Interview taken from Morbid Mag #8
WHAT HAPPENED TO MAYHEM SINCE YOU RECRUITED TORBEN AND KITTIL FROM VOMIT,
REGARDING THE LINE UP?
Things didn't work out too good with VOMIT, so they are not with us any
longer, But we've got new people, they are DEAD on vocals and HELLHAMMER on
drums! DEAD used to sing for the swedish band MORBID, but moved to Norway to
join MAYHEM.
HOW HAVE DEAD AND HELLHAMMER BEEN ACCEPTED IN THE BAND? DO THEIR
PERSONALITIES FIT WITH THE BAND?
I don't think we could find much better replacments than these guys. They
are much better than the old guys and both are willing to sacrifice a lot for
the band. they're 100% into MAYHEM! Speaking of personalities, they're just the
same kind of persons as me + NECRO, they fit PERFECTLY into MAYHEM. I am very
happy with them.
WHY DO YOU THINK DEAD IS SO WEIRD? (HIS CHILDHOOD, QUORTHON (BATHORY) OR
IS HE SIMPLY POSSESSED?
Wierd is not the right word, I honestly think DEAD is mentally insane
(He knows I am writing this!) Which other way can you describe a guy who does
not eat in order to get starving wound? or have a T-shirt with funeral
announcements on it? I've always wanted to have a guy like that in the band.
HOW DOES IT FEEL LIKE BEING OUT OF A REHEARSAL PLACE? DO YOU HAVE ANY
NEW PLACE NOW OR WHAT? WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED DOWN THERE?
No, we've still got no plave for practicing and it's not funny. There's
a possibility that Rino of DECAY LUST is going to get us one, in that case
we'll share the place with DECAY LUST(hail to them!). What really happened was
that our first place was occupied by a recreation centre for Children, because
it was the local authorities who owned it. Fucking stupid! Our next place was
cool, but after a month the electricity was cut off because the electric wiring
was dangerous. (YEAH, the toilet was dangerous too!! It smelled worse than the
old goats behind. ed!) and here we are.
I HEAR YOU SUPPOSED TO PLAY WITH IMPERATOR RECENTLY? (I JUST GOT THE
NEWS FROM POLAND... IMPERATOR HAS SPLIT UP!!)
There were some festivals going on in Poland. We were to play with
IMPERATOR and some others, but it fucked up because we don't have any
rehearsal-place and NO money. We recently got an offer to play on a festival
called "Thrash Camp" with BULLDOZER + some others for 4-5 000 people!
But our time will come, as soon as we get rid of all this shit going on, we'll
tour POLAND together with IMPERATOR(?) maybe AGRESSOR (France) that will be a
killer. Both IMPERATOR (Serdeczne Pozdrovienia) and AGRESSOR (Puitan Merde!)
are great friends of ours!
HOW DOES IT FEEL NOT BEING ABLE TO GRAB CHANCES LIKE THAT?
When everything fucks up you naturally become a bit frustrated, but as I
said, our time will come! We've had lots of trouble lately, but things are
going better. Now we all have got rid off the militarty service, and we've got
a great line-up, it's just to get some $ and a rehearsal place. It's only an
uphill slope, it goes up!
IT HAS BEEN ONE AND A HALF YEAR SINCE YOU RELEASED
"DEATHCRUSH" (Aah), DON'T YOU THINK IT'S ABOUT TIME TO FEED THE
DEATHSTERS OUT THERE?
Yeah, but it's gone pretty slow with songwritin, we first made 6-7
songs, but we found them worthless so we threw them away. I use very long time
to make songs, because they have to be better than everything we've done
before! So we will not release anything before we're totally satisfied and
think it could not be better! Even if it takes 5 years! That's in my opinion a
weakness with most record companies, you have to make one record a year! It
would not work with us. Besides, it's also those certain problems I don't want
to boter people with writing about. Anyway, as soon as we make it, we'll do a
7" with 2-4 songs on it.
ARE THERE ANY COPIES LEFT OF YOUR LIMITED VINYL, "DEATHCRUSH"?
