IN WHICH I ASKED NERGAL AND ORION OF BEHEMOTH A LOT OF STUPID QUESTIONS
by Marisa Connelly
On a rainy and miserable day during the Rockstar Mayhem Fest, I had the pleasure of interviewing Behemoth, although I suspect the pleasure was mostly mine. Nergal and Orion are the most reluctant and private musicians I've encountered in metal. Not only were they tired and hungover, they were clearly less than ecstatic about dealing with yet another nosy journalist.
Sensing this, I tried everything I could to get them to relax and open up. I was more friendly and bubbly than usual, I promised them that I wouldn't ask any stupid questions, and that I would try to make things as quick and painless as possible. They, in turn, picked on me throughout the entire conversation. Awesome!
Although some of my more personal questions went completely unanswered, I can't blame them at all considering how much bullsh*t the Polish media says about them. Essentially, I consider this interview to be a work in progress- I will see them again, and hopefully they will have their guard down a little bit more.
But I still had a great time, and am grateful for their patience and overall awesomeness. Nergal has an uncommonly sharp wit and a sometimes self-deprecating sense of humor. Orion just exudes this mysterious quiet coolness all the time. And they both really enjoyed making fun of me, so who am I to deny that to anyone? This shall be continued...
Name and Occupation?
Nergal: Nergal, and I do guitars and vocals.
Orion: I'm Orion, I play bass.
OK, this is the only stupid question I have: plug the new album.
Nergal: That last one was already stupid, there's more?
The only reason I ask 'name and occupation' is because I have over 30 interviews in my voice recorder, so when I transcribe them, I know who it is immediately.
Nergal: Oh, OK. So we don't count that as a question?
No.
Nergal: OK, cool. So one non-question and one stupid question [so far]?
Yes.
Nergal: OK, first stupid question.
Plug in the new album.
Nergal: Which is what?
Evangelion.
Nergal: OK, it's our ninth record, um...[long pause] is this going on the radio?
No, written.
Nergal: Oh, because I already sound like a retard. [To Orion] You speak you f*ck! [laughs]
Orion: [replies in Polish]
This is the easiest question of the entire interview, come on!
Nergal: We're going to put out the strongest record, that's it. It's the f*cking ultimate Behemoth album. The ninth one. It's coming out on Metal Blade [as of press time]. It's got nine songs, a very diverse record. It's produced by Colin Richardson, it sounds awesome, you'll enjoy it, that's it. Good?
Good, yes. Good plug in.
Orion: I believe it's the best thing we've ever done, I can't wait for it to come out!
Nergal: I believe actually that no band can top it. [laughs]
Orion: I don't believe that.
OK, so Orion, when you're onstage, is it more about putting on a good show, or playing well?
Orion: It's both, and that's the way it's supposed to be, I hope. So we are trying to look good, to do proper stage show. But at the same time we bring a lot of attention to playing well. We're trying to keep up with what we do and playing well.
How many notes do you think you miss a night?
Orion: Tonight?
Nergal: I counted three. [laughs] But seriously, it's all about both, but only the first one works out.
Huh?
Nergal: You asked two things, right? Is it about performance, the show, or good playing. So yeah, he was right, it's all about both, and the first one works out.
Orion: So he said I missed three notes, because all together I had to do about eight today. Yeah, one string thing.
[Laughing] I actually got the idea for that question from Derek Boyer (Suffocation) from advice you gave to him.
Orion: I gave Derek advice?
Yes you did. He was giving advice to Stephan Fimmers (Necrophagist) about playing well versus playing the show and playing to the crowd. Like, when you have a big note, you stretch your guitar out and f*cking hit that sh*t!
Orion: That's what I am doing.
Exactly. Even if it doesn't sound perfect, it looks good. The crowd loves it.
Orion: The Necrophagist guys are doing more notes within one song than we do within the whole show.
[Laughing] Yes they do!
Nergal: They are doing more notes in one song than I do during my life!
[Laughing hysterically]
Nergal: You know why we put so much stuff around us?
Because it makes you look cool?
Nergal: No, we just want people to be distracted from how we play. So they don't really watch our guitar necks! [laughing]
[To Nergal] OK, so you said the video for “Ov Fire and the Void” is the most expressive and controversial one that you've done to date. How so?
Nergal: It's very artistic. It's a very smart story line there. I don't know, it's just, the playing is awesome on this one from what I've seen. I haven't really seen the first cut yet [as of press time], but from what I've seen from when we were shooting it was very artistic. A lot of expression. So that's my guess. And what was the other thing that you said?
