Satyricon : The Nerotic Outsiders

-1 : You recently ended a new American tour: how was it?

-Frost: This tour started a little rough, it has struggle at the beginning but ended much better, with far better shows. There was the first headlining tour we did with ‘The age of Nero’, and, It’s good to see how well material goes down with new stuff from a quite new album, songs received as classics, as if they has heard it for ten years or more. On the other hand there has been a little like that in Europe as well, and it will be more soon, concluding ‘the Age of Nero’ touring cycle.

-2: What has been the reception of ‘The age of Nero’ throughout the world?

-Yes, fantastic, to be honest, much more than we expected really. It has many great reviews and all that, but much more important is the response from our fans, and they reacted to those new songs as if they were old classic songs, as if they have been familiar for ten or fifteen years, almost already part of the catalog. I have rarely seen such enthusiasm and response from the fans for new songs. That means much more to us that good reviews, the way they show their respect for the album, way more than other people could do.

-3: Some months ago, Victor Brandt left: what could you tell us about it?

-He simply didn’t share our ambitions, and didn’t understand what it takes of commitments and hard work to be in a band like Satyricon. I have the feeling it’s also for him to be only a live player, as his work was only to play live with the band, and I guess it demotivated Brandt, and he found more as a solo artist after being a part of a live band, which really didn’t work. We proposed him to continue, but it was a hassle from both parts, and he couldn’t stand it.  He worked very fine in the band, he did a good job, we like him a lot, and it will a pleasure to work with him again.

-4: So, Satyricon have a new member, the french Gildas Lepape: what does he bring to Satyricon?

- Gildas has been is the entourage of Satyricon for a long time now, actually, and wanted for a long time to be our live guitarist; he brought to be an  excellent guitar player, already back then, and a nice personality as well, and he brought his live experience, which is quite fortunate. We were close to take another guy, very good to, but he turned out not to be our guy, really. So we called him and he said ok, starting to work immediately. He improved considerably over the years, and is also dedicated to Satyricon, which is great. Same for Anders, who’s a great guy and great musician.

-5: You’re working in two bands, Satyricon and 1349: I suppose the pleasure for you is the differences between the two?

-Yes, absolutely, it allows me to develop different aspects in my drumming. It’s very beneficial and rewarding, and I would be poor without it.  In 1349, I work on a very aggressive, violent style of playing, and it interferes in a way in my work with Satyricon, especially for our last three records. It’s a good balance between them and, so, in a way, I guess I need those both bands!

-6: Tom Warrior co-produced the last 1349 album; what would you say about him and Celtic Frost?

-Ravn has the supervising role in the production, but Tom was almost all the time there with us, for the recording and the mixing, the whole process really. There are many reasons we wanted him there: first, we have an enormous respect for Celtic Frost, his influence and meaning on the world of black metal music. Tom has a very strong integrity, a very unique insight on both spiritual part and production side. Having there to bring this insight on the process was very helpful with his advices because it made us question our own priorities, our own message, and sometime made them change and think differently. I brought also all his experience with Celtic Frost, as he produced a lot and we were almost producing us ourselves. At a certain point, we really ad to have an external input, and he also brought fresh ideas. Basically, he add something to the air, when he was there, particularly motivating, he brought a very good spirit for working!

-7: In some time, you’re gonna tour over Europe, with fellow bands Shining and Dark Fortress: what could you tell about us?

-Both bands have something going, and it’s gonna be a pleasure to tour with them. It’s always great to have a strong package for touring. This had to be special, both to motivate ourselves everyday, but also to motivate the fans with that extra.

-8: I’ve seen on the Internet that Satyricon proposed a method to play Satyricon songs, through videos: how came this idea?

-Ha! I suppose it was needed! For example, we made rounds of auditions, and even skill players completely misunderstand how Satyricon songs must be played, and it’s quite depressing sometimes. It could seem funny, but I think it’s better to show how things are made than to put only tablatures on the Internet, because people will take it totally wrong!

-A last word, maybe?

-Let me just say that I hope there will be plenty of our fans at the Paris show, as previous concerts in Paris let us a very strong memory, so hope it will be the same with ‘The Age of Nero’!

Telephone interview made on 17th November, 2009.