 1) Dear Markus, first let me greet you on behalf of the Violent Solutions team, and I hope you’ll take pleasure in answering to these few questions. But first of all, tell me how you feel about Sweden’s football team being badly kicked out of the World Cup by Senegal? Of course we have the talk about the glorious incertitude of sports and all that, but in the end isn’t that a harsh drawback after the sublime first round? Hi! Well, funny you should ask. For you see, I am probably one of the 0,0000001 % of the Swedish population who has no interest in sports. I frequently skipped sports/gymnastics classes in school (kind of a secret this is, but I suppose noone can have me in detention any longer! Haw! So I bet there’s nothing to loose in getting it out in the open). I am actually much too unfocused on what is playing on TV and have great difficulties in remebering programs I’d like to see and world cups are no exception. Most people find me rather odd in this matter, but hey! I can at least boast with having Elvira Madigan up my sleeve as an accomplishment due to finding the extra time this provides! 2) Well, we’re here to talk music in the first place, aren’t we? And in this respect I have to open by saying that the reason I checked Elvira Madigan – thus leading us to be face to face today – are the couple first-rate reviews I picked on various rather… well, say “modest-sized” webzines. Else I have never come across your project’s name. Do you exclusively center the promotion of your releases around chosen Internet channels? I mean, each month you get to hear in bigger paper zines or e-zines about dozens of self-productions which don’t reach a toe level compared to Elvira Madigan! Do you have a rational explanation for the lack of recognition and the confidential diffusion of your stuff so far? The reason my promotion might seem “selected” onto certain channels is actually rather coincidental. And has more than one explenation. I do handle everything myself and try to send out as many promocopies for reviews as I can. But this fact (that I am alone that is) means that I have a hard time competing with the large recordcompanies which have seperate departments solely responsible for promotion. So I do a little bit of this and that and I am very happy for each and every review I get. However, I must confess to checking out the web/maga-zines to see whether they are serious since the web has produced a number of zines which might be questionable. Many large zines refrain from giving reviews of such “unknown” and small acts as mine. And of course, I am probably unaware of most of the zines available. But promotion gets larger for every CD that is released so let’s hope Elvira Madigan might get more media space for the next CD. The larger the back-catalogue is, the easier it is to get space and attention. 3) Tell us a little more about the one-man-band itself. When did you start the whole thing and did you have a concrete view of how you wanted to sound back then? What was the triggering moment when you told yourself: “Now I want to play music and record it and do some cool layout and earn money out of it”? Did this enterprise mean a radical new distribution of your free-time? I started thinking about all this back in 1995 and got into heavy practise in order to be able to play the guitar and keyboards as well as needed. Up until then I had only focused on bass and also vocals at a lesser extent. So it was a major need for development that surfaced as well as the fact that I needed to be able to handle my studio good enough. I started recording a few riffs and songs just to get stuff off my mind and all that material ended up on less serious songs with lyrics in Swedish that were pure rubbish (but was actually also intended to be rubbish). I guess I was still thinking about having a band up until 1998 and 1999. Even after finishing the studiosession of 1998 which produced the first ever songs for Elvira Madigan I still thought about having other members included and the songs were therefor intended to be “temporary”. But after realising the songs and recordings were good enough as they were, and after starting recording the “BlackArts” album I understood I no longer wanted anything else than making all this art myself. This was due to the fact that the result was just the way I had always wanted my music but had never been able to get it together with other members. Even though I had started thinking about this “Elvira Madigan thing” in 1995 I can’t really say it wasn’t until 1998 that I got a fair idea of were I wanted the music to head generally, and this can be blamed upon the fact that Black Metal entered my life with unrelented force. Sure, I had always worshipped Bathory, but it wasn’t this Old School BM that was decisive for my choice of direction, but rather the new Norwegian. Bathory WAS however responsible for making me understand that there is no real need for a massive budget in order to create high quality art that may be appreciated for its’ originality. The radical distribution of my “free-time” defenitly occured after the release of “BlackArts”. Everything now became heavily ridden by a different kind of responsibility, but this is of course natural since people suddenly had the opportunity to buy the CD:s and therefor expect something new within a reasonable time-period. 