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Mortiis.
Shall I say more? Here are some facts about musical career of Mortiis,
and after them youll find the interview with this really cool guy who
has good sense of humor.
The
year of 1992 brought us the brilliant first album of EMPEROR. Mortiis
appeared on this album as a bass player as well. He even did some lyrics
(the best among all EMPERORs in my opinion. "Im the Black Wizards"
rulez!). Euronimous death brought a lot of mess in life of Norway; many
Black Metal musicians got their prison sentences; Count is still there
as you all remember. Mortiis moved from his home country and appeared
in Sweden. There he began his solo career. In late 1992 - beginning of
93 Mortiis recorded his first demo "The Song Of a Long Forgotten
Ghost". Polish fans can buy this demo from Pagan Records that re-released
it not long ago. December 1993, "Fodt Til A Herske" was recorded.
Finally, in the summer of 1994 great Scandinavian label Cold Meat Industry
decided to sign this lonely soul and the ice seemed to break altogether.
Mortiis became very well-known musician and CMIs best selling act. Till
this year he released a whole bunch of albums under name Mortiis, but
he also has a couple of projects such as VOND, FATA MORGANA, and CINTECELE
DIAVOLUI. Right after this interview youll find his full discography.
Well, what can I add? He just recorded his new album "The Stargate"(very
very long-waited), he will also release his own book "Secrets of
My Kingdom" and he has his web page in Internet. All computer users
may check out this cool site at www.
Mortiis.com. As far as I know he got a deal with Earache and his
book will be released together with this CD. The artwork for the book
is done by Mark Riddick from ... Soil Bleeds Black. So, lets talk with
this outstanding musician!
First
of all, please tell me about yourself (age, Home City, education)...
I dont
really feel that would be essential to the interview, as it is definitely
not essential to the music and the general presentation of my project(s).
But, I can tell you that I am currently 23 years old, my home city used
to be a small place called Notodden, I have no education.
You were
a bass player in the cult Norwegian band EMPEROR. Actually, I believe
the album you took part in, is the best album of the band. Is it true
that Norwegian government gave some money/grant for the band in the beginning
of your musical career? Is it pretty common in Norway to help the starting
bands?
Well, it
is true that the government gave money to a band that Samoth and Insahn
used to play in before EMPEROR was formed. EMPEROR never received any
money when I played with them. I dont really know if it is common for
bands to receive money I think you need to win contests and stuff to
receive money
How did
it happen that such a different people like you, Samoth, Insahn and Faust
got together and created the band? Could you tell me about those old
days when EMPEROR was born? Why did you decide to play Black Metal?
When we
started, and for the entire period that I was in the band, we didnt
call it black metal I didnt want to, because I didnt want us to be
classified as a trendy band, even though there were only us and maybe
five other bands playing "black metal" in Norway then Originally
Samoth and Insahn formed a black metal project and made me join about
a month later, we used lyrics that I had used in a previous band, and
we started making songs Faust joined a year later Samoth was playing
the drums for the first year of the bands existence
Well,
the last question about EMPEROR. What do you think about the new album
of the band? And could we expect that somewhere in the future EMPEROR
will appear in its «golden» line-up on stage and
well hear "Im The Black Wizards" with Mortiis on the bass?
I dont
think theres any chance of me playing live with them again We have
gone in such different directions since 92; I no longer play bass I
only played when I was in the band, for one year, that was all I did
As far as their new album goes, Im sure its a good album, but I have
grown tired and bored with that sort of music, so I cannot really tell
you what I think. All I know, is that they are very good musicians, and
Im not, I never was
Well,
you have just released the album of CINTECELE DIAVOULI. This is your
new project. Could you tell me about the album and ideology behind this
creation? What kind of music people are doomed to hear this time? (Sorry,
but I still havent got a chance to listen to it so the question is to
general).
It is just
a We just dont have the album in the country so far. side project I
guess the general concept of that album is vampirism and old classic
horror stuff He he! The music is a bit strange, and I dont know what
people will think about it. Id say the music is old yet modern horror
stuff, with some catchy kinda feel to it the bonus songs are from a
different session, though, and theyre more experimental, pretty much
based on analogue tape loops, actually.
Mortiis
latest album is "Crypt of Wizard". Are you satisfied with the
achieved result? What about sales?
