Wolfarian Interview

First of all thanks a lot for your time! Could you please be so kind and introduce yourselves to our readers and give us a little information about your bands history?
“Hello there! Thank you for having us. We are an eight-member pack from the biggest village in Czechia, Brno, combining symphonic and folk metal music since 2013. Strong male growl, soft feminine vocals, guitars, drums, keyboard, flute and violin are our weapons and stage is our battleground. It all comes in the wild and animalistic package on our gigs and melancholic, emotive and beautiful mood in our music.”

How would you describe the style of Wolfarian and what are your main influences in respect of your music and lyrics?
“Our goal is to show the beauty, practicality and deeper meaning of the ancient philosophies, tales and cultures through our lyrics and melodies which are mainly inspired by old Norse and Celtic mythologies, with the approach of modern mankind. We are thriving for the themes which are telling the tales of history, battles, mythology and love to the nature and to life itself. We take those themes and let the instruments, and lyrics to do the best. All spiced with hard, metal music!”

Influencers

“We are focused on composing in the natural way, following our feelings and trying not to overthink it, which is sometimes harder than you think it is (:D). But with the help of our musical influencers (to name few of them: Eluveitie, Amon Amarth, Slayer, Nightwish, but also Mike Oldfield, Wardruna, Edvard Grieg, even polyrhythmic Snarky Puppy … and the old sagas) we are able to deliver you uncommon and deep experience.”

On the 12th of January 2019 you released your second full length album “Beyond the Ninth Wave” followed by a Album Release Concert in Brno on the same day. After more than one year after the release of the album, how would you summarize the response to that album ? How was it taken by your fan base?
“Dude… that year was crazy! We managed to make our first small tour with Lagerstein, were visited by Vikings warriors which went into battle in front of the stage during our play, had an amazing fire show right on huge outdoor Celtic festival and had a shitload of gigs! And the response? You should be asking the audience. What we can tell you is that our fanbase really grew in ranks and in the energy outcome during our shows and that is exactly our goal!”

Ass Talk

Thereafter you played a lot of gigs, but I guess that your first small tour as support act for Lagerstein with 8 gigs played in Poland, Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia must have been a kind of highlight for you. Can you please give us a little bit insight into your touring experience ? Do you have the feeling that the tour helped you in widering your fanbase?
“That was a great experience indeed! Our asses could talk. 😀 However, except for the long hours locked in a car, the tour was awesome! That feeling, when after an amazing gig into which you invested last drops of energy, you realize that there is a huge after-party waiting for you and the same, or even better concert is waiting for you next day … It’s the blessing and kind of scary one, too. But the amazing guys from Lagerstein kept us motivated, … ehm … well hydrated and always in the right mood. They really helped us, so cheers to them!”

“Our fanbase really grew after those amazing days and so the spread of the word about us. This year we had planned to play in Austria, Poland or Romania, but due to COVID most of them got cancelled or rescheduled. Still we see a bright future for our fanbase, gigs and music in general!”

Just a small Substitute

I think for every independent band it is quite essential to play live gigs, as nowadays it is the best kind of promotion. You really had the luck to play many gigs until the CoVid-19 pandemic hit as well Czech Republic. I guess as in every other country tours and gigs had been canceled and the whole music industry had been affected massively. How did you handle the lock-down? Was it even possible to work on new songs or to come together for band meetings?
“Our biggest strength is in the live shows and also we enjoy it the most. The communication with the audience and their furious energy is really addictive and unique. We managed to deliver a few really great shows before the pandemic went global, but even more gigs were cancelled because of it. All of our comrades had it the same and it was a really painful situation. We could just share our sad stories about almost withdrawal symptoms of not playing in front of the live audience. Almost none of us cannot imagine having a band without playing live gigs. But we managed to have a few band sessions with respirators and face masks … still just a small substitute. Luckily thanks to our keyboard player Radek, we could practice new songs for our 3rd album, which he composed during those times. So be prepared for the new material!”

Last week I was in Prague and I felt that Czech Republic is treating the situation quite differently than other countries. For example there already had been the first Metal Festival which took place and basically the clubs are open again. I saw on your FB that you have actually three shows coming up in August (CZ), September (PL) and October 2020 (CZ).  How are you treating the uncertainty of those shows ? Are you confident that they will happen or is there always a bad feeling that they can be canceled at the last moment ?
“A lot of big festivals needed to be cancelled and those which are happening are kind of cutted down. It is hard, but life is harder and we are happy even for those uncertainties of our next gigs. The laws are changing from day to day, but we still have hope and we are going to do our best, so we can play the live shows as much and often as we can. Every concert now is like a kiss of the goddess for us, so big thanks to the people who aren’t afraid and are doing their best to make it happen.”

Big Family

How would you describe the Folk Metal Scene in Czech Republic?
“In spite of being a small county, we do have a great amount of good Folk Metal bands here (respectively a great amount of the folk metal interprets). Thanks to it, we are kind of a big family where we know, help and cooperate with each other. Still it is known that folkish metal is more demanding on numbers of instruments playing in the band and therefore is harder to pay the bills, travel and to make things happen. But it is definitely worth it and we are glad for every new band which is joining our goal to spread the folk message, because it needs courage to do so! We just were lucky to gather really brave musicians to form Wolfarian and also the other guys from bands, like Cruadalach, Vintage Wine or Emerald Shine.”

What can we await from Wolfarian in 2020 ? Are there any plans for a new release already?
“New gigs, more energy and better performance than ever, that awaits you in 2020. But during next year we are planning to finish drafts to all songs of our 3rd album. With our new drummer and guitarist it is going to be kind of different, than our first two pieces. It will be more epic, more metal, but still with the focus on energy and storytelling. The first song with the working title “Where The Dawn Awaits” is already finished and we are going to play it in front of the live audience ’till the end of the year. Four more songs are on the way now! But we are known to have kind of “Toolish” attitude, so you don’t know the day, nor the hour (or a year) ]:-!”

Any shout outs to the Folk-Metal.nl community?
“Thanks for the interview. Thanks for Folk you!”

By: Juergen