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Perra
Karlsson has
been a really busy
dude in the Death
Metal underground
for many many years now...
He not only used to be part of classic Swedish bands like (a.o.)
SUFFER,
ALTAR or SERPENT, but also did his own fanzine (Mould Mag) or put out stuff via
Heathendoom Records... Nowadays he's working as a tourmanager for Bruchstein
Records every now and then as well as hitting the drums in NOMINON, IN AETERNUM
and NIFELHEIM... So, there's obviously enough topics to talk about, but we
nevertheless focused on his current band activities, starting off with
NOMINON...
Hi Perra – what’s up? Have you done any drinking sessions with your NOMINON
bandmates this weekend so that you can rush with an headache into this interview
or are you just playing drums as often as possible for the tour preparings of
your other baby IN AETERNUM?
"Hell Satan! Yeah, of course I had time off for some drinks (as usual, more or
less) last Saturday night. Four out of five NOMINON guys went to a local bar and
joined a Metal meeting with other local Metalheads, for example Cabbe (ex - Hypnosia, now in
Obscuritas), Emil (ex - Nominon, now in
Marduk), Nicke (ex - Nominon, now in
Thy Primordial), David and Rickard
(The Legion) and some other
friends from here. We all had a splendid time and crushed some beers and
listened to some of the greatest Metal music of all time in the speakers!!
Besides this we rehearsed two-three hours a day with NOMINON, this was actually
the last rehearsal hours before NOMINON will go on stage on the Fuck The
Commerce festival. We have scheduled a 45 minute set with songs from all the
NOMINON releases, but mostly from the brand new album “Recremation”.
Besides this I am, as you mentioned, also preparing for a long time away from
home (April 9th to May 17th)."
Some people still quote the 1998 “Diabolical Bloodshed” from NOMINON as the
best work of the band so far... it’s a really violent and rough Death Metal
assault with a huge Thrash impact and dirty shredding Sunlight touch, probably
the kind of recording quality someone might have missed on the demo, 7”EP and MCD
releases in between, or what would you say?
How
much work and dedication have you put into the upcoming second full length
that will be entitled “Recremation”? Do you think that this release will
optimize everything what NOMINON has done so far? Tell us all necessary details
like studio etc.
 "I think I can agree with you that people might think that the production on the
MCD “The True Face Of Death” and the 7” EP / Cass-EP “Blaspheming The
Dead” is not good at all to a certain point, but still, NOMINON did all the
work with the production on these releases, and believe me, it’s bloody hard
to achieve a perfect sound in just a small local studio without a skilled sound
engineer. NOMINON was not working with any bigger labels at the time that
could provide the band with cash for a better production. So, for the survival
of NOMINON we had to do our best and therefore we recorded, mixed and mastered
all the stuff by ourselves. The production is gruesome and extreme, and to a
point I think that this is pretty much as “true underground” as it can be. Of
course we would have liked to work in a proper studio, but as I said, no labels
were interested, so what to do?
On
the other hand, if we hadn’t recorded these simple recordings by ourselves I
am pretty sure that we would not have been contacted by Konqueror Records at
all. So I guess they did some good after all. Now we have recorded a brand new
full-length album in a good studio (Necromorbus) with a engineer (Tore Stjerna)
who is as much into the NOMINON music as the band members themselves, which of
course helped I can assure you. We spent ten days in the studio for the
recording, mixing and mastering. So far I can understand that people choose
“Diabolical Bloodshed” as their favourite NOMINON album, but when they
listen to the new album they will have a hard time to decide which is
NOMINON’s best work till today?!! Because the people and freaks that have heard
the forthcoming “Recremation” album have been stunned, first for the
production and then crushed by the material and performance of the band. NOMINON
is back for vengeance, and this time it’s fucking PERSONAL! We have put a lot of
time and effort in rehearsals for the album and the funny thing is that just two
weeks before we entered Necromorbus Studio we picked up a second guitarplayer as
well, in shape of Christian Strömblad. So as you can imagine, we worked our
asses off to make it become as powerful as it is. The release date for the album
is set to late April for the CD (Konqueror Records) and pretty much at the same time
for the 12” LP version on Blood Harvest Records."
In Autumn 2004 you did the first real full European tour with British oldschool
Death Metal veterans BENEDICTION and your landmates GODHATE. Was there a huge
kind of excitement before that tour and how have you managed it financially? I
guess Nuclear Winter Records is too samll to pay any $ for a kind of tour support
– right? Was it worth the decision and how was the taste of touring life on
the road? By the way how went the shows in the more exotic Metal countries like
Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia / Bosnia – was it chaotic there concerning venues,
audiences etc.?
 "This first
“real” European tour was of course very exciting for NOMINON.
