I don´t know what fits us better categorically speaking, all I know is that we just evolve naturally, and whatever happens musically, just happens. We´re not cynical in the sense that we analyze the market to see what people want, etc. When we make music, it´s all instinct. Whatever feels right, we do. But yeah, the new record is a bit different, a result of going with the natural flow. I think it´s darker, more layered, and musically a lot better than what we did in the past.
Tell me a bit about your new album
Well as said it´s darker, denser and to some extent heavier and angrier than before, but also more dynamical. There´s a good variety on it. I still explore the darker, bleaker, and more disturbing sides of myself, in some sort of futile attempt at self medication…
I'm still curious your new stuff is so different from what you were doing in the early days with Emperor that I have to wonder what prompted you to leave the black metal thing behind and take your work in a more ambient direction. Can you tell me what is different for you now? Emperor era vs now
I just drifted away from the black metal thing when it started getting overcrowded in the mid 90´ies. Like everything else, once a cool thing gets discovered by the masses, it tends to get watered out and generic. I went back to my roots of Hard Rock, while simultaneously I got deeper into the underground industrial/experimental scene.
In the Emperor days I was a cynical, naïve son of a bitch. Today I am just a cynical son of a bitch :)
What are the basic themes and ideas behind the Mortiis project? What is your source of inspiration?
I tend to look at all my various psycichal weaknesses and the sources behind them. I have spoken to therapists and doctors but nothing came out of it. I self medicate through my music. In the old days, the early Mortiis records, I created a universe to base everything around, that was very Tolkienesque.
What do you think about nowadays underground music scene?
Admittedly I don´t pay a whole lot of attention. I am very fascinated and interested in the 70´ies and 80´ies underground in many genres…Ranging from obscure hard rock of the 70´ies and 80´ies, to unknown releases by metal and electronic projects in the 80´ies. There´s a lot of unknown gems out there very few people know about. For every huge IRON MAIDEN type band, there was 500 unknown ones that never had a shot…Some of those were pure gold. You just have to discover them.
What kind of music do you listen in your free time?
A lot of times I don´t listen to any music at all. I have kids, they make a lot of noise, so sometimes pure silence is better than anything. I do like to listen to the aforementioned obscure hard rock and metal… I like late 70´ies and early 80´ies electronic music, southern rock, 80´ies industrial/electronic, and a bunch cool alterntative music came out of the US in the 90´ies, as well as the UK big beat culture in the 90´ies (the Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, etc).
Can you give me some details about the touring? Romania will be also on the list?
Right now we only have a UK tour planned for May. A European tour including Romania would be great. We played Bucarest in 2011 which was a cool experience, that was the first and only time I´d ever been there…I used to have a girlfriend who claimed she was from Transilvanian, and her mother apparently born in the same village as Vlad Tepes, but she turned out to be a compulsive liar so I don’t know how true this is. Of course, back in the old black metal days, this was a very cool thing to say :-D
Thank you so much for your time. Was nice talking to
you! Hope to see you pretty soon live :)
Thanks. Check out www.mortiis.com
for news and updates.
INTERVIEW BY MIRUNA VITRIOL
