Songs from Torture Chambers VERDANDI
INTERVIWED AUG. 2006
I THINK IN THE END WE CAN ALL ONLY BECOME WHO AND WHAT WE ARE
1.I read you are encouraged by your experience (to record for fire&ice) to start your own musical group.How did you meet Mr.Ian Read? What did you do with music before forming Verdandi?
Alice: I mostly sang my stuff live for small audiences. I have a background in acting, mostly doing live stage performances, and hadn't really considered myself a singer before. I once sang my song, "Lady of the Vanir," at a Rune-Gild gathering which was also attended by Ian Read, and he asked if he could include it on the Fire + Ice CD, BirdKing. That seemed to get a good response, so I was encouraged to try recording an entire album.
2.From which country your ancestors come? Do you think your family backgrounds affect your musical taste?
Alice: My mother's family came from Norway, not that long ago; my father's side originally came from England. I suppose that might influence my tastes, although I don't recall anyone ever singing folksongs to me much growing up. I think I've always been drawn to more traditional music, rather than modern commercial stuff.
Paul: Im mostly Scottish and Germanyes, were all European Muts over here.
3.You live in the USA. For me USA seems to be a mixture of many varied cultures. From really commercial to really profound.What do you feel toward living in USA?
Alice: I have mixed feelings--I generally am out of sync with society as a whole. I think the USA had a lot of potential starting out, but has taken some wrong-headed paths over the years. In a way, the US is a continuation of Europe's experimentation with the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment, but here, without the braking effect of Europe's ancient traditions and more stable culture, things have gotten out of hand. It seems that the older, more traditional lifestyles were more beneficial for people than modern society, despite the technological advances. The parts of the US that have retained their distinctive regional customs, the smaller towns and rural areas, tend to be saner and more livable.
4.I think your music is quite strong and matured. At the same time it is really above/indifferent with what is going on now. I think you need strong spirit to be apart from current tide. Any comment?
Alice: My music is just a reflection of who I am and how I am developing at any given time. I like a lot of other people's music, but I don't really think of that when I am writing. I am probably more influenced by traditional folk music and stories, if anything.
Paul: I agree. For music to be powerful it really has to come from the heart.
5.How do you compose your music and write lyrics? What kind of music do you listen to enjoy yourself?
Alice: There's not really one way. Some songs just sort of came to me out of the blue--"The Daughters of Ran," for example, was mostly written while travelling on the Staten Island Ferry. Other times I made a conscious effort to sit down and write something. Sometimes I come up with the music first and write the lyrics to fit it ("Freyja, Dark and Bright"); other times, the lyrics were written as a poem and turned into songs later ("Weland Worked Long"). I enjoy a lot of different music, from classical to electronic. I really like a lot of the stuff combining traditional songs with modern instruments.
Paul: When Alice and I started working together, she really had most of the North Country songs fully composed, and all I really did was work on the arrangements. The track Wolf in the Sky was an old Asmodeus X song that I had written during a time when I was somewhat obsessed with the imagery of Norse Ragnarok.
6. If you could recommend some books, music groups etc. could you share that?
Alice: Besides the current Neo-Folk groups, I also like some of the older folk artists--Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, that sort of thing. I listen to a lot of traditional music as well - right now I've been listening to Norwegian Hardanger fiddle music. And books--there are so many. Edred Thorsson's books on runes and Germanic culture are very good. The Well and the Tree by Paul Bauschatz and Kultur und Religion der Germanen by Wilhelm Gronbech are great insights into the traditional mindset. The most recent book I started reading is Emma Wilby's "Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits."
Paul: Awen is a good new Neo-Folk project also from Texas.
7. There are some bands categorized as Neo-Folk. Maybe you might be categorized here too. Do you listen to some of them?
Alice: I have a lot of trouble fitting Verdandi into a category, but I supposed Neo-Folk is probably as close as any. I've listened to Fire + Ice, of course, as well as others--Hedningarna, Gjallarhorn, Death in June, Blood Axis, Ostara, etc.
Paul: I first heard Death in June in the late 80s. I love most of the stuff I hear out of the Neo-Folk genre. It can also be taken as an interesting cultural phenomenon of people trying to reach back in time in search of something that has been lost.
8.You have written one book about magic. How and when did you start learning it? Do you think magic put some effects on your life/music ?
Alice: It definitely has an influence on my ideas and imagery--I don't really look at the facets of my life as separate, but as interwoven into a whole. I started working with magic and Heathenism back in the mid-1970s, but my mother was telling me the Norse myths since I was about four. The imagery from those myths and from runelore definitely informs a lot of my work.
9.What is your ideal life/society?
Alice: I think more traditional, smaller-scale, locally-oriented lifestyles work best. Modernism has disoriented people too much, divorced us from our culture and our soul. The one-size-fits all mentality is definitely not health for man or beast.
10.Thank you for your time. Anything to add?
Alice: I was reminded of an old saying the other day, "Where you go, there you are." I think in the end we can all only become who and what we are.