When we agreed and said “Yes!” to the tour it was only two members left in
NOMINON, it was me and the only remaining original member; Juha Sulasalmi. We
had three months or alike to get NOMINON together again. So, call us ignorant
and stupid, but I just had the feeling at the time that we would manage to get a
full line-up and make it happen in time! And so we did! In June bassist Joel
Andersson joined in and a month later vocalist Daniel Garptoft become a member
too. So we rehearsed a 40 minutes set and in mid September we were all ready to
go! Due to the fact that we were more or less a new band, I guess we didn’t
think that much about the excitement for the tour, of course we were all
thrilled about doing a proper tour with a nightliner and all but I would like to
point out that the members in NOMINON are adults, so maybe we didn’t really feel
that fear that younger bands would have felt. We
had an opportunity to choose to go either with DISMEMBER or BENEDICTION, but we
chose the BENEDICTION tour because we felt more comfortable with that tour,
plus that it wasn’t as long as the DISMEMBER tour. NOMINON had played a few
shows as support to MASTER in the spring of 2004, so we pretty much felt that we
had to take the next step in playing with legendary bands… And BENEDICTION was
the right answer to that question. The tour was called “Thunderstorm Over
Europe, Part 2”. We played 16 shows in 17 days, which was perfect. The day off
we had was more or less a travel day (as usual!) from Germany to Czech Republic
anyway, but who cares?! We played in Germany, Czech, Slovakia, Hungary, Bosnia,
Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Austria. All the shows were ok, but the ones I
personally remember the most is Trnava in Slovakia, Sarajevo in Bosnia and
Belgrade in Serbia. Really crazy freaks all hungry for some true Metal. The
response was great and we met a lot of great people, and I guess that we more
or less figured out that NOMINON really stands up just as good as for example
BENEDICTION. In general I guess it was around 250-350 visitors at each show,
which is really good if you ask me. The promoters in the eastern countries
treated the bands with a lot more respect than in countries like Germany, Sweden
and alike, where bands are playing all the fucking time, they are spoiled without
dealing with it. We would like to go back any day to the eastern block and play.
I personally knew GODHATE (ex - Throneaeon) since way back in the
‘90s, so
that was just great to finally meet them more than just twice a year or so.
About BENEDICTION as human beings; because that’s what they are even though
there are one of the earliest Death Metal bands in Europe, they are human
beings. And like you and me they should be treated with respect, and if they are
cool then you are supposed to get the same kind of respect back. And believe me,
that happened, we became very good friends. Even though I hardly couldn’t
believe it would happen at all the first days on the tour, due to silly
behaviour and so on. But anyway, they changed a lot after a few days together
with us and I still chat with Darren (guitar) and Frank (bass) from time to time,
even Dave (vocals). I miss the contact with Peter (guitar) though, I guess I just have
to give him a call someday soon! About
the financial side of things, of course you are right about that Nuclear Winter
Records was / is not able to pay any tour support or something like that at all,
but NOMINON signed with Konqueror Records late May 2004, so we got a 35% tour
support from them, even though the album wasn’t recorded or released, or that
we had a full line-up for that matter (remember, it was only me and Juha in
NOMINON, at that time). The rest of the money we paid by ourselves, and sure we
might have lost a bit of cash, but we sold some merchandise on the tour as well,
so it wasn’t really any huge amounts anyway."
 How did you get along with the British humor of BENEDICTION? They are known to be
a really hard drinking band... were they easy to handle people? By the way
what about Bruchstein Tours? It seems like you have a pretty good relationship
with them, cause you’ve also did some roadie jobs for them, too!!! Do you like
this kind of work and what about having Paul Speckman from MASTER as partner
besides on tour, ha!
"After a couple of days we
got along so bloody well, they still tell me that I
am the most “insane” Swedish dude they have ever meet, and believe me they
are not the only ones saying so. We pretty much have the same kind of humour, so
there was never a problem with that. Sure, they are hard drinkers and
hellraisers, but we were all getting along very well, so there wasn’t any
problem besides once when there was a missunderstanding between the GODHATE and
the BENEDICTION guys on the nightliner, but that’s their story.
The
tour with BENEDICTION was the second time we worked together with Bruchstein Tours. The first time was earlier in 2004 when we did those MASTER shows in
Sweden that I mentioned earlier in the interview. And sure, Paul
Speckmann is more like a brother to me than my own “real” brother, I see
Paul more often than my real brother and he is much more my type of guy, if you
understand what I mean. We get along well and sometimes if we argue about
something that we don’t agree about, we usually solve the problem right there.
I
asked Jörg of Bruchstein if they needed help on any of the coming tours, while
we were at the BENEDICTION tour, and he said “maybe”. So in November I
joined DISSECTION and WATAIN for a month on the road in Europe, as co-tourmanager together with Jörg. Then in January this year, 2005, I did my
first own mission as a tourmanager for the European tour of IMPALED NAZARENE
with supports from YRRKOON and PHAZM (both bands from France). That tour went
very well and the bands, clubs and Bruchstein were very pleased with my work
as tourmanager, so I guess I can expect a lot of work if I want to in the
future. We’ll see how much time I can afford to spill on working as
tourmanager, you
know, my priority is to play drums with the bands I am involved in. It’s the
same here as with the BENEDICTION guys, I am still in touch with IMPALED
NAZARENE, we became brothers on that tour. I love them all!
