Hello, and thanks a lot for sparing me the "obligatory
first question". To be precise, it was me alone who brought Halgadom to
life. Sebastian joined up when after all the songs were already composed. Still,
there's no doubt they would not be what they are
without his very special way of singing.
2) Your songs deal with our ancestors' belief. What were your thoughts and feelings when your started working on the debut album, and what inspired you?
My intention was the intention of every musician, to forever store his thoughts, wishes and visions on a sound storage medium. It was nice to know that no one was there I had to compromise with. It was me who wrote lyrics and music, so everything went just the way I wanted it to. Inspirations came from everywhere. Each time you think, you get inspired. There was no key experience that drove me to making this album, if that's what you mean.
3) You second album, Verdunkelung des Göttlichen, can be considered a classic of Neofolk today. One can feel how much emotion and work went into it. The song Sonnengott is about Balder's death, Bärenmänner about the wild bersercs. The topics of nordic mythology are well represented in the ten songs of the album, and also the dawn of European christianity. What do you think about the present time? Do you think the majority of the people of Germanic origin today is still able to adapt this kind of pagan spirituality?
Thanks for the commendation. I actually got some nice emails from people who were neither into Neofolk nor metal, but still saw Verdunkelung des Göttlichen as an inspiration to deal a little more with the spiritual worldview of our ancestors. That means what I intended with the album was succesfull, and I was very happy to hear that.
It is obvious that people are looking for spiritual enlightenment as never before. An egalitarian worldview is forced upon us, and people are more and more longing for identity and togetherness. Pagan groups and organisations grow and new groups arise. But what seems strange to me are all the people who call themselves heathens, but on the other hand preach christian charity. This so called charity was unknown to our ancestors. Only those who earned it received love. No one would forgive a criminal or "offer the other cheek" (?), like the bible tells us to do. Quite the opposite, retaliation was expected. And everybody had to take responsibility for his own deeds and could not hide behind "morale" or "humaneness". Then there are thos hippie-like heathens who hug trees and try to live on berries and roots. It's alright to be close to nature, but heathen belief is in a certain way a belief in success, although here "knowledge" would be better than "belief". To be able to adapt heathen spirituality, people must first get the consumism out of their brains. Unfortanetely, this will probably not happen unless their situation gets much worse than it is today, but on the other hand, it does not seem as if we had to wait much longer for this to happen.
4) Christianity sais heathenism is superstition and "out of time", even though their own holy book as well as christian life is crowded with absurdities. How do you include heathen belief in your everyday life and into the heathen holidays, like solstice or Ostara?
The fact that the church calls heathen belief "superstition" shows how much they construct their own reality. Here we have our ancestors with their architectural and astronomical masterpieces from pre-christian times, and on the other side the christian priests that spatter holy water, try to drive out ominous demons (their own ones, maybe?) and rather wait for salvation from a god instead of tackling their problems themselves. Blind from charity and weakened by their decadent lifestyle, christianity will turn into history within the next ten years, no matter how many techno parties in churches there will be.
My heathenism is more based on an inner attitude than on collective celebrations. Community is important, but I am no longer involved in any organisation. I make up my heathenism myself, which is possible with a non-dogmatic worldview. Some basic ethics are important for me, as to be true to one's word, be creative and constructive, to understand and tolerate nature's diversity, hold up a certain amount of discipline and lead a vital existence. Your deed is you!
5) Let's talk about the solstices. On your third album, Sein und Werden, we find the song Sonnenwende (solstice), which we use to sing on our solstice celebrations. This album is divided into the two chapters Geist and Materie (spirit and matter). This might seem strange to some people. Catchy neofolk on the one side, where the vocals of Eva and you harmonise great with the melodious rhytms of your instruments, and on the other side nice metallic music, very close to Black Metal, but still include a lot of melody. What gave you the idea for this unusual concept? And even more important, how did people react?
I tried to explain this apparent contradiction on the backside of the album cover: "The principle of spirit and matter---thought and deed---is here expressed by two different music styles. The calm and deliberate neofolk songs, that might remind us of Mimir's wisdom (spirit-thought), on the other side the raw and aggressive metallic songs, that rage around us like the wild hunt (matter/deed). These two musical poles reflect our view on the world and represent an attitude based on will and energy." I don't think there's more to say than this.
The spectrum of reactions was wide, as I expected, but most of them were very positive. It was obvious from the beginning that many metal fans would not the neofolk songs very much, and the other way around. Still, there are intersections of these two scenes. Even though the music styles on the album seem to be contradictive, they represent myself. And that's what I created Halgadom for.
