interviews_mercenary

Music Interview: MERCENARY

MERCENARY

English Version:

BRAVE HEARTS OF MERCENARY

- Exclusive interview with MERCENARY

by Demogorgon

Done in March 2002

Published on the 8th issue of Extreme Music Magazine

I am very glad to hold another true Metal work in my hand. From Intro to Outro, the thick wall of sounds and tensive production of skilfully constructed Everblack can easily make Mercenary a more notable Danish Metal band than even bigger names, as Illdisposed and Konkhra! In the meantime, your band name and black coats which both have a touch of military interest me too. (Remind me The Matrix... ha!) Can you spend a few minutes in giving us any explaination? Do you also draw influence from soundtracks for Mercenary's picturesque music?

Jakob: First, thanx for the compliments, we're really glad to see that our music as travelled as far as China and even made a good impression there! Second, to answer your question - no, soundtracks are no special source of inspiration for us. And even though it's probably true that our name and the band picture with the black coats carry some militaristic associations, we don't have a deep military fascination or anything like that. Rather we choose that particular image on aesthetic reasons, to visualize the energy and strength of the music. We choose to be dressed in a similar way in order to give the impression of the individual members being dissolved by the ‘black coat uniform’ in favour of the strength of a higher state of unity - of the common purpose we share in the project of our music. In a metaphorical way, you might also consider us a mercenary-army unleashing a blasting assault right in your bloody face, as we’re definitely trying to achieve as violent an impact with Everblack as possible. Not just in giving each individual listening to our cd a rush from the energy constantly pounding at you from the killer production and the raging flow of the music, but also in the sense that we’re showing the rest of the metalscene, both in Denmark and beyond, that if you believe in what you’re doing you can break right through the boundaries that people impose on themselves by not daring to believe in themselves out of fear of failing or being ridiculed in the eyes of themselves and others. To quote Williams Blake, those who restrain their desire do so only because theirs is weak enough to be restrained. Too many people restrain themselves and others by not daring to believe or to make the attempt - and that is where we don’t give a flying fuck about what people think of us and simply do what we want to do and speak openly about it and our ambitions! Our new album is all about metal, we're not trying to reinvent metal by mixing it with other genres or anything, we’re just trying to make good music deeply rooted in metal and of course want it to get out to as many people as possible. So I think the image was well chosen to express both the attitude we express through the music but also the conception we have towards our own music. Both the name and the image are very metal for better or worse, but that's how we want it.

As a North Europe country, Denmark must has big Metal community, am I right? How about it? Why didn't you signed to a Danish label?

Jakob: Well, actually Denmark doesn't have a very great metal scene at all. And comparing to our neighbouring countries we've never had very many good bands either. The metal scene here was quite strong in the early nineties, but it has gotten weaker ever since. Fewer and fewer people took an interest in metal and went to metal concerts in the late nineties. But now the scene seems to be recovering and there are many good bands releasing really good cd's now. The metal scene in Denmark has always been focused around quite traditional deathmetal, but the newer bands seem to broaden up and play their own styles of metal instead, and that's very refreshing. It might help bring the scene back to life again - at least we hope so. Look out for bands like Hatesphere, Raunchy, Jerkstore and Withering Surface. The reason we didn't sign to a Danish label is that the ones who release metal are very small and all have very limited resources and usually also bad distribution and poor contacts outside of Denmark. So we would never have found a Danish label that would, or even could, have paid what our new album has cost to make. And we didn't want to compromise with this cd in any way, so we did everything our own way and paid for it ourselves, then found a fitting label who would release the final product - and pay up, ha ha ha. Our first cd 'First Breath' from '98 was released on a small Danish label so we speak from experience. With Everblack we didn't want a Danish label because we felt that the cd deserved better - to release it on a Danish label would have been the same as quitting the fight to go somewhere as a band before the bell had even rung, so to speak. And had we done that, well, then there wouldn't have been any reason for us to go on. We feel that we have to evolve and progress - not just musically but also professionally by achieving something better than what we'd had before. If you do not fight to put your will though in whatever you do, whether it's in music or other areas of your life, or if you're just content being whereever you are, then you wont be able to motivate yourself to achieve something better for yourself and then you stagnate and regress - you’ll grow comfortable, fat and lazy! I believe that a good life lies not in achieving happiness as a constant state of being content, but that the meaningful and worthy life consists in the constant engagement in activities which you hold to be valuable, no matter if this means struggling for what you believe in - and taking the blows for it.

