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Interview with
1. What is the meaning of "ElviraMadigan" ?
Elvira Madigan is the name of a tightrope dancer who lived 1867-1889.
She fell in love with a married lieutenant "Sixten Sparre" and
together they fled to Denmark (from Sweden). This made him a deserter
from the army and therefor an outlaw so if they were to return home he
would be incarcerated for a longer period. He also did not have the
means to break up his marriege as well. So they lived in Denmark for
some time but due to finacial problems they were eventually faced with
the only alternative, and that was returning home. They did however
cheat fate by commiting suicide away on a picnic. Sparre shot his
Elvira Madigan and then shot himself.
There has been a huge classic film made by Bo Widerberg called "Elvira
Madigan" and if I'm not mistaken, there should be a classical piece by
Mozart with her name as well. My band/project does of course not have
anything to do with her life or fate. I merely picked it because it
sound "neat", doesn't mean anything and because it's not English. Most
bandnames are in English and there is a fair share of my work sung in
Swedish so it fits perfectly. Personally I like band names like
"Hexenhaus" and "Tiamat" which are not English.
2. Can you make a brief comment on your pre-ElviraMadigan era?
Fact is that the pre-ElviraMadigan era is quite vital to my projects
existance. The band I had before was called "Andalucia" and was more
of a Heavy Metal attempt but was heavily ridden by different problems
which I alone had to bear. There were little support from other
members (which led to me not starting another band but continuing by
myself). The band split up in 1995 after having rehearsed for three
years with only three live performances. I - myself, was rather
undeveloped both as person and musiciam which also had its' effect on
the band so the spilt-up was unavoidable. I was disappointed at the
time but can now only praise what happened due to the fact that it led
to me starting ElviraMadigan. And through ElviraMadigan I have every
opportunity to live out any creative dream I have. So it is the vessel
of all my creativity.
Before Andalucia I played in a local Death Metal act. I started
playing bass in 1989 and guitar in 1995.
3. What inspired you to start EM?
Mainly all that which I mention above. But also because all my
previous attempts to make music with other people has ended in too
heavy compromises and I am an extremely visionary person. Whenever I
write music I get these vast ideas of how EVERYTHING should be. I make
up plans for eventual other songs at the same time and other members
can of course not see this so after building Madigan Studios I felt a
tearing urge to write and record songs in a way only I myself would
see fit. So I started recording in 1998 when I felt I could handle the
instruments good enough and ended up with a result that felt really
fresh and the way I had imagined my music to be but had never been
able to get it. So ElviraMadigan was formed mainly because I needed to
express my musical creativity with a tyrannical approach. I craved it!
It might sound a little strange and unsocial but I'm afraid that was
the way it happened.
One thing leads to the other and to be honest, I had never expected
ElviraMadigan to get as far as it has today with my own record company
and such. But if there's a will, there is a way!
Bigger? Click here !
4. Which recording artists would you cite as direct influences, and do you plan to develop this influence on your own terms?
I listen to very much and in a way most acts play some small role in the overall picture of influence. But what spurred me to record the first tracks in that particular musical direction can be blamed upon bands like: Varga Vinter (Swedish Black Metal), Cradle of Filth (up to and including "Cruelty and the Beast"), Sabbat, but also latter day Marillion, Mekong Delta, Hexenhaus and Blind Guardian. Folk has always been a vital infuence but those acts are all Swedish and not known outside my native shores (as "Den Fule", "Hedningarna" and "Nordman"). I suppose my influences will never cause my own songwriting to run amok to the extent that I'll incorporate extremely different elements in the music than there is today. But to count other acts more or less responsible for my love of music: Magnum, Tori Amos, Muse, Tracy Chapman, Finntroll, Black Sabbath (with Tony Martin)... Heck I can go on like this forever, so I would do best in quitting right away!
