Interview с Powerwolf : DARKSIDE.ru

Hi Matthew, very nice to meet you finally in Moscow!

Yeah, it’s great to be here!

Yesterday you were in St. Petersburg…
Yes.

What do you think about Russian audience?

It was absolutely fantastic yesterday. I mean, it was the very first show we did in Russia and we were completely overwhelmed. It was a huge party, all the clap until last row, it was like celebrating and partying, so… absolutely great, and we’re really looking forward to today’s show.

So, I read several interviews of yours, but you never mention your former band, Red Aim. Why?

Because if I do a Powerwolf interview, I do a Powerwolf interview.

Yes, but by the third Red Aim’s album you’ve already started to come up with the lyrics resembling today’s Powerwolf, and it’s very interesting.

But anyway, doing Powerwolf interviews is just about Powerwolf, that’s how it’s going.

But it was a great idea to transform rock-n-roll and stoner band into Powerwolf, that is very different from other power metal bands…

Yes, we play a very different sound from other power metal bands. I mean, Attila’s voice is not a typical power metal and the church things that n

ot many bands use, so I think it is very different from typical power metal and typical German power metal.

What is your attitude towards all these clichés and archetypes of the genre – swords, dragons, magic and other threadbare stuff? I mean, some people are totally sick of all that, because power metal scene is overfilled with such things.

Actually, the kind of stuff these bands play… I do respect what they do, but as for me personally, I don’t believe in dragons or wizards or whatever fuck, so it would be just ridiculous for me to write lyrics about wizards or something, so it never was a question to do something like that, because it’s just not what comes out of our minds, so…

You use the image of true vampires in the times when the vampires people see on the TV are gay-looking boys like in “Twilight” or “Vampire’s Diaries”. What do you think about this trend?

I have to admit I’ve never seen any Twilight movie and have not read any book… currently it’s kind of trendy to be… to use a kind of vampire image, but the point is, this trend will be over in one year. I mean, we did this six years ago and we will do it for five years on still, so we do not care about any trends.

Speaking of vampires in the media, what movies, books or may be videogame

s dedicated to vampires you like?

I’m not a fan of vampire movies, so I haven’t even seen manyso I can’t tell you something about it.

Matthew, you are the band’s graphic designer. Are you an artist by trade? Is visual style of the band and its outstanding scene performance also developed by you?

Yes. Of course, we’re talking about what we do, but in the end it’s my work and from the beginning I was kind of developing all the image, all the visual appearance, I designed the stage setup and merchandise and albums’ covers, so it is much in my hand.

Powerwolf tend to use major, epic forms – organ, imagery, symphonic bonus to „Blood of the Saints”… Would you like to make something like theatrical play?

Well, I don’t want to say we will never do this, but currently we’re happy with what we do. For me especially performing live is just about the band. I mean, the point is, you can add choirs and orchestra and whatever theatrical play on stage but in the end it’s all about the music and songs and I like shows like… I mean, today it’s a very small club, a small sweaty club show and that’s what heavy metal is for me so I prefer especially in live situation to have it very basic – just the band on stage and that’s it.

Attila is an outstanding s

inger, and he’s getting better with each album. How does he preserve his vocals, especially in major tours, when you need to give 100% at every show every night?

Well, don’t ask me because today he is sick *laughs* We were on the night train yesterday and may be he caught a cold or something. Well, usually it’s about being a really professional as a singer, I mean, get a lot of sleep, not talking too much and usually it works and let’s hope today it will work because his voice… during the soundcheck he had to stop singing, but I hope he will sing tonight.

«Bible of the Beast» had two songs related to former USSR - “Werewolves of Armenia” и “Moscow after Dark”. Where does your interest to this region come from?

It’s kind of coincidence. I remember “Moscow after Dark” being inspired by the movie… I don’t know the Russian title, but in German it was “Wächter der Nacht”. You probably know what I mean, there’s been two or three of these future-style vampire movies maybe five years ago. *tries to say “Ночной дозор” in Russian* or something… remember that movie? The plot was Moscow, there was a kind of vampire underworld…

Ah, “Night Watch”!

Yes, “Night Watch”, of course. It was influenced by that movie, we watched it and said “Hey, we gotta do something that remind

s us of the style of that movie” so we did it. And about “Werewolves in Armenia”, it was inspired… I read a lot of folk, traditional and historical documents and there was a story about werewolf beliefs in Armenia which said that… I’m not quite sure anymore, but… women committing cardinal sins and being damned to live as werewolves for seven years and to kill their own family first. I read it in an ancient book and it was very catchy to me, and at this point I started writing “Werewolves of Armenia”

You know that „Werewolves of Armenia” chorus really resembles one Russian folk song?

I know. It was Attila’s idea. We had been writing this song and he said “Hey, if we call it “Werewolves of Armenia”, I have an idea. Listen to this.” And he brought a very old tape with him and played it to us and we said “Yes, it’s a very good idea, let’s try it” and it was like a lot of fun. We played this melody for two hours and had a big party and said “Yeah, great, let’s do this song”.

Charles plays bass in the studio, but there is no live bass player at your shows. Did you ever think about completing the wolf pack to get more power?

No, actually, because we just feel comfortable with the way the band is, we don’t want any additional member and… you know, it’s just find the way it is. It works per

fectly.

As if to prove its difference from the others, Powerwolf use to record authentic church organ in France, but I believe that it was the first time when choir was recorded outside the studio, in a Saarbrucken chapel. Did the head of that chapel approve of it?

Yes, it’s very hard, because when you call and tell them that a heavy metal band wants to use your church they just put down the phone. It was good luck that this church has been sold by the Church. They sold the building and it was up to public use, cultural use so we were just able to went to that church. It’s just the building, there’s no church.

And how was the choir comprised – studio diaries show that there were people looking as real church singers among the general headbanging crowd? How did those people react to Powerwolf lyrics and such an unusual task?

t’s very different because the lyrics have several ways to see them. I mean, of course you can see kind of jokes in the lyrics, “Resurrection by Erection” for example can be seen as party lyrics, but there is a lot of people who see the background behind the lyrics and there is some serious background, different levels of interpretation, and different people interpret the lyrics differently.

You know, in European fairytales wolfs are scary and nasty, big bad wolf and all that stuff. But in many Russian tales wolf is very clever and he helps not-so-smart protagonist, so Russian perception of a wolf is not all that mystical as in Europe. What do you think about it and can you look at your band’s symbol in such a way?

I think it’s quite sad that wolf is seen as a negative animal, because for me wolf stands for pride. It’s a proud and magical animal, in a way. Of course wolf has it’s dangerous side but it’s not negative to me.

Interview by: Arseniy Harchenko
6 фев 2012 the End


	( 2 )

Powerwolf

Dystopia

Карапот