1. Hello to Swansylvania. It‘s my greatest honor to welcome VIT in Mortem zine. Let’s start with the question about Swansylvania. What a cult place is it and what laws are stands in? Is possible to understand it as a kind of a return to old traditions or as a fight against Christianity?

Zack: Is just a quiet little town in rural Ohio. There are shops, gas stations, farms, etc. Many of us commute to work in the surrounding cities. But what we all have in common is our belief in the great, merciless saviour. So, it's not really a return to tradition, because the tradition never left. Many a time has a preacher come through our town to deceive us from the truth, and many a time has he been removed. However, we are not devoted to a fight against Christianity specifically. There are many other religions and cultures that have bismirched our Lord's great work and twisted it into their own depraved practices. Our music is more a glorification of Vit than an attack on other faiths.

John: I would say we are striving toward a return to old traditions, but not in the way you might be thinking. Vit is by no means a “pagan” or “heathen” band. We are interested in a more specific type of tradition outside of any human mythology, including Christianity. So it's not that we are fighting against Christianity per se, it's more that we find it both irrelevant and insignificant.

2. At the beginning I would like to return to your past. Is true that your original name was Svantovit? I’m interested in because this term is Slavic, thus it’s connected with Czech Republic. It has multiple meanings and forms. Besides, you have used it in the address of your MySpace profile...

Zack: That is actually the true name of our Lord. We decided to use an abbreviated version because the common man was not truly worthy of speaking his name. Amongst ourselves we personally refer to him by his true name.

Nate: We liked the change better; even though the meaning is exactly the same. The way the word looked (physically shorter in length), it seemed to carry more weight and a more immediate forboding conotation (from a strictly visual standpoint).

John: Also, the MySpace profile is still “Svantovit” basically because we never felt like changing it. I'm actually not even sure if you can change it. We never really check our MySpace anymore.

3. You began with sending of your new album “-“ to the world this summer. Let me ask you why did you use the name “-“? Why the "-"? I noticed that this symbol is also used under your logo…

John: In the Cthulhu mythos, it is said that “Cthulhu” is not the actual name of the creature; it is only the closest sound that humans can come to comprehending. The “-” is a similar idea. We did not want to name the album something boring like “untitled” as that really isn't the case. It is not that we decided to not name the album; the album simply has no title. We decided to use the “-” for simple iconic reasons. The title being incorporated into our logo helps to underline - almost literally - the feeling that we would like our music to convey to the listener.

Nate: "-" is a symbol we chose to represent how we perceive the music as a whole on the album: a void.


5. The album has found its way to me, thanks for the promo. How many copies did you send out yet and what were the reactions? For myself I have to honestly say that I approached the album, but it took a lot of time to understand it. What were your priorities when worked on the album and how you’re satisfied with the final outcome?

John: I think we've sent out about 5 actual promo copies, but quite a few people have gotten our album digitally and written about it from there. Our main goal was to faithfully replicate what we sound like in our practice space. We've tried to record ourselves quite a few times before and it always ended up sounding really unsatisfying, so we wanted to work hard on making sure that our “large” and dirty sound was replicated on the album. In that regard, I'm very happy with how the album sounds, especially when it comes to the guitars. The only thing I would have done differently is the snare tone; it sounds a little too flat in some places for my taste, but that's probably just me being overly critical of myself.

Nate: All of the music was written over the course of our six year existence thus far. Improvised at practices, arrangements added later, tested at live shows, all of the songs have been allowed to grow very organically and spontaenously. And truthfully, they all change just a bit here and there every time we play them, what's on record is just what we happened to play that day. Not to say we play any of them drastically different in a live setting, but we aren't concerned with trying to be COMPLETELY faithful to the recording.

5. There’re many influences in the album that comes to my mind during the listening; black metal, doom metal, but even country (I’ve considered this in acoustic passages), maybe grunge… Talking about composing; have you been influenced by something? I feel American countryside from the album for a hundred miles, and it is good to hear, not everyone is able to make a music with native “legacy”…

Zack: I find it humourous those who wish to ignore their own culture and embrace someone else's. We are mostly influenced by Vit. When I pick up a guitar, it is for good reason. It is because I feel his will coursing through me, and I know he needs to convey a message. Music is the universal language, so what better way for his message to be heard?

