 |
| Erik ""E" Danielsson of Watain |
Watain is a band that can be pretty much labeled as the face of
true, yet
modern Black Metal. Hailing from the town of Uppsala,
Sweden, there has been very little which hasn’t been said about
Erik “E” Danielsson’s three piece.
Controversial as can be,
and producing quality music since their debut, Rabid Death’s Curse,
Watain has been one of the most talked about names in Black Metal.
Touring with some of the biggest names in Metal both as support and
headliner, as well as appearing in such grand festivals as Wacken,
Sonisphere, Party San and pretty much any other festival you can
name, there seems to be no stopping this bunch. After 4 albums, and
on the brink of their first DVD, Opus Diaboli, I had the pleasure of
discussing recent (and not so recent) happenings with vocalist and
mastermind, Erik “E” Danielsson
M- Hello Erik, how are you?
E.D-
Well it’s been an
interesting
times, we’re supposed to go to USA, but once again the
land of the free made it a bit complicated, and we’re not leaving
until Sunday. Everything’s upside down here, just came back from a
rehearsal.
M- It seems that Watain is one of the strongest
forces in modern Black Metal. Spearheading the motion of
oldschool
Black Metal revival joined by other bands such as Taake and others,
what is your opinion of the modern Black Metal scene?
E.D- With the risk of sounding like an asshole, I care less
about it. I think everyone has a certain amount of focus that you can
spend on different things in life. I think doing this stuff for 13
years, my focus has become stronger and stronger and more focused on
Watain. Which, in
turn has become something that is now a world in
it’s own. It’s a music genre in
it’s own to me. That in turn
makes me less and less interested in what other Black Metal bands do
and yeah, when it comes to Black Metal, I’ve been there when the
greatest bands were around. When Dissection were there and Nifelheim
were there, with their original line up. I’ve seen, from my point
of view, the most interesting things I wanted to see. I consider
myself blessed for having been a part of all of this. I, the way I
focus on Black Metal is from a Watain prospective. What we can do to
make the art form progress in the right direction, I cared much more
about the BM perspective before Watain, or when it was on its way to
become what is. The greater Watain becomes in my life, the greater
meaning it has, the less everything else means to me. Then again, I’m
still sitting here in my Sarcofago shirt. It’s strange, I don’t
know if I get my point across.
M- So you consider yourself completely separate from Black Metal?
Is there no connection whatsoever?
E.D- I will always consider Black Metal to be one of the most
potent and interesting forms of art in this age, just like everyone
else who has a bit of intelligent I can see the many mistakes that
happened in the movement and the many flaws. It’s a genre that
consists of a lot of cry babies and children and people who
desperately want to be a part of something that
their not. But BM is
also the most interesting subculture, and it has the most genuine
artists in the music world. It’s always two sided to me, and will
always mean much to me.
M- What is the mission statement of Watain? What do you seek to
accomplish with the band?
E.D- I see it like this, being in Watain, for me personally, has
changed everything. It allows me to live outside of the common
worldd. In the Watain universe, rather than the human universe, so to
speak. That is Watain’s most important meaning to me. It gives me a
platform to live and breathe from. It is a place of freedom for me,
where I can live and breathe the way I want to. The goal is to
maintain that world, to make it glimmer and burn bright. To make it
as important and meaningful as possible. We’re at a point now,
where I feel Watain is right where it should be. The goal is in
itself to maintain who we are, and to maintain the journey and the
path we have chosen. Because I think a lot of people have a tendency
to stray and be misled from the path in life, and I myself, don’t
see any other way. I don’t see a way to be led from where I am now.
The goal is to continue and live like this as long as I can, and to
give it all I can.
M- I appreciate the sense of Idealism in a
way, for example, we ran an interview with Shining which a lot of
people raised their nose against and called “poser.” It’s sad
that people can’t embrace an ideal which is bigger than themselves
E.D- The common man will always be a bit afraid of idealism. Be
afraid of people with a strong mindset, afraid of difference, afraid
of people who don’t follow the common herd. That’s proof of that,
what I’m doing or what Niklas is doing is right, someone said that
“ you can measure the quality of your life and the relevance by the
amount of antagonism you have to face.” I think that’s a very
interesting way to look at that.
M- what does the dark represent for you? “Lawless Darkness”
for
me I took as the evil without boundaries, do you support evil
without boundaries?
