time favorite "Luis Royo". And by the way, yes, Mr Royo is responsible for the image on "Witches..." too as well as the cover for my forthcoming CD. 7) I find realy great some of the fantasy "pseudoart" especially those signed by Giger, Luis Royo or Boris, yet it seems to me like there’s kind of "Tolkien" trend nowdays. What do you think about it? Don't you think we should be more intersted in the authentic art? Nah, authentic art doesn't provide much for the imagination does it? The reason Tolkien is in the heat right now is obviously because of the films showing at Cinemas right now. Big or not, who can argue with the fact that "Fellowship of the Ring" is a marveluos film!? Regarding my thoughts around the fantasy genre. Well, I don’t really see HR Giger as "fantasy". I mean Boris Vallejo is truly very much fantasy while quite a few artists gets labaled the same while staying clearly away from muscular Conan warriors and dragons. Feary Art like Brian Froud also gets labeled incorrectly which is quite unfair bearing in mind the complete different direction that art represents. Other artists whose work I really find interesting is that of Brom, Jonathon Bowser and Michael Linsnser. Having a certain undertones such as Linsners flirting with religious icons and stories as well as Bowsers devotion to Mythic Naturalism, makes art truly blissful. I suppose art featuring some sort of erotic undertone is more attractive to me. 8) Comment this statement: "the only real thing in life is the death"... Yes, I've seen this statement being used more frequently all over the web. And I'm sorry but I'm not one admiring or enjoying these kinds of clichés. It has no weight whatsoever and only sounds "cool" to a certain criteria of metalheads while carrying no poetic significance at all. If one looks to what the statement means, well suddenly it gets more pathetic. If nothing is real except death, then I suppose my art is not real? And to claim this is to me and my devotion offensive and humiliating. Well, "go ahead and die" to everyone who thinks this is a good phrase. I intend to live and as far as I see it, the only real thing is life! What happens after death is something neither of us know, so there's no point in such feeble misguiding directions. Please, let's spare Heavy Metal this nonsense. 9) What do you think happens to us after we die? Do you belive in heaven & hell thing? I am very firm in my beliefs that You can not claim being a Satanist if You deny God's excistance. They are both merely two sides of a coin. I think You can use Satanism as an ultimate form of anti-Christianity and anti-Religion, just to make Your points of view regarding organised religion clear. I do feel quite attracted to the mentality of the Satanism we refer to today in the essence that it hails human drives and acts with affirmation to what makes us animals. Sexual drive and such. So ultimnatly; the Heaven and Hell is the very same thing. I do tend not to see things in black and white. But I believe in some sort of afterlife. Now I don't walk around picking this and that from organised religions or stick to one specific in order to suit my self so I keep living my life happy with assurance I'll go somwhere nice when I die, without having no real proof of it what-so-ever. I just believe life is large enough not to end abruptively, but I don't feel I need some sort of verification or rely on an illusive afterlife. 10) Why didn't you sign with a professional label and why did you form Northlore Records? There are a lot of labels which dream to sign with you... Why thank you! I'm surprised by your happy thoughts! I started my own label because I didn't find a recordcompany ready to let me have full control. Now, I didn't discuss with that many companies during the years up until now. I have recently signed a deal with the Swedish "Black Lodge" which is a company run by those who formed "House of Kicks" in Sweden. So I am pretty excited about doing business with them so that I can relax from all undertakings I have in my recordcompany which they can do. This gives me more time for recording and creating things around Elvira Madigan instead of supplying stores with CD:s and such. 11) You are the only musician behind Elvira Madigan, yet I could swear there were a lot of members. Is it difficult to find the right persons for your band or do you enjoy working by yourself? Yes I had a very tough time during my prior band and the immidiate time after the split to find new members either sharing or just accepting the visions I have for my art. Now I can confess to being a control freak and rather hard to cope with when it comes to compromising on my material. When I started recording for myself before recording anything for Elvira Madigan I found it easier to create my songs in the way I wanted them than it had been playing in a band. So creatively it is more wise for me to do the instruments myself since I don't have to call on friends whenever I need something put on tape. This was the case in the beginning so I started playing guitar more intensively the years before my first recordingsessions for Elvira Madigan, which explains the large gap in time between 95 and 98. 12) Have you ever played some gigs? How do you see an Elvira Madigan's concert? Maybe like a theatre play? I have played live in previous bands only. I remember enjoying myself immensly at times but also hating it. If I were to bring Elvira Madigan to the stage I feel I would not settle for anything else than a great performance and that is not very easy to get. (PS This was not the entire answer. The copy of the interview I saved did unfortuanly provide only excerpts of my answer on this particual question) 13) What abot a new album. Give me some details... - Unfortuanly, the copy of the interview I saved did not include the answer to this question 14) Is it something to be said about the great picture gallery of you? Are you fascinated by tatoos? Those pictures were all taken in early 2001 and were so only because people wanted a gallery on my site. I would rather stay "invisble" for some time longer. I did the facepaint in order to make the images a little more interesting due to the lack of props and enviroments (there are none!). I am to photgraph myself with a professional photgrapher pretty soon so I'm rather excited about what might come of that. Regarding the tatoos, well I am not tatoed yet, but I am not estranged to the idea. I do feel though that I need the perfect image to go "all the way". 15) Does Elvira Madigan have its own filosophy? Nah, not really. One could perhaps say that the philosphy is to follow your heart and stay unshackled. Modern religions, politics and norms only tie people down and the fact that Elvira Madigan has come this far with only the fire in my heart as instrument proves to the strength of art and heart. 16) What's more difficult? To love or to hate? One needs to do both in order to be vigilant and to know oneself. But both are best consumed in healthy doses! Too much hate is obviously not very good but too much love makes one dull and numb. But it is defenitly more easy to succumb to hate. 17) What's your opinion about 11.09.2001? As a person I do feel appauled by it. It was truly horrible and hard to understand that something like that could happen. Now I don't always agree with the American point of view either and today it seems the incrediblty childish Bush jr is totaly devoured by his own personal vendetta and the fact that warfare makes him popular with the American population. I do fear he might start a third world war if he doesn't put his Texas attitude aside. Now, this is more than I feel I want to share really. This is due to the simple fact that Elvira Madigan is in no way what-so-ever a political tool and I don't use my art to drive certain modern topics in worldpolitics. But since You were the first to ask... 18) Why should someone visit your country or your home town? Reveal me the most important sights of Sweden... What's the first think that comes in your mind hearing the word Romania? - Unfortuanly, the copy of the interview I saved did not include the answer to this question 19) Last words are reserved to you, my friend... - Unfortuanly, the copy of the interview I saved did not include the answer to this question |
