Interview with Elvenking
Inspired by strong feelings
Congratulations on your latest release “Reader of the Runes –Rapture”. My first experience with your music was back in 2015 when I found “Era” at my local record store. I picked it up and found the cover was intriguing. I also saw Jon Oliva was a guest vocalist on the song, “I am the monster”. Since then I have been following the band and the music and I find it a great honor to interview you.
How did you come up with the name for the band, was there a previous name and if so what was it?
Aydan: “We were searching a name for the band quite a time, much before we actually started playing actually. My first proposal was Hellsnows but the other co-founder Jarpen was not convinced. Not remember exactly when we came out with the name Elvenking and if Damna was already in the band when it was decided, but me and Jarpen both agreed on something related to the “Lord of the Rings”-universe since we were big Tolkien fans long before the movies were produced. Elvenking comes from a Tolkien’s illustration in “The hobbit” – The Elevenking’s Gate. We started to consider the name even if I was not so sure about the “king” in the word since was really sectorial so we started to work around the word Elven and considered other options like Elvenlore, or similar, but in the end we opted for the original idea. The first thing our label asked when we signed our first contract was to change name, but we refused.”
What made you want to become a musician(s) was it a record you heard, a performance you saw or some other event that made you say, this is what I want to do?
Damna: “It was all the cassettes my big brother used to bring home when I was a kid. As soon as I heard bands like Maiden and Metallica when I was 6/7 I knew that metal would’ve become the sound of my life. Then I decided that I had to do more with it, so I started playing the guitar, then singing, then having a band, and then writing music.”
Aydan: “In my case everything clicked when me and a school friend were messing around his older brother LPs and we were enthralled by the cover of Helloween’s “Keeper of the 7 Keys – Part 2” and wanted to find out secretly what kind of music that vinyl contained. When I heard “Eagle Fly Free” the first time I immediately knew what I wanted to do in my life.”
Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of music? And as a follow up how do spend time when not creating or performing?
Aydan: “I am a total cinema maniac so I use to watch a lot of movies, old and new. Then being a creative person I cannot do anything else but express myself, with writing, painting, reading and all possible artistic manifestation.”
Describe your creative process when you write new music. Do you approach the song writing process with a defined style in mind, adding elements of folk, black or death metal or do you just compose based on your frame of mind at the time? Do you add any of the mentioned elements after you come up with the basic composition?
Damna: “The songwriting process usually starts in a very primordial way. An idea strikes me, so I record it on my phone wherever I may be. I can be driving, or at the supermarket, or wherever and I just record the idea on my phone, mimicking the guitar or the drums or the vocal melody. Then I listen to all these ideas after some days and I select them. Some are bad, some are good. I then transfer the good ones into a sort of first-draft demo version, may them be just a verse, or just a chorus or even an entire song. And then when I and Aydan meet, we go through all these ideas, mine and his, and then start turning them into final Elvenking songs. We don’t choose parts like “here we need this part or that part” we just play them with unplugged electric guitars and we add what we feel is needed, by trying different vocal melodies, or a different drum part here or a solo there, and so on.”
What is your favorite song to perform?
Damna: “To tell you the truth I don’t have a favorite song to play live. But I’m eager to play the new ones. They feel so fresh the first times we play them.”
I read that Skyclad are the biggest influence for the band overall, are there any musicians/bands that inspire you? What qualities do you admire about them?
Aydan: ““A burnt offering for the bone idol” is probably my favorite albums of all time. When I started the band with Jarpen back in 1997 Skyclad was one of our main reference point, even if we started to incorporate the violin officially a bit later; still the folk influences were there since day one in our first songs ever composed. The Skyclad’s Noise records albums are probably what we were looking at when we were moving our first steps in our musical evolution. The combination of thrash metal, violin folk melodies and Martin’s genial pagan lyrics together with the image they had in the first albums have clearly forged our music and way of conceive metal music, obviously together with a lot of other influences. I still believe that Skyclad have been one of the most underrated and unlucky bands of the scene and their importance in the metal world is not as recognized as it would deserve.”
What band or type of music are you currently listening to?
Aydan: “The same great bands and albums I was listening back in the 90s. There are not so many new albums I am really hooked.”
In 2016 you played Waken Open Air, what was that experience like for the band?
Damna: “One of the best experiences of our career, needless to say. It’s one of those stages you really need to hit if you’re a metal band.”
All over the world there are different music scenes, what country or where have you had the best music scene experience?
Damna: “Wherever there is a small underground metal scene, there will always be a cool spot for us.”
Do you follow a process or ritual before a performance?
Damna: “Personally I need quiet, and a bit of a space for me in order to balance myself and my feelings after the usual rumble of the long travels and of the mess and the noise the band usually does when it’s together.”
The band has toured with some big names such as Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray; did you learn anything from them professionally?
Aydan: “Playing with these kind of bands and having the possibility to watch them every night is the biggest lesson possible. I used to watch show after show during the tours to see how much professional and great these bands we have opened for are.”
