The Metal Crypt - Bloodaxe Interview

Interviews

Interview with Nordavinden (guitar/bass/vocals)

Interview conducted by Michel Renaud

Date online: March 23, 2002

It was quite a shock to hear about a band from Thunder Bay, Ontario a couple of months back. I thought only mosquitos lived there. :) Bloodaxe is a Viking Metal band that plays raw and brutal music inspired by such bands as Darkthrone, but focusing on the Norwegian heritage rather than the usual Satanic stuff covered by most Black Metal bands. Band leader Nordavinden, a Canadian of direct Norwegian descent, answered a few questions about the band, himself, vikings, and a couple of things I threw in just for the hell of it. :) Enjoy…

Hails! How's it going in your neck of the woods? Are you guys having a shitty fake winter like here in Ottawa?

Strangest fucking weather I’ve ever seen. If I’d known we were going to have such a weak winter I would have stayed in Norway where this kind of weather is normal. Where’s the regular meter of snow and –35c? Rain and +10c in January? Bizarre!! Fucking Americans. First they take our hockey teams, now our winter!! Ah, but who the fuck wanted the Winnipeg Jets anyways?

Let’s start with the usual – please introduce the band by giving us a short history, band members, etc…

I moved from my hometown in Northern Ontario to this dirty fucking city, in hopes of getting some musicians to start a Metal band. Years go by, ads up everywhere meeting nothing but incompetent fucking losers. PC punk rock faggots, drummers without drum kits. Ah... Wannabes! Finally this drummer answers the ad, turns out to be Rati. We start a Project called Black Chapel. Bass player just stands there and hits his bass with his fist, but of course his amp has to be LOUDER then everything else. So I said fuck this. That summer (99) I decided on the Bloodaxe name and to do everything myself, I was going to use a drum machine. That winter a drummer originally from my hometown said he would be interested in doing drum tracks. But fuck he lived in Mississauga, so it was 4 months of tapes back and forth through the mail. After a while I said fuck it. Talked with a mutual friend of Rati and myself and he got us talking again. Three weeks later we recorded the “In Battle” demo.

You were born and live in Canada, but are of Norwegian descent, which in part explains why you play Viking Metal, but then again, you could have played a more "standard" form of Black Metal like some Norwegian band. Any specific reason(s)?

Personally I could never take Black Metal seriously; very few bands had any real talent. It was all about bullshit propaganda to sell product. All bands in the last few years have been claiming they play Black Metal in the Old Norwegian Vein, raw, grim, and cold… Evol… Bloodaxe has NORWEGIAN in its veins so there was no fucking way I was going to follow these fucking clowns. Through the years Black Metal has become Beige Metal, coming out of places in the world you would least expect it to. "We are from the cold, grim forests of El Paso, Texas, and we are TRUE Black Metal", picture of a fat guy with corpse paint running down his face, because it is so cold and grim in Texas!!! Tribute bands!! Pantera had the Southern Trendkill, I think it’s time Norway has the Northern Trendkill!!! Real Black Metal died years ago because it became a "scene", because it was exposed to the mainstream. I guess if I had been smart about it in the beginning and had gone the "standard route" I wouldn’t have to eat a steady fucking diet of Kraft fucking Dinner!!

I guess you have studied the Norwegian history quite a bit? Do you use that as an inspiration for writing your songs?

I haven’t studied any Norwegian history, I was born surrounded by the language and culture. I always knew about Norway. The last few years though I have been more interested in certain aspects of Norsk history, mostly Viking past. Being there and seeing the burial mounds, excavated ships, the extent of their voyages, the way remnants of their society still exist today. Being at a place called Stiklestad I was inspired to write the instrumental 1030. The death of the pagan ways and the birth of Christianity in Norway!!

In the Bloodthrone booklet, you give a fuck off to the Canadian government for having no official recognition of the arrival of the Vikings on the North American continent, hundreds of years before the French and the English (I guess Newfoundlanders are pretty much to only ones who have some celebration for that.) For the history-impaired among us, could you give some details about how the Vikings arrived here, etc..?