If people write immediatly, there might be a small chance we got 5-10
copies left....but lately we've got a LOT of requests for it, so we might press
another edition! It will of course be certain differences from the limited
edition.
YOU MUST HAVE SOME MATERIAL YOU WOULD LIKE TO TELL US ABOUT, AND THE LYRICS
AS WELL? (I HEARD SOME PARTS OF "NEW" SONGS WHILE I VISITED THEM
EASTER, AND THIS WAS EXCELLENT. WHAT A PROGRESSION FROM
"DEATHCRUSH"!)
We do have some new songs, but just one is finished with lyrics. It's
called "Behind the liver", and I'am also working on some other
lyrics. One (yet untitled) will be about this guy who wants to be boiled, one
will be called "Sliced Facemusles", others are "Sulphuric
Acid","Strangulation", "Distintigrated Bones","A
Perfection Of Decomposition" etc. Our new songs are much more extreme,
brutal and intense grinding than before, no wimp shit man!
WHEN CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE THE NICE THING, WITH THE NICE MATERIAL ON IT?
I guess the single will be out in about 3 months, but it depends on a
lot of shit....
WHAT ABOUT YOUR PLANS TO GO TO FRANCE IN STUDIO THERE, HAVE THEY BEEN
RESCHEDULED OR CANCELLED? (SAME STUDIO AS A-HA USED- HAHAHHAHAHA!)
Well, we've decided to record our next LP in France, and we'll do it.We
have the engineer + the studio, we'll just have to write down to ALEX
(AGRESSOR...AGAIN!) and say when we'll be there.
HOW WILL IT BE LIKE NOW WHEN YOU GET ALL THE PIECES TOGETHER AGAIN? DO
YOU FEEL THE LINE UP WILL BE COMPLETED? I AM SAYING THIS BECAUSE MAYHEM HAS
NEVER HAD A COMPLETED LINE UP FOR A LONG TIME, HAVE YOU?
We've actually never had a real completed line up, it feels pretty
strange. I think its a very strong line up, and I think it will last. None of
the guys work or anything, so as opposed to the old line-up. Nobody has
anything to LOOSE. Nobody has to sacrifice anything to play in MAYHEM! Actually
we have to stay in MAYHEM to survive(!), right now H.H., DEAD and NECRO has no
homes, but through the band we're able to get our own apartments soon.
PLEASE TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE MAIL ORDER SERVICE YOU ARE STARTING UP,
AND HOW THE READERS CAN OBTAIN A LIST?
I started up this non-profit based mail order service because i'm
fucking tired of all the major bastards who want to get a lot of money. I think
it should not be necessary to pay $ 15:- for a record when it costs $ 3:- to
make it. So i'm doing this just to help out and spread the underground stuff,
all over the world. I've not yet finished the catalogue (which will be printed
in about 15-20 languages, but people in Scandinavia can write and get a small
one written in Norwegian. It's a lot of work to do this catalogue, so i'll wait
until I get more stuff before I do it. I'll also probably sell (in addition to
records/'zines/demos/T-shirts) fake blood, butyric Acid (stinks like a mixture
of rotting potatoes and NECRO BUTCHER's socks.), uncut horror movies, invisible
plain field generators, etc. But just write, I'll send the catalogue to
everybody when it's out. And a big hail to DIG, EARACHE=GOOD LABEL!
WHAT IS MAYHEM'S COMMENT TO ALL THE NORWEGIAN RIP-OFFS WHO ARE RUINING
THE REPUTATION OF THIS COUNTRY?
Only one thing - FUCK!! They're enemies of mine! Those assholes just
destroy what we've been trying to build up! DEATH TO THEM!
LAST COMMENTS?
I'd like to use this opportunity to say something about my record label
(DEATHLIKE SILENCE). People can expect a lot of extreme grindcore death metal
releases! The only records i know for SURE will be released are MATRICIDE,
IMPERATOR, MUTILATED and ANGEL DEATH, but i also hope to do albums with other
bands. Write for info! Finally, I'd like to thanx RONNY for doing this
interview, killer support! Write us, mail is fun! Support your underground
scene! Cooperation, not competition!