Myrkgrav interview
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- Hello, Lars. Please tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are and what influenced you to start a life as an artist.
Tja, what is there to say? I guess I’m just a regular guy with some interests which aren’t that regular, if I may put it that way. I don’t see myself as much of an artist though, and I merely began creating music because I couldn’t really find a band that perfectly appealed to my taste in music. I didn’t have any perfectly clear visions of what Myrkgrav would stand for musically back then, thus the generic choice of band name and earlier artist name (more about that later in the interview), and so as I grew up, Myrkgrav matured (and is still maturing) in its sound and theme along with myself.
Basically I guess I should thank my music teacher from 8th grade of school, who pushed me into trying to play the guitar, even if he insisted for me to try to play the regular, right way although I’m left-handed. In the beginning I hated the damn instrument so much, but I figured out it wasn’t that bad in the end, although I don’t think it’s any fun to play guitar even today. As I got more and more into riff-based music like rock and metal, I started to create my own riffs and songs, and even though I’m not really sure myself of how I ended up starting a project of my own anymore, I did.
- Myrkgrav is your band. You once called yourself “dictator in the band”. Does this reflect your personality and any visions/perceptions of life in general?
I could probably just answer this question with a big YES and leave it, but I guess it’s more to it than just that. I like to be in control of things in my own universe and keep a tidy and maybe a bit strict organization of things that happen. Now this sounds very “official” and boring, but I guess it’s just as simple as that I’m a person following routines in order to not end up with a mess of information and organizing to take care of.
- In 2004 the press spoke about 2 demos: “Ord Fra En Fullmaanenatt” [Words from a fullmoon night] and “Fra Fjellheimen Kaller…” [A call from the mountains]. The first one you rarely mention it, just as Over Fjell og Vann. Why is that? What are they about?[Ord fra… a short history on this, it’s a mistery for me]
The reason why I rarely/never mention these two horrible excuses for demos (Over Fjell og Vann and Ord fra en Fullmånenatt) comes from the simple fact that they were never real Myrkgrav demos, but rather something I threw together for my Black Metal parody project, Skogens Trell. That was by the way the project that doomed Myrkgrav’s future for the Norwegian market, as the only thing people think of when my name is mentioned is the highly unserious and hilarious Skogens Trell.
Nearly everything on these demos is of a character that leaves you with an embarrassed taste in your mouth after listening to it, but there is a reason behind this, so let me explain: Originally I wanted to create something more serious from the beginning, although I am sure today that it would have sounded like shit. I started out with the band name Trell, but soon a hard rock band with the same name contacted me and told me they’d sue me if I didn’t change the name of my project, so rather than putting up some useless fight, I decided to change it. The problem was that I had no idea of what I wanted to call my project, so I ended up with the decision of just adding “Skogens” in front of the already existing name “Trell”, making the name mean “slave of the woods”, which in itself is quite embarrassing. Even I realized that back then, so instead of continuing my journey with serious compositions, I ended up writing songs of a less giving character. All the music is quite raw and simple, full of typical kindergarten-riffs and with lyrics dealing with shallow “Satanism” and cheesy nature mystic.
After becoming and being hate-object no. 1 for a couple of years, I grew tired of the whole thing and wanted to pursue a more giving musical path. The mistake I made was to include some riffs and actually a whole song from the Skogens Trell period into the new music, so that people naturally made a connection between the two and regarded it as the same shit only with a different name. Eventually I managed to write some more promising songs and put it together to the demo known as Fra Fjellheimen Kaller…, pushing it out under the name of Myrkgrav and gaining some attention from other countries than Norway, and after a lot of luck and hard work I am not even sure of how worked out anymore, I ended up where I am today. And that’s the short story.
- The musical approach of Myrkgrav has changed from one release to another. You have a contract with Det Germanske Folket for 3 albums and you are probably preparing now the second one? What can you tell us about it and the musical line of it? Who are the [new] collaborators and how do you work with them?
I am indeed working with some new tracks for the next album, slowly but securely. As I’ve stated before, I like to take my time with the composition and arranging process, so that I can be absolutely sure that I’m happy with the material before it eventually gets released (although I’m not so satisfied with the first album anymore).
