Interview from January 2004
((Dear reader, please note that the comments in double-brackets are personal comments or translations (for a better understanding)) of me/Twilightheart during typing down this phone-interview! // Furthermore: within this interview every word is typed down like Quorthon said it, even if this should contain some breaks. But I just want to give you a feeling like you are listening to the phone conversation.))
Twi
>
Hallo?
Ouorthon
>
Hallo !?
Twi
>
Oooh, hi!
Ouorthon
>
Hi, it`s Quorthon!
Twi
>
Hi….
Ouorthon
>
Well, did you get my e-mail?
Twi
>
Yes, yes…I got it, thank you very much!
Ouorthon
>
I only got your e-mail tonight.
Twi
>
Oh yes…
Ouorthon
>
And I wasn`t sure either I would get to reply in time…
Twi
>
Oh you DID reply in time…my voice is a bit broke, I hope you can understand me…
Ouorthon
>
Your voice is broke…
Twi
>
Yes, I´m a bit ill, sorry… hoarse, you know…
Ouorthon
>
Ja… ja, it`s winter… it`s winter-time… I mean, that is
what is “tricky” about winter to get ill….. the same thing with me…
Twi
>
Alright! …How are you?
Ouorthon
>
Ähm… tired actually, because these holidays you really have to follow up the
people`s traditions and there`s some mysteries so to speak, so you really don´t
have the working routines after such a long time of national holidays…you know,
Christmas and New Year’s Eve and everything…
Twi
>
Yeah, I know what you mean…
Ouorthon
>
It´s great to be back in… you know… there`s no point in working yourself,
when everybody else, you know, is NOT working.
Twi
>
hm…
Ouorthon
>
And now anybody is back at work, it`s nice to be back in business….
Twi
>
What`s that about (I read it on your homepage) the “Midvintersblood”… ?
Ouorthon
>
yeah…?
Twi
>
A Swedish tradition.... or what is it?
Ouorthon
>
It`s a Germanic tradition, “eine germanische Tradition”…
Twi
>
Ah…
Ouorthon
>
and the first time that the Christians came to the north of Europe, they tried
to install a lot of Christian holidays, but they couldn`t sort of like erase the
Midvinter traditions… so …you know, the “Weihnachtsbaum” and everything…
it comes from the 21st of December…
Twi
>
You can speak German very well!?
Ouorthon
>
Yeah, some words, because Swedish and German is very very close.
Twi
>
ah okay… oh, of course, for the law I must inform you, that I´m taping all
this!
Ouorthon
>
You have to inform people of you’re
taping!?!
Twi
> Haha,
yes.. it`s a law in Germany!
Ouorthon
>
If the people, you know, sort of like taking that in consideration, whenever…
everywhere I call any journalist…. ‘cause you know, I´ve been making
interviews with German journalists, you know, across the table, eye to eye, and
they are NOT taping … and still they come up with 2 pages full of information.
And they are not even, you know, dictating or anything like that… and I called
the guy up and I said: “Hej, what the hell have you been writing?” and he
said like: “Well, I have a good memory!”…. sorry, but, you know, you`ve 2
pages of incorrect information here!
Twi
>
About this interview I can assure you, that every word will end up in our
website just like you said it!
Ouorthon
>
I´m old and tried it the best…. ‘cause I´ve been doing this for 20 years,
and the journalists used be very good quality back in the old days, you know, in
the 80es, but today I believe, a
lot of people who are working within the media, have relation to have anything
to do with the media… that`s the sad truth actually. Because there are , you
know, a few assholes, that really, you know, takes down the overall rate
of, you know, the big community of journalists,
…… but then what the hell a few bunch shouldn`t really,you know, make the
whole community rotten… is misjudged the
community by a few rotten examples….
Twi
>
I told you, I´m not a journalist either anyway….
Ouorthon
>
((*laughes *)) What a defence!
Twi
>
This is the first time I´m doing this …an interview…
Ouorthon
>
Okay…
Twi
>
So… I´m nervous!… Okay, let`s start to talk about your new album!
Ouorthon
>
The new one? We haven`t released anything for a year!
Twi
>
Oh no no no! I mean the one you said will be recorded in early spring… this
year…
Ouorthon
>
Oh… oohh, alright ... everything about that one is rather in complete secrecy,
I´m afraid…
Twi
>
hm…
Ouorthon
>
…yeah, because that is because sort of like…ähm…
I told you: everytime when we release something, we sort of like realise
that there is … ähm… let`s say for instance I will go ahead and say “The
next album is gonna be Spanish tango.” … and …
Twi
>
((*laughs *)) …hopefully not…
Ouorthon
>
No, hopefully not! But I mean, just as an example! Then a lot of people would
have preconceived notions about the record … so we would much rather like to
just present the record and people take it up and will have a blank memory!
That`s why, it`s what the album is all about! So we try to deal with at least a
couple of days up unto the release we will absolutely say NOTHING about it.
Twi
>
Nothing?