My
next stuff I will do for Bruchstein is the reunion tour for ten dates in Europe
with the original line-up of TESTAMENT. That will be a hard experience, but so
far I can only imagine about it. I mean, they are like old heroes of mine and I
just hope that they are nice people even though they are old in the game. That
tour starts the day after we play the Fuck The Commerce festival in Germany with
NOMINON."
 NOMINON was always signed to total underground labels like X –
Treme Records, Nuclear Winter Records... and now you’ve signed
with Konqueror Records from Singapore for the coming 2005 album... I know that Andy – the freak behind
Konqueror Records – is a pure Swedish sound lunatic. Isn’t it crazy to meet
someone like that in an Asian country? Do you feel comfortable with that underground label reputation? I mean you pretty much seem to have a kind of
“do it yourselves” attidude in terms of promotion for the band? Is that ok
for you or would you prefer to work on a more professional base?
"I am glad that people finally
seem to understand what NOMINON is all about.
Just when you mentioned the meaning - “do it yourself” attitude – I got
really warm inside! I mean, let’s face the fact here; NOMINON’s music is
meant to stay underground. Even if NOMINON would sign to a better known label or
something, NOMINON would still play those small clubs and write those sick Death
Metal riffs, the music and dedication would not change. Also, Andy is by far the
most serious business representative that I have worked with as a musician. He
doesn’t just promise a lot of stuff, whenever he says that he will do
something… He WILL do it, either it’s about putting out a CD, t-shirt,
advertisment or other business related stuff. I like his genuine dedication to
Death metal and what he has done for NOMINON is more than enough so far. If he
asks us to do another album after this one, I am sure that we would take it under
consideration more than if any other label showed interest. One more thing, it’s funny that you mention Andy to be a freak from Asia, I never ever thought
about him that way. I guess you are absolutely right in a way, but I don’t
really care where people come from as long as they have the same kind of
interest and attitude as myself."
I always expected Joel
Andersson from IMMERSED IN BLOOD to be a total US style
Death Metal freak, so how many beer injections has he needed to be convinced to
pick up his bass for NOMINON to play some Swedish oldschool Death tunes? I
guess he was pretty frustrated about the situation of having no drummer wit
IMMERSED IN BLOOD?
 "First of all, Joel doesn’t drink alcohol, so forget that he joined NOMINON
after a certain beer injection. Well, it was me who brought up his name when
NOMINON were missing a bassplayer. Because I’ve known Joel since 1991, which
is 14 years, and he has always been a very commited Metalhead in his previous
bands like EXEMPT, INVERTED and more recently IMMERSED IN BLOOD and with his
record label. Remember that his label X-treme Records released the first NOMINON
album “Diabolical Bloodshed” in 1999, so I think that he like the band A
LOT!! You are right that he's got a very close relationship with the new school
US-Death Metal, but I know that he also appreciates some older stuff very, very
much as well. Also, IMMERSED IN BLOOD now got a drummer as far as I know, so they might be
back for another attack soon enough!"
Wow, it seems that NOMINON are one of the biggest fans of the good old b/w
artworks of French maniac Chris Moyen? I mean nearly all NOMINON releases since
2003 have artworks by his Thorncross Design. For me he is one of the optic
symbols of real oldschool cult stuff. I always think of the BEHERIT covers, the
INCANTATION 7” EPs etc. – he did some real classic stuff, or what do you
think? Does he draw after your inspiration or do you give him free hand? How have
you handled it for example with the 2005 album?
"I guess that we have something in common then, I mean, who doesn’t appreciate
Chris Moyen’s artwork and call himself a oldschool Death Metal freak at the
same time? Sure, he has done a few classic underground images, but the most
important thing of all why we work with Chris: he is a NOMINON fan!! We always
appreciate to work with artists and people that understand what we need
as a Death Metal band. We always give Chris a hint of what we are looking for
artwork-wise, and sometimes he delivers right up what we want, and sometimes we
give him some further descriptions on how things could look more brutal and
stuff like that, it’s a question of compromise you know. It’s the same for
the layout matter, we choose to work with Timo Ketola for the CD-design again
(Timo did the 7” EP “Blaspheming The Dead” and “The True Face Of
Death” gatefold 12” MLP for us earlier), because that guy is a Death Metal
layout genius. He has worked with and done covers for the likes of KAAMOS,
MARDUK, MURDER SQUAD, WATAIN… etc and I have been a friend of his since fucking
mid ’90s anyway. He was on the road with me on the DISSECTION / WATAIN tour
last November, selling merchandise, and I can assure that we had some great time
together! It wouldn’t surprise me if we works with the same kind of people next
time around as well, because, as I said; they are just as much Death Metal
freaks as you and I."
Perra –
you're the oldest member in NOMINON and when I look at your previous
activities it seems that being an active part in the scene has been one of your
highest passions, or what would you say? I mean besides NOMINON, IN AETERNUM and
NIFELHEIM you’ve already played in SUFFER, ALTAR, SERPENT, you’ve did an own
fanzine called Mould Mag and you did several releases via Heathendoom Records...
you must be fucking CRAZY, ha! I mean you’ve seen a lot of changes
within the scene within all that time, so do you have a kind of nostalgic
feeling if you look back on all that or are you more a bit disappointed about
the way some things turned out? By the way in such a long time I guess you
easily managed to collect some really cool rare items back from the early Death
Metal days – don't you?