Leiv Eirikson came from a settlement in Grønland (Greenland) to the shores of what is now called Newfoundland in the year 1000. They weren’t really Vikings but more settlers and farmers, who through the years had turned their backs on their Norse gods and had become Christian. They settled in a place they called "the Meadows" (L’Anse aux meadows) and called the new land Vinland, "vin" from the Old Norse word meaning grass. They only stayed for a few decades because of conflicts with the skraelings (the wretched ones, now we call them Indians) and the harsh climate. Recently they have found numerous more settlements all over Newfoundland. Helge Ingstad the great Norwegian archeologist went there after he had studied the Icelandic sagas. He proved that Vinland was indeed Newfoundland. That was in 1960, for fucking over 40 years they have known this, but the government won’t recognize this as an important day in Canadian history? It is something unique to us as Canadians to have. They never were in the U.S., but THEY have a Lief Ericson day? We’ve all seen the heritage commercials on CBC… The French come here hundreds of years later, meet some Indians, the Indians keep saying the word Ca-na-da. The French believe he is telling them the name of the Nation is Canada, but he’s really saying "come to my village"!!!!! So the name of our country is just a misunderstanding? If the Government funded television station can spend MILLIONS of our tax dollars on these bullshit infomercials, they can at least give the discoverers of this nation some fucking RESPECT by giving the people of our country a national holiday we can call our OWN!! (We sure could use a statutory holiday between New Year's and Easter! - ed.) Lets’ just keep living in the shadow of England!! Queen of England… I’d like to rape her with a fuckin’ chainsaw!!! Crusty old bitch!!!!

Do you often go to Norway? Would you consider moving there? Who has the best beer? :)

I try to go visit my family and friends there at least once a year, but fuck it’s not cheap to fly. As proud as I am of my Norwegian heritage, I don’t think I would ever turn my back on my country. BEER? Well when you’re in Norway paying $7 CDN for a fucking 4.5% beer, you're going to have to agree it’s a good fuckin’ beer. Norwegian beer is good (Borg) but they taste like most Euro beer. Beer over there is brewed to go with certain foods, different seasons, in Canada we brew beer for only one reason. To get fuckin’ drunk!!

Your demo "In Battle" was limited to 793 copies - a rather unusual number but it does mean something. Could you explain what this number is about?

793 is the year of the first Norwegian Viking raids on a place called Lindisfarne, a monastery in England. Norwegians were the only REAL Vikings!!

Is Bloodthrone also a limited number release?

How has the response been to your demo "In Battle" and your album "Bloodthrone" (by fans and the media)?

The reviews have been pretty good… but I could care fucking less what some reviewer thinks. (Hey! I'm hurt! - ed.) They get their CDs for free, FANS on the other hand BUY them. So of course ONLY there opinion matters!!!! (Ok ok I'll buy one! - ed.)

Bloodthrone was released on your own label, "White Legends". Do you aim at possibly signing to a bigger label some day?

I wouldn’t start my own label for the fun of it. I have never had any fuckin’ interest in LABELS. The last thing we want is some fucking clown telling us what to do, how to do it, when to do it! For a lot of bands it’s some big deal!! Ohhh, were signed to Osmose… look at us… Yeah, well you still Fuckin’ SUCK!!!! Rock Stars!!

Has there been a lot of demand for Bloodthrone? (By individuals and by distros)

There has been little interest in Bloodthrone, which is to be expected in this day and age of Cradle of Keyboards!!!

Have you ever played live?

We play selfish music, music for ourselves… Extreme Metal. To play live is not in the near future, not much point in playing to 10 drunken Indians in some fuckin’ mosquito-infested club in Northern Ontario!!

Do you listen to music other than Black or Death metal? Any favorite bands? Any bands you dislike? :)

I listen to a variety of music, some classical, Norwegian traditional… but it’s mostly metal!! Bolt Thrower has always been one of the most SUPREME bands ever. Bands I hate? HAHaaa… that would take up a lot of space. I fuckin’ piss on about 90% of bands these days!!! (I think you would get along very well with King Fowley of Deceased! :) - ed.)

How do you like running your own label? Is that time-consuming? (even though Bloodaxe is the only band on it..) Have you considered signing other bands?

