Intervista Wardruna/Skuggsjá (Einar Selvik)
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A few days after London By Norse, an historical event in its own way that brought for the second time ever Wardruna to the UK, together with Enslaved and the third concert ever (in the world!) of Skuggsjá, I’ve had the pleasure to speak with Einar Selvik: former drummer of Gorgoroth, mastermind behind Wardruna, composer of part of the tv series Vikings‘s soundtrack, and now also in Skuggsjá we surely can’t say that he’s not a hard worker.
Hi Einar, how are you?
I’m good, I’m in the studio at the moment and I’m good.
Let’s start from Skuggsjá, last week you played in London the second concert ever with that band; I read that it was supposed to a one-off thing but evolved to be a real band and you just released your first album, how did it happen?
Actually it was the third, we played the first time in Norway; we were asked to compose a piece for Wardruna and Enslaved [the two bands that together form Skuggsjá] for the 200th anniversary of the Norwegian constitution and it was performed in 2014 where the constitution was written.
After that, we were invited to perform that piece at the Roadburn festival and after that we really wanted to perform the piece to a broader audience; the reactions to it were very good so we decided to record an album of the piece in its entirety.
Should we expect more gigs and albums from Skuggsjá?
I think it’s too soon to talk about it really, at least in terms of new album; I wouldn’t rule it out, it might happened at one point, we have our main projects with Enslaved and Wardruna of course, but who know what might happen?
In terms of live concerts, yeah, we have an open mind; it’s a huge production for anyone to set up but if there was some festival or people who want it badly enough we will of course consider to do more.
How challenging was it to mix the music of Enslaved and Wardruna in Skuggsjá?
It was challenging because we both operate in massive soundscapes, I would say, so finding the right balance of things, when to give and when to take space I’d say it was the tricky part, at least in the beginning, to find the right balance.
I learnt a lot from it, it was very interesting, an interesting piece to work on.
Wardruna’s music is quite unique, how did the idea behind the band occured to you?
I’d say it is a combination of many different things that led me to start the band.
One of the things is that in the recent past runes have been interpreted from people with a Christian background through their background, thus interpreting these old thematics and thought and theories on the wrong premises.
I think most people are familiar with Norse mythology through metal music and you have folk music which sort of deals a little bit with it, but nobody who really dug in and did it more on its own premises with relevant instruments, relevant sounds, relevant language…I don’t know, I could really picture it and I felt really the need to do it, and also I think it’s time for the people here in Norway to do it.
I think it’s time that people here in Norway…you know, the way we teach our children and young in schools about our own cultural heritages is, not in an arrogant way, it’s difficult material, it’s very fragmented of course because a lot of it was lost, so I understand why it’s difficult but in any case I think it’s sad that we teach our children and young in a way that makes it impossible to take it seriously.
So I think part of my motivation is also to contribute to people getting a more positive view on their history and roots and a more correct view.
I don’t think is a good thing to view your history through the eyes of Christian medieval monks, history has been very often written by the winners but this doesn’t necessarily make it correct.
You told me you’re in the studio, how are the works on the third album going?
It’s going good, yeah, I’m working quite a lot on that these days so…yeah, it’s going good, it’s a lot of work.
When could we expect to see it released?
I don’t dare to be very specific, but I hope sometime this year
That is going to be the last album of a trilogy, what will happen after that, have you thought about it?
Yeah, I’ve had a lot of thought about it.
I have plans, there are things I want to do, I feel I’ve just started, really.
There are a lot of things I want to do with Wardruna, this is just the beginning.
Wardruna was born as a sort of studio project, later evolving in a live band as well: what do you prefer among writing, recording and playing live this music?
I prefer the creative process, definitely; that’s where I get my kicks, so to say.
Definitely, the creative process is the most important part for me, but of course it’s very different.
Performing is also, especially with Wardruna, is very personal for me, it’s very demanding but also very satisfying to have that sort of direct communication with the audience and fans.
People tends to react quite strongly to it in a live setting and of course that’s also very special.
So I like both but on a personal level I think the creative process is the most important one for me.
Where does your inspiration come from? Do you just sit down and write music or, what is the creative process that brings you to the writing of a song?
It can be very different: I write a lot of my music when I’m walking, it can be whatever, really.
Sometimes the lack of nature brings you closer to nature, sometimes it can be the nature itself, and sometimes it can be just walking and the rhythm that’s within you.
