First question is - of course - about your recent resignation from WSD. What did happen really ?

We decided to leave World Serpent in March after the release of the new 7" and before the delayed release of the EP 'Whispers to the Soul' which has since been transferred to Eis & Licht. Basically, we had been considering alternatives for some time but we always realised that WSD were one of the main sources of neo-folk distribution. Obviously, the fact that DEATH IN JUNE departed last year had some bearing on the situation but the decision was confirmed mainly by the fact that, after several years with one organisation, it was time to seek a new avenue. Timothy Jenn now lives in Germany and our association with Stephan from Eis & Licht seems an appropriate choice in this context.

Do you think you are the last WSD "runaway"? What is your own prognosis for the situation around this label?

Perhaps we are given that we were in the same 'camp' as DEATH IN JUNE, DER BLUTHARSCH and FIRE+ICE. WSD still has some great artists and I do not feel any animosity towards them. We just had to do what was right for us.

Why Eis & Licht, not Tesco or NER, where you were in the past already?...

We have already been on NER which is now distributed by Tesco. Having forged a different direction, we felt that this should be complimented by an independent stance on all fronts. Eis & Licht is a neo-folk label, whereas Tesco is more industrial. Groups like FORSETI and ORPLID are closer to what we are doing now and I look forward to these new associations on the label.

With the rising of German neo-folk wave WSD impetuously gives up it's leading position in this scene. Maybe my opinion is too severe, but except BELBORN I hear only stagnant and faded music with claims for "intellectualism", but lifeless, abstract and decadent. While Germans brought back in the neo-folk music the bravado, moral intelligence, energy, strength and will... Would you agree?

I have enjoyed what I have heard from FORSETI and ORPLID and the Germanic imagination has always been close to my heart, although not exclusively so. There are still some good releases on WSD but they are few and far between. I prefer to see fewer groups of high quality on a label (bear in mind that WSD is not a label!) that has direction, structure and an aesthetic orientation that provides a good background to the artists it supports.

If to compare WSD and Eis & Licht, WSD looks much more attractive from the standpoint of distribution and production potentialities... Do not you care of this?

This may be true but I think that having a smaller operation with fewer groups can also be an advantage. I also like the aesthetics and orientation of Eis & Licht and, from what I have heard, the sales and distribution are good. Time will tell if this was the best choice for OSTARA but I would rather have made that choice.

Talking about the best choice, which other labels do you see as possible shelters for OSTARA? And, had you ever a plan of your own label establishing?

We are pleased to be associated with Eis & Licht and we will see if this can lead to other partnerships such as Eis & Licht have with Tesco and Prophecy. It all depends on how significant our music and the scene as a whole can become. Eis & Licht is a label, so there is no need for us to create one. Again, depending on how things progress, this could be an option in the future.

As for the past, could you remember how your musical activities started? I mean STRENGTH THROUGH JOY, you collaboration with Douglas P., etc...

We met in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1994 where, by some weird coincidence Tim, myself and Douglas were residing. We found out that he had been living there after receiving a reply to our request to send him a demo of STRENGTH THROUGH JOY. Things developed from there. He is a real inspiration to work with and brought a tremendous energy, knowledge, humour and experience to the projects we collaborated on. These included the two STJ albums and the side projects, KAPO! and SCORPION WIND.

What was before 1994? What were you engaged in? Also, it seems everyone knows how did Douglas find himself in Australia, but how did you? I suppose you are not native Australians...

Before 1994 we were students studying history. That's how we met. Tim was born in Melbourne but lived most of his youth in Ireland. I was born in South Africa and spent my adolescence in the UK. My family emigrated to Australia in 1989 after my father retired. I have now returned to London and Tim lives in Germany. Who knows where will be in the next few years!

Which are your best and worst reminiscences about Australian period of your life?

The best was having the great opportunity to meet and work with Douglas. There was no worst aspect, just the learning curve that comes with any musical endeavour and its development.

How did the conversion from STRENGTH THROUGH JOY to OSTARA happen? Was there a special occasion? And, did you take up any alternative names?