4) So you created it all, from ground to top, including your label structure Northlore Records. I’m certainly unaware, but can you please explain to me the advantages of founding a label for your own band? Doesn’t that induce lots of extra costs? Do you aim at recruiting other bands than Elvira Madigan under the shores of Northlore Records? Maybe other projects of yours as well? The most obvious advantage for me having my own label is defenetly the fact that I have total control of the artistic freedom and eventually the product that is released. Whenever one has external factors that interfere before and during the making of an album there is a high possibility that they will have some kind of saying regarding what is recorded. They might not like certain songs, certain parts of songs, doesn’t like the artworks or have some other oppinions about where the music is heading in general. This is complete murder to the music as the utmost creativity that I try to have Elvira Madigan live by. With Northlore Records no one can have any negative influence at all, and say – should I want positive influence then I am free to ask for that but are not obligated to use is. What gets recorded is exactly what I want to have recorded. No one can say: “Skip three of the six instrumentals” for instance, and have their will done. That is defenitly the beauty-part. And no, I will not sign any other acts. I don’t have the money or the time. I migh very well release other eventual project of mine though, but if I choose to do so, then Elvira Madigan would have to suffer... 5) Is that a 100% intentional thing to remain the sole guy behind the controls? Here in France when we talk Sweden and Metal, we have this vision that every second inhabitant or so sleeps with a plugged guitar under his pillow… Could that be that you found no one to second you on your plans of running a band, or are you so tremendously power-addicted that it is unthinkable for you to delegate any aspect of Elvira Madigan to other people? Hah! Yeah, well it might seem like we all play some kind of instrument since the new wave of Swedish Death Metal has really had a prime time recently (and Power Metal is the big thing right now, and Swedes seems to be happy jumping aboard this train as well). I know there are defenitly a large quantity of extremely annoying accoustic guitarists in Sweden who are all very happy to rub their instruments during parties as an easy way to get the ladies attention, and I do think we would all be a much happier population if we were rid of those. So I suppose this is both of good and bad nature. Regarding my sole involvement: Well, I am open for anything in the future! Should I get together with an entire band that were all happy to play the same music and have just the best of band-relationship then Elvira Madigan might very well become a band one day. But I also know that I am unfortuanly extremely “power-addicted” (as you put it), that it might become difficult. I don’t make songs only on a guitar or bass and then have no problem when the other members can put whatever they want on the songs. I do write several instruments at once and mostly the songs are built up on arrangements and how they might be structured from the very beginning to the very end. And when people have oppinions about a certain arrangement – or whatever – and want it skipped, it might ruin the entire song without them knowing it. And I just get so annoyed with that that it might even piss me off at times. So it is unfortuanly necessary that I write and arrange everything like a Judas Priest Tyrant, if Elvira Madigan is to sound like she does today. 6) Now I know at least the origins of the name Elvira Madigan, mainly from the movie, but hell, will you tell me how you came up with the decision of using her name in connection with an extreme metal band? Is there any kind of link I’m uninformed of, or is it like you’ve pointed your finger to a dictionary on a severe booze evening? This said let me actually compliment you for the choice all the same, for I find Elvira Madigan phonetically speaking a cool and fascinating patronymic. I choose it just because it sounds “phoneticelly fascinating”! I have always been a real sucker for band names that are not in English or does not really mean anything. Band names like “Tiamat” and “Hexenhaus” are just awesome! And since I didn’t start off with any English lyrics at all it seemed stupid to pick an English name. Somewhere in the back of my head lay this “Elvira Madigan” pushing my subconcious in order to get out but I don’t really remember when I though... Hey, this “Elvira Madigan” sounds intruiging, unfortuanly. It suits me better than any name could, and even works outside Sweden with its’ “fairy-tale” like and somewhat captivating sound to it. So I am very happy to have stumbled upon it. It allows me to do almost anything musically without having the general picture of the project seem odd or strange. I mean, You can’t really have a band called “Blood, Guts and Death” and play music like “Michael Bolton” can You?? 7) Please spend a few sentences on each of your releases. There are two of them (plus the unreleased first album), but I am of the opinion that your progression from release to release is mostly a vertical one, i.e. you keep roughly the same line of composition, ambiances and style but each time improve the playing skills and “killer” level of the melodies and stuff… Are you very cautious when it comes to welcoming a new sound or a new technique in your musical universe? I recorded the first demo (“Varsel”) in 1998 which later became known as “the unreleased debut”. This was because I thought the songs and the production was more deserving than just a demo-tape and I realized that I was not to rerecord any of the tracks. This set of songs (eight in all; including one intro and one outro, one instrumental middle section and a cover of an old “Magnum” track – which will by the way hopefully be revamped and released on the next CD! Apart from these songs I just mentioned there are the five songs that make up the bonustrack section of “BlackArts”). These tracks were all the very beginning and help summerize what I wanted to do musically. And I was ecstatic at the time since I hadn’t recorded anything seriously by myself up until then. It turned out to be