1. If we focus on your logo, we could interpret it as IX.XI, which could mean 9.11, but when we focus on your lyrics, we could also interpret it as XIIX. It´s a date known to majority of civilized world. Did I reach the right conclusion? If so, could you explain, why did you choose this name?
I suppose you could say the Roman numerals aren’t much more than pure stylistic preference, whereas the numbers 9 and 11 on each account touch base with concepts that we very much portray in our ideology – for example ´the Eleven Blades´ will be a known concept to some (truly) Satanic scholars, while the ´level Nine´ is another concept for spiritual nihilists. Thus, IX.XI and its name, as far as the line-up is concerned, represent a merge, or a ´meet-half-way´ between on the one hand myself (a once devout nihilist) and Acerbus (a once devout devil-woshipper of the first degree).
The background story here is that me and Acerbus go way back, and during many a violent night out amongst the sheep in this fine city we inhabit, we have argued and down right loathed each other for our spiritual differences, for our ideological differences. Time progressed as Acerbus was working on his baby Ondskapt, and I was dugg into my own (more or less) personal and less acclaimed project Zavorash (actually named ´nihilistic black metal´ pure and simple). A few years after the 11th September attack, the time was simply ripe for me and Acerbus to go to work together – and I guess that has alot to do with the fact that I had gotten a bit less ´nihilistic´ in my philosophy, all the while Acerbus had gotten a bit less satanic.
The association with the events in the US on the 11th of September 2001 might seem like a cheap commercial stunt at the first glance, and of course, as far as getting attention goes nothing can be said in defence of this fact. I assure you it’s pretty damn deliberate. However, both me and Acerbus has an elusive relationship to the period of time when these attacks took place – we weren’t in the same country at the name, we didn’t have any contact worthy the name – but it’s been revealed afterwards that we both experinced things (peaking with those pesky plane-crashes) that can be easily equated to religious experiences. So whatever the surrounding world might think, we know in our own hearts that we did not choose the name ´9-11´ just to piss of ´Homeland Security´ and get a bunch of misdirected teens pulling our sleeves, in fact, those years around the change of millennium were such defining moments for the both of us that I for one doubt if IX.XI would have been thought of otherwise.
But it’s a ´band-name´ and as such open to free interpretation. You mention one interpretation that just happens to be another coincidental ´fact´ surrounding these numbers. I for one would label that a perk if anything.
2. IXXI is musically very interesting connection of black and trash metal. You pointed out the bass guitar a lot and your music now sounds much more „extensive“. What other influences could we find on your debut? Are you anyhow limited (as for genre), or do you consider IXXI to be some kind of experiment, something, that you wanted to try (but could not in your bands)?
The only limiting factor we had to deal with on our first recording was time and preparation. We were a new line-up, not used to working together, and it was an adventure through and through to sort of find out what the hell we were going to end up making.
We naturally had the ´black & roll´ style of music pretty set from the beginning. Me, Acerbus, and also Nattdal, had all worked with more standard ´black metal´ outfits before and especially Acerbus was pushing for making music that had a bit more of that commercial groove. What we were aiming for was making music that was ´catchy´ without being shitty nu-metal, making music that´d move a crowd without loosing that air of grimness and spiritual darkness that black metal carries. It is up to each and everyone to decide whether we succeded in doing so. Safe to say we were pleased with the result.
And I suppose we could have done the same thing in Ondskapt, Zavorash, or Dymhymn, or Lifelover – but each and everyone of those creations already had their definate tell-tell sings, so to speak. It would have been disrespectfull to just go overboard and change them. I think it would have ruined it alot for those out there who enjoys those particular projects. So we could have done things differently, but we did not want to.
As far as the bass-guitar is concerned Avsky is a first rate man when it comes to that instrument and Acerbus recruited him solely for the purpose of really filling out that instrument in IX.XI.
3. Well, now to members of your band. There are five people, but there was one change. Could you tell us anything about it? You´re quite well-known in Sweden, who did come up with the idea of this project? Maybe a little bit strange question, but do you believe in its future?
Our first drummer was named Selin and he is a veteran musician here in Stockholm who’s been in the scene probably for a longer time than anyone else who were ever in IX.XI. He is also a brother in arms and a good friend of the IX.XI line-up. It just turned out that he didn´t have the time or will to be with us for where we want to take this project, and that is why we swapped drummers just before entering the studio another time. Henry is just a lot more hell-bent on making the sacrifices that one needs to make in life in order to be seriously involved in a project like this. We recruited him on the basis of personality rather than ability, I might add, but he has done an outstanding job in meeting that challange.
