WATAIN Mainman: 'MAYHEM Was Revolutionary'

Darren Cowan of Blistering.com recently conducted an interview with WATAIN mainman Erik Danielsson. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Blistering.com: The plans that [former MAYHEM members] Dead and Euronymous started died after they were gone, and no one really carried on those ideas. GORGOROTH is one example of a band that may have carried the torch. They have always done really extreme shows, but there are not a lot of bands that carried on with that sickness they had.

Danielsson: For the time that it happened, MAYHEM did exactly what they should have done. They laid the perfect ground for the coming generations, but then something went wrong. I don't really agree that a band like GORGOROTH is carrying on with what MAYHEM did because they are the perfect example of a band that uses all the aesthetics, all the right words and all the right traditional things but without anything behind it. Gaahl has stated in interviews that he has nothing to do with Euronymous' beliefs. Just listen to what he says: He is an Odinist; he is a pagan guy that lives up in the woods. That is fine by me, but they are in no way contenders in the larger game. They are in no way a band that will bring black metal onward. That is exactly what MAYHEM did. They were revolutionary. They had real ideas. What they did at the time was completely new and groundbreaking. That is what we have needed the whole time. That is the essence of art, in general. Without that, something stagnates and dies, especially when you are speaking about fiery energies. You must always move forward and look in all direction to get deeper and deeper.

Blistering.com: Do you think there is too much mimicry in black metal? Do you think they are taking those blueprints and not going any further?

Danielsson: Yes, that is exactly what has happened. To me, it's not really a big surprise. If you want to do something groundbreaking in something as sinister as black metal — if you want to correspond with dark energies that exist beyond this world, you cannot have a mere interest in black metal. A passion for a music genre is not enough to change the course of musical history or the history of the world. To me, it's not strange there aren't more bands like us because individuals of that sort are very rare. If you have an extreme source of energy flowing inside yourself you either end up in prison, sharing a high place with a politician or you do what we do. In this regard, I am very careful about putting WATAIN in the same genre as most other bands that play black metal. There is an obvious difference between us and GORGOROTH. There may be similarities on the surface, but there is an abyss between us. Then, there are other more obvious comparisons between us and bands like DARK FUNERAL. There is a big difference between what they are doing and what we are doing. If you scratch below the surface, you will find we are not much alike.

Blistering.com: Earlier you spoke on the idea of individualism. Not being individualistic seems contrary to the idea of black metal or Satanism. Looking at it that way, do you think that individualism and your understanding of Satan is what makes your music what it is?

Danielsson: Yes. Let's put it like this: If I had never been affiliated with black metal in the first place, I might have been born in a small South American village with no connection to this, I would still be writing music of a sinister caliber. That spark that drives my artistry into manifestation — that spark that helps me understand what I am here to do, that is the individualism that you are talking about, and that is exactly what is needed! I think that most bands, from any genre, are not created out of such as spark. They just want to be part of something or gain some type of acknowledgement, which to me, as an artist, is outrageous. To me, it is nauseating that people want to pick up a guitar and play something as divine as black metal and have no vision. It's just crap! I could never seriously pick up a guitar if there wasn't a fire in my heart telling me to do so. People are not individualistic enough to be a part of this and that is why you see when you open a metal magazine. Where is the fire?

Blistering.com: Judging by your earlier statement dubbing "Sworn to the Dark" as a monumental album, you seem to have really caught onto this fiery energy we have discussed. With this in mind, how do you plan on outdoing or going beyond "Sworn to the Dark"?

Danielsson: Well, like I said, we are in the final throes of our tour, and as soon as we finish up, we are going to focus only on the new material. We prefer to work with it that way because if you start with composing when you are on tour, you don't have your focus. We need our energy to grow after we tour. We don't want to hastily put anything together like most bands do. We really need to focus hard on making it perfect. I don't think that any artist can really achieve his masterpiece. You can feel like you are on the right wave, you can feel very proud of what you have done, but the minute you are totally satisfied there is nothing else to do. Then, fuck it! There are perfect examples of that in black metal. Take DISSECTION, for example, who filled their own vision about what they wanted to do, and then they quit the band. I would rather do that than desecrate WATAIN's name with some bullshit. I have no doubt, though, that we can, maybe not outdo "Sworn to the Dark" because it is an entity of its own, but there are so many paths to go from here. Your abilities are limitless. You have to broaden your acceptability. You must be open for whatever things come flying out of the night that want to speak to you.

Read the entire interview at Blistering.com.

Fan-filmed video footage of WATAIN's October 8, 2008 performance at the Knitting Factory in New York City can be viewed below (clip uploaded by YouTube user "singevalah").