07/01/2012
Skyforger Interview
By: Metalist NY Magazine
With: Peteris "Peter" Kvetkovskis
Skyforger, much like Negură Bunget , have that privilege of being a big fish in a small pond. Latvia is not a country renowned for it’s many Metal acts, nor for a huge music scene, yet Skyforger broke through the mold and are currently renowned for their great Pagan Metal. Their last release, Kurbads in 2010 was only one of their many quality endeavors. If one were to go back and pull out such great albums as Latvian Rifleman and Kauja Pie Saules (Battle of Saule) see that Skyforger aren’t only a unique band, but a consistently good one as well. The special atmosphere and oddly specific premise make Skyforger one of the most interesting bands in modern Folk/Pagan Metal, I had the privilege of interviewing the mastermind behind Skyforger guitarist and vocalist Pēteris Kvetovskis.
M- Metalist
P- Pēteris ''Peter'' Kvetkovskis
M- Hello, how are you?
P- Ok, back from work
M- How did Skyforger begin? What bands influenced you?
P- I think that the official beginning was in 1995, of course we played a long time before in some bands, and , before we played something like Doom-Death Metal (Note- the band’s name at the time was Grindmaster Death- Ed) in style and songs were about Medieval topics and at one point, we thought about why we do this. Why can’t we do something about our national history? About our own medieval times? Then we chose to change the name and style of the band.
It’s Hard to say what bands we were influenced by, at the time there was a large stream of Black Metal so we started to like that stream and got a lot of influence from the style. All this time we were playing, we mixed almost everything we were listening to. The names of the bands were all well known, such as Judas Priest Morbid Angel, Bathory and Cathedral. All the bands you started listening to as a child, all the big names.
M- how were your beginnings coming out of the small Latvian scene?
P-Yea, the scene is small because the country is very small. It didn’t effect the band that much because around when we started, it was before the whole collapse of the Soviet Union, and when we started, in teenage years, in the Soviet Union it was very hard to get the records. The heavy music was forbidden, there were maybe one or two bands who tried to play something in that vein, and the underground scene just started. All this time behind the Iron Curtain, there was absolutely no hope for us that there would be some possibility to go around and play, there were no such aim for touring, but we were just happy to be able to play. For fun. Here, in Latvia. Because the country is small, there is not as much of a scene. Comparing, for example to Poland, there aren’t that many people. It’s sometimes ok if you have a concert, and there are 5,000, but in Latvia, for comparison it means the concert is huge. Normally it’s 300 or less people. A lot of bands are playing, but we have no industry or magazines like they do in Germany. Everything is based on enthusiasm.
M- How does it compare , going from 300 or so people, to , for example, playing in a massive festival like in this summer season?
P- We played before in festivals, so it wasn’t so horrible for us. To be honest, if you’re on a small stages, and then go on to being on a big stage. On a big stage you almost don’t see the people, behind the security and border, on a small stage their staring at you. On a big stage, I feel much easier. We also played like this before, this was not our first festival season.
M- But, what was the first festival you played? How did it feel like?
P- I remember my first time on the stage and it was funny. I played in a Hardcore Punk band and there was Punk festival, we were onstage, ready to play, but there were no people at all. Only members of other bands were there, hanging around. So in the end we, bands, played each for other and had fun.
M- Do you feel you bring out a part of Slavic History previously unknown to most people? What do you feel makes Latvian history and tradition special?
P- Um, there is one little thing, we are not Slavic people. We are Baltic people, only two nations remain who are Baltic. Only the Lithuanian and the Latvians. That’s why we are fighting for this; we are almost on the edge of extinction. The years we were occupied by Germany and Russia, that’s why people almost don’t know in the world. We are not Slavic, we are Baltic. That’s one thing that makes us unique, we were the last Pagan states in all of Europe. The last Pagan kingdoms. We survived a struggle against all of Europe, there were crusades against the Baltic people. We were the last citadels who kept this Pagan tradition alive. This is a big part of our culture, and this is what we fight for, what we sing for. Today it’s a little better than it was in Soviet times, but still not many people know where Latvia and Lithuania are.
M- How are you accepted in Latvia?
P- I think, we are lucky this way, we can say we are the biggest Latvian metal band. There’s always a lot of people when we play concerts, and you can imagine when we sing about these national things it can touch people’s hearts. We are happy people flock to us. We are one of the biggest bands in Latvia.
