GW I noticed earlier that you called your manager “the Colonel.” I take it you’re a fan of Elvis? [Elvis Presley’s manager was nicknamed “Colonel” Tom Parker.] He was like the original rock badass.
ABBATH He was my first role model. Before Gene Simmons, there was Elvis. There’s always been Elvis. He’s still the king of rock and roll, and always will be. The way he moved, sang, the whole package…that guy was a phenomenon. Same with Kiss—a phenomenon. You want true? Now that’s true. True artists. I like that. I want true artists. I don’t want fucking wannabes. I don’t want people with stupid ideologies saying that ideology comes before music. Satan is more important than music? Fuck that.
DEMONAZ That’s pretty much how we think. A lot of today’s bands, you don’t even have to listen to them to know they don’t care about the music. They’re just in a black metal band because it’s trendy.
ABBATH Look at that poster. [Abbath points to a framed poster-sized print of Guitar World’s May 2007 cover, featuring Tony Iommi, Angus Young and Jimmy Page]. They are there because they got the blues. And I have to say, I do got the blues. [laughs] That’s why I never get depressed. I don’t need Satan, I don’t need Christ. I got the blues!
GW When Immortal were starting out, did you practice a lot techniques to achieve your trademark fast-riffing style?
DEMONAZ We practiced a lot. Maybe too much sometimes.
ABBATH But I never practiced to become a good guitar player. We rehearsed a lot to make good music. A lot of good musicians spend too much time in their closets with their guitars. There are many very talented, technically good guitar players that are not able to make classic songs. I think players sometimes go by the book too much and forget about the vibe that happens when you just start a band with your friends.
DEMONAZ Abbath and I started rehearsing with people before we got good. That allowed us to get into the habit of writing songs. For me, it’s much more important to write good songs than to be an amazing player. Because technical talent can only take you so far.
GW Your second album, Pure Holocaust, was recorded at Grieghallen, the same studio you used for Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism, but it has a much more upfront sound to it. Did you have a specific goal, soundwise, when you entered the studio the second time?
ABBATH We wanted it to sound more powerful. I remember we were using Mesa/Boogies, but actually we weren’t that satisfied with Pure Holocaust’s sound. It was okay, but we really should have had a producer with us. But, I’ll tell you this: the reason why Pure Holocaust has survived this long is because of its great songs.
DEMONAZ We loved recording those songs. We might not have gotten the perfect sound we were after, but those songs had the right atmosphere. Pure Holocaust sounded like pure northern black metal. It was so fast, and the drumming was really Celtic.
GW How did people react to the title?
DEMONAZ We had trouble in Berlin, Germany. They banned it because they thought [the title] was a racist thing. But that was never the point of the album. The lyrics have nothing to do with those kinds of things.
ABBATH It was a bit naïve on our parts. Demonaz and I really didn’t think about the Nazi crimes. Mayhem had Pure Fucking Armageddon, and we just wanted to make a bold statement like them. We are not political. We were just trying to say, “Welcome to Hell.”
GW Pure Holocaust was released in 1993, the year Varg killed Euronymous. Do you remember your reaction when you first heard about his murder?
DEMONAZ It was a shock to us all. Basically, it was a conflict between him and Varg. Everybody knows that story, so I don’t think we should go into it. But I will say that up until that time we were very much in contact with Euronymous. I had known him from a long time before, and he was always really into Immortal’s stuff.
ABBATH Euronymous was very supportive of Immortal and we really liked and appreciated that. He meant a lot for Immortal in our early stage. And that he got killed…I just wished…it was just so extra bad that Varg was involved in that murder, because Varg was also a friend of ours. It was a fucking tragedy. There’s just no other way to say it.
GW The concept of “grim and cold” is a large part of Immortal’s aesthetic. What inspired this lyrical and musical direction?
ABBATH You know frostbite, right? That’s the ultimate attack from nature. [laughs]
DEMONAZ It was an extension of the winter theme that we started on Pure Holocaust. With Battles in the North, I wanted to do the most winter album possible, you know. The white cover was striking because it came out in a time when every other band was standing in a black room dressed in black. We said, “Fuck them! Fuck everybody” We wanted to show everybody that this was northern fucking black metal and we could do whatever we fucking wanted.
Comments