 "Well, what can I say about that?
Thanks… It always strikes me when people
bring up those old bands of mine. You know, I can talk for hours and hours about
old fucking stuff like SUFFER and WORTOX / ALTAR and so on. And yeah, call me
crazy, I’ll still be doing this as long as I live. There’s no turning back!
I’ve reached the point of NO return many, many years ago I’m afraid. Ha ha!!
First,
I am not the oldest member of NOMINON, the only original member is Juha
Sulasalmi, who started this evil entity named NOMINON back in 1993. Juha is also
the oldest member, because he is one year older than me, so I don’t know where
you have done your research? Ha ha, because it’s all white on black on our
website. Even Joel is two weeks older than me, actually. But it doesn’t
matter, I think I can talk for the rest of the guys when I say that Death Metal
bands of today are more or less boring, and a guess of mine is that most of the
bands won’t be around next year. Death Metal is meant for people who have a
certain taste of extreme and brutal music with no limitations, really. I mean,
listen to some of the stuff that I do behind the drums, they are too progressive
for the regular Metalfans, they can’t stand it, and that’s because that they
do not understand it. When we as a band compose the music, new material so to
speak, we don’t actually sit down and say… Hey, let’s do a commercial song
so we can sell more records. Ha ha, that’s lame if you ask me and if a
musician / artist thinks like that, then he / she definitely got huge loss of IQ.
This is also one of the reasons why I can cooperate so well with Juha, because
we learnt about that already in DION FORTUNE (which we both played with during a
few months 1995), we don’t hold back for almost anything… NOMINON is much
about that musicwise, Juha and I jam at the rehearsal place. He seems to have
this unconscious
way of understanding me as a drummer. Recently I told him that I have been
creating some drum rhythms that we might be usefull for some new NOMINON stuff,
at first he seemed a bit suspicious but after I have described what I meant he
changed his opinion about the whole thing, and that is what I love about him.
Never hold back your creative side!! If you got a fucking brutal beat, who is
there to tell you that "Hey, I write the songs on guitar, so fuck you!
That’s how we’ll do it here!!“ With that kind of attitude I would end up
in a fight before the day is over.
For
example, take a look at MORBID ANGEL, they are the masters in writing complex Death
Metal songs. No other band is even near to be as creative as them when it
comes to writing different and special kind of Death Metal. Their riffs and beats
are so fucked up that it’s godlike, you know. Yeah,
I used to run some Magazines / Fanzines, Recordstore / Recordlabel… bla,
bla… But
it’s now all in the past and it’s not that often that I have the time to
think back in time when I used to do that kind of stuff, mostly because I guess I
don’t remember it all. Ha, ha… I was a huge drinker at some points, and at
some other periods I didn’t drank at all. I am just glad that I could get out
of the recordstore during 1999, because that fucking store and all the work
behind it nearly KILLED me, as I was all alone doing everything at the end."
By the way how do you finance your crazy passion for
Metal? Do you currently have a
regular job and what kind of profession have you learned? You know,
unfortunately life is not Rock’n’Roll all night long...
"I am a bit fucked up, you know, so right now I don’t have any job besides
working for Bruchstein every now and then. When I am in Sweden I have this
unemployed insurance payment kind of thing. I am not rich at all, but I survive.
I used to be driving busses at night in the capitol in Sweden, Stockholm, for a
couple of years, but I decided to move from there as I ended up in a very
complicated situation due to kidney failure, I pretty much had nowhere else to
go then to move to Jönköping as I have a lot of friends here. I am glad I did
because otherwise I might have quit playing drums and just have had nothing to
do, I mean, when you are sick for REAL you don’t really have that high level
of self-confidence. The guys in NOMINON helped me so much to get back to a more
“normal” life, even though I was a bit depressed and seriously ill and had
to do dialysis four times every day for 1,5 years, thirty minutes each time.
NOMINON even played a couple of gigs during that period here in Sweden. When you
think about it, it sounds insane to play such as brutal music when you are
half-dead, but it surely didn’t stop us, or me in particular. During July 2003
I went through a surgery, a kidney transplantation, and since then I have just
worked even harder to get well and most of all, worked harder to play drums and
stay active in the Death Metal scene. I have been into so many situations in
life so it is just pure insanity to think about it, so for me, I don’t care so
much about the regular things like most people do, like for example a daily job,
a relationship… etc. Ain’t
got the time and interest, and I haven’t found a lady worth it yet either!"
It seems like you’re pretty much the oldschool type of freak in terms of
musical taste, so how do you handle it with new acts? I mean Sweden is so packed
with all kinds of acts in several styles... do you feel delighted about acts like
KAAMOS or VERMINOUS that keep the oldschool flag high ? Have you ever cared for
example about the commercial success of bands, for example SOILWORK or IN
FLAMES?
