Peter from SKYFORGER: “it’s better to follow your inner feelings”

Hello, SKYFORGER. Let’s start from compliments :). SKYFORGER is a really respected band among Lithuanians and metalheads is looking forward to your show in Vilnius in February after a break of two years. What was the band up to recently? Which countries or festivals did you visit?

Labas! Thank you for such nice words! I can say that we always feel in Lietuva like at home and every one of us is looking forward to this concert. What have we been doing recently? We are slowly working on new songs and, yes, we also did a few festivals. November, December were pretty busy for us, we did Ultima Ratio festival in Germany, a club tour in the Netherlands and Belgium, Radio Rock festival here in Riga, and also Cernunnos Pagan festival in Paris, which was our first concert in France. It was a great festival with about 1000 fans, lots of medieval bands, pagan market, arm-wrestling, etc. So, we were pretty occupied, mostly with live shows.

Do you remember some shows from Lithuania? How would you describe the Lithuanian audience?

All concerts in Lietuva have been good and it would not be fair to pick out some single show. Lithuanian fans are great guys and we always feel warm support from them, and using the chance I would like to thank them very much!

Last year you gave a successful concert in the US festival “Heathen Crusade”. How do you evaluate your experience there? Where there any bands there which made an impression on you?

It was a nice change from playing in Europe and definitely a good experience. Of course, it was a pretty hard trip, but the concert was a nice one. Also, the sound was perfect, the organization was also excellent. I did not see many bands but, I guess, everyone was doing the best possible. In the hotel, we met our recent tour mates from MANEGARM and our old brothers from OBTEST! So it was some fun to get wasted together :).

Did you notice some difference between the European/Latvian audience and the American audience? Perhaps you remember some peculiar and interesting details from that trip?

What I remember was that American fans are really interested in getting autographs and signing CDs, which are not very popular things here. We had a signing session for more than half an hour and still could not get everything signed. Apart of that, fans are just like everywhere, drinking beer, banging, etc. Getting there was pretty crazy, because all Europe suffered from a big hurricane exactly at that night and our plane did not arrive. So we had to stay in the airport for many hours and it took time to sort out ways how to travel. Finally we went to Copenhagen, then to Chicago and then to the final destination in Minneapolis. It was almost near that we could miss festival.

Let’s get back to your present activity – the recording of the new album. What can listeners anticipate from the coming album, which is under preparation at the moment?

So far we got some 9-10 songs ready and I still need to write lyrics for all of them, so the job is done just for about 50%. What you can expect? Well, some few pagan metal tunes, what else :).
I can reveal that it would not be that folky album, but this time we somehow wanted it to be thrashier. Definitely, we will include some surprises as well.

It takes a rather long time to prepare an album, but all the works of SKYFORGER are really mature and polished well. Do you set certain dates or goals for yourself, or is it a free process of creation and you work on the album when you feel up to it?

Yes, our last real full album was released back in 2003, titled “Thunderforge”. After that there’s been some re-releases. We also want to present something new for fans but things just don’t go too fast, you know? I guess, there are several reasons for such a long break – we promoted the album by heavy touring and also experienced a few line-up changes, which naturally throws you back again, because you need to train new members. We don’t have an album deal now, and we are free to work how long we want on songs. No, we don’t set any goals for ourselves; you have to take it freely. I personally never want to rush things up, because we need something to release. Also, for music the same option is applied – we don’t meet and say, ok, now we will write a nice black metal song… If that feels OK for us, we are free to include any styles, any ideas. This is a totally free creative process.

As far as I’ve read, SKYFORGER is loyal to Phoenix Studio in Latvia. Have you had any thoughts of trying out some other recording studios or are you fully satisfied with the work of this studio?

So far, yes, all albums have been recorded there and we know what we can expect from it. I am not satisfied with anything they can offer; let’s be honest, there are many better studios which can provide better sound. But for us this is suitable and we don’t want to go to foreign studios, because they are more expensive, and we cannot take so much time away from work and families. Also, foreign studios would be way too expensive.

What label are you going to choose for your next album, if you have thought of it already, of course?