Since the distance between Mercenary and Classical Heavy Metal (both musically and lyrically) is more close than It and Black Metal or Pagen Metal, some readers will be mesmerized. Can you tell me from where Mercenary get main inspiration?

Jakob: We mostly get our inspiration from within the metal genre itself, even though we have also tried to add an aspect of traditional rock songwriting to the cd. As you’ve probably noticed the structure of the song are quite simple compared to other metal releases. We’ve done that in order to make the songs more catchy and memorable. We don’t want people to get confused by the music or to drown them in needless complexity - we want people to be able to enjoy the natural flow of our music and let the music guide them through the dark and dreamy soundscapes, and I hope this is an experience people can get if they listen to our music with an open mind. Apart from that aspect of our music, we’re influenced by many different things within the metal genre. A personal thing for us is maybe the way we try to combine heaviness with melody - Kral and I have always been listening to deathmetal bands such as Morbid Angel and Carcass, but also to more melodic bands like Megadeth and Nevermore. That is definitely a reason why we sound like we do.

"Screaming from the Heaven", "Rescue Me" and "Alliance" al recall me a bit of my experience with the very early days I listened to Metal. Heroism with a touch of melancholy, love with sorrow, but Mercenary is darker than most of them. Can I say this is what the useful stuff those elder styles left?

Jakob: Well, I’m really glad if you think we’re able to do so, because that is very much what we’re trying to do - in a way we wanted to take some classic elements of different genres of metal and combine them to make them sound modern. But personally I don’t think there’s really any heroism to our music - at least I hope not, hahaha! But if what you’re getting at is that we’re trying to give our songs an epic dimension then I’d definitely agree with you. We want the music to embrace the listener and touch him with a strong sense of melancholy...

I believe in every genres there are always something worthy to be considered and admired and used to build new dimension of Metal, even there are also more useless ones. What's your opinion on the come and go of Metal styles? Bright, Heroic (maybe heroicomical in someone's eyes) Heavy Metal, Ugly and terrific Death Metal, Satanic (even terroristis) Black Metal, Pagen Metal, grey Doom Metal and even more powerful Black death Metal? Where is Mercenary in your point of view? (I believe Mercenary have connection to all of then more or less...)

Jakob: Well, I think most subgenres have their good bands and I think I’ve listened to bands from every category you mention at one time or another. However, I never find it very excited when bands go retro or simply cling on to a certain way of playing a certain genre without developing themselves or trying to integrate new elements into their music. I think music is essentially an ongoing creative process which gets it value and meaningfulness from the originality brought into the world through the new ideas and innovative work of its creators and thereby the development, cultivation and shaping of human spirituality. I am usually able to enjoy most sorts of music, as long as the music is able to capture my interest. If people keep playing the same genre in the same way over and over, they end up draining the music of the qualities that originally made it interesting and worth listening to. I have to listen to new music all the time, otherwise I end up frustrated, no matter what music I’m listening to. (So please don’t throw another ‘which 10 cds would you prefer to bring along to a desert island’ questions at me, ok? I’d kill myself if I only had to listen to 10 cds for the rest of my life!) If I have to categorize our music, I might say that it’s a kind of heavy thrash with influences from melodic deathmetal...or some shit, I really don’t know, haha! We draw influences from many different bands and many different genres, some more than others. We’ve definitely taken a turn towards having a more Swedish sound on Everblack than we have had before. By that I don’t just mean that we have been influenced towards a more melodic sound like that of In Flames, but also that we’ve been doing an effort to strengthen the melancholic aspect of our songs.

The well selected and arranged vocal parts are certainly one of the hightlights of Everblack without any doubt. Could you tell me which way do you follow to use each of them?