 "This is a returning question we’ve been asked pretty much lately, especially
from people in Germany and the South of Europe. Actually I am not sure if I
fully understand this question, but here is the answer I can / feel like giving
you.
It’s strange that you really care so much about these kind of bands, none in
my circle of acquaintances cares too much about bands like SOILWORK and IN
FLAMES for example, even though I am a good friend of Dirk, the drummer of
SOILWORK. He’s a godly drummer and I respect him very much for his dedication
to Grind and Death Metal. I also know Jesper of IN FLAMES a little tiny bit, he
is also really into the old Death Metal stuff. But as you mentioned in the
previous question, we all have to earn our money somewhere, some do it as
bussdrivers and some do it as drummers or guitarists, even though they don’t
like playing the music they actually play it’s still a better and funnier way
to earn your paycheck by touring the world and play the instrument that you
love, then to drive a fucking bus. I
don’t even consider none of the mentioned band of the two as Metal bands
nowadays, it’s too much of a commercial side of things there going. Still, I
can understand why they keep on doing what they are doing. Of
course I am more delighted to talk about the other bands you mentioned, KAAMOS
and VERMINOUS. I mean, there you have it. Actually, I became very surprised when
I listened to the latest KAAMOS album "Lucifer Rising“, because it sounds a
bit similar to what NOMINON is doing, and here we are both of us at the same
time, 2005. It’s a mystery to me!! I love KAAMOS, it is the best Death Metal
band in Sweden since the mighty GROTESQUE, or maybe since MEGA SLAUGHTER. On the
other hand, I have a hard time to understand why bands such as AMON AMARTH is so
big in for example Germany!? That is another mystery to me. They are releasing
album after album and still haven’t convinced me that much, especially not as
much as the rest of Europe. Nearly nobody I know in Sweden that listens to Death
Metal is listening to AMON AMARTH. They are really nothing in comparision to
bands like UNLEASHED and ENTOMBED for example.
About
brand new acts, I was convinced directly when I heard the demos of these new
Swedish Death / Crust / Thrash bands: SWORN, CORRUPT or why not RADIOSKUGGA. There
is a lot of kids growing up that have an excellent taste when it comes to
picking up the great elements of the oldschool and bringing in the new school
when it comes to playing their instruments like they have done so for ten years
or more, even though they are 16-20 years old. That amazes me and makes me proud
of being a Swede!!!"
IN AETERNUM is your other baby, so when have you replaced their drummer Joacim
Olaffsson and what do you think about the evolution IN AETERNUM made? I think
after the second album and not reliable business behaviour of Necropolis Records
IN AETERNUM got pretty much underrated. I mean they got some really good shows
and tours in the beginning, but then it really seemed the band disappeared, or what would you say?
Are they happy with the new Polish label Agonia Records and what about
the upcoming album? By the way are you a real IN AETERNUM member or just a
session one?
"Well, IN AETERNUM have had a lot of problems with various labels in the past,
not only Necropolis. And also, a lot of problems with full line-ups, first with
various drummers and then finding a suitable bassplayer. I’ve known IN
AETERNUM since 99 when I saw them playing at a show that I and a friend of mine,
Tore Stjerna (Necromorbus Studio), put together in Stockholm. Their music has
always been very inspiring since then. Tore even played with IN AETERNUM at some
tours and recorded three tracks with them on their previous full-length album
“Nuclear Armageddon”. Anyway, David (Guitar / Vox) called me during Sept/Oct
2003 and asked me if I was interested to help them recording three tracks as a
promo. It sounded interesting to my ears and I decided to do it. So during two
days in December 2003 we recorded the infamous GROTESQUE cover plus two brand
new IN AETERNUM
tracks. It all ended up just fine, and as IN AETERNUM was in need of a permanent
drummer they asked me directly after the recording to join the band, which I
did, I actually didn’t had much of a choice to tell you the truth, the guys
threaten to kill me otherwise… Ha ha!! So, yes, I am a member. Pretty soon
after the recording IN AETERNUM was asked to join DEICIDE during their summer
tour 2004 through Europe, and due to that the label Agonia Records decided to put
out the three tracks we recorded plus an older song, on an limited edition
digipack-MCD for 1000 copies as a special release for the tour. We went to start
the tour in London at the Astoria in June, after a couple of warm-up shows in
Sweden. But directly when we got there the promoter told us that something was
not working out as it should, DEICIDE was at Heathrow trying to catch a flight
back home to the States, due to a lot of problems between the band and the
booking agency. So, there we stood… We had paid upfront for a motorhome rent
for 5 weeks, we paid all the travelling costs for ourselves, we had been
printing lots of shirts… And then, NO TOUR!!! Sure, for some bands that would
have been the end, but for us it was like, yeah whatever, “Let’s go
home!”. I would like to point out that we were never ever really angry or something like that, we have
been in this business so long
so we pretty much know that things can fuck up. The funny thing is that the
booking agency Metallysee said directly after the cancellation of the tour that
they would never work with DEICIDE ever again. And this autumn, starting in
September, DEICIDE is doing a tour for Metallysee again. That’s just how
rotten this business is. But if you can’t deal with it, I guess you have
nothing here to do… It’s how it is. Money talks, bullshit walks!