The idea of IX.XI was first put forth by Acerbus, where he had worked with Nattdal before and they thus approached me to join them. I take personal credit, or shame, for coining the actual name IX.XI however. Avsky was recruited on bass, Selin on the drums – both of these guys naturally being acquaintances to us from before.
And the future? Well we ´believe´ in it as much as we believe in the future of anything, I suppose. We just recorded our second album this summer, have gotten ourselves a little rehearsal room here in Stockholm (in order to some day do our creations justice on stage) and that´s that. The subject of playing live has actually been a central one in IX.XI since the beginning; Most of us in this line-up has enough strict ´releases´ under their belts, but none of us has been satiated when it comes to performing on stage. We will be extremely carefull to, like I said, do the music justice, though – if we don’t feel totally confident that our live-performance will be masterfull as can be, then we simply won’t subject ourselves or anyone else to the shame..
4. One of the most insteresting and probably the most important parts of your debut is definitely vocal. It´s got many different shapes (spoken parts, classical yelling, black metal yelling etc. …) and it makes an atmospehere, which we could not say about some other bands. It´s definitely positive and I really enjoy it, although I didn´t like the black metal tone at first… this is my point of view. What´s your opinion on the vocal and its result on the album?
Well, since the vocals really are my department it’s sort of difficult to have an opinion about them in the matter that you request. What I can say is that if you liked the vocals on the debut-album you’ll fucking love what I put together on Assorted Armament. Our debut-album was really a matter of getting a feel for what we ´could accomplish´ together, nobody ever thought of it as anything but a beginning, and that goes for the vocals as well. Despite all this, I have always put alot of work into both my lyrics and my ranting (and I know this isn’t much of a priority for some bands) and of course I did the same thing with the first IX.XI release. I also used other people´s lyrics on the album, both of members of the band and others, something which just happened to fit right in then and there.
In the end real black metal is in my heart and soul. It’s sometimes fitting to play around with other variants of ´singing´ or speeches or whatever, but when it comes down to it black metal growl is what I prefer in music that I listen to, as well as music that I happen to be part of producing. So I hope you finally got used to my growl there, because it’s always going to constitute a larger bulk of the material in IX.XI.
Besides, clear vocals rarely fitt in, as far as I am concerned, and these days it seems you can’t make a single speech without getting stupid questions about Puissance. Not that I have anything against Puissance, come to think of it, quite the opposite – it’s just they already made themselves a name with the whole speech-deal.
My final opinion on the vocals is, of course, that I am pleased with the result and if I hadn´t been pleased I would have thrown out the first takes and made new ones.
5. The vocal is of course connected with the lyrics. „The End of Degeneration“ refers to the event in New York, doesn´t it? Generally, the lyrics are… well, interesting and catching. I´d like their author to say somethig about them. What is their essence, inspiration, do they reflect any individual opinions…?
I believe, or at least certainly hope, that the lyrics for IX.XI are pretty direct and to the point. The specific song „The end of degenerations“ was actually written by Acerbus and a certain chick named Crwth (a creative little monster whom I was dating at the time) – so you managed to pick the one song on the album where I should have the least to say about the lyrical contents.. However, the song is not so much critique as blatant scorning of the way in which this degenerate culture of consumption deals its rewards and goals in our modern world, the way in which the US is bringing about its own demise, the double-moral and utterly disgusting standards that feeds all this. Secondly, there is a mild glorification of the event itself, 9-11 that is, how fucking spectacular the deed itself really was (many are already in denial about this I am afraid), and I think Acerbus’s statement in that song ´the Devil sure works in mysterious ways´ is a defining mark for the mocking and deriding that we represent in relation to said culture, and said events.
The other songs have topics and themes that are less related to this issue. I have always worked for giving crazy-fuck metal-heads exactly that which I never had as a kid; Namely spiritual and ideological guidance and support, in this down right fucking ugly of ours. As such I have always been very inspired by Nietzche, mainly, and thus it is only as a fullbred Nietzchean that one can understand my following statement: My interest, as a lyricist, is solely concerned with that extreme minority of any given group whom I like to call masters. Therefor, even though IX.XI does have some slight ambtion toward commercialism (without selling out, naturally) I really must say that I am overly uninterested in what the vast majority of idiots think of our music, my writings in it, or even us personally as artists or whatever. On the other hand, for those out there who happen to have a brain I certainly hope that my lyrics, as well as the way I perform them, will give a nice warm feeling somewhere down in the gutt, a broad sarcastic and superior grinn on the face, and inspiration toward a future where physical aristocracy again means something. We all have our dreams yes..?