I don’t know yet. I guess when we have the album ready, we will look for a few options, which would be interesting for us, and also see what our current label Folter Records can offer. Maybe it would be time to make the next step and sign on some bigger label, but it’s also a bit more demanding. We don’t want to do big tours, up to one month long. It is better when you can do what you want. Definitely we will think about all angles.

Talking about the music of SKYFORGER, it is a mastery mix of various styles – folk, thrash, black metal. What influences would you name in the path of forming your own original style?

The influences are pretty small, because we like few bands, which made us to make metal, but I would not want to say that they had such important impact on that how we sound and what styles we combine. I personally like old heavy metal bands like DIO, SAXON and JUDAS PRIEST, but I guess, we don’t sound like them :). During the early years, we had some black metal wave going on, but soon we understood that we need to get away from it, because all bands sound the same, and it makes you just one of a thousand. So we started to experiment and I think it’s better to follow your inner feelings.

What are the personal icons of the band members?

No icons. I have a few bands I like and everyone has some favourite bands and musicians, who are kind of inspiration, but not on such an icon level.

Getting back to the Latvian stage, SKYFORGER seems to have pushed the most forward on the international stage from your country. Are there any other metal bands that you would name as perspective, capable of crossing the border and presenting some fresh ideas to Europe?

I don’t know. If there would be some new bands getting more popularity, I would be just glad. I don’t follow what other bands do, so I don’t really know the situation. Yes, at least we have turned up some attention to Latvia and Baltic in general, because that brings more interest to all metal scenes here.

Are there any other folk metal bands that would ground their music on traditions and history of the country in Latvia?

Sadly, we are the only band of that style here in Latvia. I cannot answer why everyone wants to play black/death here. Maybe they are afraid that they will get compared with us, I don’t know.

Do you feel that the national culture of Latvia is cherished by people, it is not moved out by foreign traditions lately (this may sometimes be observed in Lithuania, for instance)?

Yes, I have observed that many young people have started to become more internationally orientated and for them traditions and homeland doesn’t mean much anymore. That is a pretty worrying thing. Our governments have entered us into another “union” and life is changing every day. There are many new things, opportunities which were not there when we were young. You cannot blame anyone also, really. The whole world is changing and that’s not to the better side. For me, this is pretty sad to see that many people suck in all shitty foreign traditions but forget about own ones. I suppose we are on same boat here.

You are pretty right. What’s the relation of SKYFORGER members with folk traditions? Do you follow some of them in the daily life, or do they mostly serve as an inspiration for music?

Relations are friendly :), of course, I don’t follow them, I think no one does. One thing is to know and support it and another thing is to abandon your cultural heritage and look for something great in western cultures. There’s nothing to be found in that Hollywood, St. Valentine and McDonald bullshit, which they try to pump into everyone. We are just a new market for them and that’s it. I think, on a long run, they will serve as destructive forces. Still, all is not completely dark and there are many people who like to sing national songs. Also, lately more and more interest appeared on the national level in what we are and what our history is.

The members of the band seem to be masters of different folk instruments along with traditional metal music instruments. Don’t you find it hard to bring out the sound of all these instruments in live concerts?

Of course, that is hard to get proper sound. Luckily we have a great sound engineer and he sorts it out. But I have to make you a bit sad – our folk player Kaspars will not be present at Vilnius concert. He planned skiing holidays in Slovakia, booked hotels, etc. a long time ago, since October. When your invitation came to play the festival, it was too late to change it. So we will play as four-piece. All the rest stays the same, of course.

While the majority of SKYFORGER songs are in Latvian, Lithuanians may feel pleased to hear one beautiful Lithuanian song “O kai saulute tekejo”, a cover of ZPOAN VTENZ song in the album “Zobena Dziesma”? Is there a reason why you chose this song in particular?

We just liked it and decided that we could do our own version on the theme. Also, we wanted to do something for you guys :).

May Lithuanians expect to hear it in the festival “Ferrum Frost”? :)

We have not thought about it yet, but I am afraid that not. Kaspars will not be there and we also have enough own songs.

I believe these are all the questions for now. Thanks for the answers! Waiting impatiently to see you live in our country!

Best regards from SKYFORGER and see you all there on the 8th of February! Nothing is forgotten, nothing will be forgotten!