What counts for the music, it seems there will be less extreme metal this time, more (Scandinavian) folk melodies and much more groove and a bunch of catchy riffs, though the essence of Myrkgrav is still preserved. I don’t even think I can make anything that doesn’t sound like Myrkgrav, for what that’s worth, hehe.
I’m not completely sure how many new collaborators will be involved yet, but so far I’ve asked Sindre Nedland to take care of some clean vocals again, Hellhammer to record the drums, my companion Erlend from Quadrivium to take care of bass guitars and Lif from Exsilium to come up with some synths. If things work out as planned, Sindre and HH will record their parts in Toproom studio under my supervision, Erlend will record the bass in his own Sjaaen studio and Lif will do her parts in Koia. Working via the Internet has shown itself convenient and effective, as we can all just send each other mp3 files, add stuff and send them back to evaluate how it sounds.
- Any idea about the third album?
Not really. For now I’m just concentrating on the second one, as that’s hard enough on its own. J
- You are inspired by Nordic mythology and legends of your local surroundings, but how far would you go to find your inspiration? You need to do that or Norway has plenty of stories for you?
I’m not really into the whole Nordic mythology thing anymore. In my opinion later history is much more rewarding and interesting to work with, much because I can dig up something that almost no one has ever heard about before. Come on, everyone knows something about “glorious” Vikings and all that, but how much does the average non-Scandinavian know about for example the Finnish immigration to Norway during the 1600s or work, life and beliefs in forests in the 1800s? That’s right – almost nothing, so that’s the kind of information and stories I want to tell, or else it will definitely get buried deep under the dust of time, which would suck.
I’m lucky enough to own some books filled with neat local history written by Mr. Reidar Holtvedt. These books are practically gold worth for the future existence of Myrkgrav’s lyrical subject, and if the author was still alive I would give him a big hug. J
- You had good feedback about “Trollskau, Skrømt og Kølabrenning” album [Trollish Woods, Wraiths and Coalburning], [was “Underground album of the month” at Imhotep Webzine, was very well sold, reached unofficial top 5 list of bestsellers in Norway’s store Platekompaniet, plus the direct feedback of the listeners on your guestbook]. How do you see success? Did it change you becoming more popular?
I quite honestly see my so-called success as a result of the fact that Myrkgrav is so typically Norwegian, and it never stops amazing me how much shit Norwegian metal bands can get away with just by being from the country they are. Is Myrkgrav’s music unique? Not by far. Is it quality music? I certainly hope so. But I have to ask myself, would I’ve had this success if I was from whatever other country in the world? I actually think not, and although it sounds cynical, it irritates me how Norway-worshipping big parts of the international metal scene is. I guess I’m not really answering your question very well right now, but I needed to get this stone off my chest.
As for becoming more popular, that’s not really something I’ve noticed here back home. I of course get more attention at for example MySpace than before, but if you look at bands that actually play live and appear more as actual bands rather than projects and how much more attention they get, I wouldn’t say Myrkgrav is so successful and thus I haven’t changed much either in my perception of things. I’m after all still just a guy with a bedroom project.
- You are also a good technician, now working in Toproom studio. Is this ability of yours helping you develop Myrkgrav more accurately on the path that you want? You still have your own studio? What are the main processes undergone for an album of yours?
I would say every musician out there would benefit from some general knowledge about the actual production process of a record, so yes, you could say that by having some experience with sound engineering, you at least know what certainly does not work and what is worth trying out. In addition, recording and composing often go hand in hand when it comes to Myrkgrav, since I don’t have any actual band to jam along with to help arrange the songs. If I were to write the material before I recorded it, I guess everything would sound quite different than what it does, since I more or less compose as I go.
I do indeed still have my own little studio, where most of the recording will take part this time as well. Although I work in one of the best studios in the country, it’s easier to work with equipment you know well and in an environment where you basically are at home and can do whatever you want to in your breaks (which there to be honest are more of than actual effective moments of work, hehe). We will see, maybe I’ll record and mix some at home, record and mix some in Toproom; nothing is clearly planned out yet at this point so early in the process.
