[EINHERJER] [SUMMONING] [DARK TRANQUILLITY] [PROPHANITY]





Next up is some more Swedish power! PROHANITY should be a name that most of you recognize. I never thought that their old stuff was really special, not crap, just nothing special. But, when I heard the “Battleroar” tape I was surprised to hear some great Metal, so I sent away some questions to the goblin guitarist Grendel whose answers were great!

Greetings Grendel! How are you doing now that autumn has finally reached us? Is this a season that you like? How did your summer go?
-Greetings yourself Thomas! I´m doing just fine! How are you? (I’m just fine, thanks /ED) Yes, I like this season. I love how the nature looks now. Really nice (I´m sounding like a girl now, huh?)! (No, ‘cause I feel the same about it /ED) The summer was ok, too fuckin´ hot but it felt good anyway! The highlight this summer must been the KISS-concert in Denmark. Awesome!

You have recently landed a record-deal. Tell us about it! Which label you signed with, for how many albums you signed and anything else you’d like to add...Does it feel especially good getting a deal this late, considering the fact that you have been around since ’91? Is there any special reason for you not signing uptil now?
-We have signed for two albums on Blackend. We actually got some different offers but their was the one who fitted us best. They are most known to be a pure Black Metal label and as we´re not that kind of band it perhaps gets a bit confusing. In any case, we like their deal and they really support their bands. Late? Hm, I guess we have fought for a record-deal, but it´s a rare thing today I believe? It´s too easy nowadays for new bands to get deals. It seems like it´s enough to play Black Metal and have an evil image to get a contract on a commercial label. If the music is good seems less important. Perhaps it´s me who is an idiot or otherwise there is certainly something wrong. I don´t mean that this opinion fits all new bands around but a big amount of them. About the last meaning in your question I can say that we already got some deals after our 2:nd demo -94, but they were only small labels with no money involved. Don´t misunderstand me, cuz I´m not into this to earn money, but I think it´s decent if bands can get money to pay for a visit in a studio etc. Otherwise it´s really hard to release any quality stuff. It´s expensive to record in a professional studio as you know too! On the other side we weren´t ready for releasing a CD either, I guess we have grown much as a band since then!

You have, prior to signing the deal, released some other stuff. Could you tell us about your previous releases? Are you still satisfied with them?
-We released our first demo in the beginning of -94. That demo was a silly and unprofessional one really. Primitive music with really bad vocals. My nice bandmates told me that I sounded like a duck! I guess that tells it all (laughing)? As we wasn´t pleased with this release we entered a studio in our town to record a second demo. This was in late -94 and the demo got titled “Messenger Of The Northern Warrior Host”. We got a very good respons in the underground with this tape. Some people say they still listen to it sometimes. Cool! After this we got a deal with V.O.D. & Sorrowmoon Records to relese a 7"EP which we did. It got the name “I Vargens Tecken” and was released in late -95 due to some delays. We was also featured on a 3-CD-compilation, “Sometimes Death Is Better 2, 3 & 4", through Shiver Records. This compilation featured not less than 52 underground bands(!). After this we had a break for a year as our equipment was stolen and we lost our rehearsal-place. It was not until September -96 when we got in contact with our new members Robert & Nicklas things started to happen again. We entered Andy LaRocque´s studio in January to record our last demo/cassette-EP “The Battleroar”. We are really happy with the result as I think it´s quite ok to be a demo, both musically and soundwise. One track was also used on V.O.D. Records compilation-CD “Voices Of Death Part 1”. We are still satisfied with all our releases as they represent how we sounded back then. No regrets!

What can you tell us about your coming full-length? When will it be out? Where/when will you record it? Will you keep playing the same style as you do on “The Battleroar”? Do you have any new song-titles to reval?
- Not much to tell yet. The album will be recorded during Jan/Feb at Los Angered Recordings were we also recorded our “The Battleroar”-tape. We choosed this studio again as we think Andy is a great guy who´s easy to work with. He´s also a good producer when it comes to metal. He knows what we want and he´s always open for new ideas. Hopefully the final result will be released 2-3 month after the recording. But as always, you never know. Delays seems like a must. At least for us, the most unlucky band in the entire world! All three songs on “The Battleroar” will be re-recorded and released on our album. Perhaps it doesn´t look good but as they only have been heard on a demo in a few copies and some underground-compilations so many other people can get the opportunity to listen to them. Our latest songs are nameless so far but almost all material is done. Our new songs goes in the same vain but they´re a little better structured and so on. I think they will sound good in the studio!

