Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

What´s the name of your band? Ophidian Forest.

How was the band formed? It's a long story. Let's just say that I wanted to play black metal, ever since the '90s, but I couldn't find anyone who would play black metal over here. Then around 2006 I bought a computer and got internet and looked around, and in a few months I had a band. The rest is a bit too long to explain but my favorite memory must be listening to a recording of my singer screaming some nonsense about wolfmen hunting Christians through the forest... That was enough for me, he was in, right away.

Can you tell about your band? Ophidian Forest is an international black metal recording trio. We've never met in person, and there is a theory that the Universe would collapse if it actually happened. Anyway, I like thinking that we sound better than most bands who are actually in the same room. The rest will be answered in the questions below.

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? I'm from Croatia (Zaragil talking here) and I play guitar and bass. Other two members are Amalgamoth (vocals, keyboards) from The Netherlands, and Otrebor (drums), he is from the States. We usually record our own parts without much input from the others, and the final results are usually mixed and mastered at the Atomic Garden studio, Palo Alto.

What were the ambitions of the band when you started? Ouch. Well, I just wanted to make a silly necro-kvlt-lo-fi-whatever demo, leave something behind me, but, after the first riff that I wrote I started fooling around, and things went to hell. And somehow in the end we got a full epic concept album... With one necro-kvlt-lo-fi riff on it. Then we made another album. And then some. I'm pretty sure the others didn't have many plans either, so things just happened, and that was a lot of things.

Could you explain your music to someone that hasn't heard you? I still can't explain it to myself, haha. Some say we're original, some say "old school". All I know is that I hate repeating myself and that all songs on one album are different from each other, and all albums are different from each other. If I really had to explain, I'd say something between Bathory, Striborg, Manowar, Graveland and... I don't know. Our producer once called us "The Beatles of black metal" and one label owner said we are "shamanic black metal krautrock freakout". So, there you go. Your guess is as good as mine. We call it "Chaotic Pagan Black Metal" which is again just four words. I'm just trying to make good music, something that I would like listening to myself and something that has not been done before. And we're trying to make it sound organic, like something recorded in a forest. There's too much sterile overproduced music around.

Where was your first gig? We don't play live. First, each of us plays two instruments and only has two arms. Second, we're from different countries. Third, I'm personally against playing live. Music is supposed to be art, not entertainment, and playing live... It would be like asking a painter to paint the same painting every night in front of different people, just to prove that he can do it. It works for some bands, for a while anyway, but that's not us. Unless someone offers session musicians and airplane tickets, haha. But even then... Probably no.

Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? Amalgamoth is in charge of all the lyrics. As for the music, one of us usually writes and records the skeleton (so to say) of the song. Then others add their instruments one by one. Some songs were started with a guitar track, some with a drum track and then bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals, but the order is not fixed. One of us starts, Whoever has the idea what to do - follows.

What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? We feel that we are a black metal band, which is supposed to be "doing your own thing". Good? No rehearsals, no pointless arguing, no gigs, freedom and concentration with what we do. Bad... See other questions.

Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? It just came naturally. We all love Nature and black metal is the only form of music you can listen to in a forest, and it wouldn't sound out of place. Maybe it's the organic noise, similar to the sound of wind, water, leaves, maybe it's the space and the atmosphere, maybe it's the hidden irregularities. But it feels natural. Also, black metal is the most openly anti-religious form of music and since I live in a country that had been struck by a war between Catholics and Orthodoxes, and even today the Church is abusing trillions from the budget while the people are hungry, what else could I play? Jazz? Ophidian Forest lyrics deal with various subjects... On our first album "Redbad" they were mostly about the life and times of the legendary Frisian king Redbad who, among other things, refused baptism in favor of joining his ancestors in hell. After that the lyrics went in all sorts of directions, from mythology and Pantheism to history, Nature and philosophy.

Do you write your own material or mainly covers? We write our own material, we only ever "borrowed" lyrics from one other artist for a hidden bonus track.

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? Yes of course. There are two released albums, Redbad from 2007 and Plains from 2010 (those are release dates, not actually "recorded" dates) and two split albums, with Pyrifleyethon (2011) and with Haeresiarchs Of Dis, which was released in 2012. We also have one unreleased album called Susurrus, I'm hoping to see it released by the end of this year.

Do you have any clips on YouTube? Well there's a slightly official video for "The Nightly Plains" that I made for some other thing... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IagLIPM6IKg but apart from that, no. Some people uploaded some of our other songs so you can just do a search for "Ophidian Forest".

How old are you?/What got you started in music? We're all around four decades old. And we've been into music since longer than we can remember. I guess we all started with something and went looking for something more and ended up in the same place at the same time at some point.

At what age did you start playing? I don't really remember. I had an acoustic guitar, then a bass guitar, then an electric and now an acoustic, an electric and a bass. I think I was in my twenties when I started.

What year was the band started? That was in 2006.

What are your goals with your music? Destroy monotheism and then continue with erasing all humanity. Apart from that, I'm just glad I'm leaving something behind me. Maybe some day someone understands what the hell we were trying to do.

