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Mortiis. I bet you all know
this name. And even at least once you have tried to scare your girlfriends with
his photo. Haven’t you? Hey, even twice?! An elf-looking beast with huge nose,
ears and long sharp claws plays music for the kings. This music is as well
recognized as its creator. Monotonous epic tales with catchy touch of medieval
melodies of unknown dimensions are known equally among metal fans and among
people who listen to a more intelligent music like ambient or gothic. You
didn’t know that? So, I stop bullshiting and go straight to the business. Here
are some facts about musical career of Mortiis, and after them you’ll find
fresh fat juicy interview with this really cool guy who has a good sense of
humor. The year of 1992 brought us the brilliant first album of EMPEROR. Mortiis
appeared on this album as a bass player as well. He even did some lyrics (the
best among all EMPEROR’s in my opinion. "I’m the Black Wizards"
rulez!). Euronimous’ death brought a lot of mess in life of Norway; many Black
Metal musicians got their prison sentences; count is still there as you all
remember. Mortiis moved from his home country and appeared in Sweden. There he
began his solo career. In late 1992 - beginning of ‘93 Mortiis recorded his
first demo "The Song Of a Long Forgotten Ghost". Polish fans can buy
this demo from Pagan Records that re-released it not long ago. December 1993,
"Fodt Til A Herske" was recorded. Finally, in the summer of 1994
great Scandinavian label Cold Meat Industry decided to sign this lonely soul
and the ice seemed to break altogether. Mortiis became very well-known musician
and CMI’s best selling act. Till this year he released a whole bunch of albums
under name Mortiis, but he also has a couple of projects such as VOND, FATA
MORGANA, and CINTECELE DIAVOLUI. Right after this interview you’ll find his
full discography. Well, what can I add? He just recorded his new album
"The Stargate"(very very long-waited), he will also release his own
book "Secrets of My Kingdom" and he has his web page in Internet. All
computer users may check out this cool site at www. Mortiis.com. So, let’s talk
with this outstanding musician!
First of all, please tell me
about yourself (age, Home City, education)...
I don’t really feel that would
be essential to the interview, as it is definitely not essential to the music
and the general presentation of my project(s). But, I can tell you that I am
currently 23 years old, my home city used to be a small place called Notodden,
I have no education.
You were a bass player in the
cult Norwegian band EMPEROR. Actually, I believe the album you took part in, is
the best album of the band. Is it true that Norwegian government gave some
money/grant for the band in the beginning of your musical career? Is it pretty
common in Norway to help the starting bands?
Well, it is true that the
government gave money to a band that Samoth and Insahn used to play in before
EMPEROR was formed. EMPEROR never received any money when I played with them. I
don’t really know if it is common for bands to receive money… I think you need
to win contests and stuff to receive money…
How did it happen that such a
different people like you, Samoth, Insahn and Faust got together and created
the band? Could you tell me about those old days when EMPEROR was born? Why did
you decide to play Black Metal?
When we started, and for the
entire period that I was in the band, we didn’t call it black metal… I didn’t
want to, because I didn’t want us to be classified as a trendy band, even
though there were only us and maybe five other bands playing "black
metal" in Norway then… Originally Samoth and Insahn formed a black metal
project and made me join about a month later, we used lyrics that I had used in
a previous band, and we started making songs… Faust joined a year later… Samoth
was playing the drums for the first year of the band’s existence…
Well, the last question about
EMPEROR. What do you think about the new album of the band? And could we expect
that somewhere in the future EMPEROR will appear in it’s «golden» line-up on
stage and we’ll hear "I’m The Black Wizards" with Mortiis on the
bass?
I don’t think there’s any
chance of me playing live with them again… We have gone in such different
directions since ’92; I no longer play bass… I only played when I was in the
band, for one year, that was all I did… As far as their new album goes, I’m
sure it’s a good album, but I have grown tired and bored with that sort of
music, so I cannot really tell you what I think. All I know, is that they are
very good musicians, and I’m not, I never was…
Well, you have just
released the album of CINTECELE DIAVOULI. This is your new project. Could you
tell me about the album and ideology behind this creation? What kind of music
people are doomed to hear this time? (Sorry, but I still haven’t got a chance
to listen to it so the question is to general).
It is just a We just don’t
have the album in the country so far. side project… I guess the general concept
of that album is vampirism and old classic horror stuff… He he! The music is a
bit strange, and I don’t know what people will think about it. I’d say the
music is old yet modern horror stuff, with some catchy kinda feel to it… the
bonus songs are from a different session, though, and they’re more
experimental, pretty much based on analogue tape loops, actually.