Do you have to be in a special sort of mood when writing music for Prophanity? What do you see as your most important sources of inspiration?
-A special mood is a must when I compose music. I think it´s hard to write if I´m in a bad mood or if my inspiration is far away. I´m also throwing almost 99% of the riffs I´ve made in the garbage can as I´m not happy with them. Inspiration? I guess I get inspired of all music I think sounds good. I´m not trying to copy any other bands but it´s always difficult not to be influenced by other good bands!

How important are your stagenames to you? Are they less important to you now compared to a few years ago? I’m asking this since you used only your aliases in the beginning and now you use them in combination with your “real” names. What were the reasons for choosing the names that you have?
-They are no longer as important as they used to be (my very own opinion). I will keep using my nick Grendel but mostly in combination with my real name. It makes things easier in many ways, especially for the post office which have been confused many times when I have received letters to my nick. There were no particular reason for choosing these names but at the time we took them we thought they fitted our personalities. They were also taken from the northern mythology were Farbaute got a lot of inspiration from when it comes to writing lyrics etc!

Are the members of Prophanity involved in any other musical projects? If so, please tell us a bit about them! How is the climate for Metal in Alingsås?
-Me and our drummer Anders/Wouthan are also members in Immemoreal, a four-piece metal-act! We have released a demo titled “Winter Breeze” in -95 and we also have a song on the V.O.D.-compilation I spoke about. The metal-scene in Alingsås is incredible small. The people involved seriously in this category can be counted on two hands. The only real metal-acts from our town are Inverted, Immemoreal and of course PROPHANITY. There are also a band called Skymning but they have not released anything yet. I guess it´s on its way. Alingsås is filled with hip-hop and pop people. Not to waste any words on. They are disgusting ha, ha!

Your lyrics...What can you tell us about them? How important are they to you? Farbaute seems to want to hold on to them pretty badly...Are they personal to him or is he just dissatisfied? Do you listen to bands even if you regard their lyrics to be crap?
-I guess Farbaute is very critical against himself and his lyrics. They are not bad at all, only in his opinion! We are all satisfied with his writing and have tried to convince him the opposite but without success. His lyrics are mostly dealing with the northern mythology as I mentioned in a previous question but that´s not any rule we have. It seems like some of the lyrics on the album will feature some other subjects too but I´m not sure. Yes, I listen to many bands with shitty lyrics. As I like the music I don´t care that much if the lyrics are bad or not. Of course the music gets ways better if the lyrics fits to the music, at least when it comes to the mood-thing! You know, when the music is aggressive the lyrics should be aggressive and vice versa!

I read an interview with you where you stated that BM-musicians who told their girlfriends that they love them should be killed! Isn’t hatred stronger when there is a contrast to it? Would you define PROPHANITY as a Black Metal band?
-I remember this interview very well. I think it was for the US-publication “WHERESMYSKIN”, right? (Yes /ED) It was in a period of time when I felt hate against myself and everything that surrounded me. My bad mood was reflected when I was answering this interview and some others too. These answers are not something that I stand for today, but it was what I felt at that moment, so perhaps I´m a bit schizophrenic ha, ha? No, I don´t label PROPHANITY as Black Metal. At least not a pure B.M.-band. I guess it always has been a problem for us to label our music. Mostly it´s other people around us who puts the labels on us. Today I think it´s easiest to label us as a plain Metal-band as we´re not trying to sound in a certain way. Each person has his own opinion about what kind of music we play so I guess it´s up to everyone to decide themselves what to call us!

What does your bandname mean? Does it have a deep meaning to you?
-No, it has no deeper meaning to us. It was a name we took then after having dozens of names which was taken by other bands later too. We decided to take the name PROFANITY but we changed the name to “ph” instead of “f” as we understood that it would come other new bands which should have the same name as us again. A wise choice it seemed as I´m in knowledge of at least three other PROPHANITY(with “f”) today!

