MYRKGRAV (in English)

Salute, Lars! There are many fans of MYRKGRAV among our readers, but there are also those who just "heard something" about the band or do not know about it at all. Therefore tell us about creation of the group, its development. What was the main reason? Did any bands influence your becoming a musician?

Like most musicians will tell you, I started the project to be able to write and perform the music I wanted to listen to. At the time I also felt like the more melodic and folk-inspired side of metal had started going in the wrong direction, so rather than having other bands inspire me to write anything similar to their music, they inspired me to do something a little different. Then came a new wave of folk metal and Myrkgrav didn’t really turn out all that different anyway. Timing was never my strong side, haha.

What means the band’s name MYRKGRAV and why did you choose it?

It means Dark Grave and I chose it on a whim back when I was 17. It sounded dark and evil and whatnot. I regret it to this day. It really does not do the music justice. The logo, on the other hand, sort of looks like what the music sounds like – if that makes any sense, so I guess it ain’t all bad.

A lot of time has passed since the moment of your debut album’s release already, and you were very young when created it. Thus "Trollskau, Skrømt og Kølabrenning " is one of few works, on which there were no negative responses at all, and majority of them are enthusiastic. Tell, after all this time how do you estimate the work now?

I have musician’s sickness. What that means is that I’ll never be able to enjoy and acknowledge a piece of music I did in the past. To be honest I think the album is horrible. But on the other hand I see how people may like it and find its many flaws and shortcomings intriguing and charming, I guess much in the same way Jethro Tull live at the Isle of Wright has a big appeal to fans even if it’s got its fatal mistakes. It sounds like what it is: a 17 year-old with absolutely no clue of what he’s doing but a whole lot of enthusiasm for doing it. When you still have that childlike belief that “everything is possible”, the result will always have some strong sides, I suppose.

I recently did a re-recording of the song Fela Etter’n Far to see if it was actually the composition or the performance of the old version I didn’t like. Turns out I feel like it’s a pretty good song in its new clothing, so I guess it’s just the perfectionist in me that can’t look past the flaws found in the performance of the debut album.

Your creativity was influenced with a history and folklore of your native land. Tell us about Asa, its inhabitants and surrounding nature. Was your outlook formed in an environment of it? How your native edge influences you? Does the life in countryside seem to you more comfortable than in a large city?

Åsa is a tiny village in which I was born and raised. To be honest I don’t think the people here does anything good to my outlook on life, but that’s more of a general problem with Norwegians and how introverted we all are rather than something specific to Åsa. Living here really just isolates you and makes it difficult to find your place among your peers. I mean, it’s got history and an interesting one at that, but modern day Åsa is pretty much worthless when you’re in your mid 20s and want some new impulses – or impulses at all – in your life. A place where children can have a very safe upbringing and where you can grow old together when you’ve met the love of your life, but really not a place I plan to stay any longer than absolutely necessary until either of the two criteria I just mentioned above are met. I guess it’s easy to confuse the musician with the person, so let’s just say that as a musician I appreciate and honour what is good about my homeland, but as a person I would really just like to get the hell away and move to a place where I can meet some of my contemporaries. J

Your lyrics is very interesting. While the majority of groups playing similar style music, glorifies feats of Vikings or pagan gods (only few of them do it really interesting and being full of inspiration), you tell stories about your land. What does your poetry mean for you? You just sing about themes which are interesting for you, or try to embody memory of the past of your land in current music? Probably, something else?

It’s really quite simple. If you look at the stories I tell, they are not particularly important in the grand scheme of historical events. But I figure, if they’re forgotten – if we forget where we come from – there’s also a higher risk of losing our way and misunderstanding where are going in our development, both personal and global. So I take these obscure stories and bring them back out from dusty old books, maybe some people will think “a-ha! Now that I know that, I can more easily appreciate what I have today and how I got it, and see what it takes to get what I want in the future.”

Call it motivation or education if you like. It’s like a miniature history lesson based on stories that for the most part are a little weird and morbid and can make you go “what the fuck?”

For writing lyrics you used the mother tongue of your native land, Rigneriskdialekt. It adds authenticity to songs, but at the same time it complicates perception of people for whom Norwegian language is not native. Could the contents of poems stated on English allow understanding meaning of songs? Do you have a desire to use poetic translations in the future?