5. How do you describe your music? Do you think you're part of special metal scene or not?
That is rather hard. Every reviewer having heard my work so far makes quite different classifications. Frequent terms are "Art Metal", "Avant-Garde Metal", "Atmospheric Black Metal", "Fantasy Metal". I can understand the difficulties in classifying ElviraMadigan because of the many different music styles of Metal which are thoughtfully blended into each other. But it doesn't sound like a strange mix of different styles. They do fit together very well to create sort of a musical journey that spanns from the first to the last track. I did think of a quite good way to describe ElviraMadigan recently though. Let's say You mix Blind Guardian with Dimmu Borgir and add some underground rawness then I think You might get a good idea of what it sounds like! The vocals are a little but more towards Cradle of Filth though and there is much soft/beautiful/emotional music involved.
6. How many releases do EM have out altogether ?
There are two official releases out right now. The first "BlackArts" was released October 2000 and "Witches - Salem (1692 vs 2001)" was released December 2001. The first ever recording was actually the selftitled debut "ElviraMadigan" which contain the first ever recorded tracks for ElviraMadigan. The album is however not released in its' entirety but has almost all tracks included as bonus tracks on "BlackArts". The only excluded tracks are an intro, outro and an instrumental symphonic track.
Bigger? Clickhere !
7. Why did you create Northlore Records? Did you sign any other artist?
After having finished recorded "BlackArts" in the fall of 1999 I got
quite some interest on my website, but at that time You couldn't
really buy anything because I was still hoping for a recorddeal. But
most companies don't recognize the artists exteme ideas and I'm not
good with compromising so I thought I'd start a smaller company to
release the first CD through so that people could buy the songs. I
don't have that good experience from people in the music industry and
I can't stand having my art and creativity to suffer from the conduct
of others - and I don't mind doing it all in a smaller scale - so this
fits me perfectly right now!
To your question regarding other bands; no I don't have other acts and
I will not sign anything either. I enjoy writing and recording for
ElviraMadigan more than running Northlore Records so having other
bands would make ElviraMadigan suffer. And she's much too fragile for
that! Haw haw!
8. You've also built the Elvira Madigan Studios...
Yes, Madigan Studios was assembled quite much at the same time as "Andalucia" split up. It took me quite a few years of course to learn how to handle everything and I guess one can hear that if one compares "Witches..." to the bonus tracks on "BlackArts" (not that they sound ill, but more because of the defference). Without Madigan Studios ther couldn't be ElviraMadigan.
9. Can you make a brief comment on Swedish metal scene?
Well if I am to praise (it's always nice to begin with the positive), I just love Notre Dame, Marduk, Tad Morose, and probably many more I just can't think of right now. But in general I think the Swedish scene has become extremely boring. Acts like Hexenhaus, Memento Mori aso are all gone and other acts have not been able to maintain their standard. The N.W.O.S.D.M. is nothing I can refer to in all honesty, and the Power Metal of today is very plain (I mean, how many times cany you use phrases like "Spread you wings", "Sword of this and that" and "Wings of this and that" - Come on! Let's at least TRY to be creative). Hail goes almost solely to the Black Metal scene for still trying to be innovative. Congratulations goes to the Finnish scene which has exploded and is now the leading country in the North regarding Metal.
10. Where do you see black metal and extreme music as a whole headed in the future?
I haven't got a slightest clue. It's all been electronic, symphonic and God knows what. Perhaps it's time to go back to the Thrash Metal again. I'd really like to see some really good riffs again as was the case in Sabbats "Dreamweaver" and "History of a time to come" as well as Megadeths "Rust in Peace".
11. What are your aspirations for thr future of the band
I'm just dropping off the prints for ElviraMadigan T-shirts in a day or two. Whether these will be available prior to the promotion tour I don't know. And yes, the promotion tour will take me to Sweden Rock Festival and perhaps also an additional date outside Sweden (this festival is unconfirmed). I don't perform here but do only sell merchandise. I'm also bent on doing a proffesional photosession this year. When it comes to future releases I am working on the next CD right now. It will be a conceptual CD with a collective story and a few characters, and all in English. But I can't see this CD released until earliest the fall of 2003 so prior to that there might be a CD-single or EP release, so that people don't forget ElviraMadigan.
12. Any final remarks ?
Well, thanks for keeping up the site! It's nice to be represented in France... and getting all possible help is extremely important (and appreciated!). And to anyone who might be reading this... I hope You'll check out the official site and perhaps even invest in one of the CD:s. Cheers!
