OC: First of all, how was your Wacken experience?

Ravn: Crowd wise it was quite good actually…we played a smaller stage though so it had limited supplies of gear you wanted. Actually I think we managed to pull it off pretty decent according to the circumstances. Festivals are always…hmm…

OC: Chaotic?

Ravn: Yeah. Either it’s really good or…it’s a hard task even if you’re really lucky and pull it off the way you want it. Just go on and don’t sound check…it’s a shitty thing to play festivals. I think Wacken is the biggest thing at the moment though…

OC: I thought it went well…I was in the crowd, and it ended my Wacken which was very nice.

Ravn: Yeah, it was a big crowd also, the whole tent was filled up.

OC: What’s the general feeling in the band at the moment?

Ravn: The feeling?

OC: The…atmosphere in the band.

Seidemann: Tired…we’re on tour, so of course we’re tired.

Ravn: Do you mean in general?

OC: Yeah…have you been in song writing mode or anything like that?

Ravn: We are in a spotlight, like limbo state. We have this tour going on and we have a lot of new material which is in the process of being made and a lot of shit is happening and has been for the last six months actually and will be also for some time. Everything is like…we’re juggling a lot of balls in the air and we have to get them down one at a time to make the bits fall together the way we want it. So in many ways you can say the feeling in the band is tense, but in a good way, because a lot of shit is happening, everybody’s on the spot to get the best out of it, to grab the moment so to speak. To get the band to the next level, which will of course result in a new album being released.

OC: When is that due to be released? Is there a date yet?

Ravn: No…next year…we’ve scheduled the studio for December.

OC: What kind of direction is the new material going to take?

Ravn: Well, it’s hard to say…

Seidemann: It’s going to be 1349, there’s no doubt about that; it will probably still be Black Metal…

OC: Is it going to be a bit darker like “Hellfire” was?

Ravn: In many ways it will be wilder and darker, deeper. We’ve done so far for each album, things that have been stretched in all directions. The clarity of the music and the songs have kind of stretched in all directions…slower parts and faster parts…it’s had to be more extreme in all directions. General feeling so far is that this is still going on, on the next album. So now we have a more settled sound and way of making our music that will of course be the main path of the album. We are not interested in repeating ourselves on any album, so it will be something different…of course not revolutionary new, but we are not out to make a revolution. We just want to make the music that we want to make. That is the main focus; we need to make an album that we are happy with, that really does it for us, something that makes the whole process easier to go out and defend it in interviews and say we’re really happy with this album. We won’t release an album unless we get that feeling, so we have to work until we’ve completed all of that. I’m confident that we’ll come a long way in December.

OC: Since Tjalve’s departure, has anyone in particular taken more charge of the song writing or is it a group effort mostly?

Ravn: Archaon is writing most of the music but in general everyone is pitching in. We have riffs, maybe some ways of arranging the songs which is done in the rehearsal room to put the song together, but Archaon has grown a lot writing songs and the structure. He has his very own way of making songs and thinking them out…obviously he got a lot better, it’s two years since “Hellfire” came out. He’s grown a lot as a musician. Tjalve’s departure…his riffs and playing style was very different to Archaon’s and people who liked that will probably miss that. I think a lot of the types of riffs and music that Tjalve made is still very present though and Archaon has of course played this over the years. They both inspired each other with what they did…it’s kind of a merging so that he leaves and Archaon draws influence from the older material but making new material and new paths. We look backwards and forwards at the same time, trying to combine the two into one. That’s what we’ve always done, creating Black Metal in general…looking backwards and forwards for inspirations and visions to come together.

OC: What’s happened to Frost for this tour? Is he with Satyricon?

Ravn: Yep, he’s in Japan with Satyricon.

OC: Actually I noticed only this morning on your website that Blasphemer (Mayhem guitarist) isn’t touring with you now. What happened there?

Ravn: Hmmm…there were some personal…family problems…back in Portugal. It’s confidential…

OC: Ohh! Well fair enough then…have you had to change anything in the set?

Ravn: No, no…but we had to break in our session drummer in just one week. He had a pretty hard task. I think he’s done very well so far…he gets better every day, like it always gets on tour. It’s been a good tour so far…

OC: It’s your first headlining tour in Europe isn’t it?

Ravn and Seidemann together: Uhhh, yeah!

OC: I know you’ve done one in America…

Ravn: Yup…

OC: Is it going well then?

Ravn: Yes it’s been great…we played in Glasgow, really good crowd…Nottingham last night, also an amazing crowd. It wasn’t sold out, but many people last night said that a lot of people are going to Leeds for the Damnation Festival; it’s so close, and they can save up their money. It will always be an issue that you have other shows and people want to make the most of their money. When we play a festival we can of course see that it might be an issue, but this is also a tour for keeping the interest in the band and keeping the audience warm for the new album, otherwise it will be too long a time since we’ve been in the UK. This tour is meant for the fans that really love 1349 and the rest of them will probably come and see us on the next tour for the new album.