E.D- I think that the question of good and evil is one that has to
be deeply compensated in the heart of every man. You have to make up
what you yourself consider good and evil, what’s interesting with
darkness is that it doesn’t demand the same kind of questioning
.
Darkness is always undefined, and is always unexplored, and the
things that exist in
darkness can be anything because they are not
yet defined. They have the potential to be anything, that anyone who
takes part of that darkness can take the power to create. Light is
something that defines, something that dwells in the light is
entirely defined and has its shape and form, and it is what it is.
It’s built by the law, it’s restricted by what you see. It’s a
deep subject, it’s hard to tell you this all in a concise matter,
but what attracted me about
darkness is the everlasting potential
that it can be anything and nothing. While anything that is in the
light is already done and created, and is
, therefore in my eyes,
pretty empty.
M- How is it different to be a part of such an extreme and
different religious school of thought in a day to day life? How does
it
effect you personally?
E.D- I mean Satan is the antagonist and the
opposer. What is being
opposed is the stagnation of society and the status quo, the
upholding of law and order. What that means, on a physical material
level, is living outside of society. Trying to have as little to have
and do with the social and moral codes of society. What it all comes
down to is that Satanism is based on the flame of the spirit. The
flame has no other law than that of itself. That’s what it means to
me in my daily life. I don’t consider myself the follower of any
law other than my own, my fire
, which is also the
fire of the devil.
I think a lot of people would call my life quite a hard life, quite
far away from what people consider a normal life. I always move
around, I never worked. There’s a freedom to it, which doesn’t
exist in a
commoners life. If you don’t consider yourself a member
of society and a follower of
law, then you’re going to have
problems. The lives of Satanists are harsh and most will be unable to
live like that.
M- Where do you take the influences for
your music? Both
musically and non musically of course
E.D- Of course I get inspired from the music I listen to when it
comes to writing. I can be very influenced by emotions and by music a
lot. But the thing
is one has to realize is why they inspire me is
because that they talk to my heart. I get inspired by music that
reflects what I feel, which in turn means what I express is what’s
inside my heart. I
donno, it’s hard. The whole process of writing
music and writing lyrics is to me still today, after many years of
doing it, it’s still something very
unconcrete. It’s something
that’s hard to define and talk about. It’s a very intimate
process. It is something that’s always been there. The need to
express myself has always been there, I can’t say what it’s there
that’s pushing me. It’s just something I have to do.
M- what
are you listening to recently? What modern bands
have
striked your fancy? I know my countrymen, Behemoth, are your
touring partner as well as In Solitude and Devil’s Blood…
E.D- Behemoth to me, is more interesting
artisticly than
musically. Their sound is not my cup of tea, but I really like the
way they do things. I like that they’re an aspiring
bands. They
have artistic values in them still, it’s not just bullshit. But I
can say that I’m really into bands like Devil’s Blood and In
Solitude.
Their both
gonna be on the U.S tour, it’s not so often
these days you find bands like these. It’s just I’m older now
than I’ve discovered Metal one
developes more and more with age.
You’re not as easily impressed as you were 15.
M- ah, I’m only 17, but I guess I can’t really compare
E.D-
laughs I wish I was 17. Now a days I’m much more critical,
but to talk about modern bands. I love In Solitude, Devil’s Blood,
they have more satanic spirit than most BM bands of today. I tend to
listen mostly to old music, when it comes to new music it’s those
two bands.
Since when have you been a Satanist? Since what age do you
feel a connection with him?
To be completely honest,
lets put it like this, I’ve had music
as far back as I can remember. Music in the sense of that I’ve
really listened to it. I’ve had cassettes since I was 5-6 years old
t I
’ve listened to every day with stuff like the Beatles and
others. Even back then it was a way to escape the regular life around
me
. To reach a higher state of
existence although I was far too
young to realize it, although that’s how it felt. When heavy metal
and extreme metal came into my life I took that feeling and added to
it the danger and darkness of Metal music, to make this escape. The
world I started to escape into and to explore was the fiery
wilderness of heavy metal. It was never a question that I one day
realized that it had to
had a spiritual connection, I always saw it
like that. It’s always been the case, it’s a bridge between this
world and something else. When I started getting into Black &
Death Metal, I was already into all things related to anarchy,
darkness and fire. It was all that I liked.
Finally I found music
that embodied it and placed it in a
god like position. Of
course when
you reach the age of 12 and 13
, people started to make up their own
minds, and by then I was deeper into all these things. By then I was
already a fascinated teenager. But it was important to me to define
those things, and feelings that I felt, it was important to define
and name my feelings. The symbols and images and feelings of
satanic
nature appeal to me more than anything else. They are what I’ve
been looking for.