Ouorthon
>
Yeah, because otherwise it`s just gonna be a lot of image talk and “Oh…
Bathory`s gonna make an album about King Kong” or “Now they`re back into the
viking roots” or, you know, that kind of bullshit… and they treat a record
as a package of image…instead of a record… for the music. And so in order to
try to prevent having people making up
their minds about something before they even hear it….
Twi
>
But there was something… a joke, on your homepage…
Ouorthon
>
yeah…
Twi
>
…a faked title of the new album! Don`t you think that some journalists might
take it seriously…?
Ouorthon
>
I hope they do, I really hope they do, because they…ähm... everytime
Bathory`s making 99 % a lot of laughs and jokes, ein “sehr Spaß time” and
we`re making so many jokes and 99% of the time the media doesn`t understand it
and they take it for real! Because the image people have of me, is somebody who
lives in a bat cave in the north of Sweden, eating babies and drinking
blood… and ….you know… I can`t take it…! You know, I tried to tell
people to loosen up a little bit,
you know…relax! It´s just music….
And…whenever
you come up with something absolutely ridiculous, they will take it for truth!
Twi
>
Because, I mean, I wrote down the title in the beginning, I also took it… I
took it serious, but then a friend of mine translated it and … ähm… yeah,
it doesn`t make sense….
Ouorthon
>
Well… either you have very short legs or very long… you know what!? In order
to be able to do that…((*laughs *)) …
((written
comment of Twi/ for understanding: > the faked album title was “Dra ballen
i gruset grabbar”! ))
Twi
>
Okay, … do you think one day you might maybe do an album all in swedish
language for instance?
Ouorthon
>
Ähm…. there was some kind of a trend a couple of years ago, that a lot of …
there was a lot of groups making records, if not an entire album, but at least a
couple of tracks in their native language… I know there is a lot of German
bands singing in German, and French bands have been singing in French forever,
and of course why shouldn´t …ähm… . any band should be able to write at
least some material in the native tounge, particular with Bathory… one of the
signs of Bathory is of course “Nordic metal”, and we should be able of
course to convey that kind of style singing Swedish as well as in English! So a
lot of people have been writing e-mails and letters to us, asking: “Why can`t
you make an album completely in Swedish?”.
Well, there is one problem with that! Only very few people will actually
understand and read the lyrics, they will sit down and try to translate it. And
I don`t know if the lyrics
would be any better in Swedish….. so if you`re lacking in communication,
what’s the point … in…. in writing something in a language that very few
people will be able to understand!? So I think it`s better to write it in
English than in Swedish, … but of course, I mean, if the main majority of the
people out there would like Bathory to make a Swedish album, then of course we
would might consider it.
Twi
>
Because I often read that you care for your fans’ opinions > if you say
then, English is understandable all over the world etc., then someone might come
up with the idea, it`s just for making money, because then people will buy it in
EVERY country, not just in Scandinavia or sth.
Ouorthon
>
Yeah, but then …ähm… it`s very important of course to try and understand,
what it is a lot of people who are standing beside you, calling themselves
Bathory-fans… I HATE the word “fans”, by the way…
Twi
>
Why??
Ouorthon
>
…because it gives me images of “Britney Spears KIDS”, you know, fans is
something completely d….* thinks * …. the people I mean…I´ve been
corresponding with some fans for 20 years…
Twi
>
..and how would you call them? Followers… or… ?
Ouorthon
>
… I just call them audience , and
we even have a name for them … “Bathory hordes” … and that`s a thing
that`s been on for a very long time. We also have a specific name for all the
groupies we have … that`s the “Bathory-Hores” ((meaning whores)). So
however, we communicate with the people who actually buy our records, as opposed
to the people who get the records for free, you know, the critic for reviews, ähm,
… they will write you and you will read their e-mail, and their family, and
then you will answer them and you have some sort of communication, their
opinions are a lot more important to us than anything else, of course, because
they`re the ones who gonna be
standing beside us…. or… through thick and thin…
….
and it doesn`t matter, if any journalist somewhere will ….he`ll be into
Slipknot one month and the next month he will be into, I don´t know, Gamma Ray
or something… or Running Wild or something like that!
Twi
>
Yeah, that`s what I mean… just imagine all the people, your horde, you know,
would say: “Do an album, all swedish lyrics!” Would you do it then? Because
it would be all their opinion…
Ouorthon
>
Well, it depends… you can have … one day you can have 45 e-mails from
predominantly black metal- or the
newer Satanic Bathory fans and they`re asking you to release unreleased black
metal Bathory material from the early 80es, which they know is in the archives!
45 e-mails it`s not the majority of the audience… Bathory has sold 1.4 million
records and I believe, if 100 000 people would e-mail me and ask me to do this
or that, I would consider it. But for 45 e-mails or 5 e-mails an evening is not
the majority to me! And there is also the practicality to consider, for
instance when we released “Blood on Ice”, there was 6 different tapes,
recorded over a period of 3 and a half years, and on a tape machine with a
different channel system!
Twi
>
Oh yes, I have read about.
Ouorthon
>
Yeah, it took us the whole summer to do it. But that was a decision made because
… ähm… a very large proportion of our audience was actually asking
about it. But they had been asking about “Blood on Ice” for a number of
years! And so I said “Okay, now it`s the time to do it”!
