As a matter of fact, MYSTIC
CIRCLE started out as a death metal band. Only a few years later you switched
to black metal. Why did you do that?
At the beginning we decided to
play antichrist, satanic music. I call it «antichrist music», not «death» or
«black». But at the beginning death metal was satanic, you know. And then death
metal drifted away to social criticism, bla-bla-bla... So, we called our music
«black metal» because we are antichrist, satanic band.
The title of your first demo
was in English, but then you switched to German. It’s rather unusual for
extreme music bands to title their albums in German, don’t you think so?
It sounds good. «Drachen
Blut», which is «Dragon’s Blood» in English, sounds very good. It sounds even
better in German than in English. But out next CD will be in English.
Weren’t you afraid that some
of your fans wouldn’t appreciate «German sounding»?
No. Our CDs are distributed
all over Europe. At first we wanted to write the «Drachen Blut» album in German
because it is a German legend. But still it sounds much better in English. We
wanted to bring the old German legend to people from all over Europe. It’s the
biggest German legend. I think people who are interested in ancient stuff like
dragons, they are interested in that legend as well. But in Germany there are
many people who call us posers, but they are mostly in other bands. They look
at MYSTIC CIRCLE and like «Ahhhhhh!» You know! Fuck them! The fans are great,
they come to us and they are interested in our stuff. We have had only good
critics from magazines, except in Sweden I guess. They say: «Oh, it sounds
Swedish, nothing’s new.» I don’t know, ha ha!
What does the name MYSTIC
CIRCLE mean?
From the beginning the spirit
of MYSTIC CIRCLE, as I have told you before, was to play the dark Satanic
music, to write the songs against Christianity. To bring people the older stuff
so that they could not care about Christianity anymore. And the name MYSTIC
CIRCLE means that all the members who play in that circle, must have the same
thoughts. So, we are a very strong band. And if people come to us and say like
«Agghhh! You are posers,» we say: «Fuck you! Go away!» All the members in
MYSTIC CIRCLE have one hundred percent the same minding. That’s what it means.
It is more common for the
Scandinavian bands to play black metal music. How does it feel to be a black
metal band in your country?
I don’t know. We don’t care
much about other bands, other stuff. There is too much envy all around. They
should better concentrate on their music instead of saying things about other
bands all days long. Since the beginning we were our own kind of thing, you
know. I remember people called us crazy back then. But now we are a success
with our music. And we are not arrogant, we talk to everybody. But there are
much rumors about us. When we are on tours, we have a chance to talk to people
and we receive a very positive reaction.
And by the way, what is the
shittiest rumor you have heard about MYSTIC CIRCLE?
That we are right radicals,
that we beat people up, that our drummer runs with a knife in his hand and so
on! Bullshit!
What is your attitude to
radicalism?
Well, if someone pisses us
off, them we say: «What’s wrong with you?» And if he wants to have a fight, we
give him fight. But we have to respect other people. And the necessary thing in
our life is to have the respect from other people. But I think politics has
nothing to do with music. Radicalism? No, it’s not our kind of style!
Have you already had any
conflicts with Scandinavian bands? They are known to be rather straightforward
when it comes to black metal?
We played with MARDUK and we
played with GORGOROTH. They are cool guys, normal people. Like everyone, you
know.
A few years ago it was natural
to use «true-and-evil» kind of description for black metal bands. What do you
think about that sort of labeling?
I hate it! To be «true» for me
is to stand one hundred percent for your thing, and not to make things like
other «true» people say. You must have your own thoughts and must do your own
music. That’s «true» to me. And we don’t impose our thoughts on other people. That’s
what I have learned from the first minutes of our existence and that’s what I
have learned from other bands like GORGOROTH and MARDUK. And if someone says we
are untrue and we are posers, I don’t care.
Do you have that sort of
«who-is-the-truest-kid-in-the-block» conflicts in Germany?
In Germany we have fights
every day. It can happen that someone sticks a knife in somebody’s stomach. Everyday
someone is killed in our town.
There’s a new «fashion» in
season for black metal musicians - murdering gays...
May be the guy from DISSECTION
is very sick, I don’t know. I don’t know him personally. I think murdering has
nothing to do with black metal. I think if I am a murderer in my brain, I
mustn’t play black metal. I am just a sick person who wants to kill someone. It
can happen that you kill someone, but it has nothing to do with black metal. Those
who kill have sick brains from the beginning. They are criminals from their
childhood.
How would you like to
characterize the German black metal scene?