a very cold set of tracks due to the raw underground-ish production, but it fitted me nicely at the time. I had been listening to really frosty Black Metal like Emperor and Varga Vinter prior and during the recordingsessions. The next recordingsession to be held was finished in late 1999 paving the way for the website as well. As you pointed out, the direction was very much the same although the melodies were a little more extended and the concept a little more though of. The “BlackArts” saw a slightly better production as well as a more varied set of songs. Six tracks with words and six without. Some tracks were heavier than on “Varsel” and some tracks a quite big step from the Black Metal genre in general (as the ending instrumental track “Venus”, the semi-mellow “Ulv” and the James-Bond metal of “Gwenhwyfar” with the bluesy intro). Still, the entire concept was solely sung in Swedish. The lyrics were somewhat less folklore-ish, and more Dark-Art oriented – hence the title of the CD. I had here set out the direction a little better with the variation of Speed and Progressive Metal with the healthy dose of Symphonic Black Metal. Folk music played a heavier role on this release as I had been spinning different CD:s with my old favorite Skyclad in my playlist more frequently. “BlackArts” was however not released until a full year later (2000) when I started my own recordcompany. From the winter of 1999 until the fall of 2001 I was deeply involved in recording “Witches – Salem (1692 vs 2001)” which were to be a milestone in my own achievements. It turned out to be even more varied than what the two earlier sessions had produced, with some tracks faster than I’ve ever done before (“Häxor, Maror och Vittror”) and some really progressive and emotional songs as well (“Kvinnorovet” and “Ritual (Varsel del 1”)). The general production saw a great leap forward here with a warmer and thicker sound which helped in pushing Elvira Madigan in general into the spotlight. “Witches…” has an even more vivid concept dealing with Witch-burnings or tales and stories about different Witches, and sees a few tracks in English for the first time! This latest CD features practically more of every ingredient that make out Elvira Madigan. So one might say… “Witches…” is what defines Elvira Madigan. I looked back frequently at what I had achieved so far while recording this CD. I hadn’t been listening for Black Metal since “Cruelty and the Beast” was released and occupied my playlist for the entire following year. And this fact proved to mostly benefit the CD, but also had me experimenting with songs that were rather rapidly discarded or rewritten. Instrumental songs that were more in the blues genre than metal for instance. This experimenting proved to be healthy though as I learned to expand my abilities further and helped me realize what I DIDN’T want Elvira Madigan to become. In answer to your question about integrating other elements: I like to include something new for each CD but I do keep the steps rather small if one refers to jumping onto completely other musicstyles. Elvira Madigan is so greatly varied as it is with all this extreme Black Metal topped off with Folk-ish soft songs with clear vocals that I feel if would probably just be confusing if I did incorporate some other musicstyle. Elvira Madigan does feature my personal musictaste all molded into one. And as I said for the session for “Witches…”; I do experiment a lot but it doesn’t find its’ way upon the release. It’s either too uninteresting or too different and confusing than the other tracks. 8) I think it is safe to say that you are playing a form of black metal heavily resorting to style-friendly elements like symphonic arrangements and heavy riffing, etc. How do people generally describe your music? Like I just did, or do they employ the whole range of pompous adjectives, like, “hey, this is great, let us find a new niche of the market”? What is your general position regarding labels that some tend to stick to bands? Is this just a marketing trick or do most people really need to sort out their consumption into levels and categories like at the supermarket? I mean, take bands like Cradle of Filth and Limbonic Art for instance. Both have been filed under Symphonic Black Metal and still I don’t think you can say there are much similarities to the two, soundwise… Reasoning this way every band should beg to differ from their competitors, so to what extent are semantic borders reasonable or timely when it comes to promoting a band? People generally have a quite hard time defining the style. It mostly depends on how well acquainted one is with the extreme types of metal music. Some just say symphonic Black Metal, some just pour out things like Avant-Garde, Folk and Art-Metal. Since there is so many styles of Metal featured on my CD:s I suppose one is better off regarding Elvira Madigan as Avant-Garde and Art-Metal. But right there is another problem! You see, these two styles generally incorporate music that is so strange that it sometimes is hard to refer to it as music at all! And Elvira Madigan feature too much melodies and too little of this “strangeness” that one may only refer to these styles. The music in most of the tracks are more similar to Speed Metal and due to the atmospheres and the vocals there is this definite Black Metal direction as well. I myself say Black Metal verbally though. But I do it to sort out those who only listen to Metallica or Hammerfall. So, it’s a tough subject! Labeling music as how you describe people to do, is unfortunately a necessity and at the same time something that injures the artform. Whenever there is a band someone speaks of or tries to promote without you being able to hear it directly, I bet you crave at least a certain classification. And Metal today has a lot of genres so whatever