It was being contemplated ever since 1997 when Timothy moved to Germany and felt that the name was more trouble than it was worth. But the main factor was the evolution of the sound into something more authentic, what some listeners have called a dark folk-pop or pagan pop orientation. The new name complimented this change. In the Spring of 1999, I proposed the name and it was agreed upon fairly quickly. We both knew that it was a good alternative.

The name of your current project is very popular amidst German and Austrian nationalists, not only there was famous magazine by Joerg Lanz, but also today's biggest nationalistic Internet-portal is called Ostara too. How much you aware of this aspect of the name and what do you think about it at all?

We were aware of the Liebenfels publication but have no interest in the political agenda of the Ostara web site. The original name is the old German/Saxon word for Easter which is a fundamental part of our heritage, both pagan and Christian. The themes of resurrection and renewal are universal and recurring, embracing the light in the midst of the darkness. This ambivalence is partly the attraction of the name Ostara with its ancient roots and modern appropriation but, by adopting it for ourselves, we are effectively renewing its meaning once again rather than borrowing from other sources (apart from the original).

Have you any noticeable interest in middle-Eastern Ostara's roots, i.e. Ishtar, Astarta, Inanna and related mythology?

Yes, the rich heritage of the Near East does interest me. European history is inseparable from Asia Minor and parts of Africa and Asia. The Greek world and the Roman Empire were deeply influenced by these regions as was the whole destiny of Christian Europe. Jerusalem after all was the medieval centre of the universe. It may be no coincidence that Ostara and Astarte have a similar intonation. There are many occult associations derived from Babylon which did not disappear with that culture.

What do you think about use of elements of Near East musical heritage in OSTARA's music?

I wouldn't say that there is much of an Eastern influence in our music, apart from some lyrical resonances. I would, however, like to pursue this in the future as part of a more general interest in traditional music, whether from Europe or beyond. Folk music, like classical sources, has a perennial appeal and any serious musician would have to explore the earlier roots of music. It is vital part of the landscape of memory.

OSTARA's "Secret Homeland" album comes closer to a kind of romantic rock and even brit-pop rather, than to dark-folk-music out of which you had started. It should be in alternative charts I think. How could you comment these changes?

It is true that there are these elements in our sound but I would not make any predictions about the charts just yet. I think we remain well outside of the mainstream and firmly within a more esoteric area of music while adopting a more accessible sound that perhaps could appeal to a wider audience if given the exposure. I think we just pursued a richer, more complex sound than we had before rather than making any radical break with the genre with which we
are still very much a part.

Well, having mentioned the charts I mean your music's sound only. Touching on "Secret Homeland" essence, it's uneasy to make a way to it through all the symbolism of the work. So far as I understood it, the Secret Homeland stands close to the conception of Hyperborea�

Yes, the Hyperborean theme is there but the spiritual homeland is everywhere, hidden beneath ruins and neglect, buried within the heart of the world. Every continent and island has its otherworld just as each person has some sense of a deeper identity with the universe, however obscure and suppressed this may be. Atlantis has always existed beyond and within the 'horizons of the soul'. The title itself was inspired partly by the book 'Secret Germany', a biography of Claus von Stauffenberg written by the same authors as 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail'.

Which are sources of such element of your album as spoken-word samples?

We asked some friends of ours to contribute texts in various Euroepan languages which complimented the title and themes of the album. Marco Deplano reads from an Italian broadcast called 'Radio Liberta' which is a protest against the Night of the Long Knives written by Otto Strasser. Wolfgang Weiss reads from Hesse's 'Demian' for the song 'The Reckoning' which is a meditation on the downward path of history from Arcadia to Dystopia. Oliver Ruehl reads from Albrecht Haushofer's poem, 'Comrades' which was written in prison in homage to those executed in the July 1944 plot against Hitler. Sebastien Ferrandez recites a Provencal poem which fitted the whimsical mood of 'Midesummer Sunday'. I added some of my own texts for other songs.

