1. Hail brother! How do you do, last days? Could you tell us, what is new with Kampfar now?
Hill and greetings to you too! Im doing better than ever really so thanx a lot.
The reviews and interest in kampfar have been overwhelming I must say. So right now…everything is great and im very satisfied with the situation!
Yes we will now do a few festivals and gigs next summer. And a small tour is coming up also in February I guess , but where too I really don’t know yet cause nothing is settled here yet. But after that we will start creating new songs again. Cause we are not a fast song writing band so to speak. So its really important for us to stay focused at all time now.
2. New release „Kvass“ is the first one after 7 years. Tell us about recording sessions… Are you satisfied; as a band?
Yes the album was recorded in Silvertone studio in Norway and produced by Rune Jørgensen and our selves. We went for this spontaneous feeling. We played with energy and emotions, and there were some heavy moments in the studio where it all became pretty intense. When we went in we ignored anything that is happening in the music scene, and focused solely on our own sound, and I think we managed to get that.
So nothing was a piece of cake here really it was an intense 3 months period of hard work really hehe..
So I must say that nothing here on this album is done without a purpose! That goes for the sound and production also!
We are honestly very satisfied with this album as a band, so I guess the next album will definitely be recorded in Silvertone again.
3. How would you describe music, recorded on „Kvass“? Can we find there typical Kampfar´s musical ´pictures´ of beauty nature and atmosphere? Is there anything really surprising? I have read that you told every new album should be different from previous one…
Each song is now dealing with its own topics. And each song is standing more alone than before I think. “Kvass” tells in short sentences about the true soul of kampfar. Namely Nature, Heathendom and Superstition in mankind. It has been of very big importance for us to stick to our roots totally , but without looseing the new and freshness of it all of course. But i guess the musical „ pictures“ you talk about is still here defenitely cause Kampfar is still kampfar and I can not really say that there is so much of differences here in mind and soul of kampfars music now than before!
Kvass is also the sharpest album so far in my opinion both when you considering the production of the whole album and with lyrics and music. We have never used so much energy in making an album like kvass before in kampfars history
4. Looking back… Where could you see difference between „Fra Underverdenen“ and „Kvaas“? Could you say more about new booklet? How about lyrics? Are they going to be in Norwegian or in English? Where is front cover taken from?
If you compare „kvass“ to our previous albums you could say that this album is more one whole unit with different topics than it was with “fra underverden” for instance. Cause with that album you could almost say that it was a thick red line going trough it all, both considering music and lyrics. This was more an album that told a story from one specific time and period here in the north and it also was a kind of mirror to this in the music and lyrics. This time its different (even though mind and soul is still the same) but in one way you can almost say that we are back too our roots now.
The cover really suits us very well I must say and the whole thing is Kampfar 100%. When it comes to the booklet it self is that done by Jon Lundin. But the truly great thing here is that all of the pictures here is taken from our home area and it really shows where kampfar is coming from and where our roots is lying! Abot the Artist that took the the main cover picture I can just suggest to check out all his work at the web. Cause he is a really great artist. (there is a link on our site www.kampfar.com)
When it comes to the lyrics I must say that First of all , I am Norwegian and therefore I do of course also express my self best in my own language. And yes…there have always been an idea about this cause a lot of the topics my lyrics are dealing about is northern topics, northern nature, mythology and superstitions that’s lies in the Norwegian nature and in the northern nature and heathendom. This very important issues in Kampfars music and aura and therefore also best expressed in Norwegian I think. But we have done 2 different songs in English also “Norse” and “ravenheart”. This is done more in way to try to explain to the non speaking norwegian listeners out there what our lyrics and music is really about. These songs could offcourse also have been done in Norwegian, but we decided to do this in English for our foreigner listeners.
Uhh where shall I start when it comes to the translation of the deeper meaning of the lyrics?
I can at least try to tell about the first song on the album “LYKTEMENN” This deals with a topic/ issue that I have wanted to write and sing about for many years now, but the time and song material was just not right before now. This is a topic that have been in Nordic history since ancient times and its also about the supernatural and superstition that lies deep within men and nature! Hmm well I don’t know the foreign word for this, but I can at least tell the “Hollywood” kind of version about it. Cause Tolkien kinda stole this issue from Nordic history and placed it into Lord of the rings!You can even see this in the movie. This is a phenomena that still can occur in nature and I have my self some experiences from this. It is some kind of blue flames that can occur in certain parts of nature. This have been a very hidden kind of history until the new age of men really and the Christians tryied their very best to forget about this phenomena. Cause in ancient times the Nordic ancestors belived that this was the spirit of their forefathers and so on. Translated this will be something like “Fire men” “Lamp men” “Torch men” or something like that. So I guess this tells a bit about it right? This is no fucking fairytail this is heathendom in its raw form.
Ravenheart is the english song on kvass and its really the whole essence in both kampfar and this whole heathendom and pagan black metal movement so to speak . But dont missunderstand, this is not about any laws and organisation ! Fuck that ! This more about freedom and free thinking under one banner heading in the same direction ! But no fucking organisation or group. More in a free thinking heathen thinking heading for a goal and in a true way towards your self.... Follow the ravenheart !
