Interview с Falkenbach : DARKSIDE.ru

Your latest album “Heralding The Fireblade” came out in late 2005, but the material for it was ready yet 10 years ago. Why did you decide to record it again? What are the main differences between the current version and the one you had in 1995? Have the lyrics changed?

The material was ready, yes, and back then I tried to record the album indeed. It was my first step into a studio, and I did a lot of things wrong. The studio sucked, the engineer sucked as well, and the result sucked of course. That’s why I decided not to waste even more money and stopped the recordings. Some of the songs appeared on other albums, but in the end I always kept "Fireblade" in mind. Now time had come for a re-recording, in my opinion, and I tried to keep and save as much as possible from the original versions. The arrangements and structures of the songs did not change, some parts of the lyrics were improved, but the meaning of them remained the same. Still some songs are missing from the original album, on the other hand the bonus track is not an original “Fireblade” track, but taken from a demo.

What is more difficult – to record absolutely new material or to re-record the old one?

In this case it was much more difficult to record the old album. A new album is free to sound the way it will sound. But this one had clear rules, as I wanted this album to sound as original as possible. We invested a lot of time to find a guitar sound close to the old one and stuff like that. A new album needs guitars that sound good for the album, but this one needed guitars that sound exactly like the ones from 10 years ago.

Why did you choose TidalWave Studio for recording? How much time did it take? What is the hardest part of the process? Is it difficult to record the choir parts alone?

The TidalWave Studio is without any doubts one of the best studios in Europe for metal, still some sort of hidden treasure. Beside that, Patrick Damiani is for sure an outstanding engineer and musician himself, someone who has been listening to Falkenbach and other kinds of metal for more than 10 years. How long the whole recordings did take I really cannot remember. The choirs are one of the easy things to do, to be honest.

Your albums usually have Icelandic names. Why did you choose an English name this time? And why was it changed from “Fireblade” to “Heralding The Fireblade”?

Well, I usually find the title for an album when the songs are finally recorded, not earlier. And back then, the album was not meant to be released. But in a couple of interviews I spoke about the unreleased album, and I decided to tell them the "working title" I used, what was simply "Fireblade". Now, as the material is still the same, but as it’s not exactly the album recorded back then, I wanted the people to know what to expect. On one hand it’s "Fireblade", on the other hand there is something that makes clear that there’s a difference. The world "heralding" was added because it’s been a heralding for Falkenbach.

Who made the cover artwork? What kind of connection does the artwork have with the lyrics?

The artwork has a connection to the atmosphere of an album, not to the lyrics. On every album there’s a different artist, mainly people who have been dead for more than 100 years...On "Heralding The Fireblade" a photo was taken as the cover for the first time.

Do the lyrics have any concept, or is every song an individual story? And is there any lyrical connection between your albums in general?

I think about the lyrics you should ask people who read and try to understand them. I am not one of those musicians who want to tell people what to think, what’s the right and the wrong way to understand the lyrics.

Are your lyrics completely based on mythology or you yourself write stories for them?

All lyrics were written by myself, with a few exceptions that are quotations from several sources like Tacitus, Edda etc.

As on your previous album “Ok Nefna Tysvar Ty” (2003), this time you have worked again with 3 session musicians: Bolthorn (drums), Hagalaz (acoustic guitars), and Tyrann (additional vocals) from Vindsval. How did you hook up with them? Will you continue working together in future?

They’re good friends of mine, outstanding musicians and honourable characters. It was an honour for me the see them featured on both albums. Although they focus on their own bands and do not participate on the songwriting process of Falkenbach, I hope they will go on helping me out for upcoming Falkenbach recordings and possible live shows some day.

In your opinion, are you an easy person to work with?

No, I don’t think so. On the other hand, the ones I work with are people who know me for loads of years, so they know how to handle me, and as far as I can say everything worked fine so far.

As it’s known you play several instruments. Which music instrument do you like to play the most? If you have any ideas for a new song which instrument would you take to fix them? What was the first instrument you started to play?

Sometimes a melody comes from playing guitar, sometimes from playing keyboards, sometimes it’s just in my mind...it simply differs. The instrument I started with were the keyboards when I was a child, but I broke with it for about 10-15 years.

What do you usually create

first – music or lyrics?