The main processes… I could probably write a whole book about this, but I’ll try to keep it short for now. Usually I start out with a single riff I’ve written. This gets recorded and I add some drums and basic rhythm guitars and bass lines to it. Then I try to come up with a new part which fits with it, be it before or after. Even if a following part maybe doesn’t sound all that good just with lead melodies (which I more or less always have), I always add the whole rhythm section to it to find out if I can work with it. In many cases, I’ll change the lead melody to something else and end up with something I hadn’t expected from the start. This can go on and on, and if I’m lucky the basis of the song will be done within 2 days. If I’m lucky. More often it takes around 2 months or more to finish a song, and that’s before the final arranging takes place.
When all the basic material is finished, I start thinking about lyrics. This is a crucial part to take care of if I want to be satisfied with the final result. Usually I take a look in one of my books to see if I can find some story which fits the atmosphere of one specific song, before I take this eventual story and try to turn it into a lyric while preserving the content or structure as much as I can. Some would call it cheating, I say fuck them. J
When all the instruments are recorded, I can start thinking about vocals. Quite frankly I can’t stand making up vocal lines, because it’s such tedious and tiring work. You can come up with a genius line and forget it before you finished your sentence and that tends to happen especially often when you forget to hit the record-button.
Okey, so I’m writing a little novel here, but let’s say everything is recorded and the mixing can take place. The irritating part about mixing your own record when you’re fairly new in the game and don’t have the best routines is that you constantly find new and better sounding techniques, and then you have to change that specific thing in each and every project, which takes fantastically much more time than you would expect. All in all it’s rewarding work, but it can surely make you want to smash your head in the wall every now and then. After mixing the mixdowns get sent to some dedicated mastering studio, since I don’t have the right equipment or skills to take care of that, and hopefully everything falls into place in the end.
- Do you think is important to know to do it all? You also chose the cover for the album and all in all Myrkgrav is a massive creation. What other artistic/ non-artistic preoccupations you have, that help you create Myrkgrav and, why not, develop yourself as a man? [hobbies?]
As mentioned earlier, I kind of have to have control of everything; leaving things to the uncertain just doesn’t work when you have such clear ideas of what you want. All in all I’m not the most artistic person in the world, but to some degree you can achieve some knowledge about different parts which can help you get started and reach your final goal with hard work and lots of willpower. In fact, Myrkgrav is the manifestation of more or less all my different hobbies, if you can call them that. My interest for local history didn’t come as a result of the band, but rather the other way around, for example. Don’t know if the rest of my hobbies are worth mentioning but I’m very fond of fishing, especially brook trout in spring and a whole other type of fishing, cray, in the autumn. These fishing trips of mine are often combined with longer walks in the forest and/or nature photography, so I guess you can call them hobbies too.
- In some pictures I see you with a beautiful Hardanger fiddle. You play that too on the next album?
The Hardanger fiddle you see in the photo has quite an irritating story to tell. You see, I really wanted to learn to play the instrument, and the only way to do that is to actually get hold of the instrument first, but taking the fact that a regular Hardanger goes for over 3000 € into consideration, that in itself is hard enough. So I searched the market for a long time until I finally came across this cheap fiddle, which actually was made by a man named Olaf Sandum from Sokna, not far from where I live for something around 100 years ago. Full of naive hope I travelled to the city Drammen, where the salesman lived, to take a look at the fiddle. Not having a lot of experience with the instrument, I thought that it would be a good purchase and that it only need some small repairs to be playable, I decided to buy it for nearly 900 €. That was the biggest mistake I could have made, because when I took it to a craftsman with skill and knowledge about Hardanger fiddles, he told me it was virtually worthless, useless and impossible to put into good condition with repairs. I had been tricked by the salesman, a high-position city council guy (not mentioning names here), and he did not want to give me any of my money back and even less to take the fiddle back into his own possession, so I ultimately ended up with it either way.