John: One thing I really wanted to stay away from is trying to emulate other bands or cultures. For some reason, it seems like many Americans are ashamed of being from a patch of dirt; as if your ability to compose music has something to do with where you're born. There is nothing wrong with American music. A lot of my favorite music comes from right around us. Country and bluegrass get a lot of shit because of their mainstream representation, but bluegrass is capable of sounding more evil or disturbing than any metal band.

Nate: Well, Zack and John wrote all of the music on the album (I chipped in some ideas here and there but my main priority was to write the lyrics and take care of more of the visual aspect of the band) but I can tell you that we were deffinitely very aware of making sure musical influences from our native land worked it's way into the music. We're all very diverse in our musical tastes but that be said, we all have very similar tastes too. This allows the writing process to go very smoothly because we can gauge how each other will react when new ideas are proposed. We are also free to experiment around one another and suggest what we think would make current arrangements work better.
We just didn't want to sound like one of the hundreds of faux-Viking folk bands that seem to dot the entire U.S. It just doesn't make any sense to try and pay homage to a country/culture you barely have any ties to.

6. The recording took place in July in Earthworks studios. How many days the recording took? Filming took place in July in studies Earthworks. Could you please introduce that place little bit for the readers in Czech Republic? My opinion is that you achieved a really solid and woody sound!

John: We recorded the album in 20 hours over the course of about a day and a half. We chose Earthwork for a few reasons, the main one being that a friend of mine works there and he is someone that I trust musically. We didn't really want to go into a situation where someone didn't understand us. We've played quite a few shows with his band, Sothoros, so he is definitely no stranger to our sound.

7. The fact that surprises me is that you haven’t any contract yet. Is this just unluck or you simply aren’t interested and you believe your own skills in propagation? Have you tried your lucky only in States or even in Europe?

John: A mix of both really. We don't mind working alone; we've been doing it since day one. If a label expressed interest in us and we liked what they had to offer, we would definitely hop on board. While we are fairly DIY and apart of that culture, we don't strictly adhere to it or anything. We've sent inquiries to quite a few labels now, most in the States, but no one has really gotten back to us yet. We'll see what happens. The main reason we're seeking label support is to take some of the work of distribution off of our hands. We make all of the box sets ourselves in my garage, and with me being home only a couple of times a month, it can get pretty overwhelming trying to both make boxes AND ship them out to all these different places.

Nate: The response that we've gotten so far has actually been pretty balanced in it's nature from both the United States and Europe. A good chunk of the initial 12 wooden boxes have been ordered by Europeans.


8. I’ve found information that your group was born in 2006, but the first release came out this year. Why? Is there any older material, which is and forever will be hidden in the mist?

John: Almost all of the material on the debut is old. The newest song on there is Puritan Ossuary, and that was written probably a year or so ago. The closing track of the album was the second song Vit ever wrote. The delay mostly comes from us not having proper recording equipment and being busy with other pursuits. Like I said, I'm only home a few times a month, if that, so we don't get much time for the band.

Nate: All of the songs have changed pretty drastically sense then. Everything from the tempo they're played at, conceptual content and how they relate to one another as a one, whole piece of music has evolved over the years. We do have more material in the works that didn't appear on this album but we're obviously crafting that and saving it for later releases.

9. Who takes care about the lyrics? What is the main message in your lyrics? Are you trying to have your own attitude?

Nate: I write all the lyrics. On this (the album's) collection of songs, it deals mostly with the sacrificial and ritual aspects of Swansylvania. But it also tackles the feelings of hopelessness and loss that plague the human experience.

10. Do you have any imagination about your future? I understand that your new album is priority now, but how about live performances, tour etc.?

John: Only a few dates are confirmed so far, but in the last week of December we will be doing a small Midwest tour with Vestiges, a post-hardcore/metal band from Washington. Other than that, we almost have enough material for a second full length, but we will probably sit on that for a while and let the debut grow a bit more in popularity. We also want to make sure that the songs have matured and grown into themselves before prematurely releasing them.

11. Thanks a lot for your time and answers. It’s been my pleasure. All the best to the future!

John: Likewise. Thanks for the press. We are forever grateful.

Nate: Thanks for your interest in us! Long live Mortem.