Well for those who actually got hold of a physical copy of the album when it was still available, there are explanations of each story in the booklet. I use a lot of words, phrases and terms that are more or less impossible to translate in a way that makes sense, so poetic translations is something I have mixed feelings about. Having that said, for the Myrkgrav/Voluspaa split that was released recently, I did translate the lyrics completely and the English version is right there next to the Norwegian one. Regardless of whether I’ll do poetic translations or just explain the stories with liner notes in the future, though, I will do my best to make sure that everyone can understand the content of all the lyrics. Otherwise the whole concept would be quite pointless, don’t you think?

The session clean voice vocalist Sindre Nedland helped you with recording of the album. Have you any plans to use the help of other singers in future? In which songs of " Trollskau... " Sindre had sung? Why did you need the help of other singers, if you are able to sing yourself perfectly?

Sindre does the clean vocals on all the songs except St. Olav og Jøgra, Oppbrennerbønn and Finnkjerringa. Although I’m a better singer now than I was back when the debut was recorded, I can’t claim to be much of a lead singer. I just don’t have the voice to carry the songs on my own, so I rather step back and let someone who knows what they’re doing handle it. If you can afford being a little humble about these things, the end result will usually speak for itself.

I have a singer lined up for the next album as well, his name is Bernt Fjellestad and he did the clean vocals on the Sjuguttmyra track for the recent Myrkgrav/Voluspaa split. He’s more of a traditional heavy metal singer, but I think it fits the new Myrkgrav songs quite well. Having that said, I’ll also be doing a lot of the vocals myself as I’ve actually learned how to write harmonies now and generally just sing more on a day-to-day basis. We’ll see how it turns out, nothing is sure yet.

Among songs from "Trollskau...", sang in your native dialect, it was rather unexpected to hear metal version of the Danish national song "De To Spellemann". Tell me, why have you chosen it, instead of a national song of your land? Are you going to play covers of national songs for the albums in future?

I did it because I could. :)

Seriously though, all Scandinavian folk music is quite similar and when it comes to the more “modern” folk ballads, like this song, versions exist all around the Northern countries in different versions already.

There is another one coming on the upcoming album for sure. It’s been done by a few other folk-inspired groups and artists already, but I’m giving you my version.

Recently Einheit Produktionen label released your 7” vinyl split with VOLUSPAA. Whose idea was to make such a joint work? What your song was presented in this work? Did you listen to the album of VOLUSPAA, and if yes, how did you like it?

It was a pretty easy decision to work together with Voluspaa, since we’re the only bands in our genre from this part of Norway. We’re also friends outside of the music industry and I’m Voluspaa’s producer and “ghost member” who does a lot of stuff behind the curtains for them, so it was a pretty natural connection to make.

While their song is a more aggressive and hymnic Viking metal effort, mine represents more of the folk music side that has been brought into Myrkgrav and has yet to really be unveiled to the general public. Call it a taste of what’s to come.

And yes, since I produced Voluspaa’s Åsa album from start to finish, I did indeed hear it. I sort of have the same relationship to it as my own debut album. Can’t listen to it anymore. I just hear and know every detail of everything we did over a span of almost a year in the studio. I’m biased and can’t give you an objective review of what I like and not about it.

How is going your work under the new album? Do you have any specified terms (deadlines) for yourself, or do you create without looking on the spent time? Could you slightly open a veil of secret, what can we wait from new work, will it differ from a debut too much? Will the album be more folkish, or heavier?

It’s not going as well as I’d hoped when I started out. There are 11 songs, 10 of which will probably make it on the actual album. All the instrumental parts of them are recorded, but I have yet to finish writing lyrics and doing any vocals. It’s been in that state for around 3 years now and I’m not really motivated to finish it up. When you have absolutely no inspiration at all, you generally shouldn’t force yourself to be creative as that just ends up sounding half-hearted and less than stellar. So, as of yet there is no deadline, as it just has to come naturally in order to ensure a high quality end product. I’ve had some personal struggles over the course of the past few years and continue to do so, so I’m not in a position to prioritize music at this point in life.

