Near the backstage area at Red 7 in Austin, Texas, a pungent stench accosts the nostrils of patrons during Withered’s set. Although the smell overwhelms my senses, I keep revisiting this area to ascertain its source. The stench conjures memories of a past surgery; memories of dried blood that was of such a strong odor it filled the air of my hospital room. As soon as stage hands began to construct Watain’s grand alter to Death, complete with flickering candles, chains and impaled animal carcasses, my suspicions were confirmed.
Those who have been fortunate enough (or unfortunate, depending on the strength of one’s stomach) to witness a Watain show understand the group brings something special. Not since the days when Dead fronted black metal’s most notorious group, Mayhem, has an act truly channeled dark, negatives forces into such aural malevolence. The appropriately named Dead performed such devious deeds as inhaling the aroma of dead ravens through a bag, and wearing clothes that he'd buried in the ground until they were rotten and filled with bugs. Dead also envisioned a stage filled with barb wire and scalped animal heads.
Mayhem definitely pushed the envelope for what a dark-minded artist could do, but with the deaths of Dead and guitarist Euronymous, these ideas only spread in a musical sense, albeit a musical mimicry. Sure, some bands offer similar stage shows. One example is Gorgoroth, whose stage cosmology has included impaled sheep heads. Watain lead singer and guitarist, Erik Danielsson feels some groups like Gorgoroth, in particular, do not truly believe in their message.
Possibly, Watain’s “trueness” is what has made them one of the most talked about bands in the international black metal scene. Not only do they relate a horror show and a classic, Scandinavian black metal sound, they do it with sincerity. Watain does not play dark music because they are musicians, their music most truly conveys darkness and evil, both visual and aurally. Winding down the end of a two-year tour stint supporting their Sworn to the Dark album, Danielsson spoke to Blistering.com about carrying onward the legacy put down by the Lord of Chaos.
Blistering.com: You are on the Fuck the World Tour. Besides the United States, where else are you playing?
Erik Danielsson: Our biggest musical inspirations always did the same thing when they released what they considered to be a monumental album. All these groups toured promoting these albums for at least a year. We wanted to cover most of the world, although that was a bit out of our reach. By the time we undertook this tour we didn’t have much media coverage, even though we have a large underground following, we decided in order to break through you need to break some rules, build your own ladders. We set up most of the first part of the tour ourselves, and then we joined Celtic Frost. We did a U.S. tour, South America, and Europe. This tour has been going on and on. As of now, we are on the last thread. These shows in the U.S. will almost be the final shows. When we get back to Sweden, we have a ten-year anniversary show.
Blistering.com: I understand you have a special set planned for the anniversary show.
Danielsson: Yes, the list of things to do before that show is pretty fucking overwhelming. We are always trying to do things that are a bit over the top. We want the concert to represent ten years of fucking madness! The show you are going to see tonight (Austin, Texas) is quite close to perfection for what we want to do in the states. Still, there are some things that are hard to bring across the sea. The ten-year show will be in our own town, and we can set up some nasty shit that you cannot do here. A special set list will include stuff from all our albums, including some old demo stuff. There will also an exhibition of our flyers, posters, t-shirts, and everything like that.
Blistering.com: You said you will do things over there that you can’t do over here. Can you give our readers some hints about what you have planned?
Danielsson: One thing, for example, when we play in Sweden we always have really good pyrotechnics that we build, but bringing in home-made explosives into clubs in the U.S. is not that popular. Furthermore, if you get caught sacrificing an animal backstage at a U.S. venue, you will be in deep shit. The venue in Sweden knows what they are getting their selves into.
Blistering.com: Watain has toured the states before, right?
Danielsson: Yes, in April or May of last year, we did an east coast tour with Angelcorpse. I must say, I was really surprised. It really exceeded my expectations because we hear a lot of bad things from black and death metal bands who tour America. They whine about how there is not real metal in the U.S. like there is in Europe. I have always been a bit skeptical towards those kinds of statements because I want to go where there is not a metal scene. We are not here to just satisfy the ungrateful metal guys that get to see our show every week. Of course, we play for traditional metal people. They bring the biggest audience and we like that. We like playing places like Salt Lake City, which we recently did, and Des Moines, Iowa. People come out of the woodwork in those places. Those places put on a good response. So as I said before, the U.S. tour really defied my expectations. We have met so many hungry people, and that is very important to us.