In 2019, label mates Brothers of Metal opened shows for Elvenking, they seem like a fun band to tour with, how was it working with them on tour?
Damna: “It was a co-headlining tour actually. BOM are really nice persons and it’s been a huge pleasure touring with them. When there is mutual respect, nothing can go wrong.”
You have been with AFM records since day 1, how is working with the label? Do they give you the creative freedom you are looking for?
Aydan: “We are now with AFM since 23 years. Pretty long relationship, uh? I know many marriages that last much less ahahah. The main thing about AFM is that after the first years where they tried to make us sound the way we did not feel close to the band’s soul, they gave up completely in front of our firmness and left us complete artistic freedom to do produce whatever we wanted to. The relationship has been so long that they simply trust in what we will come up with and deliver to them for publication.”
Over the many albums are there any guest musicians that stand out and you would like to collaborate with again?
Damna: “It’s been awesome to have Jon Oliva, Schmier from Destruction, Mike Wead from Mercyful Fate/King Diamond and Snowy Shaw. These are probably the ones we are happier about because we are fans of them since forever, but we also had a lot of other musicians that helped us with vocals, keyboards and other various instruments. On the new album we had the pleasure of having Heike Langhans (ex Draconian).”
How do you feel about the recording process, do you find it exciting or burdensome?
Damna: “It’s heavily burdensome and tiring, but it’s one of the things I love the most about creating music. And when I finally listen to the result… that’s the final orgasm of it all for me. It’s all done in order to reach that climax.”
What was it like working with Scott Atkins, who’s produced bands like Cradle of Filth and Behemoth? Did he suggest the darker themes to the imagery and music for this record?
Damna: “It’s been great. He is awesome and he got the best he could from us. His mix is definitely what we were searching for, and beyond. The dark themes were already in the music, but he understood our sound perfectly.”
How did you come up with the concept for Reader of the Runes? Is this something you have wanted to do for awhile?
Damna: “We always wanted to make a concept album.. we are big fans of King Diamond for example and we always were attracted to that kind of storytelling bound to the music. But we never had the right idea. We were not ready. After “Secrets of the Magick Grimoire” though, me and Aydan had a long talk and we came up with the story of the Reader of the Runes which became a full album trilogy.”
What kind of inspiration do you use to write lyrics for a record with an overall concept, is it like telling a story or is there some other inspiration?
Damna: “Our lyrics have always been inspired by strong feelings: what we love, our passions (like books or films), dark moments in life or as you say -and as it is for these 3 albums- a story. Lyrics are a key-point of our music. They are as important as the instrumental parts.”
Now that “Reader of the Runes – Rapture” is due out in April 2023, what’s next for the band? When will part 3 be released?
Aydan: “We will now support “Rapture” in the best way possible. We have just came back from the 70K tons of Metal, which has been an amazing experience and we will soon begin to play live in festivals around Europe. The part 3 of the “Reader of the Runes” trilogy has been completely written simultaneously with part 2; during the long COVID period and we have already recorded parts of it. Now we will complete the recordings and the album has already a release date, August 2024.”
Tell us about the artwork, was there a theme you were looking for or concepts from the album you wanted to incorporate into it?
Damna: “For this trilogy we knew we had to represent at best the core of the story told in each part. When we decided to work with Zsofia Dankova, she struck us with how well she understood the mood we wanted to have for each album cover. We still have to do the third one, but we know we’ll have 3 pieces of amazing art for these albums.”
How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business, positive or negative? Do you feel sites like Spotify turn on new listeners?
Damna: “This is really a very wide topic. We could talk for hours about this. There are positive things about it, like the fact that it’s easier to reach people, to promote the band, to spread the word about the band, etc. But let’s just see what it has done years ago with piracy, mp3 sharing and so on… it’s been a disaster. Now, years later, streaming platforms have helped fighting that problem, and there are of course positive things about it, but overall music will never be as it was before. It is so easy now to form a band, to record an album, to promote it, that we have been saturated with songs and songs and bands and bands…. Can we really give our attention to all these bands? Of course not. Is there quality? Not always…not at all. So we listen to a couple of minutes… maybe just seconds of a band, then pass to the next… and so on. All is fast, all is easy, all is quickly disposable. I was raised in the 80’s and 90’s and for me music is another thing, but I understand that the old ways are dead and now kids are used to this system. Is it positive? Is it negative? It really depends on what you are expecting and what is your age :P”
In closing, what is one message you would give to your fans?
Damna: “Thanks for the interview, can’t wait to see you on the road! In the meantime check our new album “Reader of the Runes – Rapture” out April 28th.”
Again, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer the many questions. Sorry there are so many, but I feel many interviews do not paint a good picture of the band; I like to ask many questions so that fans get an understanding about the band, their thoughts, etc.
It is depressing that many bands don’t tour in the United States, hopefully that changes soon and if Elvenking comes, I look forward to seeing you play live and perhaps saying “hello” in person.
I wish you all the best!
By: Matthew