Midgardsblot - Heilung Interview — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:07Welcome to a very special edition of the Nordic Mythology Podcast.
2. 0:10And I guess I'm joined by Dr. Mathias Nordvig.
3. 0:13Hello, everybody.
4. 0:14We have with us Maria and Kai
5. 0:18and Chris from Heilung!
6. 0:22Welcome to the show, guys. Thank you.
7. 0:24Once again.
8. 0:27thank you for your hospitality.
9. 0:29I guess I have to say first, you invited us into your camp, fed us.
10. 0:32gave us cake, coffee and now we're recording in your...
11. 0:36Your mom's tent.
12. 0:38My mom's tent, yeah!
13. 0:40I have to say Heilung cake.
14. 0:41Was the you know, that was the pinnacle of my day today.
15. 0:45We ate cake today because one of our singers turned 30.
16. 0:49And so we're celebrating here.
17. 0:50And sadly, you didn't hear the Heilung version of that congratulation song,
18. 0:54which is we have ten different nationalities and you count to three and everyone sings their own
19. 0:59song at the same time.
20. 1:00It sounds epic! Epic, so chaotic!
21. 1:06Yeah. That that does sound wonderful.
22. 1:08Oh, yeah. Thank you.
23. 1:10This is maybe my favorite interview we're ever going to do...
24. 1:13sat in this cozy little tent.
25. 1:17But yeah, let's talk about the...
26. 1:18What shall we do first, the new album or Midgardsblot?
27. 1:21Being back here.
28. 1:22Well, it's a combination of both, isn't it?
29. 1:24We're releasing a new album tomorrow at Midgardsblot.
30. 1:27So yeah, Chris, you come directly out of your cave.
31. 1:32With uhhh... and directly down from stage.
32. 1:36Directly down from playing at...
33. 1:39It's just casting a mainly the.
34. 1:41Yeah, yeah.
35. 1:42So you know this place, you know, it's, you know, it's something that really means something to us, right?
36. 1:47This is a, this is the place where we actually met.
37. 1:51It was somehow through doing the Viking reenactment and stuff like this.
38. 1:56And then Maria is from here.
39. 1:57So, so in many ways, it makes a lot of sense that we take
40. 2:01the next step from here, you know, because it's kind of like home.
41. 2:05And obviously these hills in the forest there back behind us.
42. 2:10They mean a lot to all of us.
43. 2:12And and it has a good energy. Right.
44. 2:16And and it is, you know, when when you make a new album,
45. 2:20you kind of say goodbye to what you did before, and then you say hello to what is to come.
46. 2:27Right, right. And in many ways, for us,
47. 2:31This is now going to be a turning point for us and moving forward. Right?
48. 2:36And yeah.
49. 2:37Yeah. So, so it makes sense to do it here.
50. 2:40And tomorrow we're going to have like a listening session in the Kings Hall,
51. 2:45which is one of my favorite buildings to be inside.
52. 2:48I really love the acoustics in there and you know.
53. 2:51And yeah.
54. 2:54So I guess, well Midgardsblot their unofficial kind of motto is Welcome Home.
55. 2:59Yeah, I guess it means more to you guys than than probably anybody here.
56. 3:03It really is coming back to the place where it all started.
57. 3:07Absolutely. Absolutely.
58. 3:09Yeah, very literally.
59. 3:11And then, yeah, it's exciting to come home and then,
60. 3:16you know and then we were leaving very far out into the world on monday flying to Atlanta.
61. 3:22But yeah, but first of all, we're releasing the album tomorrow and I'm very excited because
62. 3:29it's such a varied piece of work that we're delivering.
63. 3:33And now to birth it into the world and the first three songs
64. 3:39people have been very enthusiastic and yeah, can't wait to show the rest!
65. 3:45We can't wait to hear the rest I know that!
66. 3:48Chris, I know you're the... from speaking with you in the past.
67. 3:51I know you're kind of the the music nerd, like the real you get really into
68. 3:57and I know, you're trying to do some special things with the the new album from what I've seen.
69. 4:02Well you know the method of how we're working is the same.
70. 4:07Right. And it will always be the same.
71. 4:09It's the three of us locked into a room and Kai coming with some weird source materials
72. 4:13that that I then have to figure out how to.
73. 4:17Make sounds to, you know?
74. 4:19And like one of my favorites for this one was that,
75. 4:24you know, it's just started by just putting it there on the table first without saying anything.
76. 4:28And I was just looking like, What is this what?
77. 4:31You know? The Sator Square?
78. 4:33That's what I wanted to ask you about.
79. 4:35And I was like, and then we started like developing these weird
80. 4:38coded systems to, to actually extrapolate notes out
81. 4:42because we knew instantly that, okay, we were making a palindrome thing, right?
82. 4:46So you need to be able to play this forward and backward, right?
83. 4:49So but it also has to make sense.