one feels about sorting bands into categories I believe one does so without thinking much about it. At the same time there is this phenomenon you speak of. Black Metal has exploded and bands like Dimmu Borgir are nominated for Grammy awards in their native Norway. And since the crowds are huge right now (although they will weaken in number as did the crowds for Death Metal when this was the “fly” in the early nineties) people who know little or care little about the metal culture feel comfortable having this wide classification. I myself am trapped in this as well! I feel flattered by the fact that people draw lines between Elvira Madigan and Cradle of Filth for instance. But some fail to hear the many differences as well and get stuck with this idea and the Black Metal label. Black Metal like Marduk (which I love!) is completely different from my music. And many fail to recognize that BM hailed from Satanism and even though I know much of the subject and feel fascinated by it – I am in no way a Satanist and don’t want Elvira Madigan to be regarded as Satanist entity. It really is a tough subject. One can draw lines to the use of mp3:s as well. It’s a very good way of promoting but it also enables people to steal. Right now it’s not nearly as harmful as it could become, say if people start downloading more than purchasing. Suddenly the recordcompanies don’t make as much money as they used to and don’t feel the same urge of putting that much money into the recordings as well – and therefor might harm the music. This only applies to the larger companies though, and since I host a very small one… perhaps it doesn’t matter!! I believe I have at some extend proved that one is able to accomplish quite much with an extremely modest budget. 9) Speaking of Cradle of Filth, am I wrong when I say that this band counts among your influences? No I’m not, am I? I mean you use pretty much the same ingredients, even though you mostly use them differently, I think, but the thing that immediately made me draw the parallel is – especially on “Witches” – the speech rhythm and alternation between the low and shriek vocals that are very reminiscent to what Dani does on most songs of theirs. Honestly, has Elvira Madigan ever been mistaken for a clone of Cradle of Filth? What would be your arguments to prevent such gossip? How do you react when you see half of the scene considering them like bribed wimps? I’m happy you put the question the way you did bearing in mind how I just spewed out thoughts and ideas in you previous question. Cradle of Filth were a huge influence for me when I started out. As were (and still are) Blind Guardian – and I think this can be heard as well but people choose not to hear that. But back to Cradle of Filth. I still think their releases up to and including “Cruelty and The Beast” are totally awesome! I don’t really want to copy the way Dani uses his vocals but I still want a wide range instead of just mid-pitch. The music simply craves it and I think it sounds more interesting as well since it provides a darker more theatrical element. I’m very happy you can see the fact that even though I “use the same ingredients”, I use them differently. Different magazines choose to recognize the eventual similarities at different extents. A few has gone as far as calling Elvira Madigan Cradles “little sister” (this I thought was a rather funny and cute way of putting it though), and one or two ‘zines were really stuck up on the similarities. And this can piss me off a little since I use way more emotional elements and softer interludes with much less dark or horror-like soundscapes. But bands have struggled with such gossip forever I suppose. Just look at the marvelous Crimson Glory during their heydays (this would be during their promotion for “Transcendance”). Some ‘zines were stuck up on they being too similar to Queensryche (this was during the Operation: Mindcrime period), but when one looks back, they were actually very VERY different. Regarding the “bribed wimps” remark, well I suppose it generally hails from several factors. We are all perhaps a little jealous. That’s a fact. But at the same time, a band that builds up their market thanks to a huge outlet of merchandise might have to take being questioned. The fact that their musicality has become somewhat less interesting after the departure of Nicholas Barker and due to their huge budget also plays an obvious role. I don’t mean to step on anyones toes here (or piss any members or fans of the band off) since I still like and respect the band. It is pretty clear though that Dani Filths ego has become even larger than the bands current fame and that definitely gives birth to such remarks. Especially within the Metal community, where everyone sort of likes being closely connected to everyone else and feels a great bond between them that doesn’t exist in any other musicform. 10) By extension, how do you explain the general fact that once idolized artists become the worst piece of shit on earth as soon as they start getting a living from their music, or people judge that they are turning way too catchy, “untrue” or anything… Are we talking jealousy there? Should such bad and fierce critics ever reach you, do you think you’d have the lust to go on, or would you undergo a complete change of direction/style? Mostly, it doesn’t have anything to do with jealousy the way people react. It’s a well known fact that bands and artist that suddenly get a huge budget aren’t as hungry and passionate as before. They can afford to be lazy and still get very much attention since they are already known to the scene. Most of these bands will probably deny that their own musical creativity is of less quality with a larger budget, but sorry, that’s the way it is. Queensryche, Megadeth and certainly Metallica are perfect examples. It’s so very obvious that their earlier passion exceeds that of their current work. One could count numerous bands but I will try to avoid making enemies. Should these kinds of critics reach me, then I would of course react. But it will never affect the music. It might sound cliché, but I actually started Elvira Madigan in order to make the music ONLY I would feel was perfect. Very egoistic indeed, but that was the reason I did it. And one major trademark for Elvira Madigan the way I see it – is to try avoiding too large budgets since so much has been achieved without one and the quality is perfect in my opinion. I mean, there are several examples of bands’ demotapes that sound better than when they finally get around to rerecord and release their songs on the debut. I’ll defenetly try to keep the hungry, passionate and raw edge to my music. 