Running your own label gives you control of everything… takes time, and a lot of fucking money. I’m in the process of signing a death metal band from this area. I have about 4 other bands I’m interested in from Canada. Also getting into more of the distribution aspects as well. The last fuckin’ thing I want is to get a bunch of Black Metal demos that sound like they were recorded at the fuckin’ Abyss Studio!!!!

I read somewhere that you have become "the most hated band" in your area. Why's that? Details! :)

Fuck yeah, we are the most hated band around. Everyone in this counterfeit city is into jumping homeboy style metal, Real Black Metal like Cradle of Clowns. We are just noise to everyone here. Plus the "person" who used to run the "scene" here completely hates us. All about the production. Production IS the most important thing. Sound quality not Song quality. (A shame - ed.) Turns out this "person" was a 15-year- old girl!! Running venues? Booking bands? She used to run this shitty little fanzine, and would steal interviews from other ‘zines, but not give the original writers credit, then turn around and charge people money for it. The most horrid piece of shit I ever seen. She writes to me and says: "I’m not some trendy little girl, I listen to Extreme Metal, I love bands like Cradle of Filth, and Rotting Christ." Like living on another fucking planet this city. I believe that 80% of the people born and raised here are either stupid or completely fucking retarded, the other 20% are buried in the fuckin’ cemeteries!! Like I said before the only Metal around here are the Metal plates in people’s heads!! We used to go to the clubs around here and all we ever saw where a bunch of fuckin’ cover bands. We’d though beer bottles at them, spit on them, ruin their entire sets!! Fuckin’ cover bands! Lowest form of humanity!!!!

What are your thoughts on the current Black Metal scene?

It is a "Scene". Most of these clowns wouldn’t know Black Metal if it came up behind them and raped them with fuckin’ Jackhammers!!! Neither one of us has any great interest in Black Metal. We have always held more reverence towards bands like Bolt Thrower, Morbid Angel, Winter, Disciples of Power.

Many extreme metal bands - especially in Black Metal have sort of an "intended audience" for their music. I guess one could say that they only want a select few to know and listen to their music. What do you think about that? Anything similar with Bloodaxe?

It doesn’t matter to me. If they want to create music for a specific audience go ahead, but that doesn’t mean it’s only accessible to that audience. Being from Northern Ontario, we're not part of the Western Scene, Southern Ontario Scene, East Coast scene… we're just completely fucking isolated from everything. We were fucked from day one. No sense in making things worse.

I think you've started working on your next album. How's that going? Any planned release date? How would you compare the newer material to what's on Bloodthrone?

Yeah we did go in the studio a while ago. Things are coming along. No planned release date yet. The newer material is a bit more extreme and faster then Bloodthrone. "Drifting of Ull" is about 6 minutes of sheer fuckin’ torture!!! Raping the Ancient will have a better production then Bloodthrone!!

Bloodaxe only has two members. Do you both write material?

I write all the music, lyrics… Rati always has free reign over drums though. Brilliant drummer and well worth searching over 10 years for.

To end this interview, here's a chance for you to praise or bash. I'll name 5 bands/artists, tell us what you think of them:

- Immortal
- Anvil
- Dimmu Borgir
- Ricky Martin
- Cradle Of Filth

Immortal... What the fuck is with that new album cover? Is this Immortal or the Fuckin’ Norwegian Women’s Hockey team?? Pathetic they can’t put out an album that matches "Pure Holocaust"!! They should just quit, and become rodeo clowns. Hey! They look like morons but the new album kills! - ed.)

Anvil… Godfathers of Canadian Metal. "Forged in Fire" was probably their greatest album, although the track "Show me Your Tits" came close to replacing our present National Anthem!!

Drive –Thru Burger sums up most of the shit I have seen In Norway lately. Circus music for the homosexual and weak.

Ricky Martin: there's an email out you can get ___@rickymartinsvagina.com

Cradle of Cocksmokers? Well what can really be said??

Last words are yours!

Violence IS the Answer!!!

Other information about Bloodaxe on this site

Review: Bloodthrone

Review: In Battle

Review: Raping the Ancient

Review: Gales of November