What I can say is that it will be a natural development from the first album. It’s more folk music oriented and less black metal-esque. A larger focus on groove and melody, more clean vocals and generally a slightly softer sound. Bear in mind that most of the songs were written shortly after the release of the debut album, so it will definitely be in the same genre. If I had written the album now, it would probably not be metal at all, haha.

Worth noting is the fact that I’ll do an exclusive appearance at the 2010 Ragnarök festival in Germany, where the whole new album in its entirety (at the current state of progress) will be presented for the first time ever. I’ll keep a stand where people can come and listen to the songs, buy stuff and just chat. So for those of your readers who are going there, it’s a chance to get a sneak preview of the album.

When you compose a new song, do you imagine any final result at once, or your idea can be changed cardinally in process? When you understand, that the song is completely ready?

I usually just start out with one riff and have no idea where it will go. A few hours, days or weeks later it has somehow magically transformed into a whole song. Then I have the tendency to just forget about it for a while before I go back and make some changes in the arrangements sometime later, when I have distanced myself and gained some objectivity towards the song. I’ve severely changed songs as late as in the mixing process before, so I never really know when it’ll be completely finished. In the case of for example Fela Etter’n Far, I even changed some parts of it rather drastically, now 5 years later. A song is a living, breathing thing. You have to treat it and perform it as such depending on where you are in life.

You helped HINSIDIG black metal band with sound. How often bands with similar requests ask you about it, or do you help your friends only?

I used to do the sound engineer/producer thing for a while, and at one point I worked as a sound technician in Toproom Studio, where a lot of rock and metal bands have recorded and produced their albums over the years. It was a fun experience and I learned quite a bit. In my home studio though, I actually mixed a lot more records than just Hinsidig, but then my studio computer became outdated and I sort of lost interest in the whole job, so now I don’t offer those services anymore. I’m the type of person who won’t commit to something I know I’m not going to deliver 100% with, so I figure bands are better off choosing a producer who will jump into the process with great enthusiasm and not just go on autopilot and do “their thing” regardless of whether they actually like the music and where the sound is heading.

Currently we can see the raising interest to the native cultures, pagan believes among the people. Tell us, what do you think about this process? What is paganism for you, do you mean a pagan yourself, or maybe your interest in the culture and history does not have too deep spiritual meaning for you?

I have no relationship with paganism myself. Having that said, it’s great that people start researching their past and heritage, as long as it doesn’t turn into a violent game of power, often in the same childish way we used to say “my daddy is stronger than your daddy”. Actually I have no idea what I’m talking about if I start trying to grasp the concept of paganism, so I’ll rather not say anything.

In the recent interview for Mental Meltdown zine you said that you don’t support aggressive attacks against christianity, therefore during many centuries it has been uniting people of Europe, and attempts to impose paganism will result to strong resistance and strengthening of christian religion, and the true values of the opposed sides will only become more insidious and barbarous. But now we can see quiet natural increase of interest in old believes of European peoples, as well as voluntary conversion of the people into it. What is your opinion about this process?

Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t get involved in religious or ideological debate. It ain’t exactly my forté, if you know what I’m saying. I’ll leave it to those with the proper education to discuss these matters, and choose to ignore all the “lol, paganism ftw!” ignorant pseudo heathens which strengthens no one’s case but that of their opposition.

Thank you very much for this interesting conversation. Finally tell us, please, what you know about Russia, and say a closing speech and convey wishes to our readers, please.

My knowledge of Russia is limited to what little we were taught in school through the years, unfortunately. Although I do have to say that you are home to what for me is the most interesting folk metal band in recent years, Kalevala.

As for wishes, I have only one and it has nothing to do with Myrkgrav: If you want to learn something truly interesting about your history and heritage, don’t resort to books. Ask your parents or better yet grandparents if they are still alive; or just old people in general, about how things were when they were young or even what they had heard their grandparents tell them when they again were young. Most likely they will love being able to tell these forgotten stories, and you will learn something useful at the same time.

Oh, and “like” Myrkgrav’s Facebook page, where you get all the updates concerning the upcoming album, and there’s a lot of direct communication between the band and fans. :)