84. 4:51It also has to be music in any direction, literally. Right?
85. 4:54So that is like, so we made like a number system
86. 4:58based on different runic patterns
87. 5:01and also but everything like deriving from the Sator square and,
88. 5:04and that melody was then based on some known scales from the period,
89. 5:10you know, based on instruments, you know, so we know like the notation and that became the first part.
90. 5:14And that became the first part and then when we first made the first code.
91. 5:18Then okay what happens then if we flip everything, you know,
92. 5:22because like the Sator square is,
93. 5:25of course not only going forward and backwards is us also vertically, right?
94. 5:29So how do we do that musically? Right.
95. 5:31How do we write music that is not only playing the same forward and backward,
96. 5:35but also has a certain depth up to us and downwards, right?
97. 5:43because we like, like making music in stereo, right?
98. 5:46We don't we don't have like a at least not yet a sound surround version of it,
99. 5:50but it was recorded in surround some of it.
100. 5:54But anyway, how do we create this music, you know, musically, right?
101. 5:57How do we make beats that works the same way, forward and backwards?
102. 6:01Most drummers would tell you that, like, you should take a normal kick and the snare and you play that next to each other.
103. 6:07If you play it the other way, the beat is not necessarily that cool
104. 6:10you know, it is also music, right?
105. 6:14It shouldn't be like, oh, that's fun that it plays backwards, right?
106. 6:17It also like, but what is this?
107. 6:19You know, it actually has to sound like something... It has to be good.
108. 6:22And that was really that was really interesting.
109. 6:25Also, the one we would use the most time.
110. 6:26You know, sometimes when we really go into these deep mixes, you know, the same thing just goes on repeat.
111. 6:33And I think like this that satellite able part.
112. 6:35You know multiple times made.
113. 6:38This poor bastard regret
114. 6:40that he gave that to me you know.
115. 6:44Just sitting for like a week.
116. 6:46You know, with this just...
117. 6:47Are you getting your own back on him for...
118. 6:50It's like you know...
119. 6:52brainwashing man.
120. 6:53Like, yeah, when you talk to people who are into like military interrogations, of course,
121. 6:59they also use sounds right and they use like very short sentences that are on repeat, very, very loud.
122. 7:05Right. So that's what you were doing to eachother?
123. 7:08And he is mixing it.
124. 7:08It has to be loud because he has to hear everything. Right.
125. 7:11You can't hear that in like, you know, talk talks out and then it's like...
126. 7:20like this is hour three.
127. 7:22Oh, my. God.
128. 7:23What am I drawing here, man?
129. 7:26Like I just , you know, like...
130. 7:29We, everyone, when we're sitting, working, whether we're doing like artwork or something, you know,
131. 7:33it's really like everyone is just sitting focused in the studio and doing their thing, you know?
132. 7:38But once in a while like after a session, like ended, you know, I can just look behind.
133. 7:41And those are just sitting like at one point, like. Well uhhh...
134. 7:50The first, the oldest one I came across came from Herculaneum around like 50 before Christ.
135. 7:55Something like that.
136. 7:56And it just goes all the way up to Iceland and like Danish churches have it engraved and everything.
137. 8:02And since the song is out, I have fans sending me like old engravings from "Hey, this is the church I grew up in.."
138. 8:07But we have this like some old French thing, right?
139. 8:11And like when you read about it, it is everything.
140. 8:14It is. It has been used to summon the devil.
141. 8:16It has been used for healing because it has distended cross in there.
142. 8:20It was also used for Christian stuff. Right.
143. 8:23But what is fascinating about it is that you actually have
144. 8:27these like five words that make sense.
145. 8:30However you read them make sense. 'ish right?
146. 8:33And I was not able to create something that was matching this.
147. 8:38Yeah, so the thing is that Kai then had to try, right?
148. 8:42To make... He really did.
149. 8:44He really did.
150. 8:44I love it.
151. 8:45So I really I love that one.
152. 8:51Amazing, it's so funny man.
153. 8:54I see it a bit more humbly but yes, I don't remember the whole thing.
154. 8:57Who is it again? What is it again?
155. 9:00It's hanging in the studio.
156. 9:01We'll send you a picture.
157. 9:03Oh, please do. We really needto see it!
158. 9:06Yeah, that's a modern iteration.
159. 9:08I like that. Yeah, but it was, it was a fun process.
160. 9:11Like the whole like the whole making it, making the whole album, you know, it...
161. 9:15the intensity of the music can of course, also
162. 9:18be found in all levels in ourselves right...
163. 9:21So we go from like hysterical laughter to like really sad moments as well.
164. 9:26Like, for example, when it came to Nesso, that was the very sad moment for Maria.
165. 9:32And like when you listen to that song, for example, Nesso is old high German for worm
166. 9:37and make sure to set is that people back then believe that pains were worms
167. 9:42that were crawling crawling in the body and that there's multiple possibilities to extract it.
