MAYHEM's NECROBUTCHER Is 'Not That Surprised' That The Band Is Still Together After 40 Years

Bassist Jørn "Necrobutcher" Stubberud of Norwegian black metallers MAYHEM spoke to Dave Rumbler of Metal-Roos about the band's upcoming 40th-anniversary tour of Australia, which is scheduled to kick off on January 9 in Brisbane. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Actually, the anniversary year wasn't long enough. So, we are actually on our 41 year when we come Down Under in January. But there was no time to squeeze [the Australian leg of the tour] in [during 2024], unfortunately."

He continued: "We didn't celebrate our 10th-year anniversary because we had some problems in '94, or [were] still recovering. But we had the 20-year anniversary, and then I think we even had 25-year anniversary, 'cause we thought it was a hilariously huge achievement in the sense [of] keeping a band like this together. And then suddenly we were 30 year, and then suddenly now we are 40."

Asked if he thought, when MAYHEM was first formed in 1984, that the band would still be around 40 years later, Stubberud replied: "Well, actually, the [answer] to that is probably yes, because… I get [that] question a lot. For example, in different circumstances, the question is, 'You didn't think this would happen when you were 16 years old and started this band?' But that's exactly what was going on. I had such faith in the project, and I thought that, 'This is it. We're gonna make it.' And we did. We had to believe. We thought it was possible, and we always thought so. And that's why we survived, too, because the first thing you have to do is to have faith in yourself. That's rule number one. So, no, I'm not that surprised, but I'm surprised how fast life went by. And now I'm 56 years old, and I started when I was 16, so that's a whole lifetime, basically. I would have gotten a gold watch fucking 15 years ago if I was working for the community, or the 25-year-old gold watch, or something like that. I actually thought to myself that actually I was gonna buy myself a watch. But, as you can see, I don't wear any watches."

Elaborating on the reasons MAYHEM is still around four decades after the band's formation, Stubberud said: "We are always putting a lot of pressure on ourselves to do better. We're perfectionists, and we're never happy because we're struggling to achieve the best we can do. So let's say we have a concert and somebody makes a little mistake. Nobody in the audience or anybody notices it even, but we are pissed off like a half a year afterwards, like, 'Everything was perfect and then that happened. Fuck!' So, we're still there, and I think that's also one of the reasons why… some of the things you have to have in the mix to make it through all these years."

Addressing MAYHEM's stage show for the 40th-anniversary tour, Stubberud said: "This time around, the 40-year anniversary, what are we gonna do now that we haven't done before? We have to do more. And the only thing, the idea that that stood out was that we had kind of present our whole career into one concert. We did all the concepts in the past. We did 'De Mysteriis [Dom Sathanas]', we played that in full, we had the 'Daemon' tour, we had tours that linked up to albums, with the different designs and stage props and shit. And then, to present the whole thing, we hired some people to help us make a video behind the whole thing. And it turned out to be around a two-, two-and-a-half-hour thing. So we have a video that's linked up to this. It's kind of telling the story in pictures as we're playing, to [give] it a little bit more [of], let's say, an atmosphere, to try to bring people back to when it happened."

In a separate interview with the "Everblack" podcast, Stubberud was asked if fans can expect new music from MAYHEM in 2025. He responded: "Yes, you can. Teloch [MAYHEM guitarist Morten Bergeton Iversen] and Charles [Edward Alexander Hedger, MAYHEM guitarist] have presented some demos — both of them presented over 10 songs or 10 skeletons — so [they have] presented almost 20 songs. And I listened to everything, and some of it is really fucking good. So, after the Australian tour, I guess — no, some of us [are] gonna go on some tours with some other bands. But in March [2025], I think, we're gonna get together and start to hammer out this thing. By 2025 we should have been able to enter the studio. And then, hopefully, it would be cool to have it out in 2025. That would be a goal, but we'll see. But definitely 2026. And then, of course, we'll be heading out [on] a new world tour to promote it, I guess."

MAYHEM's sixth studio album, "Daemon", came out in October 2019 via Century Media. A live album, "Daemonic Rites", arrived in September 2023.

In early November, MAYHEM canceled its previously announced North American 40th-anniversary tour "due to a member of the band having a medical emergency that requires immediate surgery." According to the group, the procedure "will result in a prolonged recovery period."

The North American dates were scheduled to kick off on November 12 in Montreal, with stops in Toronto; Queens, New York; Chicago; and Los Angeles before and wrapping up November 23 in Denver.

MAYHEM launched a short European tour on December 4 in Paris, France.

When MAYHEM's North American tour was first announced in August, the band said that its 40th-anniversary show would be "a once-in-a-lifetime experience for fans, featuring a setlist that spans their illustrious career, from their groundbreaking debut album, 'Deathcrush', to present day."

Formed in 1984 in Norway, MAYHEM has been at the forefront of the black metal scene, known for their controversial history, groundbreaking music, and unparalleled live performances. Over the years, they have cemented their status as one of the most influential bands in extreme metal, continually pushing the boundaries of the genre.

MAYHEM has nearly 1,000 shows to its name. Since their formation in Langhus, Norway in 1984, the band — now comprised of Necrobutcher (bass),Hellhammer (drums),Attila Csihar (vocals),Teloch (guitars) and Ghul (guitars) — has brought its brand of bellicose, preternatural black metal to over 60 countries. From the United States and Germany to Australia and Brazil, MAYHEM has stunned, bewildered, and turned rabid a global legion. Much of that respect and devotion started in the early 1990s but persisted to the present day on the strength of official live albums "Live In Leipzig" (1993),"Mediolanum Capta Est" (1999),"Live In Marseille 2000" (2001) and "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive" (2016).