One of the best songs of STJ was "Ways to Strength and Beauty" appeared on Riefenstahl-sampler and lately on OSTARA's album too. To be honest, I like the first version more, but, well, there is another question. It seems Martin Heidegger is an important name to your music and lyrics. Why? Which other names you can suggest as the basis for OSTARA?

Heidegger's text, 'Woodpaths' appears in the intro of the song you mentioned. I am drawn to Heidegger's conception of Being as the presence of the spirit beyond the shattered framework of metaphysics and religion, a mystery which Heidegger sought in the poetic expression of truth as well as in the more obscure ontology of language. There is something beyond the scholar in his work just as there is something of the prophet in Nietzsche. This transcendence of intellect is the true path of vision and thus also of being. I would not say that OSTARA draws from a lot of writers. Most of the work is idiosyncratic and only draws on other sources in passing. 'Ways to Strength and Beauty' was written while I was reading Mann's 'Doktor Faustus' but there were all kinds of thoughts that went into it.

How much totally speculative and idealistic approach in OSTARA's lyrics reflects and affects your own personal lifes?

The personal aspect is always present in some form but projected into images and themes with which we have an affinity. There are few 'confessional' lyrics. Masks of tragedy or heroism tend to convey the deeper identity of the self.

Your "nom de plume" is Leviathan. It is also for primordial sea demon. In geopolitics Leviathan personifies sea states opposing Behemoth which is a metaphor for continental forces (Heartland). Leviathan singing about "Europe's holy name"... What is that for??

Leviathan represents the titanic or supernatural forces within nature, all that is beyond the self but without which the self is nothing. Hobbes chose the name as a symbol for the sovereign and his embodiment of the state, thus illustrating the transcendent idea of power in a political context. The name of course is biblical, appearing in Job as the symbol of fatality and the divine will on earth. It is only demonic in this sense as opposed to its more recent associations with Satanism. By choosing this name, I am extending my own name, Levy, and thus seeking beyond my immediate self into the greater realm of existence which, I think, most forms of art aspire to.

I agree. To the point, it's curious that there is no Satan as the personification of all evil in Old Testament. In old Hebrew this word means just "opponent", and it appeared in certain texts exactly in this meaning. These were the Christians themselves who gradually made of "satan" a kind of real cult which was brought to perfectness by the Church of Satan. Well, if to return to the initial meaning of satan, what and whom you could call your OSTARA opponents?

Yes, and some see this adversary as a positive aspect of the divine will, without which nothing can exist: St Thomas Acquinas said that evil is the price of a non-static universe and Milton's Satan in 'Paradise Lost' is a kind of tragic hero.
As for our 'opponents', we do not seek to antagonise anyone but the individuals responsible for prohibiting some of our performances without adequate justification are an example of the banality of political correctness that pervades much of our culture today. The other more abstract antagonist is the general ennui and monotony I encounter in the everyday world, the diurnal nightmare that recurs incessantly but without which the struggle for a higher state of being would not be enacted.

This year is 10th since USSR disintegration and we ask every interviewed persons about their thought regarding this date... So, it's your turn...

The dissolution of the physical iron curtain left an invisible and deeper rift within Europe and the world which Russia still contains in itself, being situated both physically and spiritually between East and West, drawn towards China and the Orient and back into the Occidental fold but remaining a giant in its own right, a Slavic pillar of an older world. The end of the Soviet Union was also the birth of the New World Order, the global society with its foundation in a world market that was supposed to bring peace and prosperity to all. Russia under Western eyes stood not only for the last totalitarian tyranny but also for
the 'feudal' authoritarian ethos that the Tsars had sought to preserve. Marxism took root in a society polarised between tradition and modernity and this rift has not entirely healed. This is why it will never develop along the same lines as its past rival, the USA and will remain at least partially resistant to such a process. The end of the Cold War also did not bring peace to all of Europe as the Balkan Wars show. There, the darker shades of the European past surfaced again like a volcano and the seemingly forgotten enmities were violently remembered. Despite being connected in cyberspace, things remain
often very different on the ground where older roots remain stubborn and the global sea does not always pass without a storm!