About
Agonia Records; Well, let’s put it this way, I am not too keen on dealing with
labels that directly lie to the band. Agonia has done that and they even had the
guts to admit it too. The brand new album that will be released any day now;
“Dawn Of A New Aeon”, is by far the best work in the history of IN AETERNUM.
It’s so fucking intense, so over the top! You have to go out and get hold of
it to understand!!! It’s much more varied than IN AETERNUM has ever been, and
yes, I am very satisfied with the evolution of IN AETERNUM."
 It’s nearly like a story for a
soap opera newspaper, but what’s your point
of view about the trouble about the coverartwork from the “No Salvation”
MCD, which was basically taken from the film “Passion Christi”? It seems
like Mel Gibson isn’t that much a fan of real Swedish Black / Death Metal...
Don’t you think that’s a kind of senseless trouble for a MCD which sells not
more then 1000 copies...
"It’s Hell being Mel”, you know, as said in a particular Simpson episode.
I don’t know too much about this fucking silly situation, besides that IN
AETERNUM has been mentioned in some newspapers in Sweden, as well as on television.
One could say that the scandal gave rise to any number of irresponsible
articles. The funny thing is that I haven’t even seen the movie. I mean,
it’s about christ… Who cares? The only good thing about this movie is that
they show the people once and for all that the christianity is just a made up
story, from start to end. I used to think that Mel Gibson was cool, but I think
that I have to reconsider."
IN AETERNUM did a cover of a
classical GROTESQUE track for the AT THE GATES
tribute album – I know you’re a big fan of
their “Incantation” MLP, so how was it to pay that tribute and what
do you think about the “mythos” AT THE GATES? By the way have you seen them
live back then in Sweden?
"Well, I don’t know much about the tribute album, sure I have a copy of it
myself but it’s a lot of crap on there. And if you ask me there would have
been a cooler thing to pay tribute to GROTESQUE on the whole album from the
start. I surely like AT THE GATES as well, don’t get me wrong, but I hate
bands doing covers of a band that they don’t seems to understand from the
start, I mean there is some bands that are doing heavier versions of classical
AT THE GATES stuff… Fuck that!! I hate bands that do like that… Fuck you
all. Yes, I have seen them a numerous times back in the early 90s, we even
played with AT THE GATES on some shows with SUFFER in 1992. I was a very good
friend with Tompa during 92-96, we used to meet up a lot and party, listening to
Metal, sleep over at eachothers places and so on. Of course we are still chatting when
we see eachother, but he is too busy with all his bands and I am pretty fucked
as well, so we don’t directly talk over the phone that much. I am also a good
friend of Jonas Björler, the bassplayer, and his girlfriend Lena Gustavsson as
they hang out with the NIFELHEIM brothers when he is not touring with his band
after AT THE GATES, called THE HAUNTED."
Well, there’s another issue left to cover: NIFELHEIM!!! Is the band still
existing and how does it differ, feelingwise to play drums for the tunes of Tyrant
and Hellbutcher – the MAIDEN freaks... Are they easy people to get
along with and what do you enjoy about NIFELHEIM?
"First of all: I
love NIFELHEIM! The band is alive and well, but they just
don’t need to push things all the time and rush out another record. And hey
Ralf, to make a long story shorter; I
was asked to go for an audition in November, just before I went out on the road
with DISSECTION for a month working as tourmanager. And in December I recorded
the new IN AETERNUM album at Studio Abyss. In January I recorded the NOMINON
album in Necromorbus Studio and directly after that I went working on the
IMPALED NAZARENE tour for a couple of weeks. So it was first in March we finally
met and rehearsed for a few days, it was me, Tyrant and Hellbutcher only.
They wanted me to play songs like 'Sodomizer', 'Storm Of Satan’s Fire', 'Black
Evil', 'Satanic Sacrifice' and more. After that few
rehearsal hours they welcomed me to the band and asked if I could play a live
show the same month in Stockolm, Sweden. Which I would had done if I wasn’t
busy rehearsing with IN AETERNUM for their European tour during April / May with
BELPHEGOR. I like to work with the brothers and we are pretty much at the same
level when it comes to how to act like a human being, because I know that they
have had lots of struggle with some previous bandmembers, so I just told them
right away that I can only accept honest people within the band that I work
with, which they agreed was the most important thing too within NIFELHEIM. So,
from there we have just went on talking about the future, and if everything
works out fine NIFELHEIM will record their fourth album during this autumn."
 Ok. Most of our interviews have a kind of comment game, so what comes spontanous
to your mind if you read the following:
Your hometown Jonköping:
"I like it here, even though there is a lot of
Christians living here. But that’s just inspiring, I guess."
Swedish Snus:
"I used to use it myself for five years during 1995-1999 or
something, it’s just a substitute for cigarettes really."