Twi
>
Okay! …You can`t say anything about the new album you said…
Ouorthon
>
It isn`t recorded so I can`t say anything yet.
Twi
>
Did you ever think about doing a cover artwork yourself? I mean, I don`t know
about your abilities of painting or your interest in it!
Ouorthon
>
Well, I always do an original! And then I send the original away to an artist
and have him painting the cover. So… I remember, when I did “Blood on Ice”
I had a painting from late 80es or early 90es and we were in contact with the
american artist Boris Vallejo , and had him take a look at it, because we wanted
him to do the cover… but he wanted 10 000,- Dollars upfront, you know, as a
down payment … and… we didn`t
have that kind of money. You know, 10 000 Dollars, that was an entire production
for us. And that was also one of the reasons why “Blood on Ice” was
cancelled, but then you know after those years, 10 years later, we got in touch
with Kristian, who had been painting a couple of album-covers for us … and we
asked him “Could you do this?” and he said “Sure!”. So
finally we were able to release “Blood on Ice” the way we wanted it.
But I´m always making some kind of an original and then send it out to whoever
is gonna do the cover! Remember “Destroyer of worlds” was something I did.
Ähm… “Nordland” was Kristian once more…. we asked him to do it. We had
a couple of pictures of the Nordic scenery and some things like that, but it
didn`t matter… whatever we did with it. It just looked like one of these
tourist-guides , you know “Välkommen in Schweden”, you know, it didn`t look
very …okay, it looked very Nordic, but not very metal! ((* laughs*)). But they
asked Kristian … “Please do it
for us!” And he was very happy to do it of course.
Twi
>
Alright… ähm… I know there are a lot of rumours, and I heard another one…
so I will talk to you about it…
Ouorthon
>
The best rumour I heard was “Is
it true that you died in 1981?” ((* Twi laughs*)) Yeah, it´s really funny to
be sitting at the end of a telephone-line and people are asking you “Is it
true that you died?”, it`s like asking somebody “Are you asleep?”
> “Yes!” … I mean, … people are… I swear, there´s not a
single act out there who ever gets to answer all those crap rumours, and people
are probably not even thinking before they ask you. And that`s sort of like…
ähm… that makes ME lose respect for people out there, who are working in the
media, because after a telephone conversation, and you`ve been talking for 20
minutes, and 99 % of the questions have nothing to do with music, it`s just
bullshit rumours with absolutely no connection to real life! And then you`ve
been spending 10 months writing and arranging and recording an album, and you`re
presenting the record, and after 20 minutes of interview, when we`ll say
“Okay, I think I´ve got what I wanted” and you realise that they`ve been
asking you actually really NOTHING! I mean after 20 years you`re gonna sort of
like lose respect for a lot of people in the press. I´m not against… again, I´m
not saying that everybody is an asshole who’s working for the press, but
that`s sort of like… pulls you a little bit downhill, so to speak! In terms of
respecting people who are actually calling you up and asking you those stupid
questions! And it doesn`t matter how many times I answer them, because, you know,
6 months later you will be asked the same question again! So sometimes I really
wish I could speak all those languages… Bulgarian, Japanese, Russian… so I
could read all those articles myself and see if they actually print down my
answers. Because after 20 years and answering those rumours and people are still
asking me… you have to wonder, how much of what I´m actually saying is making
it to the press and the pages in the magazine …
Twi
>
So … should I let it be to ask this question?
Ouorthon
>
My recommendation is this: ask yourself first, before you ask anybody! Because
sometimes, even if a rumour may sound like a substant, you know, accurate…
whether it`s quote you`ve been picking up somewhere, or …ähm…
one funny rumour a swedish journalist asked me six months ago: “Is it
true that during the weekends you dress up as a Gestapo- Officer and you drive
around town on a Harley Davidson?” … I mean, what … it`s…
Twi
>….
it`s not that kind of question….
Ouorthon
>
You know, what I told the journalist!? I said: “Out of curiousity … how the
hell does a Gestapo-officer look like!?”
Aren`t they a secret service? Do they have some clown nose or something
like that, to distinguish them to be not “eine ordinary/ allgemeine officer”
but a Gestapo officer? So what`s the difference, I mean how do they dress, so
that you can recognize them as a Gestapo officer? And why would I dress up like
that?! And why would I dress up like that driving my Harley downtown? It`s once
again a question that doesn`t really has anything to do with the music, so…
but okay…
Twi
>
The rumour that I heard was, that there maybe will be a reunion with some former
band members… really old band members!
Ouorthon
>
That would be a surprise, because I don`t know their name or their
telephone-number or address….
Twi
>
So Bathory is still a 2 man band?
Ouorthon
>
Well, since 1989 I haven`t considered Bathory to be a band. Between 1983 and
1989 there was a band/ a line-up… between 1989 and today it`s a project. I
don`t even consider Bathory to be a band, I never talk about Bathory as a band,
it`s a project, it`s an act!
(Interview consists of 4 pages)