6. The second album is now done, could you tell us some details? Did you hold to the manner of your former album, or did you experiment even more?
I would say that our new album Assorted Armament takes off where the debut ended and just does it better and more extensively. Both Acerbus and Nattdal did fucking wonders on Assorted Armament and they made me more proud than ever to have the luxury of working with such talented artists. We did experiment some, with speeches that I made mostly, and musically as well – all though there are no lengthy tracks of ´techno´ on Assorted Armament, just ´real´ music through and through. The fact that we came to studio more prepared, and more used to each other, also meant that we managed to get much more out of the already great cooperation with had with Devo from our first recording.
Assorted Armament is twice the quantity, thus, and probably four times the quality. I for one worked through the lyrics more than ever. The album ranges from the ´black & roll´ type music we made on our debut, to some songs that are pure black metal. Of all the albums I have ever worked with before, I have never been as proud about a result as this one..
7. Hmm... Is IXXI perhaps meant to provoke? I hint at lyrics and I also ask: what about lyrics on your new album?
Of course it’s meant to provoke. Provoke an affiliated air of laughter amongst likeminded, and provoke the morons just straight fuckin´ away. No argument there. What can be said about the lyrics for Assorted Armament is that they are tighed into a concept from start to finnish, and that they are aimed at You (the listenner) in a rather unchecked way. Again, my ambition here has been to create lyrics and vocals that really does speak for themselves, there are enough bands with lyrics about pine-forests and all this symbology that takes longer to explain than anyone has the time or imagination for. Call my attempt ´down to earth´ or something, even though that´s certainly not exactly what it is – I guess I must confess to some limited inspiration from people such as Satyr of Satyricon (whom I have heard mentioning „everyday-black metal“as a characteristic of his later works) but in all frankness I wouldn’t call him anything but on the level.
The lyrics on Assorted Armament takes a deeper and more fullfilling time with concepts that are already present on our debut. It´s a pretty straight continuation I would say.
8. There´s one change compared to debut; you leave Total Holocaust records. Did you have a contract only for one album or why this change?
We agreed with Total Holocaust Records to make one album. We always had the intent on following that up by continuing with that label. It just turned out that we wanted to record our next album and Total Holocaust (being an underground label) just didn´t have the financial means to back us up at the given time we demanded it. I really concider this an ideological shame, to be perfectly honest, even though our new label in Germany Sigilla Malae is fucking awesome. It all comes down to choices; We could have signed with ANYONE of those large labels out there after our first album, like you mentioned before Zavorash, Ondskapt, Lifelover are bands that are fairly well known these days – I am pretty sure we could have gotten a fat record-deal by name alone. Somewhere you gotta draw the line though. We take personal pride in supporting the underground rather than trying to head off to La-La land. Even though it means having to put up with constant delays etc.
9. The last question, which could similarly „crazy“ as the last song on your album… do you yourselves like this kind of music, do you listen to trance music, or was it just for fun? It´s definitely unexpected ending of the album, that´´s why I have to ask, why did you compose something like this…
I can listen to music like that.. when I am really stoned and tired. What happened was the guys were done recording their songs and then one night everyone got shitfaced drunk and then woke up in the morning and the last track on the album was made. That track should mostly be credited to Devo and Acerbus.
I enjoy the ´Sectarian Trance´ track for what it is, an elaborate ending track that doesnt require the same kind of concentration or taste that the real music requires. I made a few tracks like that myself with Zavorash back in the days, but I wasn´t directly involved in making this one.
Our debut was kind of ´short´ as well. Almost like a fucking single. I suppose that also had something to do with it. I remember some of the boyz wanting to make even more tracks like that, but in the end we managed to keep it down to just one. I wouldnt say that ´Sectarian Trance´ is representative of anything concerning IX.XI. You could almost call it a fluke. All though I am at the same time not regretfull about putting it there at all. It´s jolly old fun to go out into the city and force some DJ to play that track on a Friday night, watching the cattle hop around to it like it was Eurotechno.. That’s my take on that one.
10. Now that´s everything from me; I didn´t expect you to aswer for the interview and I was very glad to make it. I´m totally excited about your music, keep it up. Goodbye!
If you liked our debut album so much I am pretty sure Assorted Armament will have you knocked off your chair. It sure knocked the fuck out of our label, I can tell you that right now. And like I said it’s a matter of principle to support the underground so keep spreading the good word man. Hails and nails!