5. What was the reason of so long silence about you? Please provide short describe of events in your history…
This is a question ewery magazine wants to know it seems. But unfurtentually I have the same answer here as always. After our second album both me and Thomas had a very rough time and a lot of personal issues had to be solved before we could get back together and creating music again. This was for sure a hard time and we just had to put kampfar on ice for a while. But when that is said I have also too explain that me and Thomas was never enemies or anything we have always been friends and we also knew that when the time was right kampfar would rise stronger than ever again. We just had personal problems in life on each side, and this had to be solved before something could happen again with kampfar. This whole process took us almost 3 years. And to get a whole new band working as a whole unit and in a professional way took us two years more. So all in all it took us almost 5 years before something serious could start happening again with kampfar. So here we are now. Back and better prepared than ever. And this is the most important thing for me now!
6. Do you have prepared merchandise of the new release? T-Shirts, caps, etc….
Right now we dont have any specific merch for sale. But we print up special merchandise before every tour etc. And on the last tour these shirts etc was a big sucess. We even had to print up a new stock in portugal to be able to finnish the tour with merchandise, Cause half through the tour everything was sold out so!
Anyway, we are now working to get old shirts back in stock again + printup new designs etc. So i think this manner will be better in the future.
7. How about tour? Cognitions of the new people, experience (not only musical), clubs….
We have just finished our European tour this spring , And it has been a very nice one I must say. A lot of great places, a lot of great shows and not at least a lot of great people to meet. So this have for sure been a very positive return. Its definitely not the last tour we are doing in Europe that’s for sure! As for the tour in general we’re all very pleased. We played small places and big places, both the towns/cities and the venues, and every single place had something special to offer I think.
We have offcourse not been one of the biggest “main stream” black metal acts from Norway to put it that way. But that has never been our intention either. We create music from the depth of our hearts and we don’t think about sales etc when we create a new song, its wery important that our music is kampfar and that no compromises should be done here just to sell more albums e.t.c.
Im offcourse wery comfortable with kampfar and what we have done so far. Kampfar is my life! Its as simple as that really. And it makes me really proud to be able to travel around and doing gigs all over, and to meet peoples that have traveled for up to 10 ours just to see a kampfar show. This is for me so much more real than just selling a lot album. This is what I live and breath for and it makes me really humble and proud in what we are doing.
We are also planning a lot of festivals and maybe a small tour next year too, but its just too soon to mentione anything more about it at this stage! But I can tell you for sure that there will be more live shows from kampfar in the future. That’s 100% sure!
8. Let´s stay in clubs. How is the quality of clubs in Norway? I mean sounds, fans etc…
The situation in Norway when it comes to clubs and and people atc its not as good as you perhaps should think i guess. But of course there are some great clubs etc here too, Espescially one club called „Hydranten“ in a town called Hamar is worth schecking out in my opinion.
9.Would you visit Czech Republic? Which country has charmed you most?
Of course we would do that if the scedrual , time and offer is correct. It would really have been an honour to be able to play there. So lets hope for the best!
Hmmm... Which country is the best! Well honestly i must say that is an impossible question to answer. Cause as mentioned earlier has every single country and place something special to offer which can not be compared to other places. So its really an impossible question Honestly!
10. We in are first in depletion of beer on the world.. Have you ever tasted czech beer? Do you enjoy an ´alcoholical fun´?
Yes , i know and i have tasted some czeck beer before. But please dont ask me about about any names cause i really can not remember hehe. This is more a question for 1113 (the drummer) cause he is the beer expert in kampfar. Me myself is more a whiskey fan and it has been really too much „alcoholical fun“ and „alcoholic anger“ some times due to that really.
11. As beeing a musician I am also interested in the equipment you use – guitars, apparatuses, etc.
Thomas use ibanez and fender guitars.
Jon uses bc-rich basses
And we have used tama drums for 12years now.
12. Could you speak about Norwegian and the world´s metal scene? What has changed, what you like, dislike…
The metal scene in Norway have changed a bit since the early 90 ties that’s for sure. But when that is said have the Norwegian scene never been a very open one either and it makes me really sick when I hear those fuckers that glorifies this early period with such big words, even if most of them even did `nt experienced it them selves!
It was not such a huge and great brotherhood towards each other in the scene as some brag about etc. To me it seemed like the total opposite some times. A lot of people like to brag about this period and to tell things about the “black circle” etc. Well, yes I do my self also think that in some way the true basic was more at present at that time but then on the other hand there was also even more jealousy and trendy followers at that time than it is now. People who said things just because it was the right thing to say etc etc due to the “law” if you know what I mean.
In that manner I guess you can say that I appreciate the scene more these days. But it is of course a two headed monster this one. Because the scene now a days is much more lousy and pitty full so to speak. So I really don’t know to be honest! But its just that I `m so fucking tired of all those fuckers that use this period to push their band and music forward to the media. That’s all really, it makes me really sick!
