I can’t say I like the music
of TULUS. But I can say the same about the whole modern Black Metal genre. I
really can’t understand why the classic GORGOROTH’s “Pentagram” or “Hvis Lyseth
Tar Oss” by BURZUM are sold in less copies than that commercial shit released
by today’s “stars,” who care more about making digipacks than good songs. May
be you have an answer? However, people do buy all those new albums and I hope
they do enjoy them as I did four-five years ago. TULUS is one of those bands
that appeared during the latest tree years, and it originates from mighty
Norway, as you all may guess. I don’t know where they find all these Norwegian
bands, but it seems there is no chance for all of us to see the end of the line
of Norwegians in Black Metal scene. Hail, Norway! I introduce to you another
Viking called Salke. He is among those who stay behind the name TULUS. The name
without meaning...
The past of TULUS is a mystery
to me. Please tell a bit about this and about members of the band.
Well, Blodstrup and me started rehearsing back in 1991. In 1993 we recruited
Gottskalk, and we recorded our first demo “Samlerens Kammer” (Collector’s
Chamber) in ’94 and followed up with “Midtvintermane”(Midvintermoon) in
December ’95. In October 1996 we released “Pure Black Energy” on our own, but
Hot Recs. re-released it early ’97. Hot Recs. is responsible for the release of
“Mysterion,” our second album , in march ’98. This is our complete story, cause
we’ve never played any gigs.
Ads in magazines say TULUS got
a member of OLD MAN’S CHILD. Please tell me about this stuff...
As the only fulltime members of OLD MAN’S CHILD are the two guitarists, they
needed a drummer and a bass-player for their European tour last September. So
Blodstrup and I stepped in. Our departure isn’t more dramatic than we were just
hired for this tour. I also played with them for five dates in November
together with DIMMU BORGIR and WITHERING SURFACE.
I know that you have just
released your second album. What can you say about the new TULUS material? Any
changes, experiments? So, what-where-and-when?
Sorry, no big changes, except for the waltz. Better songs and better production
sound like a bad cliche, don't they? Cliche or not – it’s better anyway!
You gave your debut album
“Pure Black Energy” a trendy name! Such a description may be found in many
mailorders for the most pathetic Black Metal acts from the countries like
Sweden, Poland (N: Sorry guys but it’s my opinion) or the States. What was the
reason for such name? Yeah, and do you have any story behind the band’s name
TULUS?
Well, actually “Pure Black Energy” is what our debut album contains. It’s a
description of our music. So far we’ve got only positive reactions on this
title. If this is a description of some Polish bands they maybe play pure black
energy, or maybe they are covering TULUS tunes. As for the “word” TULUS, it’s
our name. Do all names mean anything? What is the meaning of Nazgul (an author
of the interview)?
Who creates music and who
writes lyrics for the band? What are your lyrics about?
That’s an easy question. The music is written by Salke and Blodstrup, and the
lyrics by Hilde. Poor Hilde had a lonely period in her life, and some poems
reflect her dark and sinister thoughts of that time. Other poems deal with old
Norwegian myths.
What kinds of music do you
listen? Name your top five albums of the latest time?
We like music best described as “Pure Black Energy”. In 1997 EMPEROR and MAYHEM
delivered such albums. Oh yeah, I had to listen to the OLD MAN’S CHILD’s new
album before this touring. At last I really started to like it!
You don’t have corpse paint. I
saw your photos on some flyers, you looked like really morbid people there. Is
this a sort of make up or you just have such a sick looking faces in the real
life?
Corpse paint is for black metal! Do we look morbid? That wasn’t nice said. I
may understand the morbid look of Blodstrup. Those who understand Hilde’s
lyrics may also understand that living with this woman can’t be healthy.
This is the end of the
interview. End it your own way…
Thanx for your interest. I hope you, the Poles, will check out “Mysterion”.