The band Galar come from the south eastern part of Norway, and recently released their first full album “Skogskvad” on the German Heavy Horses label. To find out more about the band and the thinking behind it, Andrew Doherty interviewed Marius (Slagmark), the bassist, guitarist and grim vocalist.

AD: How would you describe the music of Galar?

MS: I have always liked music that combines different elements such as grim and clean vocals, fast and slow parts, rawness and beauty. That’s what I also wanted to create with Galar and I believe we have accomplished that. Therefore I would say that our music can best be described as a mixture of the elements mentioned above. We have even added the bassoon to our sound which gives our music a special trademark and identity.

AD: For those listeners not familiar with the Norwegian language, what is “Skogskvad” about?

MS: The lyrical theme on “Skogskvad” evolves around different aspects from the Viking era. Our next release will be a concept album from our home county of Vestfold during this same period of time. There are many exciting stories which are just waiting to be told.

AD: You call upon Norse mythology in “Skogskvad”. By allusion to Ragnarok and Hugin & Mugin (note for readers: Hugin & Mugin are the ravens who operated for the god Odin and observe the world), what messages are you looking to convey?

MS: We are not looking to convey a certain message at all. Our band is not about politics or religion in any way and that is an important point for us to make. There are too many bands which write about mythology and the Viking era for all the wrong reasons. Nazism has nothing to do with sincere Viking/pagan metal. That’s a problem we have to fight!

The reason we use these subjects in our lyrics is because we think the Viking era and its history is an exciting period of time which we find interesting and get a great deal of fun writing about.

AD: What is “Jotneraid”?

MS: “Jotneraid” is from Norse mythology and is about the build up to Ragnarok.

AD: Do you think that Norse mythology has an impact on your daily lives, or is it simply used as an artistic concept?

MS: We are not living out in the woods acting like Vikings if that’s what you wanted to know.. ha-ha.. For us Norse mythology and themes from the Viking era is more like an artistic concept as you say. It’s something we find interesting and fascinating to read and write about.

AD: Moving on to the music, “Skogskvad” contains a great deal of variety in terms of the pace, the harshness and the melody, the majestic and the reflective, Black Metal and Classical styles of playing, and the grim and clean vocals. Why did you consider it necessary to have such a variety of styles?

MS: I don’t necessarily believe that it was a must for us to have all those elements in our music, but as I said in the first question this is the kind of music I like and listen to. Our sound is just a consequence and natural cause of that.

AD: Who are your principal musical and artistic influences?

MS: The list of bands I listen to which might have been an influence on us in one way or another is rather long, but it shouldn’t come as to big of a surprise if I mention bands like Windir, Borknagar, Taake amongst others.

AD: I would say that apart from blatantly obvious fact that the lyrics are in Norwegian, “Skogskvad” has aspects which could be described as typical of your country. Would you say this happens naturally or would you say that you actively cultivate a Norwegian sound?

MS: Our sound is just something that comes naturally to us. I don’t think it would be a good thing to try to imitate other bands. The best thing is to make what feels natural, and the music we make is what feels natural for us. It’s not that strange that our sound has turned out “Norwegian” as many of the bands I like a lot hail from Norway.

AD: Do you have much contact with other Norwegian bands?

MS: We have contact with a few other Norwegian bands but as we are quite new in the scene, and the fact that we haven’t been able to do live shows yet has made it harder to establish a contact network. But this will come with time I guess.

AD: What immediate plans do you have as a band?

MS: I’m working on some new songs now as we speak, and I hope that we will be able to record a new album sometime next summer. That would be great. We are also working on putting a live line-up together, and hopefully we will be ready to do some live shows in a little while.

AD: What are your aims for the future?

MS: We haven’t got any concrete goals and targets as for now. What’s important for us is to have fun and to do what we like the most; making music! And if somebody likes it, that’s great too!

AD: Finally, is there anything else that you’d like to say to say to UK readers?

MS: I would like to use this occasion to encourage you all to check out Galar and our “new” album “Skogskvad” at www.galar.no or www.myspace.com/galarmetal. Plastichead at www.plastichead.com is distributing the album in the UK so it should be rather easy to get if someone is interested in picking up a copy. Alternatively send me a mail at galarmetal@gmail.com and I will send you one.

It would be great to come to the UK for some live shows sometime in the future! On behalf of myself and Galar, thanks for taking the time to do this interview with us.

AD: Thanks very much for your time, Marius. Good luck to you and the band for the future! We look forward to hearing more of you soon, and maybe seeing you over here.

Interviewed by Andrew Doherty