Apesar de ser um homem bastante ocupado - como fez questão de frisar - aceitou tirar um pouco do seu tempo para responder a umas perguntas do Música de Peso.Música de Peso - How do you look at 666 International [Dodheimsgard's album, 1999], which is considered by many, as the best black metal album in the last 15 years?
Zweizz - I am very glad that I was able to have my voice heard on that album. I think that 666 International is a very strong album, and I think that Fixit, Alrahn, Bjørn Boge, Czral, Ginge and all the other people who were involved in the making of that album did a very fine job, and in all humility I think I did a fine job myself. It makes me proud to know that I was part of making both 666 International and the Satanic Art ep. DHG har obviously been Fixit's band since about 1997, and he deserves all respect for his effort and vision, and looking back at 666 International I am glad I have made an individual statement that is part of completing his vision.
MP - Why did you leave Dodheimsgard and created your own one man band, as Zweizz. Why did you do that? Did you need your own space to create and improvise?
Z - As I said, DHG is a band very dominated with Fixit's visions about what the music should sound like. After a while I felt that his ideas about what the music should sound like were very different from my ideals – I did not any longer agree with his musical ideals, and I thought it was better I left DHG, because I felt there was no need for me there any longer. This was more or less a mutual desicion that Fixit and I came to. It is indeed a question of me needing a room that is mine. Improvisation is a very important part of Zweizz – all the concerts we have done have been improvised. And DHG is not a band that improvises. So when Fixit wanted me to rehearse with DHG three times a week, I felt I had to make other priorities.
MP - In 1999, DHG toured with Dimmu Borgir. How was that tour? There were many people by that time who were shocked when 5 bald guys came in stage dancing to black metal music with women tops. Were you trying to do something different?
Z - I enjoyed that tour very much, but as many have pointed out, our concerts were not really very successful. But I do think we made a beautiful statement in playing so many bad concerts. We were trying to show people something different, and I do think that we wanted to show people that black metal should be pushing forwards, and not only a retro thing – nevertheless it is important to have a firm link to the black metal tradition, and the DHG riffs are always very black metal. Even Frost thinks that all the riffs on 666 International sound like black metal riffs. But at least, as I see it, we wanted to refresh black metal. That is still an important part of what DHG is doing today.
MP - Changing subject: why did you decide to sing in Umoral [project with Teloch, ex-Nidingr]?
Z - Umoral just happened. Teloch was my flatmate for a year or something, and we just ended up making music together. I remember when I first heard Teloch's band Nidingr, I was very skeptical, but after the first 30 seconds I had a BIG smile on my face. So I was very excited about the possibility of making music with him. So we made some music – everything was very intuitive – and people seem to like it. Now I feel that we have touched some nerve, we have struck gold somewhere between cynicism and irony. I think we have found a very strong ideological founding for what we do, based on the tenets of traditional black metal. At best it can be about seeing the inverted cross in every situation. One example: Last summer I was in Moscow playing the Soviet Ans synthesizer. It works in such a way that images become sound, and I have recorded the sound of an inverted crucifix though the ANS. We will use that recording for Umoral. I think that Umoral is very much about «Do what thou wilt».MP - Are you familiarised with Creative Commons? What do you think about that?
Z - I use Creative Commons regularly in the newspaper where I work. I like the idea of sharing stuff. Most of the time I don't sell that many records, but I trade with people. Sometimes I just give records away – but not to the extent that I lose money. I don't make my living as a musician, because I think that music should be independent from economy.
MP - Would you ever consider signing with a netlabel?
Z - No. One of the main reasons I make music is to make records. I love records.
MP - What do you think about metal and people in metal nowadays? Is it better now, or do you prefer the way it was 15 years ago?
Z - I think metal today is pretty interesting, but I don't really have the time to listen very i
ntensely to music like I had when i was younger. I hear good albums all the time, but I seldom have the time to sit down and give the album a proper listen. I feel I am missing out on something when things are like this. When I do listen to black metal albums, I prefer listening to Burzum's «Hvis Lyset Tar Oss», old Profanatica, the Emperor demo or some of the other records that were released when I was fanatically into black metal. Because I was really completely fanatical about black metal when I was sixteen. And I think it is very weird with people being obsessed with the black metal being made today. Black metal has become a trade mark. Who wants to be fanatically obsessed with a trade mark?MP - Are you into bands like Yamatsuka Eye?
Z - I don't know. Never heard them.
MP - What are your projects for the near future?
Z - Now I am making an album with my wonderfully talented friend Joey Hopkins. The music we are making is becoming all I ever wanted to make – but even better. This Zweizz & Joey Hopkins project will be very electronic. And sooner or later we will be making an Umoral album, but I don't knw how much time that will take.
Para já, a entrevista segue apenas em inglês, mas no início da semana já a terei traduzida.