11) There’s another band that is coming to my mind in connection to Elvira Madigan, which is Dead Silent Slumber, the solo-thing from your country mate Jens Ryden of Naglfar, and that’s due to the overall majestic/esoteric aura of your respective music, as well as to the obvious fact that both of you are above-average multi-talented craftsmen. Do you know and appreciate his work? On a broad perspective, how hard is it to be one’s own prophet? Do you have to think out several instrumental lines at once as it is obviously impossible to “jam” the way a rehearsing band would do? In your opinion, is it more secure to achieve a coherent result when one is alone on board as when there are several people bringing each their background and ideas? I haven’t heard Dead Silent Slumber but perhaps I should check them out then. I have a CD with Naglfar and think it’s pretty OK. Writing several instruments at once is pretty demanding and that is why the CD:s take such a long time to be fully recorded. I do leave a lot to be written while recording in the “heat of the moment” in order to catch that certain creativity one only gets while improvising. The fact that I can’t rehearse is somewhat frustrating at times since one has to go to unnecessary lengths in order to hear whether something works or not. And that leaves a lot open to questioning and quite a few ideas get discarded along the way. I can’t say that it is all fun and games and a pure joy but the drive within always keep pushing until the result is what I set it out to be. 12) Still about Dead Silent Slumber, I know that Mr. Ryden has had many guests on his album to play some solos, clean/female vocals and stuff… Is this an idea you would like to consider for Elvira Madigan, in order either to enrich the music or to give the image of an “all-stars” feature, that counts as a sales argument I guess? I hope to have a guest appearance for my next CD (the covers album). And for the CD after that I’ll try to have some female vocals as well. But I don’t want to make Elvira Madigan into something like an all-star act such as Ayreon. Sure, it will probably sell a lot better but it is not a decisive argument for me. I sort of like the full control issue and the fact that I must learn to play something I want to be put on track. It’s nice to hear the song finished and know the anguish one has felt for each instrument all meld into one song. It’s extremely satisfying indeed. 13) I’d like to waste a couple thoughts on your piano/synths skills, which are for me among the most complex and convincing I’ve heard from a metal band thus far. Did you receive any classical training on this instrument? Otherwise, I suppose that you work each synth part in first place for itself, that is outside of the metal framework, and then adapt the adequate lines in the course of the composition, at some given point. Am I right, there? Do you have any “models” as regards the way of handling the orchestral business, be it within or outside the metal genre? First, a truly heartful thanks for these praising remarks. It warms. And secondly, it’s funny how you manage to hear and see everything so clearly! Actually, better than I do myself! I do indeed work out the synthlines outside the metal-framework as you put it. I mainly check what notes I ought to be using or at least work around and then I start fooling around with the key-lines in order to create the right emotion. And No, I haven’t got any classical training at all. I am basically so stubborn, that if I can’t play something I have written I just practice until I can. One has to be very stubborn and the way I see it, no path is slindering or long enough if you are convinced you want to reach the end and that perfect result. 14) There’s actually something I tend to find objectionable on “Black Arts”, which has gotten much better on “Witches”, I mean the fact that the flow of the songs is being frequently interrupted or driven aside by the atmospheric/orchestral parts, and that you therefore get a fragmented listen without a traceable red line. Well, obviously I do enjoy when my music explores several directions, with breaks, experimentations and the like, but somehow I found that not to work that well with “Black Arts” as talking pure musical enjoyment. Do you figure out what I mean? In your opinion, does the style of Elvira Madigan support well the fact of having very mazy scenario and structures? When you have a sketch of a song skeleton on the paper, do you usually allow a lot of free room for adding, modifications or possible improvisation? I don’t really agree here. I think the arrangements on “BlackArts” are very nice, and sometimes even among the best I’ve ever done! And I tried very hard not accomplish something of less quality structionwise for this new Opus. Perhaps your view upon this may be affected by the fact that “BlackArts” has a less accessable production. There are several more obvious red-lines in the “BlackArts” CD if one thinks of the melodies that run