Jakob: Actually Kral wrote all the melody lines before Mikkel joined the band, but he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his own ability to sing the lines he came up with. That’s why we wanted to try using Mikkel as a guest vocalist when we went into the studio to record Everblack. And Mikkel really took us by surprise - his voice really suited the songs we’d already written without him much better than we’d imagined, so we invited him to become a fulltime member. So we had to break off the recordings in order to spend some time to rehearse with Mikkel to get the best possible result in the studio by integrating him fully into the album. It delayed the recordings and accordingly the release of the cd for a long time, but it was definitely worth it. Now we’re making some new songs and we’re more or less just making the vocal lines up as we go along. Usually we find it quite natural to use Mikkel’s voice in certain passages and Kral’s in others, so it’s not something we try over and over in countless different ways - it’s more or less obvious what to do where, even though we of course spent endless amounts of time polishing the details.

I notice you use a passage from Clive baker in the booklet, could you give further explanation for your Chinese fans?

Jakob: It’s a very personal statement for me – in quoting him I wanted to send my respects out to those who’ve made me see the truth contained in the quoted passage, as Barker therein expressed exactly what I felt like saying, only I would have said it much worse in my own words.

The strong melodies maybe led certain ones to criticize you too close to music industry. There are even someone say you should add a female vocalist to do better in this direction! But still, I don't think it's the best one to become the most extreme one. I don't think it's the prime idea Mercenary want to express too. This is a different scene and we will never betray our hearts. Am I right?

Jakob: Well, we’re certainly not focusing on strong melodies in order to be commercial. We play the music that we do because we love it and if people like that is really great and they don’t, well, too bad. We would never spend so much time and energy on something like this if it didn’t come from deep within us. Besides, we would be really stupid to be in this genre for the money right?

You are always the one who hold the Metal banner high, all the best wishes!

Jakob: Thank you and thanks for the interview! Be sure to go to www.mercenary.dk and check out the latest news from the Mercenary camp!

Chinese Version:

雇佣兵的壮志雄心

——MERCENARY独家专访

文/Demogorgon

高擎新一代丹麦金属音乐的旗帜，MERCENARY（雇佣兵）这一六人乐团精彩地混合了美国乐团的沉重与冲力（尤其是NEVERMORE）和欧洲乐团的伤感与旋律，在今年三月推出了第二张专辑《永久黑暗》（Everblack）。交响乐一般的键盘，别与一般的独奏加之出手不凡的双主唱：从贝司手Karl的喊叫、咆哮与低吼到Mikkel的高音清嗓。使用方法虽有别于我们曾经听过的极端金属，这些音乐元素相互结合的顺畅程度却能给出足够的证明：一切都是这部冲出黑暗的坚实战车上不可或缺的组件！从引入到引出，《永久黑暗》厚重的声墙、张力十足的制作与技术构架足以让MERCENARY成为比诸ILLDISPOSED和KONKHRA更值得注意的丹麦金属乐团！

1996年的MCD《至上》（Supremacy），1998年的《第一次呼吸》（First Breath），我很高兴能听到又一张真正的金属作品。而同时，乐团透出几分军事气息的名字与成员的黑色制服也引起了我的兴趣——勾起我对《骇客帝国》（The Matrix）的记忆！于是，我和MERCENARY的吉它手Jakob坐到一起谈论永久黑暗的壮志雄心。

首先祝贺你们的新唱片问世，请先花几分钟向我们的读者解释一下MERCENARY的军事气息好吗？听到“Bulletblues”里的副歌部分，我就禁不住要问你们也是否从电影配乐里边为NEVERMORE图画一般的音乐带入了影响呢？

