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...

Interview by Whodan, translated from Swedish to English.

 

The latest MCD "Obedience" was released on Morgan's own label Bloodawn Productions and not on Osmose Productions as before. Why was that?

 

We were, as you perhaps know, finished with our contract after "Panzer Division Marduk" so we weren't bound to Osmose anymore. But even if we were it would still have been okay to do anything like this anyway 'cause they are really easy to deal with. Well, we argued a little with Osmose first and there were a few things we couldn't solve at the beginning, but anyway it was okay with them. So we just wanted to see how it was to do anything like this, do everything by ourselves and so. But now we are back on Osmose again, and the next release will be a live album which is coming out in October. And then there will be atleast two more fullenght albums on Osmose. Hervé is helping us distributing "Obedience" and everything so that's cool. We just thought it would be interesting to do something by ourselves as I said.

 

So the next release will be one more live album...

Yeah, during the last tour in autumn 1999 we recorded all the shows in France, and since "Live in Germania" was more of a "German assault" we wanted to do the same thing with France. And as we had a whole bunch of dates in French we did different sets where we changed a few songs in order to get 19 songs all in all. So now we've been listening to various versions and are choosing the songs. It will be released as a double-CD which will be sold for the price of one. And we are going to make an exclusive booklet, like a mark of our 10 years of existance as a band.

The sound quality on these recordings, are they as good as on "Live In Germania"?
Nah, hopefully we got it even a little better this time...

Even better?

Yeah, but you'll hear...it's like "upside down" since it's recorded in different venues and all venues have different accoustic and PA's and everything. So anyway...it's still raw and dirty live-sound, but that's the point you know. If one wanna hear all the songs with a perfect sound one could just sit at home and listen to the CD's instead. Like, on some of the versions we chose I sing totally wrong in certain verses and so. But who gives a fuck, it's live and it should be like that. The atmosphere is there, and the energy...and that's what we wanted to catch since that's the meaning with live. I think it will be cool.

But last time, on "Live In Germania" you had cut off the audiance between the songs and that destroys some of the live-feeling.

 

Yeah, but this time we could mic up everything better so you'll hear that the audiance is really into it, as they were last time as well, just that only the instruments were micked up that time and then you will of course not hear that much from the audiance, just a little. But this time you should hear more of it…it was a little more professional this time.

Something I was curious about is what comments you've gotten about the S/M concept you have on "Obedience".

 

(laughs) Everything! I mean...haha. Sex is funny, haha. But what the hell... I mean, it's always like this with Marduk, what should I say? Stay out of the limits if I say so. The day we start with normal things we could just go to hell and do something totally different, play silly love-songs or whatever instead. When we do something we wanna do the most extreme of it, but still having the almost mandatory blasphemy-part in it. But what the fuck, what's more blasphemic than an old bitch walking around touching corpses and getting really horney at funerals...haha...nah, it's definately nasty.

No angry letters from feminists then?
Naaah...he... It hasn't been anything of this actually. Nothing we have bothered to care about anyway. Of course, you always stick someone in the eyes when you have an extreme appearance as we have, no matter what you do so... And we are in the position of either being hated or loved, more than being a common band, and that's just exactly how we want it too. Otherwise we could just sit on a chair in the bar singing stupid love-songs (he also says something funny in Swedish, impossible to translate - ed). But as long as we have this extreme appearance we'll totally go for it, and I have absolutely no problem if people are having a problem with my attitude, I don't give a fuck. If you don't like it, just don't listen to it. It's so fucking simple. Idiots being provoked, nah it's just funny.

And Black Metal is about being provokative and extreme!

I fuckin' agree. That's the way it is. We like to have an attitude, if I say so.

What's going to be the concept next time?
We are currently planing the next fullenght album, we'll probably enter the studio in December this year. And this album will be much more variated than "Panzer Division Marduk", because I mean, it's just so unnecessary to make a part 2 of that album. "Panzer Division Marduk" was just a cool idea we got, to do something like Slayer did during the 80's and to take it one step further, and try to stay out of the limits a bit more. And to make an insane album with full speed all the time. Of course there have been grind-bands before, but none has as far as I know played in full-speed through a whole album, there has always been something different in it too. In the beginning we planed to have an outro with tombs going like this (playing in the air with his hands - ed), but we skipped that since if we were to have it we wouldn't have had just one type of beat through the whole album, blast-beats. But anyway, on next album will use more 7 stringed guitars and some songs will be, like kinda Funeral Bitch-style, mid-paced with double bass-drumms and some really heavy epic stuff. And the concept will be death, all through. We have lots of ideas about death and extraordinary violent and evil-minded demons. But anyway, that's what we have planed. And since "Nightwing" had this medieval vampire-theme with violence, wars and that stuff it had to be the "blood-album ", while we thought that "Panzer Division Marduk" with all the violence and the hell that breaks loose, which the album is about hehe... and demons killing angels and Christians, it had to be the "fire-album". So then we just thought we had to do an album about death too, which was something we came up with half-way "Hell, we have made albums about blood and fire, now we have to do something dealing about death".

Blood, fire and death... Could this also been seen as a tribute to Bathory?
Yeah, but perhaps not to Bathory only, rather to what it once was and the whole Metal scene. Blood, fire and death sum up everything what the Metal music stands for on a purely ideological level and that was, according to old interviews, something Quorthon himself thought when he did "Blood Fire Death". Bathory isn't really the best band in the world today if I say so, actually it's only the three first albums that are that great.

I think "Hammerheart" is pretty good too, you don't think so...?

 

 

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

You don't think the same thing could happen with the Abyss studio as to Sunlight, that the bands will get the same sound since there are extremely many bands recording their albums there right now?

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.

USA, is that a big market for Marduk, you haven't played much there or have you?

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.

You did some shows in Japan quite some time ago, how was that?

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.

To play live, is that the best with being in a band?

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.

And you are going to do your last show on the No Mercy tour later this evening...

 

...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!

If you wanna grow as you said before, why not release a video as that is probably great promotion, and let MTV play it!

 

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.

You said that you aren't going to experiement with new styles, but don't you think it will be really hard to take this music a step further without including anything new from other genres?

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.

But you don't only listen to Metal...?

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.