OC: Are you playing any new material tonight, or just the first three albums?

Ravn: Uh yep.

OC: Oh, you will be?

Ravn: Oh, no no...just the…

Seidemann: Just the greatest hits!

OC: Haha!

How is the relationship with Candlelight going?

Ravn: Well it’s a record label like any other…they do their thing and we do ours…

OC: Any conflicts?

Ravn: There are always conflicts with any label. We are happy with them on some issues and not on others. It’s all about making it work…it’s a normal relationship, with good and bad terms like any other band has. I don’t think there’s any band that’s 100% happy with their label and…

Seidemann: I don’t think every label is happy with their bands.

Ravn: But of course if the band makes a lot of money for the label, they are willing to stretch more…in the process of building a band so to speak. It’s a difficult thing for a label to do from their side. There are so many bands…who do you put your money on? It’s an ongoing process.

OC: You’re doing signing sessions after each gig which is pretty unusual for a band to do. Are these going well…what’s the feedback like?

Ravn: Well the whole tour is for the fans…us doing something like that is a payback to the fans who stood up for us. We’re starting to get a really good following in the UK and I think that will show tonight…I think the venue is almost sold out.

OC: Nearly sold out! Oh that’s really good!

Ravn: Yeah, the last thing I heard was 403 or something like that…the capacity is 500 I think. We played the Underworld with Red Harvest and Aeternus in 2003 and that I think was 150 and that was a good crowd. Last time at Gorgoroth was sold out. We had the opportunity to do this tour; we got an offer from Factory Music who is doing this tour, and thought it would be very good timing according to the new album and everything. There’s nothing wrong with Germany, but the UK is pretty much the headquarters for a lot of labels and magazines…and a lot of, ugh, especially in London a lot of ear marketing. A lot of things come from England, so to do a UK tour is a kind of appetiser for the new album. You can go out and meet your fans after the concert and personally thank them. We thought it was something decent to do on this tour, to give people something special.

OC: You’ve been getting good feedback at the signing sessions then?

Ravn: Yeah!

Seidemann: We’ve been really pleased.

Ravn: Of course it turns out that the people who go to the signing sessions are the real fans. We don’t get many who come saying ‘wweeelll, it wasn’t the best gig but can I have your autograph anyway’.

Seidemann: Hehe!

OC: Hahaha! Do you have any particular favourite bands at the moment…what do you think of present day Black Metal scene?

Ravn: Hmmm…I have no opinion about this…

Seidemann: Nooo…I mean current day Black Metal…I don’t pay attention anymore. Of course this could be the time for shameless self promotion like a lot of other bands, but I’m going to stay clear of that. So no I don’t have any idea…I fell off the Black Metal scene as it was, around the time we started doing gigs and touring. When you play Black Metal every day, the first thing you want to hear when you come home is not Black Metal.

OC: What do you typically listen to then?

Seidemann: Folk music, Classical music, Progressive stuff, Jazz, anything that’s got a heart and soul, any music that you can feel has been done properly. I mean there’s no use turning on the radio because all you hear is mass produced shit. Any music that speaks with a proper voice and with emotion…that’s what I listen to.

Ravn: But we did have the release of the new Mayhem album.

Seidemann: Yeah, that was great! That was really good!

Ravn: And of course Darkthrone have released a new album.

Seidemann: Yes that was good too.

OC: Yep, they’re still alive!

Ravn: Yes, very much so. The last two, since signing with Peaceville again, it’s revitalised the band so to speak, because on Moonfog they kind of fell into this…

OC: Hole?

Ravn: Yeah basically. Good albums but they sounded much the same and there wasn’t anything particular about them. Now the sound has changed and the attitude in the band I think is turning back to their roots. But Darkthrone has never been like that. Going from strict Death Metal into the Black Metal path; they have not been in that Punk era which they are entering now. Maybe in the end they’ll find the strict way of Black Metal…which is the path we have come on so to speak, even though if you listen hard enough you can hear a lot of Punk attitudes and music that generated from a lot of older Thrash Metal. There’s a lot of Thrash influence in 1349. That also makes the biggest difference from most other Black Metal bands. They try to move their music into a more Rock based thing. To draw from the Thrash scene is different, it’s more aggressive…

On that note, the door of the dressing room flew open and the sound of a sound check annihilated the last part of the conversation, drowning the musical paths of 1349 and Darkthrone in white noise.

Many thanks go to Ravn and Seidemann for their time and the great gig!

www.legion1349.com
www.myspace.com/1349official
www.candlelightrecords.co.uk

Interviewed by Oliver Cass

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