Music is always first, simply because I am not able to create it the other way around.

There was a five-year break between your second album "Magni Blandinn Ok Megintiri..." (1998) and the third one “Ok Nefna Tysvar Ty...” (2003). What were you doing all that time? Were you involved in any other musical projects in that period?

No, there were no other projects back then, and there are still no others. It was the time for a break, no more and no less. I am never able to say what time will bring.

How many demos does Falkenbach have? Can we get them anywhere now? Do you have any plans to re-record or release officially this material one day?

All in all, there are nine tapes. None of them you can get as original versions. Some you might get via Ebay as cheap copies for a lot of money, but everyone has to decide for himself if he’s stupid enough to support people who sell copies without any rights for their own profit. Right now there are no plans for re-releasing of the demos, nor for a re-recording. Maybe tomorrow I will think different, who knows...

The same question about your first band Crimson Gates. What do this band’s former members do nowadays?

The drummer is still active in a metal band, but did no demo or album so far. The two others stopped their musical career, though the keyboarder still records music for himself at home here and then.

How did you get a deal with Napalm Records? Why did you choose Napalm over your previous label, No Colours Records, which released "...En Their Medh Riki Fara..." in 1996? By the way, why don’t you want to release your albums using your own label, Skaldic Art?

So far three albums have been released via Napalm Records. To me the most important aspect is to be free in the end. I am free to record a new album whenever I feel like doing it, and there is no problem if it takes years over years. I am free about the music and the lyrics, the layouts, the merchandise etc. Skaldic Art simply did not have the capacity to release a Falkenbach album on one hand, on the other hand the idea of Skaldic Art was to support young and talented bands, to give them a fair chance to realize their ideas.

We’ve heard that Scaldic Art is no longer active. What happened to the label? Did you become dissatisfied or disinterested in it?

It was a matter of time. There was no more chance for me to invest the time needed to support the bands 100% unfortunately.

You use growling as well as clean vocals. What do you prefer most of all – brutal or clean vocals?

Personally I prefer the clean ones for myself, but both have the same value for a Falkenbach album.

You have said more than once about the possibility to play one or two small shows. Is there any progress in this sphere?

Still no progress. The line-up is there, but there is a distance of about 500 km for some musicians to go for just one session. I don’t know if there’s a real chance to play live on short notice, the plan is still there nevertheless. We will see, and as soon as there is something worth to be said, you’ll find it at www.Falkenbach.de

Not long ago Falkenbach’s tribute album "A Homage to Falkenbach" was released. What do you think about it? Do you like the result? Do you know those bands personally?

Some of the bands I know personally, others not. This album was not meant to be a high-tech product. Nearly all the songs were recorded at home, some were done not even by bands but single musicians. This project did and does mean a lot to me indeed.

What kind of music do you listen to nowadays? Do you enjoy visiting concerts? And do you often listen to Falkenbach albums?

When it comes to metal, I usually listen to Falkenbach 95% indeed. Beside that classical music like Wagner, Grothe, Grieg etc.

As you say, critics’ opinion means nothing for you. But do you take the opinion of fans into account? Do you have close contacts to your fans?

Whoever contacts me gets a reply, it’s been like that for more than 15 years now. Sometimes it takes weeks or even months, not because there‘re so many letters and mails to be answered, but because I don‘t use to spend most of my time with such things. To answer such a mail or letter takes some time, I am not a friend of standard answers for people who contacted me to find answers.

When will you record the next album? Is it possible that you’ll write songs in the Icelandic or, for example, in the German language?

I really do not have any idea what the future will bring. Maybe a new album will follow soon, maybe it will take a couple of years, but maybe not even a new album will come out, I simply do not know. The same goes for details of course about possible songs.

What do you know about Russia? Maybe something from history or mythology? Have you ever seen your CDs released by the Russian label Irond?

What I know about Russia must be as good as nothing unfortunately, except some superficial things. I guess to know a country you have to spend some time there at least and know the people. I’ve never seen Irond CDs, no.

And please say a few words to your Russian fans to round up this interview.

Thanks for your support throughout all those years!

Special thanks to Alexei “KIDd” Kuzovlev (Irond) for arranging this interview

Ekaterina Fyodorova
November 2, 2006
10 ноя 2006 the End

Falkenbach

Unaware What Time Will Bring