(One of our Norway-based contributors, Karina Noctum, brought us this two-part interview of Seidemann, long-time bassist for 1349 and the principal creative force behind Svart Lotus. The interview was conducted shortly before 1349‘s recent performance at Inferno Festival in Oslo, this is the final installment. Go here to read Part 1. The interview includes photos from Inferno Fest by Metal Exposure and Silje Storm Drabitius, and we thank them for allowing us to use them.)
This is the second installment of the interview conducted with Seidemann (bass) from 1349 at this year’s Inferno Festival in Oslo. This time it deals with what to expect from the new 1349 album, news about other musical projects, and information about future plans when it comes to touring and the releasing of new material.
About the sound of the next 1349 album, is the song “Dødskamp” a good sample of what’s coming?
Dødskamp was inspired by Munch and that’s the focus, but it has the typical 1349 elements. The sort of folky intro. Even though the album is going to be in the vein of that, I think it is going to turn out pretty different.
The main thing with every new 1349 release is that we have to top what we have done before, otherwise what’s the point? Take Motörhead, they made lots of albums that were the same. They are good though, but that’s the easy approach. We want to challenge ourselves. We can’t just pour out mediocrity and believe that it would give anyone something.
We are egotistical in the sense that we do 1349 mostly for our own enjoyment. We are a neutral group of 4 people, who are not very similar or very compatible, in one room, and what comes out is the Aural Hellfire that is 1349. I think it comes out despite of who we are, not because of who we are. We merge all this together and magic happens.
We always have this high ideal of being better. We strive to be better. We have never been afraid of doing what it takes to be better. The first releases we did were kind of in a row — Liberation, Beyond the Apocalypse, Hellfire. You got three in a row, the triple thrash treat. And just when you think you know what the band gives you, here comes Revelations, and some people’s reaction was like “what the fuck are you doing?” The answer is that we do whatever the fuck we want.
We learned from Revelations just to take away the blast-beats and discover what’s left of 1349. It’s the dark atmosphere, it’s weirdness. Then, when we were done exploring that, it was easy to bring the atmosphere and weirdness back into the blast-beats, and you get Demonoir and Massive Cauldron of Chaos where we had realized the weirdness is great, the blast-beats are great, but remember when we did all the thrash stuff on the other albums, so we need to do that, that was fucking killer, but we need to do it better. So now you just have to wait and see what we are going to do next.
Photo by Silje Storm Drabitius
Do the expectations of fans concern you this time around? Is there any particular attention given to it?
We are concerned about our own expectations because like I said it has to be better than what we have done in the past. But if we were concerned only about fans’ expectations we would have done the blast-beats shit forever. I think that with this particular Extreme Black Metal that 1349 are doing — even though it’s a beautiful thought — being concerned about the fans is unrealistic, because we all have to work somewhere else which gives us the kind of beauty of being free musically.
Music is not giving me any money. It’s not like if I write catchy shit then I can live from it forever. I mean it’s Black Metal; it doesn’t matter how catchy it is, no one is going to listen on a large scale that matters enough. So we can be thoroughly honest. We can show what we can do and the expectations of others are not really relevant, and that is the way Black Metal should be. It should be internal; it didn’t get to where it is now by worrying about what other people would think about it.
When can we expect the next 1349 album to be ready?
As far as I know it will be ready by late fall, probably October or November.
What about the tours?
We are going to tour the US in November most likely. We are doing the US this fall and then Europe probably next year. Things might change though, but that’s the plan we have at the moment.
Photo by Silje Storm Drabitius
How about the drummer situation? I saw you with Dominator in The Netherlands. Is it going to be like that if Frost can’t tour?
We have drummers we use when Frost is busy so he will continue with us, but he is busy with Nordjevel.
…and Myrkskog
I really hope Myrkskog release an album soon. But they have discarded like 3 or 4 albums already. We in 1349 try to push ourselves harder, but the guys in Myrkskog do not know when to stop. They are always wanting to do things faster and more technical. But I love Myrkskog because they are fantastic and super intense. They never let go, never let down. It must be tiresome, but it’s fantastic. That spirit is indomitable.
Are you currently working with other bands/projects?
As you might remember, in the late ’80s there was a band called Mortem. That was Steinar Sverd from Arcturus. Mortem was the band before Arcturus. You might also remember Marius Vold, who was the vocalist of Thorns for a while, and Hellhammer. Somehow I’ve insinuated myself into this crowd and the debut album has been recorded. So it is the reunion of these guys, and fortunately I’m going to there playing bass. The album will be out sometime this fall.
The album was finished around the time 1349 started really going to the studio, so it was a bit stressful. It will be out on Peaceville in the fall. Some shows are planned as well. It is interesting because Marius, the singer, he kinda left the metal scene in the ’90s. After Euronymous got killed, Marius left totally. So he sings like it’s 1993. He is fantastic. No one sings like that anymore. He has this old school, ugly thing. It’s hard to describe. Steinar is playing the keys and the guitars on the album. Hellhammer on drums, so again I’m lucky to be there.
Another supergroup, that’s cool!
Then Svart Lotus are going to be doing some gigs as well, some with Mork and some festivals. Both Mortem and 1349 are going to do some festivals. We are confirmed for Rockstadt Extreme Fest.
Anything else you would like to add?
I hope to see you guys on the road with whatever band I’m with, and stay metal.