Your fave drummers:
"Tommy Lee and Cozy Powell
were my main inspiration when I
first started playing drums at the age of 10, nowadays I like drummers like Mike
Mangini (Annihilator… etc) and Mike Portnoy
(Dream Theater). My fave Death
Metal drummers must be Pete Sandoval and Chris Piss (Kaamos)."
The biggest assholes you’ve meet in the scene in the past years:
"Some guys in
PUNGENT STENCH during the IMPALED NAZARENE tour. I used to like that band, you
know. But on the other hand they might not treat any other band's tourmanager
good, I don’t know? But the way they acted that night in Vienna, Austria in
January, I feel ashamed for them. Usually I don’t talk a lot of crap about
other people, but I just couldn’t let these guys pass… Sorry!"
The early FAFNIR Black Metal days of NOMINON:
"To start with, FAFNER is spelled
FAFNER as far as I am concerned, and not FAFNIR. Anyway, I still remember when
Juha sent me those tapes (“Daemon 1” and “Daemon 2”) during 1993. I
wasn’t too fond of Black Metal at the time, so I didn’t pay that much of
attention to it, but still it got some good underground vibes on it. At the time
Juha sent me “Promo 97”, I was overhelmed and since then I have adored all
the NOMINON stuff after that particular demo."
Finally back to NOMINON: When will the new album be unleashed and what can we
expect from your camp in 2005?
"The new album “Recremation” is being printed right now and the label keeps us
updated all the time, tomorrow or the day after they will receive the testprint
of it, to make sure that everything looks fine. The CD version will also be
released with a special slipcase, which we hope will look amazing because the
design thing Timo did for that one is amazing, as well as rest of the layout of
course!! So I guess that the CD version will be out within 10-14 days, let us
say late April to be sure. At the same time Konqueror will also release a brand
new NOMINON t-shirt containing the cover artwork and a exclusive backprint
featuring a photo collection of the bandmembers. For the 12” LP version of
“Recremation” I don’t know that much besides that Blood Harvest Records
will release it during April, that is what we have been told anyway. The layout
design is being worked on right now, so I guess we will receive some ideas for
it within a couple of days, the LP version will include a bonus track in shape
of a cover of WHIPLASH old classic 'Spit On Your Grave', that we recorded
last year with Juha on vocals. The LP will also include a printed innersleeve
which feels fucking great if you ask me, due to the fact that not all LPs or
vinyls in general do that these days.
Besides
these releases NOMINON is set to do some touring in Europe. For now we have the
Fuck The Commerce festival show on May the 5th in Germany. Then we
are working on a five date tour of Finnland in August, a few days before we
are set to do nine dates in the U.K. during late August / early September. NOMINON
will also play the Gothenburg Death Fest in September here in Sweden, it is a
very important show in Sweden, only Death Metal… That’s why it’s important
if you ask me. We have also been promised to do a three week European tour
during October as support act to another killer Death Metal band, so we cross
our fingers and bones that it will come true. Even a promoter in Greece has been in touch, so hopefully NOMINON will crush that country to Hell as well...
We have to wait and see what’s down the road, don’t have any crystal
ball around."
At
last I like to thank you very much Perra for your time and dedication to
that interview!!! Good luck for
all your further activities!!!
Keep
it deadly and feel free to add some final words to that story.
"Thank you Ralf
for this ultra fucking brutal
interview!!! I hope you are satisfied with my answers, even though I felt a bit
stressed due to I’m going away in a couple of days and got tons of
preparations to do. See you in Germany on tour with NOMINON or some other shitty
activities that I might end up in… Ha ha!!! If anyone would like to check out
available merchandise or further information about the bands I play with,
here’s some website addresses: www.nominon.com
/ www.inaeternum.com
/ NIFELHEIM ain’t got a updated website, so just keep your eyes open for a new
one soon, I guess. Anyone is also free to contact me at: perra@nominon.com
or nominon@lycos.com.
Thanks
again Ralf, you rule."
The
following facts about Perra were taken from the official NOMINON website, so all
copyright goes out to them:
Born: February
14th, 1973
Equipment: Pearl
export doublebass drumset with AXIS X Single pedals, five toms and various
Zildjan / Sabian cymbals. Wincent drumsticks.
NOMINON
member since: 2001
Other bands:
Perra proudly massacres the
drums also with In Aeternum and Nifelheim,
as well as the new satanic outfit Obscuritas.
Previous bands / projects
worth mentioning: Wortox
/ Altar 88-90, Mould Magazine
90-94, Suffer 90-94, Deathmill
Lunatics Comp Tape 92-94, Dion Fortune
95-96, T.A.R 97-00, Metal Wire
02-04. Heathendoom Music 95-still
going...
Livemoments:
W.A.S.P in Karlskoga Oct. 84, Sadus
in Denmark 92, Annihilator at
Wacken 01, Whitesnake at SRF 03, Dissection
in Helsinki 04.
Fave zines: Morbid
Mag (R.I.P) & Metal Wire
(R.I.P).
Listens to:
I like SADUS and
GROTESQUE among others!