I had to tell myself that I had not spent that much money on something that both looked terrible and could never be used, so I asked acoustics- and fiddle expert/builder/repairman Anders Buen to have a look at it. To my fortune he found that he could very well put it in shape with some drastic “surgery” for a reasonable amount of money. I think he ended up thinning the bottom plate of the fiddle with over 9mm, and that’s extremely much for an instrument like this, which isn’t supposed to ever have such thick plates to begin with. In addition he replaced and perfected nearly all other small parts of the fiddle and re-glued a crack on the back of its neck, so even though it’s still not a perfect Hardanger fiddle today, it got worked on by a truly skilled craftsman and made playable and a reasonable newbie-instrument. Actually I have photos of the whole repair process at my personal MySpace profile, so if anyone wants to have a look, go ahead. It can easily be found by looking at my friends list at Myrkgrav’s page.
Unfortunately I don’t have the skill to play it myself for the next release, but I’m trying hard to find someone who can. It seems almost impossible, but now it looks like I have managed to get in touch with a couple of candidates worthy of the challenge, so we’ll see. I promise one thing, and that is that the next Myrkgrav album will include parts played in the Norwegian national instrument; the Hardanger fiddle.
- Do you think Myrkgrav’s destiny would be different [and how?] if you’d launch it totally in your native language? Or is it just a trend now singing in the native language or maybe a sign of protest against globalization?
I don’t think Myrkgrav would have any other destiny than being put to rest before the first release if I launched it totally in Norwegian. This is mainly because the Norwegian market has almost no interest in the folk metal genre and the band would never ever get signed on any record label.
I don’t know about trends or what the typical metal band thinks about globalization, but if you ask me specifically about Myrkgrav it doesn’t make any sense to sing about old tradition in another language than your own – it’s like instantly removing the whole atmosphere of your themes and subjects.
- Speaking about the language, you are using a dialect, so even more personalized. Why did you choose this way? Is it closer to folklore, to Myrkgrav’s theme?
This is closely related to the previous question, so I’ll just continue here, by asking a question. How do you most easily express something you want to say about a subject you know about specifically from studying your local area? Do you switch to a very formal and stiff “written” type of language? I don’t. It’s so much easier sounding natural and honest if you sing the way you speak, which I think makes sense. This honesty thing is something I think a lot about. If you sound like you don’t believe in and mean what you try to express, who wants to listen to you? No one.
It’s of course closer to the folklore as well. Actually the history of one of the written Norwegian languages, Bokmål, (this is just one part of it) comes from taking the Danish language we used and adding Norwegian words used by simple and humble Norwegians, like farmers.
- What can you tell us about the lyrics? Some are composed; some are taken from the folklore. How do you choose/create them?
From now on, I think all the lyrics will be taken from the local history and folklore. The ones with made-up lyrics for the first album were just the demo tracks, and we both know they won’t appear on any new release, so all you get from now on are stories and tales from Ringerike, Lommedalen, Hole and other areas around here. I mentioned earlier how I proceed with turning stories into actual lyrics, but the basic thing is that the story has to fit the atmosphere of a song. I pretty much suck at writing lyrics myself, so often I hand them over to Erlend of Quadrivium, who gives me a helping hand with that process.
- Myrkgrav is not the only band you play in, there’s also Sworn and Quadrivium. What is the present regarding these bands? Would you like to dedicate all your time to Myrkgrav or it helps you to disconnect and do something different?
I can’t tell you much about Sworn, since I quit that band last summer due to the fact that I wasn’t able to perform live with them.
Even with being a member of Quadrivium, I get more or less all the time in the world to concentrate on Myrkgrav, since Quadrivium is more or less our little playground and outlet of other musical ideas which don’t fit in any other projects we have (although we work with quite a strict musical line as well). We recently got signed on Soulseller records, which will release our debut, concept album Adversus later this year. It has actually been ready for two years, but both Erlend and I have had other things going on and not a lot of time to promote the project, so it isn’t before now we get the chance to put some focus on it again. The album actually sounds like Arcturus in the Aspera Hiems Symfonia-period, but the new material we’re working with sounds very different again.
- “Skjøn Jomfru” is a song you’ve put on myspace last year, but then you removed it. Is it a song from you next album or why did you took it off? You also have a lot of clean voice on it. Are you satisfied with it[your voice]? Your voice sounds really good in a hard style, too. Which do you prefer?
