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 MORTIIS – Molding Mortiis
By Adrian ‘The Energizer' Bromley
The world of Mortiis is something that is not for everyone. Over the last few years, since his journey from atmospheric master to decadent electronic/dance ringleader, metal's most famous troll has consistently pushed his musical endeavors to a much more mainstream audience. And he's lovin' every minute of it.
"Making this music has been a breath of fresh air for me. It's so far from being restrictive and that appeals to me on many levels because if I'd decided to stay with my past form I'd not been able to do a record like The Grudge [Earache],” he begins. "This is an important record for me because not only has it allowed me to put out yet another album of my own creations, but it has allowed me to push forward in a genre of music I am very into.”
And unlike his past record—2002's The Smell of Rain—this time around Mortiis had a band to work with. More like instruct them.
"It was me calling the shots! I mean, I would demo a lot of the ideas here at my own home studio and get things down to a set formula on how I wanted things done and then the rest of the guys in my band [guitarists Levi Gawron and Asmund Sveinunggard and drummer Leo Troy] would tag along with me to the studio. While there we'd go over each track and try to piece together the song. The drums would be programmed of course, so then I'd have to sit with the drummer and go over the songs to get the proper drum sound insync with it all. For the final product you get the real drums and the drum programming working alongside each other.”
A very unconventional way of assembling songs as a band.
"Yeah it is, but that is the way it goes. There was no jamming really, just me with the ideas and watching them learn their parts, play and record.”
As we both know, the sound/style of Mortiis in 2004 is a far cry from the early days of Mortiis. Do you feel like this is the right genre/sound/style that you should be involved in at this point of your career?
"I like what I do and I think people need to come to terms with that.”
A lot of people are wanting to hear the old Mortiis style, but as we know, people get bored with their music and styles and need to shift things around.
"I know, I know,” he responds, "but I think people really need to think about what they are saying. Why would I want to be doing the old style of Mortiis when I am happy where I am now? I mean, people can come up to me and tell me I should play the old stuff, but that isn't a good enough reason. Fuck you! I did all that and it was a time period that I was so into it but I always thought—having grown up in the 80's with all the metal bands and rock acts—that I should one day be fronting a rock band. It sounds crazy sure, but that was my calling and here I am now.”
He continues, "Looking back at it now, it becomes quite obvious this is where I should have always been. No matter what party I was at I'd put a record on that was guitar-orientated like Kiss or Ministry, as well as some electronic-based stuff and it just kind of freaked people out as well because they thought I was this one set type of individual when I really wanted to be something else.”
So why do you think you took on the Mortiis persona and wrapped yourself into this whole mysterious, grim kind of music and imagery?
"I think it was because I didn't know anything else,” comes the answer. "And then I started to take note of these bands that were combining a lot of the things that I liked together as one, like the meshing of heavy guitar riffs and electronic music. Then it became clear that I needed to be in a band and get things rolling and here I am now. I may not have foreseen myself being the big dictator that I am now in the band,” he chuckles. "But it's a lot of fun still.”
I'm wondering, why did you not ditch the image and prosthetic gear when you decided to front a rock band, as it would have been a lot easier for the general metal masses to separate Mortiis of the old and the new rock band?
"I wonder that too sometimes. I dunno,” he ends off. "I just feel that it has become so much a part of what I have done. It is such a great form of expression and I love it. The mask has been altered a bit this time around and who knows maybe we have taken that to as far as we can? Maybe we'll get rid of it next year? No time to worry about that this year. Right now it's time to rock!”
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