The following interview was made with Legion during
the No Mercy 2000 tour in Italy, and for being the first face-to-face
interview I have ever done it became quite good I must say. Unfortunately we
managed to screw up the tape after having written down about half of it so
this interview was actually far much longer. But this part is still pretty
long and informative as it is so we couldn't just throw it way... |
Blood, fire and death... Could this also been seen
as a tribute to Bathory? |
|
Nah, I
don't know about that...well "Blood Fire Death" is pretty cool too
but it's definately not the same as the three first albums. The three first
albums are just so fuckin' great. Even if everything is totally untight and
strange it still has the power to crush. The first albums have the magic so
to say. But I don't think it has come anything good from him since then so
you could rather see it as a tribute to the ancient Metal scene than to
merely Bathory themselves. |
And your next album is also going to be recorded in
the Abyss? Yes, that's almost 100% sure. Peter is almost like
the fifth Marduk member and he is just great and so very easy working with,
and besides we really like it up there and it gets the way we want. He
understands us and knows us, plus that he can stand our attitude (laughs),
not really what Dan Swanö did As you say there are lots of bands recording there
now. And I think that some of the bands recording there have listened to a
few albums recorded there before so perhaps they could end with a sound
similar to eachother. But, if there is a Marduk logo on the record one should
know what to get, we'll never change and start to experiment with other
styles as a desperat attempt to gain more fans 'cause you only lose on that. And
by doing that you are out on really thin ice so to say. So no, it doesn't
bother me if we get a sound similar to anyone else because we have already
established our own sound within Black Metal. I don't think that some demo
band from Germany or France copying our sound will do us any harm. Of course
it could be interesting to try out something new, but as it looks now we'll
continue in Abyss. Nah, we haven't done one single gig in USA actually,
but we plan to go over there after the summer. And if it will not happen then
it will happen right thereafter because it's really the right time for us to
come over there now. The guys in Cannibal Corpse have said that they see lots
of Marduk t-shirts among the people in the audiance so I think it's like now
or never. Marduk's ambition is to grow all the time. I want to see Marduk
being as big as Elton John for example, as long as we still have the same
basis as before. Some people say that Black Metal shouldn't sell and all
that, but as long as we have the basis and this extreme appearance, a
devilish approach, I just wanna grow and reach more people all the time. But,
we will never betray our die-hard fans 'cause they are the really important
ones, but if we get more fans it is just a great bonus. If some of those
bands wanna see Black Metal totally underground and non-commercial, why the
hell do they release albums or demos, or by them or anything from the scene? The
purpose with an album is to sell of course since they are products, and I
have no problem with that as long as we still have the basis, the extreme
appearance and make the music we have always wanted to do. There are two big
markets for this type of music, Europe and USA and most people in Europe
knows about us already so it's time for USA now. It was really bizarre actually. The people there
were really disciplined, and totally quitet before we were playing and
between the songs, you could even drop a nail on the floor and you would hear
it. But during the songs they were completely crazy so that was definately
cool. They came directly from their jobs with suits, costumes, ties and all
that looking totally normal. We did three shows during eight days so it was
more like a great vacation actually, but anyway, we did two shows in Tokyo
and one in Osakka and later the weekend the same people came to see us again,
but this time with camouflage clothes and all that. I really recommend
everyone to go there, they are more like the people in West, but still having
that Eastern-touch. It was really cool and I hope we'll be able to go there
again. Yeah, well the music process and how the whole music
takes shape is also really interesting but play live is the more cool than
everything. I really woulnd't change it against anything. I totally hate the
uncreative people, all they have in mind is a great and fancy car, a great
job with a great position, and I fucking hate that. I get really depressed
being with such uncreative people actually. And I have never really
understood this misanthropic attitude which some people have, what the fuck! Metal
is made for being played live, listen to Deicide on the albums, and it's just
great but live you get a totally magic experience and a fucking great time. And
as said I woulnd't change this against anything since playing live rules. |
...it's been absolutely great so far. The bands
playing on this tour are really great, both musically and personally and it's
the second time for Marduk being on No Mercy. You know it has been existing
for a while now, and No Mercy is definately the most impressive tour in
Europe I have to say. And the response from the audiance has been great too
so I can't complain! |
|
It's a good idea and we've actually had it for a
while. But not for MTV perhaps since they wouldn't show extreme music like
Marduk anyway. We have actually plans for making a roadmovie, let a guy
follow us with a camera to document everything through a whole tour, and I
think that could be very interesting. We have recorded quite a few live-shows
in order to release them as a live video, but as always with incompetent
people involved the videos have always turned out to be really really lousy. I
fucking should have beaten them up! And actually we went totally mad once so
we totally crushed everything in our way, really hate to deal with
incompetent people. We had a show recorded with a cheap handcamera and it
turned out even better than those we recorded with more professional
equipment! And we actually recorded when we were playing together with Mayhem
on their re-union in Bischofswerda in 1997, and we had like 5-6 cameras but
it just became crap of it. Anyway, we are going to do some live videos and
perhaps some normal music videos too then it's up to the TV-channels if they
dare or want to show them. Maybe...but this music is going in circles, just
look at the new Immortal "Damned In Black". They have their own
style but mix it with the stuff they used to listen to as kids in their rooms
and that is in a way something new for this type of music, Black Metal. I
remember when I got into this music in 1982. Iron Maiden's "Number Of
The Beast" was the first record I bought and I could'nt understand how
they could play that fast by then. Iron Maiden, Dio and Accept has always
been among my favourites and when I heard them for the first time I wondered
how the hell they could be that brutal and fast, and later we had Slayer's
"Reign In Blood" and that was even more brutal, and faster. Later
when Deicide released their first album and that was also more brutal and
faster, but compared to the stuff today it isn't that extreme. It's magic and
really great', but not that extreme. And back in those early days I could
never imagine that Metal would be as brutal as today, but here we are! And
maybe in ten year there will be some kids playing even much much faster and
more extreme than we do today, and the we might stand there saying "Hey,
why didn't we think about that!" you know so I think it can get even
more extreme, but it's hard of course. No, I
listen to lots of music, but nothing I'm interested to play. And by the way
I'm not the guy who likes to label music either. I like lots of dark ambient
music, mighty movie soundtracks and classical composers too. But as I said,
just because I listen to it it's nothing I'm going to play. I like music like
In Slaughter Native and some really different music, but as said I'm not
going to play any of that music just because I like it, Marduk will always
have this devilish approach and the extreme music, and if not we could just
have stayed at the beach playing love-songs with a silly smile on our lips. |