I removed it because it has to go through some changes before I can be satisfied with it and put it back up. It is indeed a song which will be featured on the next release, but then in the improved version of course.
I wouldn’t say my clean voice is very good or strong, since I can barely sing my own songs. In fact, most of the time I can’t, and therefore I rather choose to hire someone else who can better take care of the job, like Sindre. When it comes to screaming vocals, I’m extremely picky about what I like and not, so even if it sounds narcissistic, I think my own screaming vocals are perfect for Myrkgrav. If I had to find someone else to take care of them for whatever reason, I guess I’d try hard as hell to get hold of Tyrann, who does vocals for Falkenbach and Ordo Draconis amongst others, to take care of them. By far my favorite extreme metal singer.
- What is your source of inspiration for “Skjøn Jomfru”? What is it about?
Skjøn Jomfru is in fact a traditional Scandinavian folk ballad, I just added an own riff to it to make it a little less repetitive, which I think the other folk song I did suffered from, De to Spellemenn. It is about the definite most popular theme ever to be sung about – love; unlucky love, to be more accurate. The song has been done in countless versions already, so mine is just a try to make a slightly different one.
- “Leidolfr” was your “stage name” and you gave up on it right before the launch of your debut album and wanted to be known as Lars Jensen. What does that name mean? You wanted to be known for whom you really are, exactly the person?
Leiðólfr means something as hilariously emo as “sad wolf”, so maybe you can see part of the reason why I gave it up, haha. But the main reason was exactly what you said; I wanted to be known for whom I am, not hiding behind any false name. And if you can’t stand for your own music with your own name and honor, what kind of musician are you then?
- New Myrkgrav merchandise is available, t-shirts, patches. Can you tell us where to get them from and how you like them? I personally can’t wait for my Myrgrav girlie.
Getting hold of the merchandise can quite simply be done via Ureuropa’s webshop at http://ureuropa.com/catalog. As for Norwegians reading this interview, I’ll receive some t-shirts and patches to sell, so they can contact me if they want some.
My original idea of how the design for the shirts was a bit different, but they turned out alright in the end, even though they’re not eyecandy, to say the least. We weren’t able to design shirts with the Ringerike weapon and Myrkgrav M combined, so instead there were made patches with the same thing, which I simply adore.
- The band Bucovina is the first Romanian band to sing Viking metal. What’s your opinion about their sound, as a descendant of the Vikings, by blood and music too?
As a descendant of the Vikings that didn’t die gloriously in battle (J), I would first of all say that even though it’s nice music, I can’t really hear that it’s Viking metal. The whole Viking metal description as a genre is after all pretty diffuse, as I doubt many Viking metal bands actually have music that sounds anything like the kind of music Vikings performed and listened to. But let’s put that aside. The material itself sounds quite nice, there are many good riffs and the singer doing the clean vocals has an interesting tone in his voice. I do though wish the production was a lot better and that the band would have allowed themselves to use more time recording each part with better precision. There are times when the drums go a bit over trunk and rock (although I appreciate the fact that they use a real drummer instead of programmed drums, like so many bands today), like we say it here, and though the singer’s voice is clear and precise, it seems he sings out of key intentionally over some of the riffs. All in all, the band has good potential; they just need to polish their work a bit. They should also be careful with using Norwegian lyrics full of grammatical mistakes ;)
- For me it was a pleasure doing this interview and I thank you for your time. What would you like to say in the end to your Romanian readers and listeners?
Likewise, it’s always a pleasure to answer interviews where the questions are bit more thought through! I would encourage the people who are reading this interview to check out Myrkgrav’s music either if they’re usually fond of the folk metal genre or not – maybe they’ll find something interesting by giving it a shot. I would also like to thank you for the opportunity to do this interview and spread the word to the Romanian metal scene about Myrkgrav. Last but not least, if any fans still don’t have the album and in addition want to do some personal advertisement for the band, you can get hold of a Myrkgrav package at Ureuropa, which contains the debut album and both types of patches, for the neat price of 15€. J
===This interview also appears on MetalAct[dot]com
