Live-Metal.Net - Interviews: Marduk - Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson

Guitarist Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson talks Maryland Deathfest, Iron Dawn E.P. and more.

May 20, 2011

It is impossible to discuss the history of black metal without mentioning Sweden’s Marduk, who can be credited as early pioneers of the Satanic subgenre. Their original goal of becoming the world’s “most blasphemous band” offended those who needed to be offended, scared the shit out of people and has exceeded even their own expectations in their 20 years of existence. For years, they even were denied entry to tour the United States. Hmm, I wonder why?

The band has evolved over its long career, expanding lyrically on anti-Christian beliefs and musically, as well, releasing one of its strongest albums in 2009, Wormwood (review). But Marduk became notorious for 1999’s controversial World War II-themed classic, Panzer Division Marduk. Now, in 2011, the band has returned to the battlefront that made them famous, releasing the EP Iron Dawn (review) as they set to march across the U.S. on their 7 Bowls of Wrath tour, which begins with the 2011 Maryland Deathfest.

Is Iron Dawn as much a commemorative companion for the tour as it is an early taste of what may come with the next album? Live-Metal.Net’s Jeff Maki recently talked with Marduk guitarist Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson to find out all of the band's diabolical plans.

Live-Metal.Net: Hello Morgan, this is Jeff of Live-Metal.net. I actually heard that you were just out on a hunting trip. It’s funny because it’s kind of hard to imagine your lives outside of the band. You cast across this image of the band, with the makeup and extremity and everything. So a question that I’ve asked some of the extreme bands before is, I’ve always wondered if you live normal lives outside of the band? Do you mow the lawn? Do you go to the grocery store? And now I may have an answer.

Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson: I live a very normal life, actually. Of course, I have my interests and I do what I do, but what I enjoy about the extremity is that it’s about doing what you want to do with your life. I work with the music I want to do. Apart from that—it takes its time being on the road and shit—when I’m home, I read a lot and I enjoy being outdoors. So I’m out in the wildlife, fishing and hunting, and things like that. I had so much (upcoming) shit to do, so I actually took two days off, and yesterday I went fishing for pike—big, big mean machines over here. And I went boar hunting today, but I didn’t get anything. So that’s what I enjoy. Do you do any hunting yourself?

No, but I am in Maryland, about an hour or so outside of Baltimore, home of the Maryland Deathfest.

Oh, OK—I know that one. [laughs]

It’s the way we booked the tour—we booked the festival with the one date, and we thought hell, why not do more, like a seven-day tour. Seven days: “The 7 Bowls of Wrath,” according to the Bible, when the angels unleashed the bowels of wrath across the earth. So seven shows we wanted it to be.

You guys have been to the U.S. a few times before, but it seems like bands have a lot of problems getting over here.

We had our fair share. We were over in 2001 and because we worked with booking agents at that time that told us to come over and tour and that it wouldn’t be any problem. But after that, when we were going to apply for visas and they saw that we weren’t working with proper papers, we got into shitloads of problems for years. And especially since 9/11 they were freaking out about everything, so it was impossible for us to get the visas.

Usually when you apply for one for a tour, it’s like one and a half or two months before the tour. If we applied for a visa from scratch, it would take months to get it done. So we tried to do two tours, but we would never get the visas in time. So we had to try again because people didn’t believe we were coming. We were working on it for the last time trying to get everything sorted out in 2009 because, of course, we were going to do this tour with Mayhem. Three of us got our passports in time but (one of our members) never got it, so we called the embassy and they replied, “We cannot say anything. It will come, it will come.” And so he got it then three days late for that tour.

So we were like, “What are we going to do now?” Because no one would ever want to book us to tour because they wouldn’t believe (we would make it). So we made scans of our passports, booked three dates in summer 2009, and flew over and did the dates so people would see that we can enter the country. Then we did a full tour later in 2009. Then in 2010, the Blackest of the Black tour. So it’s running smoothly now, but we need to apply for a visa every year. It’s been a long story for us. [laughs] We have never had any problems with any other country in the world before like that, but it seems to be working OK now.

With that all in mind, besides having to go through all the legal hassle, how do you guys and other Scandinavian bands see coming to the U.S.? Do you see it as a major accomplishment? An opportunity? Or do you see it as another area to conquer for a band?

I think that all of those (points) are special. For me, success rates every territory on earth. Of course, I appreciate playing the States because it’s a huge place with all of these different parts of the country that are different. So it’s great to play as many places as possible. We were one of the first bands to conquer outer areas in South America. If I know correctly, we were one of the first two or three metal bands to play in Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica, and El Salvador. So I like to meet new areas. People usually tour Europe and the States, be we like to tour other areas, as well. We were one of the first black metal bands to do a full Asian tour and play in China and places like that.

But every part of the world is important. But, of course, it’s great to have finally sorted out all this paper shit because people thought for many years that we would never be back, but now we’re here and on our way back.