Jakob：“首先，感谢夸奖，看到我们的音乐旅行到中国那么远的地方甚至还留下了好印象，我们真的十分高兴！接下来回答你的问题——不，电影配乐并非我们的特殊灵感来源。而即使我们的名字和穿着黑外套的乐团照片带有一定的军事联系或许是真的，我们不对军事或是此类事物有着更深的痴迷，我们只是出于美学原因选择了那种特别的意象，以形象化音乐的能量与力度。我们选择相近的穿着是为了给出个体因偏好更高程度的团结而被‘黑制服’溶解的印象——这更高程度的团结是我们在我们的音乐计划中共同的目的。以一种暗示的方法，你或许还能将我们看作一支雇佣军，在你滴血的脸上释放一次爆炸性的攻击，因为我们绝对是尽可能地用《永久黑暗》达成一次狂暴的冲击。不只是用致命的制作和音乐的狂怒流动给每个听我们的CD的人带来一次持续不断打击在你身上的能量冲击，而且在某种意义上我们还在展示给金属界的其余部分，既包括丹麦也包括其它地方，如果你相信你正在做的事你就可以打破人们因为害怕失败或是在他们自己或其他人的眼中显得有些滑稽而强加在他们自己身上的不敢相信自己所产生的束缚。引用威廉·布莱克（William Black）的话，那些压抑他们欲望的人这么做的原因只是因为他们的欲望太过懦弱以至足以被压抑住。太多的人因为不敢相信尝试或者是进行尝试而压抑他们自己和其他人——而那正是我们不会给人们是如何看待我们一个‘飞操’的地方，我们简单地做我们想要做的事并且对它还有我们的野心直言不讳！我们的新专辑都是和金属相关的，我们并不试图依靠混合其它类型或者什么东西重新发明金属，我们只是尝试着深深植根于金属的好音乐，当然希望它能触及尽可能多的人。因此我认为形象是精心选择的、既为表达我们通过音乐所表达的态度，也为表达我们自己的音乐所趋向的概念。名字和形象都非常金属、或好或坏，但是这就是我们想要的。”

作为一个北欧国家，丹麦一定有着一个很大的金属圈子，对吗？它怎么样？为何你们没有选择签约于一家丹麦公司？

我想MERCENARY和经典金属之间的距离（在音乐和歌词两方面）要比和黑暗金属、异教金属近得多，有些读者可能就此提出疑问。你能否告诉我MERCENARY是从哪里获得灵感的呢？

Jakob：“我们几乎是从金属这个类型整体获得的灵感，即使我们也试图在CD里加入传统摇滚的歌曲写作的一方面。或许你已经注意到歌曲的结构和其他金属作品比起来是相当简单的。我们这么做是为了让歌曲更抓人，值得记忆。我们不想让人们为因为所迷惑或是让他们深陷在无尽的复杂性之中——我们想让人们享受我们的音乐的自然流动，让音乐引导他们穿越阴暗的，梦一般的音景，我希望人们带着开放的心灵听我们的音乐时能得到这种体验。除了我们的音乐的这一方面之外，我们受到金属里很多不同事物的影响。对我们而言很个人的事也许是我们试图结合沉重与旋律的方法——Kral和我一直在听例如MORBID ANGEL和CARCASS的死亡金属乐团，但是还听像MAGADETH和NEVERMORE的更旋律化的乐团。那就是我们为什么听起来这个样子的原因。”

“Screaming form the Heaven”，“Rescue Me”和“Alliance”全都能给我带回一些我最初听金属的日子的感觉。有着几分伤感的英雄主义，带有哀伤的爱情，但是MERCENARY比他们大多数要阴暗。我可以说这就是那些更老的音乐类型所留下的有用之物吗？

Jakob：“好，假如你认为我们能做到这一点我真的十分高兴，因为那就正是我们在努力做的——方法是我们想拿来金属不同类型的一些经典元素并且把它们给结合到一起而听起来现代化。但是个人看来我认为在我们的音乐里没有任何真正的英雄主义——至少是我不那么希望，哈哈哈！但是假如你所得到的我们试图给以我们的歌曲一种史诗的构架那我绝对会同意。我们先让音乐拥抱听众并且用一种强烈的伤感碰触他……”

我相信在每一个新类型里总有一些东西值得注意，值得赞赏，值得使用以构筑金属的新次元，即使那里也总有着更多没有用的东西。你对于金属风格的来去有什么看法？光明的、英雄式的（或许在某些人的眼中是漫画式的）重金属，丑陋的、吓人的死亡金属，撒旦式的（甚至是恐怖式的）黑暗金属，异教金属，灰色的厄运金属和甚至更具力量的黑暗死亡金属？在你看来MERCENARY在哪个位置？而我相信MERCENARY和它们或多或少都有着联系……