I think all the bands, that
play in Germany, say that we have a very good black metal scene. But for us,
the audience was much better in other countries. The fans were very
enthusiastic in France, Italy... That was amazing. The scene for the music is
good, but the people are fed up! There are so many concerts, so many bands
coming to us.
Do you have any kind of
community between the black metal bands?
There are some bands we
support, but we don’t care much about the bands. We care about our own
business.
Communization studio, where
you recorded your latest album, is known to record THEATRE OF TRAGEDY and
CREMATORY. MYSTIC CIRCLE was the first black metal band to be recorded there. Why
did you decide to chose that very studio?
You like the sound?
Yes!
Yeah, great sound. It’s about
twenty kilometers from our home, and we would go for six weeks in this studio. We
had good time and good parties over there! We were drunk but it was normal, ha
ha!
Do you intoxicate yourself a
lot?
Yeah! Of course!
Do you drink while touring?
Yes, ha ha! We smoke a lot and
we drink a lot! Touring with GORGOROTH we played near Prague. And we visited
the local striptease bar. The girls were boring, they wanted money for the
stripping. So, out drummer stripped himself on stage!
Boys’ striptease?
Yeah, ha ha! And we didn’t pay
money for it, ha ha!
Yeah, why pay money for seeing
the «panties peeler» drummer?! Did you have any problems with police?
Yes. We were crossing the
border with Slovenija. We had T-shirts with us that we wanted to sell at the
shows. And police didn’t let us cross the border. They wanted us to pay some
extra money for selling the T-shirts! So we said: «Fuck you! We are coming
back!»
Anyway, you managed to cross
the Polish border and played a gig. Do you remember anything special about the
show?
I think Polish fans didn’t
know us before, but it was very good. People in front of us were screaming and
stuff! It was a good gig, I guess. Five hundred fans came at the show. Our
drummer and guitar player went out to people before the concert and they drank
some alcohol with the fans, ha ha! So, they were a little bit drunk... Soon we
will make another tour with OLD MAN’S CHILD.
Do you know that the guys from
OLD MAN’S CHILD are also «fire water» loves?
Really? I don’t know them
personally.
Yeah, I talked to them and I
believe you will enjoy the tour! But let’s get back to your latest album. Why
did the ancient German legend attract your attention?
The place where the events of
the legend took place, is only a few kilometers from our home. We now have a
keyboard player, so we were able to make a bombastic black metal album. The
keyboards can bring more feeling into music. More bombastic stuff like «Wow,
boom!!!». and you can create a very dark music with them. We were enough
experienced to record that sort of album. The legend is a fantastic story about
dragons, dwarfs, love, murder, intrigues. The story is very interesting. We
dedicated the album to the darkest person of the legend. We play Anti-Christian
music and we think that people should have more ancient stories in their
brains, you know. There are only techno kids in this society, they take drugs
and don’t know the older stuff. The CD is to show to all kinds of people what
older stories are about.
Then I would like to find out
your Anti-Christian position...
I don’t call myself a
Satanist. We play satanic antichrist music, as some members of the band are
Satanists. They worship Satan as a God. I call myself an Antichrist. I hate
Christianity because it is the constitution of liars and suckers. Their
propaganda of false morality, no sex and so on... I hate it. But I use Satan as
a sward against them, to provoke these guys. But I don’t stand myself behind
Satan, saying: «Oh, help me Father!» But I can only talk for myself as the
other guys have their own opinions.
Satanism and Christianity -
the two cannot exist without each other. So, worshipping Satan, they must admit
the existence of God.
Yes, but they use Satanism as
a freedom. But with the respect to the others! Live your own life, do your
things but respect the others.
Satanists are known to be
tough and aggressive. What could you say about the members of MYSTIC CIRCLE?
They are not aggressive. But
we fight with those who piss on our way! We don’t act like: «Oh, yes, you’re
right!» We say: «Fuck you! Come on!» We are too old now, I am twenty six. But
we are not aggressive. We love our life very much and we are proud with what we
have done with MYSTIC CIRCLE.
May I ask you about your
everyday life? What sort of guys are you in the reality?
I don’t wanna talk about it.
OK, no problems. Have you
already started to work on the new album?
Yeah. The album will show our
darkest side. It will be more into horror stuff. Horror soundtracks, so to say.
When are you planning to
release the album?
We’ll enter the studio in
April. So, probably, in August or September. In February we will be touring with
OLD MAN’S CHILD. So I promise you an interesting show with blood, needles,
pyros and so on. And... do your own things, have your own thoughts and don’t
care what the others say!