Интервю с Grá
Hi, guys! Thanks for that interview.
First I want to ask you about the band name. As I know (correct me if I’m wrong), Grá means „Love“? Why did you choose that name? „Evil“ black metal band with such a name or there is another meaning? And here is the place to share something interesting. In Bulgarian with this word „Grá“ we describe how ravens scream. 🙂
Words have different meaning in different languages and we’ve heard that „love“ thing alot but it actually means „gray“ in the Scandinavian languages. And with gray we are not (in our interpretation of the word) talking about colours but shades of „reality“ and the path between them. In Sweden, crows and ravens say „kraa“!
You are a relatively young band. Tell us more about the band story. How did you met each other and decided to make a band?
I’ve known Dimman since 2008 when he joined me in Cursed 13. After we had recorded the Cursed 13 / Domgård split CD in 2009 we decided to start with a new album (which was released last year btw, through Carnal Records) and in the process of jamming in the rehersal room, this old school sounding black metal riffs suddenly started to come and we let the inspiration flow. This was obviously not Cursed 13 material since Cursed 13 has a more technical and heavy approach. We decided to record the songs so they would at least last in our private collections but they grew so much that we felt that we had to ask around if any label would be interested in releasing it. Shortly thereafter it was released, by Greek SonicDeath Armageddon Records, as an EP called Helfärd so apparently there was an interest. We moved on and started working on the full lenght album (we got a 2 album deal with Swedish Unexploded Records) and were also recruiting for live shows which started to become a big part of Grá. After we had sold our copies of the first EP we started to see where we could buy wholesale for our merch desk on gigs and so on and it turned out that SonicDeath sold all the CDs to Athens based record store / label Bowel of Noise which were in return interested in releasing us on vinyl (the first CD version of the EP is completely sold out but the vinyl is coming soon!). This is an interesting fact since we incorporate a lot of Greek mythology in our lyrics and imagery. We are proud to keep the Helfärd EP on Greek labels. Grá is now a live active four piece band with an EP, a full lenght album, a M-CD and a new single in our discography. We have also released 4 official music videos and the next album will be recorded this summer.
Do you think if you started the band somewhere in the 90s you would become a famous band like Dark Funeral or Marduk, for example, as far as your style is classic Swedish black metal, which is very popular exactly in these times? How important it is for you to be famous, so far as the definition „famous“ can be referred to Black Metal band?
That’s a difficult question to answer. I know of many bands from the 90’s that never got anywhere but it is difficult to say if it is because they gave up too soon or if they weren’t good enough to begin with or if they just had bad luck. The fame in itself is irrelevant on a personal level but it sure as fuck makes it easier to get out there and play shows in front of manic audiences if the music is respected and people are willing to see it live. There would be no point in even playing live or release records to the public if nobody bought them and listened to them and came to the shows. It is important to show respect to those who buys the records and actually listens to what we have to say. I’d rather be respected as a musician / song writer than as some attention whoring clown.
Do you think black metal you play begins to lose popularity, because there are so many new sub-genres which are more liked and accepted by the fans?
No, why should it? We see a lot of 90’s generation black metal people at our shows and we also see a lot of young kids who are really getting the old school vein. Personally I don’t give a fuck about what is trendy, I write the music that comes natural from my inner darkness and I’ve been doing that since the late 90’s.
If people like it, they like it. If not, well what the fuck can I do about that? Where did that power metal wave go? And the thrash-black wave? Some bands survived because they were true to themselves from the start, many vanished into the next trend when the popularity moved on. You should listen to (and create) music because it APPEALS to you, not because some idiot tells you that this or that sub-genre is hip. Grá is here to stay and never to betray our path and our past.
Heljarmadr also plays in Domgård. How does he deal with his work in two bands? And tell us more about Domgård. They exist since 1997, but only have 2 full-length albums? What is the reason for that?
Domgård is a band that has suffered a lot in this world. Back in the early 00’s many of the band members got arrested for arson since they were burning down the houses of God. This led to chaos and imprisonment for several years. Before the arrests there was only a demo cassette that was released but after spending time in jail, Grim Vindkall managed to summon new forces into Domgård. This, leading to the split CD with Cursed 13, was the point when we started to exchange favours. I joined Domgård to make it complete and Grim joined Cursed 13 (and has also contributed with his writing and his voice on one Grá song on the full lenght album). As I’m not a founding member of Domgård and have no responsibilities regarding song writing and the lyrical concept and that makes it quite simple for me to play my parts and use my creativity in Grá. I contribute to the energies that is the essence of Domgård and it contributes to the essence of me.
To answer your second question, a split album and two full lenght albums since 2009 can’t really be considered slow. There’s a lot of things planned for the future, don’t worry.