I write a lot of music while I’m out walking, but sometimes also it can be just a word, it can be the thematic itself that I’m working on, it can be an instrument that inspires me, so it’s a bit different, it can be any number of things.
A particularity of Wardruna’s music is the use of only (or almost only) ancient instrument, what were the biggest challenges in the use of this kind of instruments?
When I started digging into this, of course now there’s a much bigger interest for it, Wardruna is probably one of the reasons why there’s a bigger interest as well, but when I started out there was not a lot of interest for it and there were not a lot of people who knew about these instruments and built them and stuff like that.
But luckily there was a handful and I was lucky enough to have some of the instruments built for me and some I’ve had to build myself, so it was only natural that I had to sort of learn to play them myself and that was, of course, a long process to learn to be familiar with them.
Like I do with all matters in Wardruna I really wanted…I was really conscious on not listening to other people’s interpretations of these instruments before getting hold of them myself, I really wanted to sort of approach them like a child with no, or at least, little prejudices on how I was supposed to sound.
I think that the chances to create something new, unique and perhaps also more authentic if you approach it that way are bigger; I’ve played with a lot of folk musicians, traditional folk musician for instance, and if I gave them a tagelharpa or a jouhikko they would start playing folk music with it, so I wanted to avoid that.
I’ve learnt a lot and I still feel I have a lot to learn and it’s very interesting.
I would say that it’s not necessarily important that it’s authentic, it’s more about creating something new with something old, rather than trying to copy the past.
I know it’s a personal question so feel free not to answer if you don’t want to, I was curious, can you make a living with Wardruna’s music or do you have an everyday job?
I’m a professional musician, so I live off my music, both Wardruna and…I do many different things, I also do workshops and teach and do lectures, I do studio music, of course with Wardruna and other projects, I worked with Vikings.
I have many different things going on but, yeah, music is my job.
You composed part of the soundtrack for the TV show Vikings, you just mentioned it, how did this collaboration started?
Well, it started right before the first season was premiered; I was contacted by the production because the wanted to license some…I think they licensed 7 Wardruna songs, for the first season.
When they started working on the second season, I was contacted again by the production and they wanted to use Wardruna music again, but they also asked me if I was interested in collaborating with Trevor Morris who is the main composer of the soundtrack of the series and I agreed to try.
We did really well and sort of find a nice balance of working together and so I’ve been working on the soundtrack as well since the second season.
You appeared yourself a couple of times in the series as a bard, did you like the experience and would you like to be maybe even more present in the show?
[Laughs] No, I’m not an actor so I doubt that would be very good, but I did really enjoy appearing on set: I was very much welcomed by both production and actors, they were all very friendly, and I’ve had contacts with several of the actors on different matters as well.
Yeah, it’s been a lovely experience.
Do you think that the show helped Wardruna to grow?
Yeah, of course, even though Wardruna was a quite established act before Vikings, it of course has an effect when your music is played in front of millions of viewers.
It’s been a positive thing for us to be part of it.
Changing topic, there’s a famous photo of you that Peter Beste took in Bergen, with you with the facepaint on and no shirt in the street, can you tell me the story behind it?
It’s not a very mysterious story [laughs].
We had a photo session inside the house, you know I’m standing next to a door and we were having a photo session inside for Gorgoroth; we needed a white background so we took some photos out in the street and suddenly there were people coming out and Peter just asked me to turn around so we switched position and got some really nice shots.
It’s a cool picture.
I saw you took another photo in the same place with your son recently
Yeah, I met Peter in Bergen a couple of months ago and [laughs] he wanted to recreate it and my son joined me.
As an Italian I have to ask this, is there any hope to see you playing here in Italy any time soon?
I really hope so, like I always say we are very selective in what kind of concerts we do and don’t do, but I’m always interested in discussing such matters, so if the right offer comes to us…we definitely want to play in Italy, so we’re just waiting for the right offer to come.
I’m into quality over quantity, so that’s why I say no to most concerts, I think it’s important if you want to create a moment with people to choose the right setting and the right opportunity to do it, when you know you can make a good job and can make a special moment.
That’s my attitude toward concerts, I want to make it more an exclusive thing rather than do long tours.
That’s great, thanks for your time Einar, it’s been a pleasure to talk to you!
You too, have a nice day.
Wardruna official website: http://www.wardruna.com/
Wardruna official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Wardruna
Skuggsjá official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SkuggsjaNO
Interview by Davide Sciaky