And you guys are releasing the EP, Iron Dawn. This is to coincide with The 7 Bowls of Wrath tour, correct?

Yeah, because we started putting together material for the next album. The music itself is not that different from what the next album will be about, but we had these lyrics written from tons of books I am always reading about World War II. For me, it comes natural to write lyrics about things that paint a picture in my mind to write the soundtrack to it happening. So we had these three songs that don’t really fit in the concept of the next album, so we thought, hell, why not release an EP the same day we are playing the Maryland Deathfest—do it as a unique thing for fans, just release it and have it available for people on the tour, also sell it for a few months in stores, and then it will disappear forever. It’s just a special and pretty unique thing.

I’ve heard it, and I’d say it’s actually more violent and more abrasive than anything on Wormwood. Not that Wormwood wasn’t a heavy album—it was one of my favorites of 2009.

Yeah, it’s violent in different ways. It’s just a lot of speed and aggression, which I think really reflects the lyrics. I think that’s important when it comes to music, to make it become one.

Obviously, Iron Dawn also has a running World War II theme, and you touched on that. But what is the fascination with World War II?

I think it had such a big impact in world history and was such a big thing that wasn’t so far away. And there’s been so much written about it, so it’s still fresh in mind. The funny thing is that out of all the historical things during the years, only when (Marduk) writes about World War II, that’s when people react. Because we have done other things, as well, and me having a big interest in history, I read about so many parts of history—especially European history. But some things just create music in your head to write the soundtrack to it, and for me, that is World War II.

And what more inspiration for an extreme metal band can you have? For example, the third song, called “Prochorovka: Blood And Sunflowers,” these were the biggest tank battles ever in history—7,000 armored vehicles clashing together in the Soviet Union in 1943. What more is it than for a metal band to write about: Blood, steel and iron. For me, that’s more interesting than being depressed and looking into lake and crying, and whatever … It was meant to have songs written about it. [laughs]

Now when you first started the band, you wanted to create the “most brutal and blasphemous metal band.”

With “blasphemous,” it’s not important to be the “most blasphemous,” but that was a bit of the intention when we were 17 years old, to bring the music to a new shtick. It was what no one had done before, to march across and bring it to new territories.

Even though you guys are so much older and so much has happened, is it safe to say that you guys still carry that very same goal today?

Yeah, I feel it (older). [laughs] No I don’t—I feel young. I’m actually stronger in body and mind than I’ve ever been before. So it’s great to have achieved 20 years. Some people ask if we expected the band to last this long, but when I look back, it’s hard to say what you believed when you started out. You grow, you see new territories and you get new goals all the time. So for me, it’s to march across and let the energy loose and let it take you where it takes you.

But my question is, for a black metal band, what comes first? It’s kind of like the chicken or the egg. Was it the hatred of Christianity or the music?

I think it’s a combination, which together becomes dynamite. What better? If you’re going to write music and lyrics, then it should be about something that matters to you—you need to pick something that makes it come alive in you. But for me, hatred for Christianity, among other things, inspired me to create music and it still does.

We touched briefly on the next full-length, but what more can you tell us about that? The material on Iron Dawn is not reflective of that?

Not the theme or the lyrical concept. I would say that the lyrical concept of the next album will probably be very different, but I actually don’t know when we will record a new album. We’ll probably enter the studio during the winter because I don’t feel any hurry and we have a lot of things to work with the material. We want to work with it and let it grow in time and see where it will take us. We want to do everything to make the puzzles come together the way they should.

We have a good combination of material and a lot of things to be completed. And we work more as a unit than ever before. Everybody participates writing music like they have done before. We are brainstorming a lot of things and trying ideas, but we don’t like to always try it out because mostly it comes natural the way it should be. It’s slow—it’s like a slithering snake and it comes the way it should.

But we are in no hurry to have an album recorded right now because we are doing the EP, and during autumn, we will release a 20-year box set. And during winter, we hope to record a new album, and it will be out next year.

For Deathfest and the tour, will you play Iron Dawn live? And will the set be a concentration on more of the material from Wormwood since that’s the newest album?

I think we’ll play something from Iron Dawn, but most people haven’t heard it before, so I think it’s pointless to play all three songs. But I think we’ll play at least one or two. And I think we’ll then do a concentration on everything. When I go to see a band, I don’t only want to hear a new album. We’ll play songs from more or less every album, depending on how long of a set we get. I’m proud of all of our recordings, and I want to be able to play something from every album.

I just hope to see all you crazy people when we come to the Maryland Deathfest. It’s an honor for us to play that because it’s one of the few festivals that you have over in the States. In Europe, we have tons of festivals, and in most countries. But the States never have had what we have in Europe, so it’s great for the festival to be growing, still there and focusing on extreme metal. So it’s going to be great.