Interview mit Stefan von Havukruunu

Hello! I am glad that you found the time for this interview. How are you doing at the moment?
Hi, no problem. I’m fine I guess. I have not been home for three weeks cos I have renovation done in my rented apartment, so no bathroom there. On the road, so to speak.

In your music you mix black metal with thrashy parts, classic heavy metal leads and solos as well as pagan folk. Would it bore you to use only stylistic devices of a single genre?
Mixing styles is kind of the basics of doing music that’s not boring. You live a life, experience things and listen to varied genres of music and atmospheres to your liking. Then you kind of have a melting pot of tons of music styles and what comes out is essentially you. And I could say that it’s not even those three, it’d be super dull to do just thrashing „pagan“ shit with heavy metal solos.
I mean, of course the basis is Bathory, Darkthrone, old Manowar and Judas Priest, but on top of that it’s tons of different styles of music thats inspired me.
Only losers deal in playing strictly this or that.

For some black metal fans your style might even be too exuberant. Do you think that people in this genre are still too narrow-minded?
Yeah, I myself also think that the albums have been a bit too much, but maybe that’s just what’s inside of me.
To be honest, I’d rather tone it down and do it fucking properly the next time. It’s gonna be fucking ugly and disgusting. Lotsa D-Beat.
Yes, I think black metal people are narrow minded, and that being said, I am also a huge elitist regarding black metal. Nothing will do for me.
Maybe it’s just that I’m too close to my own stuff I cant see it for the wimp shit it is.

Unfortunately, especially in pagan metal there are quite a lot of rather silly bands. In your opinion, why are there so many bands in this particular genre who prefer to make party music rather than serious art?
What’s unfortunate in it? You don’t have to listen to it. I know I dont, and I dont care.
Maybe I chuckle to myself a bit about the silliness of it, but I’m not gonna break a sweat on thinking about it and mourning over someone wanting to do shit music and drinking beer.

Your music is very energetic. One can clearly hear that you put a lot of effort into your vocals and instruments, which is certainly exhausting. What is the biggest challenge for you as a musician?
It’s hard work staying in shape and maintaining your level of playing. We’re not that good musicians by any means, but the hours put in and spent with a metronome are at times ridiculous. And to stay motivated and figuring out techniques and theory takes a lot of effort.

For many black metal bands a fiery performance is more important than technical proficiency. How much attention do you yourself pay to actually hitting the right notes?
It seems I can’t hit the right notes even if I sit down. I get so nervous that my hands shake and sweat so bad, it’s really frustrating because I know I’d perform so much better if I were relaxed and calmer. But I suffer from bad anxiety and stage fright, so I guess it is what it is. Some shows are better than others. Maybe I should consider drugs or being piss drunk.

You recently released your third album „Uinuos Syömein Sota“. The general feedback seems to have been very positive. Did that surprise you in some way?
It’s always surprising and humbling.

Currently many bands are struggling with the restrictions under the corona pandemic. How much did this situation affect HAVUKRUUNU and the release of your new album?
Actually, when concerts got cancelled, it sort of gave me the time to finish the album and concentrate on post-production, so if you want to find something positive about it, there it is. Some financial losses not being able to sell merch at gigs, but not much. We are relatively unscathed by this, but the situation is really shitty for many bands.

When you presented „Ja Viimein On Yö“ as a first track in advance of the album’s release, you called „Uinuos Syömein Sota“ a „handcrafted, pain in the ass album“. Why was the record so difficult to create?
Well, it started rather good, maybe like two months after „Kelle Surut Soi“, we started rehearsing new songs with Kostajainen, but then we started to play live and things slowed down.
Most of us moved more than once during these three years and there were personal issues and shitty jobs and stress, so recording became SLOOOOWW.

Many listeners will most likely not have the necessary language skills to understand the lyrics on „Uinuos Syömein Sota“. Could you briefly describe what the songs are about?
Bad stuff. No pagan or heathen mythos or legends or philosophies or superstition. Real life worries and thoughts, albeit wrapped in rather poetic clothes. This was the case with earlier albums also. People seem to want us be these sword wielding mythic barbarians, and I’m sorry to reveal we are pretty normal and troubled like anyone else.

Interestingly, the album ends in „Tähti-Yö Ja Hevoiset“ with an atmospheric dungeon synth part. What is that all about?
Not dungeon synth, but it’s more like walking home in the middle of the night, exhausted. I love Tangerine Dream and Anna Själv Tredje, so I tried to do something in that vein.
It’s supposed to calm you down after the relentless 40 minutes or so.

In general there is a lot to discover on „Uinuos Syömein Sota“ – for example the sublime choirs in the opening track or the acoustic interlude „Jumalten Hämär“. Do you have a personal favorite part on the record and if so, which one and why?
Drums, cos they were one take each. The long song drums were recorded in two parts.
I like the last song and the riff that sounds as if it was ripped off from the „Conan, the Barbarian“ soundtrack. The one right after the galloping stuff.

The artwork was created by Heidi Kosenius, as it was the case with all your previous albums. Why do you think that her pictures are the perfect visualization of your songs?
Because she intuitively knows what I mean, we share an inner landscape by blood.

Compared to the elaborate, polished cover pictures of many modern metal albums your artworks look very handmade, but also a bit rudimentary. What would you say to someone who thinks Heidi’s pictures are not polished enough?
I’d say GO GET A JOB. There’s nothing I like more than „rudimentary“ hand-made stuff. It speaks volumes about the dedication to the music and the art. Fuck your modern metal album covers, they look the same and don’t have character.

Also the sound of your albums is mostly rather rough, albeit not lo-fi. Can black metal with perfectly polished production even work at all from your point of view?
No, it cannot. And it also doesn’t work with „bad“ production done „safe“.
All these bands sounding comfy playing in their comfortable studios and drinking fucking vitamin water and performing and honing their stuff again and again. And then making it sound „bad“ on purpose. No way.
I think it has to be CREATIVE and BRAVE. Black metal production is experimental, and more often than not you limit yourself in a way, to find creative ways to overcome technical limitations.
This being said, I think I did a bit too good of a job on the mixing. I’m proud of it, it was hard to achieve, but I’m not sure if it still fits. I will fix this in the future. (laughs)
Maybe some fucking 4-track cassette recorders and the like, I actually used one for a long time, I think I bought it in 2006 or so, and it broke down a few years back.

What have you got planned next for HAVUKRUUNU?
Uhh. Nothing much.

Now I would like to go through our traditional Metal1.info brainstorming with you. What do you think of the following terms?
Streaming concerts: Enslaved not playing „Frost“ stuff
DIY: OR DIE
Neo-paganism: Cop-out
Perfectionism: Pain
Classical music: Practicing. Our bass player’s wrist issues.
Current favorite album: „Mother Earth’s Plantasia“ by Mort Garson

At this point, I want to thank you very much for your time. I would like to leave the last words to you:
Thanks for the interview, stay healthy.

Publiziert am 2. November 2020 von Stephan Rajchl