Controversial. [note from author: “Ov Fire and the Void” is currently banned from Youtube.]
Nergal: Well, it looks like whatever we do is going to be controversial anyways, so... now I'm trying to memorize what the video is about.
Orion: To give you a taste of what the controversy is about, in the last scene we are ripping an angel to pieces. That's going to be controversial, for sure.
Nergal: We f*cked it first. [laughs]
You've been documenting every step of the album process, as well as the video shoots, you have a brand new DVD coming out. Was this an idea the label had? Or yours?
Nergal: Yeah, we come up with our own ideas, pretty much. It's always like, we like to do the stuff we see in our favorite bands. If any of our favorite bands have that stuff, we have to do it. That's why we pay so much attention to video journals and giving people an inside look. What it looks like from behind the stage or in the studio. I think it's cool. I like watching it, I'm a fan of it myself, you know? So, I think it's cool. It's fun doing it, it's fun watching it, it's fun reading people's opinions about it. That's the most fun.
So you go on Blabbermouth.net?
Nergal: Yeah, sure!
And read what people say about you?
Nergal: F*ck yeah! I love it!
Orion: They just all want to see that. It's not our idea to come up with all these video things from the studio or recording of the album. People want to see how does that look from behind. We just do it, we're exploring the idea, trying to add as many of our own details to it as possible. They seem to enjoy it, they seem interested, they're commenting, they're watching it. That's why we do it, as easy as it is.
Nergal: It's all about existing on different territories, different levels, you know what I mean? It's not just music, it's not just a CD, it's everything else around it. It's like yet another dimension that people can communicate with us. They don't need to guess what was happening in the studio, they just go online and see us in private uniforms [clothing], how we look like in the daylight. And we just work on the sh*t, it's just cool. I would love to see that in my favorite bands.
Which kind of leads into my next question. Why are you showing yourselves more publicly without corpse paint and gear?
Nergal: Because there's no way we can escape from it, you know? Maybe like today, if we have an idea that we can just keep it more... I don't know. It's, Jesus! I mean, even Slipknot cannot do it. It's just, like everyone knows what we look like. We've been, there's no way to escape from it, there's no way to keep the mystery anymore. When everyone has a phone and they can take pictures and film stuff, you just can't escape so why should we care?
So you're not going to be like KISS prior to the Animalize album?
Nergal: Eh, whatever. Stage is stage, off stage is off stage. Pfft!
People are people.
Nergal: Exactly.
Orion: We are just living in different times now. Everything goes online, everything goes into your privacy. There's no point to go to sleep in corpse paint and spikes.
You're on a lot of magazine covers right now, seem to be all over the place.
Nergal: Yeah, we blackmailed the editors if they didn't put us on the cover we were going to [gestures slicing his throat.]
Nice! Oh, wait, sh*t! What does that mean if I don't put you on the cover of mine?
Nergal: Bad idea!
I put up a good fight, just saying!
Orion: You fight with him, you fight with me.
I'll take both of you at the same time.
Nergal: Wow.
I don't care! F*ck! [laughing. At this point the crowd erupted as Slayer took the stage, we all got noticeably antsy to go watch]
Apart from the interviews, except this one because this one is awesome...
Nergal: It is?
Funny. So apart from interviews and covers and pictures, who are you?
Nergal: Ourselves.
Orion: They're not supposed to look at that, they're looking at what they're supposed to, right? What we give them to look at and that's all they know. We have our own privacy that we don't really want to share with anybody.
Nergal: Are you asking like, who we are? Umm, I've been trying to find out for 32 years now and I still don't know. What people see is the covers of the magazines, everything is so shiny, so nice, so glamour. And they don't see that hard work that's behind it. It's so easy for people to judge, you know what I mean? And they don't give a f*ck. There's a lot of hard work behind it.
What changes within you when you put on the corpse paint and armor?
Nergal: I walk differently, I have a deeper voice tone. I look differently, I become a predator.
Do you feel more exposed and vulnerable in corpse paint and gear, or dressed normally?
Nergal: Of course in my uniform [street clothes].
Orion: Hard question. It's not the day for that, these questions are too hard! [laughs] I think I
am more vulnerable and exposed when I'm off [stage]. Corpse paint is an armor, a mask. People can't see through it. Without it I'm just a person.
Gotcha! Well, thank you very much, let's go watch Slayer!
Nergal: Thank you.
Orion: Thank you.
Info:
www.behemoth.pl
www.myspace.com/behemoth