That is
the latest album that has been released, yes. The sales are OK for an
album that the world was never really told existed. Mortiis has probably
had the worst advertisement and promotion in history of recorded music
Hopefully this will change very soon. As for the music on it I have
noticed that after I did "The Stargate" (out soon) everything
else sounds very poor compared to it But I still like "Crypt»
no doubt about that, but the new one is just so much better Twice as
good as everything Ive done before it, actually.
As an
owner of a record label, you probably made some marketing research about
your typical customers. So, who is the typical listener of the "music
for kings"?
No, I never
really did that. Dark Dungeon Music was created primarily because I saw
most record labels I was involved with at the time (around 1993-95),
fuck things up and never practice what they were preaching so to speak,
and so I decided to do things myself, and I did, and now I have done
all that stuff I decided I was going to do, and Im putting it down
The mailorder still exists, so people can ask for lists. But its no
longer active as a label. In other words, Dark Dungeon Music was created
as an outlet for ideas I had to release a lot of different kinds of vinyl
records. A few CDs were made as well. But it was never a typical record
label doing marketing researches and stuff like that.
When
will you finish your upcoming album "The Stargate"? Are there
any changes in music?
Okay, it
was finished in May this year (1998). And right now Im kind of in the
middle of negotiations with a couple of labels. The plan is to get all
the stuff I never had before, such as proper promotion, proper advertising,
proper merchandise deals, and so on. The music in its essence has probably
not changed extremely much, except for a notably stronger structure and
arrangement in the songs. The Mortiis mood and feeling are definitely
still there, stronger than ever. What HAS changed, however, are the small
things surrounding the music. I bought a lot of new equipment a while
back, and that has helped me a lot. It helped me write better songs,
and add a lot of details and work more in detail with the music as well.
Besides, what made a huge difference in the music is that I brought in
other people to help out on the songs. There are male/female voices in
the music; there is even some acoustic guitar in the music. And for the
first time in three years I went to a real studio to record the album.
So, this album is definitely the strongest Mortiis album ever.
Your
book "Secrets of My Kingdom"... Is it released already? What
kinds of writings it includes?
It includes
all the lyrics and writings that, compiled, make the world of Mortiis.
Unfortunately it has not been released yet. Right now I want to try to
release it together with CD. It would be the perfect time to do it.
I got
a chance to watch one of your videos, "En Mork Horisont" I
believe. Do you have any other videos? Do you want to tell us about making
this video and about those great landscapes and castle you showed in
there?
Theres
not too much to tell. Basically, I just went up there and did some filming
for a few hours, all those landscape pictures were shot by the camera
guy when he was at some other job. Truth to be told, Im not very happy
with it. It was originally supposed to be a backdrop video only, but
CMI decided to release it as a video as well. Its super low budget things,
and I know that if I did a video tomorrow it would look ten times better
than that.
I know
you do some live shows sometimes. I also saw a review of one of your
shows in the States. As far as I understood, the show wasnt just good,
it was outstanding. Could you tell our readers about a "typical"
live show of Mortiis?
I think
that review you read was made by the promoter/ organizer of another US
show, so obviously they made a big deal out of it just to sell more tickets.
Honestly, I feel that my shows have improved tenfold since the US shows.
I dont really want to get any deeper into what my shows are like. In
a nutshell I try to keep people interested in seeing the whole show.
Its not easy, but I like to think that its getting better. Theres
the smoke, the firebreathing, and the half-naked virgin on the sacrificial
altar, there is a couple of monks and some blood, and so on.
Lets
imagine you have got everything you need to do one final live show of
Mortiis. You can choose any place in the Universe, and any time (past/future).
What would you show people on this show?
Im not
sure. Obviously Id make it more spectaculous than any show ever been
done before. Id probably love doing a show on some distant planet if
it was possible. Or preferably on some huge asteroid on collusion course
with planet Earth. Harrr! Harr!
What
is the goal of life for human being Mortiis and musician/ artist Mortiis?
The human
being Mortiis plans to climb the mountain of spiritual hierarchy, the
Musician/ Artist Mortiis wants to see how far he can take his project.
Well,
what are your plans for the second half of the year? Albums, etc.
... To release
and promote "The Stargate" and the book, the way it looks right
now. Hopefully be able to start working on the next album as well, at
some point.
This
question I like to ask the most, cos this is a very original one (I bet
no one asked you this question before). Your message/ hail to people
who read this interview...
Very original
indeed. And heres the original answer: check out "The Stargate"
when its out.
More
info and latest news can be found at www.mortiis.com
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