When did you decide to go all in for the music? It just came naturally. When we're doing it, we're doing it hundred procent and leaving all the rage, pain, thoughts and confusion in it.

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? Older bands, definitely.

What are your sources of inspiration? Everything. Even bad things or bad music that teaches me not to do it like that. As for the band as a whole, Nature, ecology, Pantheism, Paganism, mythology, (anti)religion, misanthropy, philosophy, other bands, literature, documentaries... he world around us, and our dreams inside us.

What's the first step when making a new song? As for me, waiting for inspiration and the right moment, and then simply letting it happen.

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? Not too good. Selling CDs or mp3 is the only source of band income that we have. Until a while ago I was still using dial-up and couldn't even download, but the rich kids were stealing my music without paying for it. We're not doing this for money, but we're not doing this to lose money either. So far I didn't earn enough to buy a new set of strings, but we managed to get enough to self-release our music and be at a "positive zero" of sorts. If we had more support I could make two albums each year. Now I'm just thinking "how much will this cost me" whenever I pick my guitar up to play it. Not just money, but also emotions, effort, nerves and, mostly, time. Like, what if I just take my guitar and play to myself without anyone listening? That's much easier and more rewarding right now. Most bands will tell you the same thing in private, but not openly - they are just pretending to be doing well and put out shiny looking packages to attract fans. Money comes to money, you know?

What would be your dreams for the band? Just a bit more audience and people reading the lyrics and getting the message. You know, back in the MySpace days we had a blog where we distanced ourselves from Nazism - guess what, 40 blog reads per day, 2 song plays per day. People are idiots.

Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? Depends on the band member, but at one point or the other we have all been music journalists writing for web magazines so it's safe to say that there is a lot of it. Mostly metal, of course.

What do you hold most dear? That's private information so you're going to have to ask the NSA.

What would be your greatest fears for the future? No idea, in the end I'll die anyway so it can't be that bad.

When you are on stage, what do you fear most then?

Pissed off Christians in the audience? As I said, we don't play live and I don't like being around a lot of people.

Have you been part of any other projects? We all have something else as well. Amalgamoth and me just recorded the first album by something we call Krvorog (http://www.facebook.com/krvorog) which is scheduled for mastering this year, and I also recorded a solo album called Vovlieh - The Halt. Otrebor has been a round a bit more and he played in a few power metal, prog or grind bands, and now he is doing quite well with his dulcimer-driven eco-terrorist band called Botanist.

What do you work with outside of the band and the music? We're all priests so we don't have to work for a living. Don't tell anyone.

What would you do if there was no music? Silence is good too. Or sounds of walking through a forest.

How important are your fans? I'm in touch with them, so they are very important.

What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? A few of them wanted to tattoo our logo but I talked them out of it. That would be like wearing the same band T-shirt all your life.

How often do you rehearse? We don't and I'm thankful for that. I used to play in cover bands and rehearsals were such a waste of time.

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? Mistletoe Damnation (The Seeds of Grief) and The Desecration of Fositesland.

What do you feel is the best live band you've seen? I could answer that, however a year later I've seen that same band again and they were awful. I don't go to concerts any more.

What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? First, nobody in the underground makes a living out of music. We make a living to be able to make music. Second, passion. Having things to say. Lunacy. Inspiration. All the emotions that drive you to become an artist and try to make a difference.

Do you have any webpages? Yes of course. http://www.ophidianforest.com http://ophidianforest.bandcamp.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ophidian-Forest http://www.myspace.com/ophidianforest

Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? Just do it. And don't hope for much so you will always be pleasantly surprised.

How do you view the music industy of today? Money comes to money. It's easier to make one crappy sterile inoffensive "cool" pop song, or even a metal song, and sell a million mp3s than to make someone listen to one full album. The only one making money out of music right now is YouTube.

What advice would you like to give other bands? Be yourself, do your own thing, make proper riffs, melodies and compositions and stop trying to sound like any other band and trying to be a part of some "elite" club.

What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Well, you can get around any problem if you are creative and persistent. But from my point of view the biggest problem is stopping people from trying to be arrogant smartasses and just bloody making them click the "Play" button and listen. I've talked to a bunch of people for months before they actually listened to my music and realized how good it is.

How would you describe your sound in one sentence "Recorded in a forest."

What is your favorite crappy instrument? That would be my 100-Euro bass guitar. Then again, Ville Sorvali from Moonsorrow made 3-4 albums and toured with the same type of bass so I guess it's not so crappy after all. A really crappy instrument for me would be something like the Fender Stratocaster, it looks so sterile and bland and "everywhere" that I just want to put it down and look for something with more emotion in it.

What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band? Hmmm. I've been out of the band for two days. Then I got them to let me play it my way and we finished our third album, Susurrus.

Do you have anything to add? Thank you for the interview, and if anyone is actually reading this feel free to visit any of the webpages I mentioned and, remember, just bloody click the "Play" button. Unless you're a Christian, Muslim, Jew, on drugs, on hormones or on a vacation. Hails!