through several different tracks (such as the fact that “Svartnatt” is the founding ground for the entire album and the song responsible for tracks like “Ulv” and “Drakens Tårar”). With “Witches…” there aren’t as many conceptual pieces although there are a few. Of course, “BlackArts” does have more breaks and is sometimes more technical than the new CD with influences from such acts like “Mekong Delta” and other progressive acts. But as you say; the breaks and mazy scenarios are what Elvira Madigan is all about. Each song is like a story or like and artwork of itself and I do mostly work without basic songstructures which on the other hand puts more pressure on me to make the songs listenable. The main reason for these shifting structures is because I get easily bored with repetative arrangements. As for your comments on improvisation: Yes indeed, I do try to improvise as much as possible since it allows the music to become less mathematical and more alive. I don’t sketch anything on paper really but write the song together with the drummachine and put that on track. Then I work upon the drumlines with the riffs and melodies I have already written and change whatever needs to be changed. 15) What brand(s) of beer do you recommend for massive consumption without a lethal hangover? One should go to England and drink their Beer, practically any brand over there tastes good! This is my experience from my Skyclad trip and the Promo tour of 2001. I seem to remember German beer is really good as well. A word of warning though, for there are surely several Swedish brands that really tastes awful. To be honest (and perhaps a little boring), fact is I don’t consume much alcohol at all. I’m afraid Elvira Madigan is a harsh mistress demanding me to be sober most of the time! And I can’t have myself hung over while recording and writing. 16) I’d like to mention briefly the sound-mix. For me it is amazing that a self-production benefits from such a clean and strong production. Where did you get it? Did you resort to professional engineers to achieve the result? Is there a reason why the vocals are pretty much withdrawn or is it my hi-fi? I have my own studio where I record. And I suppose it’s mostly from working for several years now that I’ve experimented myself up to the current sound-production. One has to learn to be able to cheat every here and there and at times discard ideas due to the limited frames of the production I find myself working with. I can’t make a secret out of the tight budget I have and the fact that I really try my utmost to achieve the best possible result every time with such small means. At the current time I prefer not to discuss what I use in the studio, such as equipment and such. I do handle all the recordings, production and mixing myself. And it is only through the numerous mistakes one makes that one learns how to go about. It’s pretty hard at times to be as objective as one needs to be, bearing in mind the solitude I work under. The vocals are pretty withdrawn on “BlackArts” but this is because of a few reasons. I didn’t have the same equipment during these recordings and the DAT-tape recorder I used as a Master-recorder actually pushed the vocals a bit too much into the background. I excluded this DAT for the mastering of “Witches…” so if you experience problems with the vocals on that CD I think it might at some extend depend on your hi-fi. But as I said, one learns from the mistakes and the vocals issue is a very good example of this. At that time I thought the vocal production – if pushed more into the foreground – would interfere with the overall feel I wanted the “BlackArts” CD to have. 17) The “Witches” album is – I quote – : “a standing monument in remembrance of the women whom in many thousands were slain upon pyres throughout medieval Europe.” And beyond I sense an untamed love for Christianity and the wonderful tool of wisdom that the Great Inquisition was, but that’s just about the point. Why did you decide to dedicate a whole piece of work to the martyred witches? Are you deep into the old historical scores witnessing this dark era? Are you in love with a witch yourself? It was actually by chance that the CD took the direction it did. The seventh track (“Häxor, Maror och Vittror” – meaning “Witches, Night-Mares and ????”) was written during the “BlackArts” sessions and was therefor the first track to be written for the CD. It was also initially intended to be the title of the CD as well. As several new tracks emerged I wrote stories around the “Witches” subject without really thinking about it, but eventually I realized that it would be a pretty good idea to have the entire CD devoted to the subject. So I did some heavy research in order to find out more about the history of the inquisitions and the Salem witch processes. That’s why there are several instrumental tracks with titles referring to the inquisitions. Such as when the first inquisition was formed (Anno Domini 1232), and which twisted individual (pope Gregory IX) who started it and the even more twisted expression they worked under (“ecclesia non novit sanguinem” which means “the church is untainted with blood”, I simply added the questionmark in order to point out this utmost contradiction). The witches subject is rather captivating for if one thinks about all this evil that the Church has done in the past, and think about the fact that they have never once stood up and taken upon themselves what they HAVE done, and also about how easy it has always been for them – and still is – to condemn everyone else. It is rather sickening. And no, even though witches might be rather raunchy and sexy, I am not in love with one! Wouldn’t mind thought, if she could live alongside Mrs Madigan! And perhaps even be as seductive as the witch on the CD cover! 