Today, on 1st May, many anti-globalistic battles are held in various metropolises. It seems the most numerous and principal action takes place in London. Have you seen this out of your window? How do you like it?

I have seen some of the protestors and the contemptuous attitude of their corporate critics, the people whose minds are as narrow as the confined spaces they work in for most of their lives. Having had a great affinity with French Situationism in my early youth, I can relate to some of the disaffection being expressed in these protests which is a reaction against the complacency and hidden anxiety of the consumer age and its obsession with money and markets, media spectacles and technological determinism. At the same time, I could never join these activists because their political agenda is not complete: as much as I can agree with their calls for change, my disaffection with the contemporary world can only be articulated in a state of spiritual exile, a kind of ascetic solipsism that mirrors the collective individualism upon which liberalism is constructed. If these protests succeed in influencing world affairs, that may be a good thing but it won't release me from the isolation in which I find myself.

As opposed to such kind of isolationism like yours (as well as many other artists), those protesting people seem to be well organised at least. Are not organisation and collective action the only real way to change the system somehow?

Yes, people do sometimes have the power to change the world, or at least alter its course and collective action is intrinsic to this process. I respect those who wish to achieve what otherwise resists necessary change or moves very slowly. This is particularly difficult in a sceptical, often cynical, climate where ideals tend to be regarded as illusory. Apart from Situationism, the Utopian Socialists (as they were called) like Kropotkin and Fourier are still relevant in the contemporary world and the capacity to change practices on a smaller level is just as significant as the attempt to achieve a more general resolution which is always more difficult and potentially dangerous.
It is possible also to work in isolation and to make of one's own situation a force of transformation. That which is in the world can still act upon the world.

About ascetics... - can you say you live a disciplined ascetic life, as regards its material aspect, not only spiritual?

Ah, it's a life of indulgence and austerity. The Trappist order is very appealing because they combine religious discipline with some of the material comforts that are essential or at least conducive to well-being. The material and the spiritual are not necessarily opposites and a truly spiritual orientation requires a unity of being that is physical, psychic and spiritual, a trinitarian unity that ultimately resides in the transcendence of the spirit. This can involve a retreat from hedonism and a war of the soul against the ephemeral and fickle nature of life but you don't have to chastise the body or abstain from certain pleasures to achieve this. The main goal is self-transcendence, the going beyond of the self towards a higher state of being. This takes everything with it, pleasure, pain, love, hate, dreams, memory, thought and action. To seek the absolute is to suffer for the joy it can bring. I have no routine for this, no ritual and no technique. It just informs the whole of my life and keeps me alive!

Which future can you augur for OSTARA? Releases, live acts, etc...

We have been performing continually this year and will appear at the Abstract festival in Switzerland with FORSETI and CAMERATA MEDIOLANENSE on the 21st of July. We may also be involved in another festival in Germany in September. Our first release on Eis & Licht will be the 10" vinyl version of 'Whispers to the Soul' with new studio and live material. This should be out in June. The second album will follow next year.

Regarding your own contributions to other project like FIRE+ICE, will such things happen again?

We will more than likely concentrate on OSTARA for the foreseeable future. The only project which I am involved in is Marco Deplano's FORESTA DI FERRO which is still in the process of being realised.

Which musical field FORESTA DI FERRO does occupy? I know Marco a bit and guess his musical project should be �industrial and noisy?

It will be a combination of industrial, neofolk, Gypsy, Jewish and Transylvanian influences!

And, the final question that always interested me: who is Alice Karlsdottir who sang "Lady of The Vanir" on the last FIRE+ICE album? I think everyone is interested, and you seem to know not only her name...

Alice is a friend of Ian Read in the Rune Guild. I have only encountered her majestic voice. She obviously has an Icelandic background and the song is very hypnotic.

Thank you very much for the answers and good luck to you and OSTARA.

Thanks for the interesting questions.