I have of course hopes for the future here! But I really don’t know to be honest!
Some bands do of course still hold the banner high in this manner and a lot of them still earn my respect even if it gets more and more seldom I `m getting impressed these days to be honest! But some bands that I really respect here is : Hades almighty , Aeturnus , Immortal , Sarcoma + a few others!
13. Which music do you listen? Many of metal musicians don´t listen metal music at home. How about you then? Are you possessed by any non-metal style?
Well to be honest.. im a metal head for all that its worth. But offcourse I listen to other stuff too. But when it comes to specific influences I guess that must be some of the old classical stuff. Like Bach , Grieg etc. But all in all its metal that is my drug when it comes to music, no doubt!
14. Could you remember the very beginning of Kampfar?
Kampfar was an idea I had even before we started up with my old band mock in 91. But due to lack of time during the mock period. Kampfar took not place before the split if mock in 94.
I had a very clear vision about the outfit and how kampfar both should sound like and be like from the very beginning! I named kampfars music back in 94 for “Norse Pagan Folklore Metal” and to me no one has never been coming up with any better explanation or labelling of our music since either!
In the beginning there was really a lot of problems etc due to the church burnings and massive response from the media towards black/pagan metal. I also had really a lot of problems due to this , police was searching my mail , the post was stopped and I was totally fed up with all the peoples around in the society etc etc. To make it short… life was really a bit harder then. If you compare black metal in the early nineties and the situation today , is the situation now of course like a walk in the park.
15. I have seen live video of ´Norse´ song. Have you got more records of live events? Don´t you plan live album? Or just a video-clip? It could be interested, to see, what´s in your heads.
Well, we have serious plans on this area and we have maybe 10 hours of recorded tapes up til now. So we`ll just see what happens here. At this moment i can not say anything more about this , sorry!
16. Do you read books? Which literature do you prefer? Which inspired you and could be found behind the lyrics?
Yes of course i read books , but its not much here that directly inspires my lyrics i must say. But history books and pure phantasy is my favorite without doubths.
Well to tell about my lyrics here in short sentences is quite hard to be honest. But as mentioned before have kampfar always been a band that deals with , Nature, heathendom , superstition in mankind , pagan history and so on. And this is also the case this time of course.
17. When making lyrics, do you work in accordance to music, or do you have lyrics prepared? What is most important for the band, when the new song is beeing born?
Yes i do always work with my lyrics according to the music itself. I can have serious plans about issues etc before a song is created. But the lyrics must always be one unit with the music. So i always do the lyrics after the music is 100% done. Take the song „Lyktemenn“ for instance. This was actually an idea that is 10 years old , but it could`nt take place before the right moment and the right song came up.
Well, I don’t know really Its quite hard question for me to answer this one really. But we are not a fast songwriting type of band at least. But it has been of big importance for us always to maintain the kampfarish sound so to speak and to stick to our roots at least and this is propably the most important thing for us as a band I think.
18. Do you have any favourite passage or song of Kampfar´s workshop? If yes, tell us…
Yes i have a favorite passage in the song „Troll død og trolldom“ that really gets me shivers down the spine still! This is my absolutely favorite when it comes to playing live. And i will never go tired by this song i guess!
19.You have got tatoo on your tummy – Kampfar – do you like it still? Do you think it would be ok also in future?
I have always said that there are two things you never tatto on your boby, Thats a girls name and a band name. And for me i have still not done that. Cause to me Kampfar is so much more. Its not just my band, its my life , philosophy, wotan or Odin. And not at least its me 100% and thats the most important thing about it though !
No i can guarantee you that i have no regrets about this and i will not have this in the future either ! Kampfar is my life and will always be a huge part of my soul !
20. That´s all from me, we´d like to thank you for the interiew. Great success with „Kvaas“ and also on private battlefields.. If you´d like to send any message to readers in Czech, it´s your time now…
Hmm.... Well I do not want to be a preacher but if I shall say something I think it would be something about the main thing that is going wrong in the society in general these days. Cause I think the lack of the interest/knowledge on the issues of “spiritual superstition “ knowledge, self aver ness, self respect and not at least respect for the nature itself in men! Mankind is doomed to destroy them selves , and one of the reasons is definitely that we don’t seem to learn from history and by mistakes. As mentioned I `m no fucking preacher and do definitely not want to be one either! But I mean this is so fucking easy to see! But still we are heading against total darkness and Armageddon!
I `m really into the mighty force of nature! But I `m no fucking idiot and I don’t belive that trolls and fairies are popping up everywhere.
Its more about self aver ness and respect towards it all! Cause its indeed strong forces here with deep roots!
Anyway.. Its fucking great to be back after almost 7 years in the shadows now. And I can assure anyone that it will definitely not take 7 more years before the next album is out. We are on the run now and this time I will not let it go so easily!
Thanx a million for the support and keep the flame burning in the czech nature! Lets hope we can be there soon!