18) In my opinion, Luis Royo has always been the best. How did you decide to use some of his artwork for your albums? Did you have to pay some rights in order to do that? Do you now feel more or less “compelled” to feature his half-naked amazons on further Elvira Madigan covers? Otherwise, are you familiar with his drawing collections and, if so, which ones would you recommend? When I decided to release “BlackArts” myself I set out to look for possible coverartworks. I’ve always been into art and especially fantasy and dark art. But I do take very great care to have the cover representing the music so that they both fit together perfectly. Some artist were either too much fantasy (Boris Vallejo) or some where not dark enough, some where too luminous and angelic (Jonathon Bowser) and some where simply too Christian (Rodney Mathews). I seem to recall actually having another artist as a first choice but his office does not grant licenses for CD-covers. This artist was the faery artist Brian Froud. I had a book with Luis Royo but hadn’t really thought that much about using his work earlier, but it struck me that it might be perfect! Whenever I decide on an image I’d like to use I write to his office (Norma Editorial) and check whether it is available or not. Then they invoice me for an exclusive worldwide right to use it for my covers and after payment they send me the image. I don’t necessarily feel compelled to use his work but I need some sort of common line in the artwork and as long as I find some painting of his fitting perfectly to a coming production, I have no problem continuing licensing his work. I do really feel his rather dark yet beautiful images are absolutely perfect. 19) Well, this morning I thought about something while having a look at some posts on a metal e-forum. There were some youngsters spitting on early-Dark Tranquillity and early-Emperor because of the – I quote – “primitive” music. At first I took offence and wanted to give them a good dressing-down, but then I realized that I was actually no different back then in 1996 when I was discovering black metal and couldn’t understand that people could raise Celtic Frost, Bathory, Venom and others to this cult status… Of course one grows up and becomes more comprehensive and benevolent towards oldies – provided one has at least an ounce of brain. But this lays down the question of how fast the metal scene is growing old… I mean, in 5-10 years other newcomers will judge Arcturus, Dissection or Soilwork totally retrograde, and so on (though if anyone ever tells me in the face that Dissection are losers there is a chance it will be the last thing he ever says). It is commonly “established” that metal today is still the property of a young, rebellious population. In this respect, how do you think the scene will look like when we who compose it today will be old, fat and bald? Will we also belong to the so-called “has-been” with our blasphemous T-shirts, just as one tends today to mock the guys wearing leather jackets with Rose Tattoo patches? Is extreme metal as we know it here to stay, or will it be absorbed in the turmoil of rising subcultures to form a global, widely accepted stream as did to date most of the genres that started out as little avant-garde, confidential pockets of resistance to the musical norms in force at a definite point in time? Pretty interesting comments. The real old-school will probably always be the bands that started the whole movement, such as the bands you mentioned (Celtic Frost, Bathory a.s.o.). Bands like Nuclear Assault, Anthrax and Destruction will be old-school if thrash comes around for real once more. And when we are old and gray (god forbid!), we will probably be second (or third) generation old school. I wouldn’t be surprised if people thirty or forty years from now divide the metal-evolution into generations or into decade-classifications. As far as Metal is concerned, I guess we all know it’s going to live forever, right? But when it comes to different genres, well they’ll probably all survive but go more or less underground to be revamped every now and then. That’s the thing with metal right now since Power Metal has been making it big time lately (sadly), but since Manowar are making it really big now, perhaps it’s high time for the basic Heavy Metal to kick off. 20) Another existential issue: do you wear long hair? What about the saying that the quality of the music is strictly proportional to the length of hair? I think indeed this is something people lean not to consider seriously enough… I cut my hair off three years ago but up until then I have always had long hair. I don’t wear my hair really short and I’m actually thinking about growing it again. I am unfortuanly not as fortunate as to be able to make that choice myself these latter days. It all depends on how the quality of my hair is… sadly. Well that’s life! I’m not bald though. I remember when I was a kid I used to pick up vinyls just because how the musicians looked. And at some extend I suppose most really devoted musicians wear their hair long. But on the opposite side there are tons of bands these days that hide their lack of talent with the length of their hair. A lot of Power and Progressive metal bands are extremely crappy in my opinion and they all look very cute with their shiny arse-long hair and stern facial expressions. These are truly the ones lacking talent, focusing on how Metal they look instead of looking at the essence – which is the music of course. I’m mainly in it for the art and not in order to promote my looks. But looks are important and I can recognize that as well, so that’s why I’m making props for the photosession I have scheduled for this autumn. I simply have to try looking Metal whether I have the hair or not! Ha! 21) Back to Elvira Madigan, what about the future of the band. Don’t fool me and say that you never had any serious contract offer from a label? How long do you see yourself carrying on without obtaining a deal? I recently signed a licensing deal with Russian company CD-Maximum and they have released Witches in all former Soviet states. So these kinds of solutions are optimal for me and what I hope to strive for in the future. If I keep my company I maintain full control of the creativity and the final product and the other companies can only license a finished CD and have no saying what so ever about the result. And by the way, I’m afraid I have to fool you… Since I have never gotten another serious deal elsewhere (apart from this Russian deal). Hammerheart records where somewhat interested when I put “BlackArts” out but they had the nerve to tell me that “Witches…” went “in one ear and out the other”. And to think that they release bands as “Thyrfing”!! 