6) Regarding certain special attitudes of the Black Metal scene: When bands like Halgadom (from neofolk) or Eugenik (former Oigenik, from RAC), bands that were not into this music style before, begin to conquer these musical realms, this probably causes reactions. What are your experiences?
Every deed causes reactions, but in this case I can't say there's anything important to tell. By the way, I'm not interested in the opinion of people that I don't even know and I don't care about their reactions unless they are positive. Luckily, there were a lot of those. Scenic dogmas have no influence on me.
7) As can be seen on your homepage, you try to keep up our German language. How important is your mother tongue for yourself?
"What puzzles and displaces the language and in any way disturbes its clear and true development, will also puzzle and disturb the people who speak it." Ernst Moritz Arndt said these nice words. This flood of anglicisms in today's German does not only puzzle elderly people. Take for exampel the big perfume manufacturer who ridiculed himself with his slogan "Come in and find out". People understood "Come in and find your way back out". And even more ridiculous it gets when politicians use English words by hook or by crook to appear "modern". They are cultural losers who immitate the big brother usa, hoping to suit him. This can be understood to a certain extend, since it's the usa who represent barbarism and cultural murder.
For me, the own mother tongue is suited best to express my own thoughts precisely. There's hardly another language so profound and beautiful like our one. At least, that's how I feel about it. A French or Italian will probably say the same about his own language. And that's good. It shows that it's only natural to prefere the language one has grown into. Each language is worth being conserved and fostered. In Iceland, there is a special autority whose only task is to translate every foreign word into Icelandic. That's what I call active language protection. Once again Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769 - 1860):
There is nothing more spiritual and heartfelt
to a people than its language
If a people wants to keep
what makes it a people, if its kind
with all that makes it special shall be conserved,
then the most important thing is,
to take care that its language
will not be corrupted and destroyed.
8) For our ancestors, the runes were very important. In rituals, they would redden them with blood and speak alliterative verses to charge them with power. How do you value the spoken and the written word, respectively?
There's a certain magic in both of them. The advantage of the spoken word is the possibility to create an a proper atmosphere by variations of intensity, accentuation and volume. It is more lively and direct then the written word, but it's only for the moment. As long as it is not recorded, that is, but a record is usually less powerful.
The written word can be read over and over again, which makes it possible to refresh one's memory when one starts to forget. That is an advantage at least for those whose memory is not so good. It is not fixed to a certain location and can be spread further. So both have their advanteges and disadvanteges.
9) Let's talk about the runes. What do you associate with them? What do they mean to you?
Like the gods, the runes represent forces of our unconscious. In case we have access to these forces, we can pose, intonate or scratch runes to activate them.
10) In your own mailorder (www.sonnenkreuz.net) a lot
of records and clothes are offered. In addition, you are a co-publisher of the
Runenblut zine. Where do you actually find the time to create new songs and
lyrics? After all, your days seem quite stuffed
already.
Indeed, I'm rarely bored. Since the Runenblut zine is publishes unregularly it causes no pressure for me. When it comes to the lyrics, I just let things happen. There are times when I write them one after another, while at other times I need days to write two verses. The same goes for the music. The work for my mailorder does not take so much time yet, except when a new release is about to happen, like right now. And besides, I still have a "usual" job to do. But up to now, I have no real problem to do all the stuff I have to.
11) Talking about your mailorder, a new record is anounced for the end of November which is supposed to be pure metallic. Can you tell us something in advance about the new album Sturmwoge?
The major difference to the last album Sein und Werden will be the new singer. At the end of march 2006 Sebastian wrote to me he wanted to leave Halgadom. It was his won free decision, and I had to accept it. Trying out new ways is a part of human development and thus necessary. Of course I had to find good new vocalist, but this problem could be solved almost immediately. The first person I contacted, Paul of Leichenzug, did not hesitate a moment and signed up for the vocals on the new record. His kind of singing is very diversified. You can find everything, from clear, hymn-like passages to killing grunting.
All the musicians did all they could, and I think the result is proper and even better then the album before. There are typical "heathen" titles like Fenrir or Totenschiff, and there are intonations of my own dreams made poetry, , like for example Werdung or Längster Schlaf. The very instrumental intro Metamorphose is one of my favourites. I say, just wait and see.
12) Ok, Frank, let's finish with one last question: What do you want to tell the listeners of your music and the readers of this interview for their (hopefully) heathen path of life? Is there anything you want to say before we finish?
First, let me thank you, the interviewer, for your interest in Halgadom and this opportunity to express myself. Furthermore, I want to recommend our new album Sturmwoge to every reader. Be true to your path, don't stop questioning and keep your divinity!
Wotan in us!
Frank/Halgadom 31.10.2006