PROPHANITY has to my knowledge been around since ’91. How do you feel that the scene has changed since then? How have You developed since then? Is there anything you’d like to change about the Metal-scene today?
-Yeah, it was me and Farbaute who started the band in late -91 as a two-piece. As I said we had some other names back then but it´s the same band in the roots. The scene has changed a lot since then. Around then every band supported each other. People was visiting every underground gig worldwide where they were banging and stagediving their asses off. Nowadays everyone must be so “evil” and “true” as possible. “Our band is the most evil band in the world! Fuck all trendies!” seems to be a comment which is a standard today. It´s so childish and ridicilous. All these kids are claiming to be VENOM and MAYHEM-fans since the eighties even if their parents wasn´t even planning these guys back then. No, I really hope the old scene is coming back again. Support the underground! Buy demos, zines and other important stuff!

Can you describe Prophanity to a person who has never heard you? Does your music/lyrics reflect your personalities?
-I´m not sure I can do that. I guess it´s easiest to describe us if I say that we are playing melodic metal but still with a lot of power (right?) (I agree /ED). When it comes to the songs I have composed I can say that they reflect my personality a lot. About the others I´m not sure, you have to ask them!

How many past members has Prophanity had? Do you feel that todays line-up of the band is a steady one? Why did you part ways with Nauthis?
-Except the five-piece we are today, no other line-up has been official except the one with Nauthis. We had a lot of session-musicians back in the earlier days but they didn´t fit us because of different reasons. Why Nauthis and PROPHANITY went different ways is unknown, even to us. It was just a thing that happened. Today´s line-up is the most steady since the beginning. Robert and Nicklas are fitting us more than well and we are absolutely not intending to get rid of them in the first case. They are taking PROPHANITY as serious as we other do if not even more (laughing) and they are also great musicians. We are a great union!

What do you think about todays society? If you could choose any period in time to live in, which would it be and why?
-I´m happy with the time I live in. How could I survive without my computer and Internet? No way ho, ho! I would like to live in the viking-age for a time, just for curiosity and my interest in this but not for too long. I guess we people need our modern technic too much, unfortunately!

What is the worst/best demo you have? same about your albums! Motivate your answers...
-I will only mention the best demo/album I have. Of course I have a lot of bad demos/albums in my collection but I won´t tell you about them with respect for the bands! (Coward! Hehe /ED) I guess it´s not funny for them to read that someone think they suck! The best demo I have must be ENTOMBED´s “But Life Goes On”. Raw and excellent Death Metal as it should be, not the commercial music they are playing nowadays. The best album must be “Under Jolly Roger” with RUNNING WILD. It´s an classic which never will be forgotten by me or other true Metal-heads!

Has Prophanity ever played live? What do you think about playing live? What do you think about the amount and quality of Metal concerts in Sweden? Any bands that you would like to play/tour with?
-We have played live but only a few times due to the fact that we´ve been a three-piece for quite a long time. It´s now when we have completed our line-up we can play live for the first time. The few gigs we have played has worked out ok but nothing more than that. Anyway, we will try to be the best liveband ever but it´s hard. It will come, that´s a promise! I like playing live. I hated it first but now when I have the experience I love to be on a stage. At least as long the crowd is happy with us being there. There are much to few metal-concerts in our crappy land. Some years ago you could find great underground-gigs here and there but today it´s almost completely dead. I have heard that it shall be quite many good gigs in Sweden this autumn/winter and I really hope it will be. To the readers I would like to say: Support all smaller gigs! It´s not only DARK FUNERAL, MARDUK and CRADLE OF FILTH that are worthy to support. There are also newer underground-acts which will kick your mothers ass! As I´ve always been a big IRON MAIDEN-fan I guess that´s the band I have dreams about touring with. I guess that´s a stupid boydream never to become true (laughing)!

How/when do you believe this world will end? Do you believe in Ragnarök, Harmageddon?
-I don´t personally believe in any prophecies about the end of the world. Perhaps they are true, Ragnarök and Harmageddon, but I doubt it! I believe our civilisation will destroy itself. The technology will go too far and it will turn towards us. I guess all humans got different ideas of what´s going to happen with our world. Anyway, I hope it won´t happen before we release our album, though ha, ha...

Have You seen the great Swedish movie “Snickeriet”? If so, what did you think of it?
-Actually I haven´t seen it so I can´t tell you my opinion. I will hopefully get the possibility to see it in a near future!

Please finish this sad sucker off...! Thanks for your time! Hail!
-Thomas, this was not a sad sucker, believe me! I liked this interview. Great questions! No more comments! Good luck with MYSTICISM, THYRFING and PANTHEON. Metal to the bone! *burp*