Mortiis’ latest album is
"Crypt of Wizard". Are you satisfied with the achieved result? What
about sales?
That is the latest album that
has been released, yes. The sales are OK for an album that the world was never
really told existed. Mortiis has probably had the worst advertisement and
promotion in history of recorded music… Hopefully this will change very soon. As
for the music on it… I have noticed that after I did "The Stargate"
(out soon) everything else sounds very poor compared to it… But I still like
"Crypt…» no doubt about that, but the new one is just so much better… Twice
as good as everything I’ve done before it, actually.
As an owner of a record label,
you probably made some marketing research about your typical customers. So, who
is the typical listener of the "music for kings"?
No, I never really did that. Dark
Dungeon Music was created primarily because I saw most record labels I was
involved with at the time (around 1993-95), fuck things up and never practice
what they were preaching so to speak, and so I decided to do things myself, and
I did, and now I have done all that stuff I decided I was going to do, and I’m
putting it down… The mailorder still exists, so people can ask for lists. But
it’s no longer active as a label. In other words, Dark Dungeon Music was
created as an outlet for ideas I had to release a lot of different kinds of
vinyl records. A few CDs were made as well. But it was never a typical record
label doing marketing researches and stuff like that.
Yes, yes. When will you finish
your upcoming album "The Stargate"? Are there any changes in music?
Okay, it was finished in May
this year. And right now I’m kind of in the middle of negotiations with a
couple of labels. The plan is to get all the stuff I never had before, such as
proper promotion, proper advertising, proper merchandise deals, and so on. The
music in its essence has probably not changed extremely much, except for a
notably stronger structure and arrangement in the songs. The Mortiis mood and
feeling are definitely still there, stronger than ever. What HAS changed,
however, are the small things surrounding the music. I bought a lot of new
equipment a while back, and that has helped me a lot. It helped me write better
songs, and add a lot of details and work more in detail with the music as well.
Besides, what made a huge difference in the music is that I brought in other
people to help out on the songs. There are male/female voices in the music;
there is even some acoustic guitar in the music. And for the first time in
three years I went to a real studio to record the album. So, this album is
definitely the strongest Mortiis album ever.
Your book "Secrets of My
Kingdom"... Is it released
already? What kinds of writings it includes?
It
includes all the lyrics and writings that, compiled, make the world of Mortiis.
Unfortunately it has not been released yet. Right now I want to try to release
it together with CD. It would be the perfect time to do it.
I
got a chance to watch one of your videos, "En Mork Horisont" I
believe. Do you have any other videos? Do you want to tell us about making this
video and about those great landscapes and castle you showed in there?
There’s
not too much to tell. Basically, I just went up there and did some filming for
a few hours, all those landscape pictures were shot by the camera guy when he
was at some other job. Truth to be told, I’m not very happy with it. It was
originally supposed to be a backdrop video only, but CMI decided to release it
as a video as well. It’s super low budget things, and I know that if I did a
video tomorrow it would look ten times better than that.
I
know you do some live shows sometimes. I also saw a review of one of your shows
in the States. As far as I understood, the show wasn’t just good, it was
outstanding. Could you tell our readers about a "typical" live show
of Mortiis?
I
think that review you read was made by the promoter/ organizer of another US
show, so obviously they made a big deal out of it just to sell more tickets.
Honestly, I feel that my shows have improved tenfold since the US shows. I
don’t really want to get any deeper into what my shows are like. In a nutshell
I try to keep people interested in seeing the whole show. It’s not easy, but I
like to think that it’s getting better. There’s the smoke, the firebreathing,
and the half-naked virgin on the sacrificial altar, there is a couple of monks
and some blood, and so on.
Let’s imagine you have got
everything you need to do one final live show of Mortiis. You can choose any
place in the Universe, and any time (past/future). What would you show people
on this show?
I’m not sure. Obviously I’d
make it more spectaculous than any show ever been done before. I’d probably
love doing a show on some distant planet if it was possible. Or preferably on
some huge asteroid on collusion course with planet Earth. Harrr! Harr!
What is the goal of life for
human being Mortiis and musician/ artist Mortiis?
The human being Mortiis plans
to climb the mountain of spiritual hierarchy, the Musician/ Artist Mortiis
wants to see how far he can take his project.
Well, what are your plans for
the second half of the year? Albums, etc.
... To release and
promote "The Stargate" and the book, the way it looks right now. Hopefully
be able to start working on the next album as well, at some point.
This question I like to ask
the most, cos this is a very original one (I bet no one asked you this question
before). Your message/ hail to people who read this interview...
Very original indeed. And
here’s the original answer: check out "The Stargate" when it’s out.