Satyr of Satyricon had a chat to Dead Rhetoric about the type of people the band surround themselves with to achieve the sound they’re after, making wine in Lebanon and the struggles of getting a job in black metal with tattoos…lol.
On ways have things changed as a result of this leading up to the new album:
Satyr:[pauses] That change is still going on. There are many thingsweve replaced almost all of our crew. And they are important people, they can really influence the outcome of a show both in a good and bad way. They can be there to save your ass, but at the same time, you can do everything youre supposed to do and if they screw up, youre the guy thats going to look like an idiot. We replaced almost all of them; weve replaced the management, weve replaced the main agent which is the guy in charge of Europe; weve replaced one of the guitar players, and were in the midst of replacing one of the keyboard players.
When it comes to the studio, when looking at this record, we sent out inquires to some of the very best mix engineers and producers in the world and not one of them did not respond. Some of them came back asking about money, some came asking about schedule, some people said they wanted to hear some stuff, blah, blah, blah. Then one guy said Im well familiar with the band. I really like Satyricon and Im confident I can help them get a really authentic sound. And I read that email that was forwarded to me and I said, Thats the guy that should mix this record with me. And that was Adam Kasper from Seattle.
On the break they had after The Age of Nero:
Satyr:With Satyricon, I felt like the break afterThe Age of Nerowas really interesting because I had a different way of discovering the world. I began working a little bit on a wine making project with wineries and wine makers all around the world, and I got to the see the world without my tour bus perspective. That was really interesting. For example, in France, I worked with a small underground producer in Burgundy. I did a whole wine harvest with him and stayed with his family. I didnt do a lot of grape picking grape picking is monkey work. [laughs] We did it for vinification. Thats where you actually make the wine and to be a part of an old-school traditional French family. I stayed with them. We worked 12-hour days, then theyd gather the entire family for big traditional meals with wines from previous vintages. Wed get up really early in the morning and continue work with the vinificaiton. I also went to Lebanon and there was a winery there where I got to know the people. I stayed with them and their vineyards are in terrorist-controlled areas.
It was all Hezbollah-controlled and we had to pass through Hezbollah checkpoints to get to the vineyard. I remember the winemaker told me, As we approach the checkpoint, dont look at them act normal. And I said, Whats that supposed to mean? Now youre making me nervous. I was going to act normal and now youre saying Dont look at them? Thats not normal. If someone approached the car, it is natural to look at them. And then we had all these shady-looking characters with machine guns coming up to the car talking in a language I dont understand and Im just sitting there staring like a robot out of the window. [laughs] We were out in the vineyard, I thought to myself that theres world out there outside of the bubble I live in as an artist.
On not being Satyr from Satyricon for a while:
Satyr:It was funny how the winemaker, one of the days we were walking around the vineyards and I was wearing a t-shirt, and his English was rather good and he said, I dont want to offend you in anyway; I know youre musician, but you have tattoos. And I said, Yeah, I have tattoos. And he said, Wasnt it hard to get a job as a musician with tattoos? [laughs] And I said, First of all, you dont really apply for a position in a black metal band like that. And secondly, I dont think tattoos are going to be a problem. On the contrary, I think its going to be just fine. And he was like, Really?
Its interesting for me to meet people like that who have no idea whats going on. Hes in his own little world in Lebanon and working in his vineyard in the terrorist-controlled areas. For me to meet people like that and hang out with such characters, I did that for a year and a half and when I came back, I had a very clear understanding of who do I need in my organization? Who needs to go? Now I know what to do, and one of the things I really wanted to do was make a quite rustique album. I wanted to make something that was melodic, atmospheric, analogreally down to the core. That was one of the moves that we made when working on the record.
Check out the rest of the interview via Dead Rhetoric