And now I want to start with „mandatory“ questions about beliefs and philosophy. 🙂 First your Lyrical theme is „The Dark aspects of ancient Scandinavian spirituality“. Tell us more about the Dark side of Scandinavian mythology?
There are so many things that could be said about this subject but I have learned that those who have an interest should find out for themselves. In the last years, these kinds of traditions has exploded in popularity so you have all kinds of groups around the world. Basically it is occultism with roots in the Scandinavian mythology. All religions have dark aspects (that deals with destruction rather than creation) and it is those, anti-life, anti-human, anti-cosmic forces that interests me.
Do you practice Satanism and if so, do you make Satanic rituals?
It depends on what you would define as Satanism. I usually use the moniker „satanist“ when I’m asked to describe my essence in a simple way because I most likely stand for everything that they are against. And I am most likely against everything that they hold dear. Satan is the opposer of life and light and I really don’t care what you want to call it, be it Satan, Surt, Lucifer, Belial or any other man made word. It is the same to me. Every language and culture has a word for death, yet death is the same for all, regardless of how you say it. I make rituals to separate myself from the rat race of life, I work on removing morals from my thinking so that I may see clearer. If I have material things involved it is usually bone and fire. Sometimes also dust.
So, maybe it is some cliché to relate almost every black metal band with Satanism, but what do you think about that at all? I’ve noticed that many Swedish black metal bands worship the Death (Watain, Withershin, you), what Death means for us personally? Do you believe that we live somewhere between this and „other“ world and our relation with the life is weaker than that with the Death?
Yes and as I said in the previous question, it is not a matter of what you call it, the essence is the same. I suppose that going from different -isms, it has become more and more relevant for some to go to the source, or the gate if you will. All traditions and religions ends up on the same spot, Death. I know that there are much that we can not see and understand with our limited intellects. There are also many things that we have learned not to see, hidden in morals and false perceptions. I do believe that there are many paths to walk beyond this world. All doubts will be illuminated when we die, whether we like what we find or not.
Are you using drugs or any other stuff? What is your opinion about the artists who use them? Could it help to express the Black Art in deeper way or this is just an individual choice?
One of the things that I have been working with lately is to remove all these shit morals, that society have us force fed with, from my thinking, all this „you shouldn’t“. You shouldn’t smoke, you shouldn’t drink, you shouldn’t do things that the state thinks is unhealthy for our society. I think that if you WANT and CAN, you SHOULD. If it fits your long term agenda (if there is one). Personally I don’t think that drugs fit my agenda at this moment in life. In other moments, drugs was just what I needed. I don’t judge anyone for using (or abusing) as long as it doesn’t affect me directly. People make their own plans and who the fuck am I to say how other people should spend their abhorrent time here in this life? Why should I care? I DO believe that the use of drugs can expand the horizons for all kinds of artists. If you break down barriers in your mind, you will see things from a new perspective. If you tear down a wall, the view will be broadened. If you put bricks of morals in front of a window, you will never see past the bricks and the transparency of the glass will be useless.
Let’s return to the music. Your band was a support artist at the Dark Funeral’s 20 Years Anniversary Show. Tell us more about this gig?
Well, Dark Funeral invited us to open up the evening as exclusive support band. Apparently they saw something in Grá that was appealing and thought would fit well, and it did. The show was sold out and both us and Dark Funeral made it a powerful evening with an intense darkness constantly
present. We filmed our show so hopefully that material will be used in the future.
Do you think this show will help your career to continue ahead in a way you want, as far as there were many emblematic names for black metal like Legion, Themgoroth, Emperor Magus Caligula, etc…
Time will tell, it was a great opportunity for us to get in front of a bigger audience and an audience that comes for black metal exclusively. We have previously opened for Taake, Glorior Belli and ABSU to mention a few.
What were the last albums which you listened and liked?
I rarely ever buy albums anymore and have no idea of what is happening in the scene of today, therefore I have no new good tips to give you. But the last album I actively listened to was Tulus excellent album „Evil 1999“. I do have some high expectations on the new Mayhem and Septic Flesh albums.
Have you listened to some black metal bands from Bulgaria (if you’ve not I can recommend some names 🙂 )? What do you know about our black metal scene?
No, to be honest I have not heard any Bulgarian black metal but I will check it out for sure if you give me some links! Nobody told me about it so I never learned about your scene. Feel free to educate me!
Would you play on the Balkans and would you plan a gig in Bulgaria?
Yes we would gladly come to Bulgaria and all other countries on the Balkan Penninsula, should we get the opportunity! Tell your local promotors to book us!
Thanks for your time. Some last words?
Thank you Milena for showing an interest in Grá, it makes us proud that our name has spread all the way to Bulgaria and we hope to follow up with coming
there to do some shows in the future.
Hell Charon!