M- Also, what inspires you to write your
lyrics? And how do you feel you have developed as a writer
from the
days of The Essence of Black Purity all the way to Lawless Darkness?
E.D- I think it’s like this, in the beginning we had one hammer
of pretty shitty quality and ten names. So we had to build something
with that
, and as we developed as a band we developed our tool box.
We took everything from pliers and rope and fire and spirit into
everything else
into that tool box. Now we have that arsenal of tools
to say the same things we said back then, you acquire more skills the
older you get and
music you write. It’s just a different state of
progression and you come to handle your tools as you grow as an
artist. It comes to the fact
your able to express yourself more
concretely and more distinguished than when you were younger
.
M- How do you feel Watain’s stage show supports the music? Is it
another vehicle of expression? Do you feel it helps bring people to
the light- or the dark, about Watain?
E.D- To me it’s like, what we do on the stage is a concert, like
everyone else we have amps and instruments and P.A, but the concept
of the rock concert has been almost the same since the 60’s. It’s
always been some guys on stage playing their songs. Then some bands
tried to do a more theatrical approach. With Watain we feel a bit
like we want to expand and progress the concept of a rock concert
into something more. I think it could be so much more, and that is
why we include ceremonial and ritualistic ingredients we make it so
called “theatrical” I say dramatic. It’s very visual. To me
nothing else makes any sense really, a Watain concert can be really a
direct visual representation of what you hear. We aim to take those
ideas as far as we possibly can.
M- what are some of your favorite places to preform? What
shows bring you the most pleasure and challenge as a band? Any
particularly memorable moments?
E.D- It’s a classic thing, I enjoyed
performing in front of people that are not used to see what
their
seeing. I enjoyed playing for people who are genuinely interested and
respect what they see on stage and ready to open up. This kind of
audience you usually find in countries that are a bit less liberal.
Countries that in society has a tight grip around the citizen. Like
U.S.A, one of the worst countries that I
know politically and
religiously, yet it’s one of the most rewarding countries to play
in. You play in front of people who are so relieved to be played
infront of
by bands like Watain, who go against what they know. Also
like in Eastern Europe and South America. A heart that yearns to
break free, it’s very rewarding to play
infront of these people.
M- Watain seems to be a very tightly knitted pack, from Pelle “P”
Forsberg and Håkan “H” Jonsson, how do you keep things together
all these years? Does the same power that
propel you propel them?
E.D- I think what kept us together, has a lot to do with our
background. When we were all initiated into the black metal movement,
years before Watain, we realized pretty quickly that this was
something we will be a part of for the rest of our lives. We took
things pretty seriously and not like some hobby on the side. The more
Watain grows into a world, there’s no
really difference between
Watainand our lives. Watain is our lives. We always think
, even if
we don’t want to, what life would be like without Watain. I think
even if we wanted to, it’d be hard. Our common view of Watain as
something that, is really our lives. It’s be
had to get away from.
M- A lot of musicians in Black Metal write Satanist lyrics
without knowing shit, but you’re the real article. How does it feel
to be one of the few real ones? Do you hate the posers?
E.D - To me it’s like, I don’t know how else
to look it at
then it’s just a bunch of kids who play around with fire. But the
difference is that fire isn’t even real, it’s just in their
heads. It’s
fire that someone drew on a piece of paper, it’s not
a fire that burns. I think it’s
waste and of course I get pissed
off, because these things mean so much to me. I consider myself to
not be one of these loft or confused kids to not be playing with
something they don’t understand. Those who play with fire
eventually get burnt. If you call death, it’ll come. Death and the
Devil might be cool words in Heavy Metal songs, but
their also real
and existing forces which will manifest if
their called upon, I
myself have spent my whole life preparing myself and making myself
suitable to meet these forces. Those bands aren’t prepared, their
children who might any day who might stand face to face with
something they might not even survive. That’s the way I see it.
M- so here comes the obvious question, from an Israeli
webzine
at least. Party San. 2006. Absurd shirts and Heiling. What happened?
E.D - Well, what happened was that one of us was wearing an
Absurd shirt, and got into an argument with a writer for
Rock Hard
magazine. A big fight commenced from the Rock Hard guys. Then it got
into kind of a fight, and then two hours later, the same people were
buying us drinks
in the bar. What happened, was that’s the whole
story. But there were a lot of other journalists there,
mediawhores
who made it into a bigger thing than it was. The latest thing I’ve
heard is that we gone onstage during the whole festival show in
Absurd tee shirts and heiling. They made a hen out of a feather.