Jakob：“好吧，我想很多类型都有着它们的好乐团，我想我曾经一次或者几次听着来自你所提到的每一类型的乐团。但是，当乐队回潮或是单纯地对某一类型的某一方法，并不发展自我或是向他们的音乐里结合进入新元素时，我从来不感到兴奋。我认为音乐本质上是一种前进的创造性过程，它的创造者用新的想法进行革新性工作从而使之得到发展，有所收获，并塑造了人类的精神，这一过程得以展现音乐的意义与价值。我一直能够欣赏很多类型的音乐，只要它能抓住我的兴趣。如果人们一次次地以同一方法玩同一类型，他们最终将令起初使音乐有趣并且值得去听的品质消耗枯竭。我需要一直听新音乐，否则我会沮丧，不论我听的是什么音乐。（所以请不要再朝我扔过来一个‘你会带哪十张CD到一座荒岛上去’的问题，好吗？如果只允许我在余生听十张CD我倒宁愿自杀！）如果我一定要把我的音乐分类，我也许会说它是一种受到旋律化死亡金属影响的重型鞭击……或者什么其它东西，我真的不知道，哈哈！我们从很多不同的乐团和很多不同的类型吸收了影响，有些比其它要多。我们一定是倾向于让《永久黑暗》的声音有着比我们以前所做的更瑞典化的声音。这么说我不是只意味着我们受到像IN FLAMES那样的更旋律化的声音的影响，还意味着我们在进行着强化我们的歌曲的伤感一面的努力。”

精心选择和编排过的人声部分毫无疑问是《永久黑暗》的可圈可点之处。能否告诉我你们是根据什么来决定它们的使用的呢？

Jakob：“实际上在Mikkel加入乐团前Kral已经写好了所有旋律线，但是他对他自己演唱的能力不十分满意。那就是我们为何在进录音室录制《永久黑暗》时想使用Mikkel作为一名特邀歌手的原因。但Mikkel确是让我们大吃一惊——他的声音真的适合于我们在没有他的时候即写就的歌曲，比我们想象的还要好，所以我们邀请他成为一名全职成员。因此我们打断了录音以花时间和Mikkel排练，以使他融入这张专辑而在录音室得到可能的最好结果。这拖延了录音，CD的发表也推了很长时间，但是显然值得。现在我们正在制作一些新歌，我们或多或少地还是那样制作人声声线。通常我们都发现在某段使用Mikkel的嗓音而在其它的地方使用Kral的颇为适合，所以这并非我们一遍遍地以无数种不同的方式尝试的事——在哪里怎么做或多或少地显而易见，即使我们当然也花了无数时间来润饰细节。”

我注意到你在内页使用了一段来自Clive Barker的文字，能否给你的中国乐迷一些进一步的解释？

Jakob：“那对我而言是个非常个人化的措辞——我想通过引用他把我的敬意传达给那些令我看到在那段被引用的文字里的真理的人们，因为正是表达了我所想要说的，只是用我自己的话说会差的多。”

有力的旋律也许会让某些人批评你们太过接近音乐工业。甚至有人说你们应该加上女声以在这条路上走的更远！当然，这一定不是MERCENARY所想要做的……这是个不一样的圈子而我们永远不会出卖自己的心。对吗？

Jakob：“好的，我们当然不是为了商业才注意有力的旋律的。我们因为我们真的热爱它才玩音乐，如果人们喜欢，那很好，如果不，好吧，太糟了。如果它不出自我们内心深底，我们永远不会花费那么多时间和精力在它上面。此外，为了钱我们才进入这个类型就真的太傻了，对吗？”

3月23日，同乐团合作了八年多的鼓手Rasmus Laulund Jakobsen抽身而去，换作Mike高擎金属旗杆。我在此祝你们未来一切顺利！

Jakob：“谢谢你，谢谢这次采访！去www.mercenary.dk看MERCENARY营地的最新消息！”

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