M- What inspires you to write?
P- You know, history is my biggest hobby. I’m not a qualified historian, I just read a lot by myself. These books inspire me, and have a big impact on me. I feel the need to tell people about this history, so it will not go unnoticed. My source is books. Of course, I have my view, and I put it into the music.
M- In those respects, do you think Skyforger are more genuine than other Pagan bands, because you sing about your own history?
P- Maybe not genuine, but I take it seriously. I don’t like at some point I listen to bands, and hear them sing about nothing. Some funny bullshit and there’s nothing behind this band. I like it when things are serious, and want that when people listen to music, they’ll hear these are just not posers, not some jokes. But of course I have no problem with other people liking other things.
M- How do you incorporate the folk instruments into the metal riffs? What is the process of creation for Skyforger music?
P- It’s always like, one of us has some guitar riffs. For example, one or two riffs are put together, we just listen. Then we decide if it’s good, and we start to work on it. The folk instruments come in as the last part, but we always keep them in mind. We have a lot of these national folk songs, and we can take melodies of some song and put it into our songs. In the beginning we worked them out on guitar, and if we feel it fits then we add folk instruments in.
M- Also, what are your current endeavors? It’s been only a year since Kurbads, but is there any new music in the works? How is touring going?
P- The concerts have a little bit stopped now, but as far as I know, there will be some small gigs here and there, though no any bigger tours. But at least now we have time for new songs! The five of them are ready and that’s almost half an album he he!
The problem is we just don’t have as much time to spend on the band. We are not, like professional musicians who can just play and live from the music. Everyone of us have daily jobs, families etc and that’s why albums come slow. If there are concerts ahead, we do rehearsals for them instead of new songs.
M- Perhaps it’s best you guys all maintain your normal lives, I feel sometimes that when bands start to be full time musicians, their general musical quality goes down. The label money gets to their head sometimes….
P- When you sign for a label, and you must make albums, you have to make an album every few years. You might have no ideas, but the record label will still push you for new materials. So there’s a lot of copy paste and shitty albums. If I have no ideas now, I might have them next month and I have time. I don’t know what we’d do if we had such stress for an album every years. Maybe we’d make shitty music if we had that.
M- How do you feel your music has changed since the days of Kauja Pie Saules (The Battle of Saules)?
P-Of course it changed, for every musician, for every band, it’s always changing. We have more experience with years, and when you’re young you’re ready to fight the world. To crush the world, to show everyone how loud and wild you are. With years, you start practicing more and hear the sounds of the music. I think every band changes that way. I think we became more serious and more accurate, I don’t know if it’s good or bad in many times. I think many times it’s more bad than good. I see a lot of bands that have the best first album, and the rest falls behind. With years, the bands become more technical and more serious and lose the attitude, and their special thing. It’s hard to please the fans, when you make the album, you have to slip into such a narrow space to please everyone. It’s almost like, when you make an album, yeah this is a good album. But if the next album stays along the same line, fans say, it’s shitty, it’s the same, we need something new! And when you make something new, someone says this is shit! It’s this new shit that doesn’t anything like the old stuff.
M- How do you feel about the Pagan Metal scene in general? Now many fellow bands, such as Arkona and Primordial are steadily gaining popularity, do you feel better fan support than before?
P- Hard to say, Skyforger, we somehow stand aside from all these big mainstream bands. One thing, we live far away and we don’t tour quite as much. On another hand, some people already told me that Folk/pagan metal is on its way down, though I’m not expert here.
It’s not bad, when people are interested in such things, in history and traditions, because it’s more serious and more real/serious than Satan or rotting corpses for instance. I just don’t like how it all became so mainstream and commercial.
M- Like bands that utilize the Folk music and instruments of their people to sing about silly subjects? Such as Korpiklaani, and bands akin to that?
P- Yeah, there’s nothing behind it, there’s some funny dancing and beer, and Viking helmets, but there’s nothing behind those bands. On another hand, again, this is how it happens always. When something becomes popular, it becomes mainstream, it becomes commercial, and it becomes kind of shitty inside. The bad thing is that fans like it that way and support such mainstreams. If there are people who would like to buy, there are always people who want to sell it.
M- Any last words?
P- Yeah, we hope to come sometimes and play in Israel. It’d be amazing. We hope that we have some fans here.
M- I know a bunch personally!
P- We wanted to send the fans a big hello, and we hope to see you some time in Israel.
|
