Gravlund - Interview (Drunken Style)

You are relatively new band to the metal scene,what got you into playing extreme music?


Well it started as an idea the drummer had when he and I was drunk,listening to some old metal vinyl.Suddenly he bursted out:"We should start a metal band!!!" And I of course agreed.
And as the evening progressed (and we became even drunker),we suddenly had a lot of plans as how the band should sound like,and most importantly how it NOT should sound like.This meant of course not as how modern metal bands sound like,but rather the stuff that we liked from the 80s.
But some years went by and nothing happened.And every time we got drunk together, the subject came up.He would ask me:"Have you made any riffs yet?"And the answer would always be:"Errr no."
But then in late 2010(while making music for some other project) I came up with something that sounded VERY metal.and playing on this stuff,i suddenly realised "Hey this sounds GOOD!"And I came up with riffs for 3 songs.
We recorded those 3 songs for our first demo in VERY late 2010,and were kind of lukewarm to the results.(Mainly myself,cause i hated how the vocals sounded)But we played the demo to some people and EVERYBODY liked it.So we decided "Ok this kind of works,lets see if we can make something better."
In mid January 2011 we recorded the tracks for "Goat Funeral Night".
So the answer to your Question would be Extreme metal lps from the 80s,and beer !!!


The tracks on "Goat Funeral Night" is very inspired by old bands,but has a new twist to it,did it just turn out that way or are you inspired by older bands?




We are of course inspired by older bands,This seems to be the whole point of Gravlund.Celtic Frost/Hellhammer.Bathory,Mercyful Fate,Iron Maiden,Slayer ,Darkthrone,Burzum ,Mayhem bla bla the standard stuff.
The way we record is based on "gut feeling".I send the riffs to the drummer,2 weeks before we record,and then we record everything as quickly as possible.There seems to be no point in rehearsing the tracks,as this makes everything sound stale and boring. (First take is almost always best)
The "twist" you mention,is probably due to the fact that we really havent played metal before,and havent got a clue what we are doing!!!HA HA HA

Did you play in other bands before Gravlund?


-Yes me and the drummer have played in several bands before.Nothing well known.
But many of them with us both in the band.So me and him have played together for rs.
Actually, the last band we played in was a kind of a "psychedelic jam band thing",
with lots of improvistion.And we learned A LOT from that band.(Mainly to trust your "gut feeling")
But that was one of the(drunken) "ground rules":NO JAMMING IN GRAVLUND!!!! ( That's the spirit! Ed.)
How has the response been on the demo so far?


-Considering the fact ,that the only goal or ambition we had , making the demo,was to make some metal we could listen to while drinking beer,the response has been overwhelming.
We had NO idea people would like it this much.
One thing that is really cool,is that we get the "thumbs up " from bands that we ourselves are fan of
Peolple in Eastern Europe and South America like Gravlund,and this is mind boggling considering "Goat Funeral Night" is our SECOND rehearsal/recording!!!!




-Have you played live yet? Or have any plans considering that?


We have not played live yet.We have to get some extra band members to play live.
There are only 2 members in GRAVLUND,so for now there will not be any live performances.
Saying this,we have to note that there have already been a couple of really good offers,but we regrettfully had to decline.
But we are thinking about getting a couple of guys helping us play live,but we dont know when.
We also have to write some more songs to flesh out a set list.The songs are usually kind of short,and we need some more to play a full gig.(Or maybe we should start doing guitar solos?) (If you want the audience to fall asleep that might be a good idea. Ed)


What does your lyrics deal with? Do you have any favourite writers yourself?


The lyrics are not stories Per se,but rather random negative thoughts put together to create a "mood" or atmosphere.(Trying to be vague here,see???)
But i have to say that i usually brainstorm like a motherfucker when doing the vocals,
cause the vocals are always improvised.
Favorite writers?As in lyrics?
Fenriz comes to mind,Especially the lyrics for the "A Blaze in the Northern sky" album.I think it has lost none of its powers over the years.(You of course have to include the other two albums from the "Black trilogy")
I still remember the feeling i got when listening to "A Blaze.." for the first time.
It felt like you where participating in something ILLEGAL or something. (Indeed,he has written lots of great lyrics throughout the years. Ed)


How's the metal scene in Tromsø,any bands worth mentioning?


Oh i dont know.I thought until recently,that it was non existent.
But then i met some guys this summer, who told me the scene is getting a little better.They actually wanted us to play some gigs here,but i dont know.
If there is a metal scene here in Tromsø we are not part of it.
What i DO know,is that we are the ONLY ONES,doing this kind of stuff.
(There are actually a couple of other Black metal bands here,but I have never met them)


You are now signed after only one demo,that's not happening every day,did you just send demo's around or?
Well,we recorded the demo 21-23 January 2011,and mixed it on the 24th.
And then we uploaded the songs "Witches Tit"and "Mark of the Beast" on February 1st on youtube,and then posted links to these songs on the Scream Magazine forum.
And a lot of people(to our surprise)liked it.And after a week ,or so, we were contacted by UNBORN PRODUCTIONS who wanted to release the demo.
We were dumbstruck cause we did not anticipate this at all.
I mean,we knew the demo was good,but had no plans to release it.
We of course said "yes",and i guess this is the reason we are doing this intrview.
(I have to note Raymond ,that you were one of the first people that was interested in the band,even before we knew we would release anything.)
Have to say that working with UNBORN PRODUCTIONS was a breeze.
That guy works FAST.
Just like us HA HA

PS:
Forgot to mention that Gravlund have a"secret" member : NEMESIS MAXIMUS. He sometimes help us write lyrics.
We would like to Thank Unborn Productions and Joakim From Devil for making the cover/artwork look so cool.
Thanx for the interview

GRAVLUND

Stian