Various:
Have played live as a session drummer with a bunch of acts including Nasum
and The Everdawn.
Favourite NOMINON track:
'Under The Five Pointed-Star'.
Personal motto:
Do your best, fuck the rest!
Recording history:
1988 - JAM SESSION
"Demo #1" (unreleased studio recording)
1988 - JAM SESSION "Demo #2" (unreleased studio recording)
1989 - WORTOX "The Unknown" Demotape
1990 - HARCLASS "You, Believe In God" Reh / Demo
1990 - SUFFER "Manifestation Of God" Demotape
1990 - S.S.S.S. "Kråkbråk" Reh / Demotape
1991 - HARCLASS "Demo #2"
1991 - HARCLASS / PP7 GATZFEBB "Split Demo"
1991 - SUFFER "Promotape 1991" Demo / 7" EP
1993 - SUFFER "Global Warming" Mini-CD
1993 - SUFFER "Thrashing The North Away" Live 7" EP
1994 - SUFFER "Structures" CD (Napalm Records 006)
1996 - SERPENT "The Fog" Demotrack
1996 - DION FORTUNE "Demo 1996" (engineered by Mike Wead - unreleased!)
1997 - SERPENT "Autumn Ride" CD
1997 - T.A.R "Fear Of Life" CD
1998 - T.A.R "Tar And Feathers For The Millennium"
1998 - T.A.R "Torture 1342"
1999 - SERPENT "3rd" (3rd album, unrel. Prod. Sami / ex - THERION)
1999 - SERPENT "Master Of Insanity" (BLACK SABBATH / DIO-era tribute -
unreleased!)
2001 - NOMINON "Promo 2001" (3 tracks unrel. studio recording)
2002 - NOMINON "Blaspheming The Dead" 7" EP/Cass-EP
2003 - NOMINON "The True Face Of Death" MCD/MLP
2003 - IN AETERNUM "Promodemo" incl. Grotesque cover for tribute!
2004 - NOMINON - Voivod cover for
tribute + Whiplash cover
2004 - IN AETERNUM "Dawn Of A New Aeon" CD
2005 - NOMINON "Recremation" CD/LP
Release history:
Demotapes:
1989 - WORTOX "The
Unknown" Demotape (Rel. in 100 x)
1990 - HARCLASS "You, Believe In God" (5 x)
1990 - S.S.S.S. "Kråkbråk" Reh/Demotape (25 x)
1991 - SUFFER "Manifestation Of God" Demotape (500 x)
1991 - HARCLASS "Why Get Into This?" (5 x)
1991 - HARCLASS / PP7 GATZFEBB "Split Demo" (25 x)
2003 - NOMINON "Blaspheming The Dead" Cass-EP (NW Records 200 x)
7" EP/Pic.disc
vinyls:
1993 - SUFFER "On
Sour Ground" 7" ep (New Wave Records 1500 x)
1993 - SUFFER "Thrashing The North Away" Live 7" ep (300 x)
2004 - IN AETERNUM "Covered In Hell" Pic. 7" EP (Bloodstone.
Euro-tour edition!)
2005 - NOMINON "Blaspheming The Dead" 7" ep (NW Records)
12" MLP/LP vinyls:
2004 - NOMINON "The
True Face Of Death" MLP (TPL Records)
Compilation CD's:
1996 - SERPENT "The
Fog" Demotrack (Comp-CD w/ Shadows Of Mich. Mag.)
1997 - SERPENT "Live Through This" (Warzone. Comp.CD w/Metal Invader
Mag.)
1999 - T.A.R "Torture 1342" (1 Mercyful Fate track for Still Dead Prod
tribute CD.)
2004 - NOMINON "White Death" (Track on "Voices From The Arctic
Circle" comp)
2004 - IN AETERNUM "Slaughterous Souls-A Tribute to At The Gates"
Dr.Scream
Mini-CD's:
1993 - SUFFER
"Global Warming" Mini-CD (Napalm Records 002)
1998 - T.A.R "Tar And Feathers For The Millennium" (Same label. 1000
x)
2004 - NOMINON "The True Face Of Death" MCD (NW Records)
2004 - IN AETERNUM "No Salvation" MCD (Agonia Records)
CD's:
1994 - SUFFER
"Structures" CD (Napalm Records 006)
1996 - SERPENT "In The Garden Of...Serpent" CD (Nuclear Blast. On pic.
only)
1997 - SERPENT "Autumn Ride" CD (HDMCD005.)
1997 - T.A.R "Fear Of Life" CD (Tar Prod/HDM. 2000 x)
Coming up:
2005 - NOMINON
"Recremation" CD (Konqueror Records)
2005 - NOMINON "Recremation" LP (Blood Harvest Records)
2005 - IN AETERNUM "Dawn Of A New Aeon" CD (Agonia Records)
Tba - SERPENT "Serpent Bloody Serpent" CD (White Devil Records.
Recorded in 99)
Tba - NOMINON "VOIVOD tribute album" Nihilistic Holocaust Records
Interview: Ralf Hauber
Intro: Frank
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