22) On your (magnificent) website you mention a “promotional tour”… I’m puzzled about what that exactly consists of, as I don’t see yourself jumping on a stage like an octopus and playing all the instruments at once. So what was the point exactly? Was that like your CD was played on the background between the bands at concerts? Anyway, was that rather a lot of stress or a lot of fun, or both? What kind of feedback did you get on the journey? On my Promotours I basically rent stallspace at festivals. I sit in one corner and sell my CD:s at a nice price and you can also listen to the music before buying it. That’s it. My first promotour was in 2001 and that was all just fun. I get to meet a lot of people and meet up with those who have bought the CD:s in stores. This is truly rewarding. I also tie new contacts with radio shows, magazines and other organizations. Although sales figures are mostly quite poor since most metal-heads spend their hard-earned cash on beer instead of CD:s it’s all worth it. This year I have visited the Sweden Rock Festival for the second time and was scheduled for Wacken Open Air as well. But I will unfortuanly have to cancel Wacken because of the ferry traffic that was supposed to take me there has shut down. This alters quite much for me and due to my recordingsessions and all other undertakings I have right now I decided to jump off that train for this year. It is the first time I really feel stressed up and cancelling Wacken put a lot of weight off my chest. And Elvira Madigan is not supposed to have me all stressed up. It’s all supposed to be fun, which it of course is… 23) Which one of both “snapshots” described afterwards has according to you the most “black metal” touch? And which one would you personally like most to wander into? 1. A vast soaked and deserted field at dusk after a violent storm, the thick gray clouds above your head are just starting to let the declining sun shine through and tinge them with all shades of gold. / 2. The ruins of an age-old Viking cemetery on a shore overhanging the raging North Sea, swept by boreal winds that carry biting crystals of frost. I am of nordic breed so my choice is naturally nr 2. Frost and Black Metal go hand in hand like… like… well I don’t know, but they do go nice together!! 24) Just to have an indicative musical picture of Markus Hammarström’s tastes, I’ll ask you to name three albums and give a short contextual comment on each of those. First, the first metal record you ever bought. Then the album you found the most impressing in the nineties. Finally the album you’re listening to at this very moment (or most recent one you’ve been listening to). Thanks. First Metal: Saxon: “Innocent is no excuse”. This is not really metal but it is one of the most important albums that got me on the right track. I still love it and I honestly think it is their best CD (well, “Destiny” is really good too). I remember my dad took me to the store to get this one. The album was released 85 or 86. I can’t really say. Most impressing of the nineties: This is very hard. I consume and love so much (while I hate so much of the nineties as well, but doesn’t everyone?). WASP: “The Crimson Idol” is a true masterpiece while Cradle of Filth’s: “Dusk and Her Embrace” probably meant more to my own musical creativity. I’m sorry, but it’s important to single out one particular release. Oh yeah, Hexenhaus “Awakening” is one of the best CD:s ever and is truly recomendable. Current playlist: I listen to much retro right now. Such as older Manowar and Crimson Glory. Quite much alternative to metal as well: such as Tori Amos and Voltaire. Subway to Sally must be the band I’ve listened to for the longest time recently though. And to pick one certain CD, then I must say Ark “Burn the Sun”. 25) How many stupid question did I ask in the course of this interview? HA! Nawh! Give yourself a break! This interview is absolutely the best one so far. It’s nice to see someone taking the effort to work out as indepth questions as far as Elvira Madigan and myself are concerned. I mostly get the same kinds of questions (which by no means is wrong of course), but your questions show that they are truly made for Elvira Madigan only! But if one question was the least interesting for me it must be the first one, but that is due to my lack of interest in sports (and how were you to know!). 26) All right, the torture is now over. It is now up to you, as the custom wants it, to close this interview. I suggest you to leave your website/contact address, and then any message you’d like our French-speaking readers to know of. Farewell… Well, there’s not much ground to cover after this lengthy interview! But it’s really nice to see my music spread internationally! And it seems France is really into this kind of music right now (Since the only other website about Elvira Madigan is a French one), so thanks for the support, and I hope to be meeting you all on a future French festival perhaps! |