People who want to find the devil and can’t find it in any other
way than the political ideology that died 50 years ago. For me it
feels so unclean to put a political tag on Watain, its done by people
who have no conception of what to think. It’s like calling the
Church communist, we’re not a political band. We have no facial
values.
M- In addition, you are not only a musician, but you do
artwork. I heard you were also involved with the writing of Jon
“Metallion” Kristiansen’s Slayer magazine compilation and the
20
th edition, how do you find the time? Are you driven
purely by passion?
E.D- That’s a very good question, the day I know the answer to
it I will let you know! I have no fucking idea how I can do all these
things…I try not to think about it and “just do it.” Sometimes
I realize that this is not going to work, but I don’t, watch
football. I don’t go out eating. I don’t go to the movies. I
don’t do these things that most people do. This is what I do 24
hours a day.
M- Also, you produce quite kickass artwork,
since when have you been drawing?
E.D- Most of the time I work with Collage, and I have very
primitive methods which people wouldn’t even believe if they saw
the way I do stuff. I basically have a room in the rehersal room,
which looks like big creative chaos, which is where I do everything.
Most of it is from myself, but sometimes I ask my friends. I cut and
paste stuff and steal stuff from here and there.
M- I know Opus Diaboli, your first DVD is coming May 7
th,
how do you feel about it? how is it different to make your first own
DVD? Also, the artwork and movie trailers seem to utilize your
artistic expertise.
E.D - It’s a different project in a lot of ways, first of
all , I have never done anything movie wise. I recorded a bunch of
albums but I’ve never done a movie. It’s an entirely different
project it was a much longer process than recording an album. That
was different and it was very inspiring, the first thing I thought
when it was done is that I want to make another movie. We’re also
releasing it ourselves which makes for a lot of new ways of having to
do things. It feels very hand made, it feels everything comes
straight from the band, even the release itself which is a very
special thing to me. I hope people will give it the patience and time
it deserves. It’s a pretty heavy mother fucker.
M- yeah, like Big Boss from Root, it’s a pretty heavy mother
fucker
E.D- he’s heavy in a while different way
laughs
M- Did you feel any different preforming knowing you were
being filmed? What is going to be on the DVD other than the
performance itself?
E.D- First of all, I didn’t think about the cameras. It’s
hard to explain but when were on stage it’s a different thing. I’m
somewhere else, I’m happy that it can be that way, it would mean a
lot of stress and nervousness otherwise. I end up in a different kind
of universe when I’m onstage. I didn’t pay too much attention to
the photographers and film crew. The live performance is 40% of the
dvd, the rest is other stuff. It’s like a mix, it’s a collage of
a lot of different things. Stuff we filmed just for the DVD which is
more artistic and ceremonial, and there are a lot of interviews and
voice over, spoken words part with interesting footage. Some archive
footage from old tours, all the way from the 90’s and up till now,
it’s a rich,” spicy” movie, a lot of stuff in there.
and here the phone disconnected….twice, but yours truly
remembered the African Americans in the 50’s! “we shall
persevere!”
M- Hey Erik! Sorry for all the issues, lets get this
done
E.D- it’s fine man, don’t worry about it I’m used
to it
M- So, what’s on the nearby horizon for Watain other
than what we discussed?
E.DWe’re doing the tour now in the
U.S.A, then we have two more festivals in the end of the summer.
Which will be the whole ending to the whole Lawless Darkness era.
After that it’s, silence and secrecy. We’ve been touring for two
years now and a lot before that and we feel that we want to be apart
from the world now. And maybe spend time together in ac completely
different place, and the only thing I know is that there’s a lot of
music written, and a lot of ideas. But other things that people will
find pretty interesting. We keep the information within the band and
speak when it’s time.
M- Any last words to your fans in
Israel, and there are quite a few?
E.D- We have been trying
pretty hard to come to Israel and play at some point, I was about to
come with Dissection when I played bass with them. I guess after the
whole media blow up in 2006 it will be difficult, but I would still
really like to do it someday. It would feel a bit like placing a pile
of shit on an altar or a church, it would feel very good to do it.
Until then, I just hope people will spread the word about us down
there and we’ll try to get as many people to understand us you
know, because sooner or later we’ll have to come.