168. 9:45Right. And we ask Maria to go in the state of mind where she...
169. 9:51pictured, like meditative
170. 9:54an animal that she loved a lot being dying and that she really tried to like.
171. 9:59Oh, I would be. Yeah, no. Exactly, exactly.
172. 10:03And like, she was like she had the tears running down her cheeks while she was singing it.
173. 10:08And like that that is actually also on the album.
174. 10:11So when you listen to Nesso on the album, and you think F*** is she about to cry?
175. 10:15Oh, she was actually crying doing this.
176. 10:17So you really give her a lot for the craft, you willing?
177. 10:20Because I I'll cry if I think about Luna in that way
178. 10:23She's beautiful, she came and sat on my knee earlier and we had to cuddle.
179. 10:28You know you we when we were recording it you know like Maria standing in the and crying, right.
180. 10:32And when Maria is crying, I instantly start crying.
181. 10:35So it's like I was really crying, you know, and, you know, it was really a moment.
182. 10:38And then I look behind at Kai, you know, what's this thing is weird.
183. 10:41I'm sitting in crying, you know, look at Kai.
184. 10:43And he was just completely wet. You know.
185. 10:46We were all just like, Oh, my God, all hit rock bottom there man... Emotionally, yeah.
186. 10:51And it was also a nerve wracking moment,
187. 10:54to take the decision to actually release it like that, because we talked a lot about
188. 10:59should we sing it again and actually make it sound like
189. 11:03my real voice, like this is just my broken voice.
190. 11:08But then we after a lot of talking back and forth, we decided that you know what?
191. 11:12A voice doesn't always have to be pretty you it's okay to show emotion and it's okay to
192. 11:18to show the honesty in the voice through and through crying.
193. 11:22I think crying and singing is the hardest thing you can do, you don't have any control.
194. 11:28And for a vocalist to not feel that you have control is
195. 11:32is really, really hard on my heart and soul.
196. 11:36And I know this personally from from many,
197. 11:38many different situations and it's,
198. 11:42it was a step for me to dare to, to go out with it aswell.
199. 11:46Well, but I can hear the feedback we got from that label.
200. 11:48That is the first people who heard it.
201. 11:50They all cried as well.
202. 11:51I know i'm going to cry...
203. 11:55It feels like you guys can't make a song that's just a song like everything has such a...
204. 12:02I really wish one day.
205. 12:03Yeah, it's really easy listening...
206. 12:05Everything has...
207. 12:06Like a coreography, that has to happen.
208. 12:08And you know, you have to do all these rituals extra to make it happen, you know?
209. 12:13I'll say I appreciate it.
210. 12:15I hope you never make a song, that's just a song.
211. 12:19You really put everything into every song.
212. 12:22Yeah, but we did make it... And you really feel it.
213. 12:24We did make a cover song on this album though.
214. 12:26Yes, that's true. Our first cover song ever.
215. 12:29Oh Really? ...Just a song.
216. 12:31No, it's not just a song, but it's, it's our first cover song.
217. 12:33I'm sure it's got more to it than just just being a cover.
218. 12:37It's the first song from where it's been written down.
219. 12:40And we kind of just read the notation and we add an extra voice to it though.
220. 12:44But... Yeah!
221. 12:45Heilungs Voice. So yeah, but yeah, that's the first one yeah.
222. 12:49It's one of the Hurrian Hymns.
223. 12:54They digged it out in Nineveh. It's uhh...
224. 12:56cuneiform and it contains the lyrics
225. 13:00but it also contains the, the notes and also instructions
226. 13:06how to tune the harp or a lute or however the instrument at the time was called.
227. 13:11And that's our first cover song.
228. 13:15It's called Nikkal. It is yeah, Babylonian.
229. 13:18Yeah wild. I like that. Yeah.
230. 13:21That kind of like takes it a bit like,
231. 13:27we are looking a little bit further than the north right?
232. 13:29as you guys also know that that you know it's a bit limited also
233. 13:33whether you have a source material, you know, and and therefore we
234. 13:37I feel like at least that's my take on it that it is really nice
235. 13:40to start to look at what may have influenced us.
236. 13:43Right, and what radiates back and forward of the time.
237. 13:47And like, with this Nikkal song, it's
238. 13:51that we actually get a glimpse into how they actually sang at the time.
239. 13:55Right, because we obviously don't have recordings of that.
240. 13:58But, because we know the instruments it's written for and how it possibly was tuned,
241. 14:04We can get fairly close to it to how it would have been.
242. 14:09But, you know, people that know that song will also know that,
243. 14:14the notes we are singing is probably the harp voice, right?
244. 14:18So, so that's also one of the reasons why I feel really compelled to,
245. 14:22to do Heilung's voice on top of it.
246. 14:26So to, but, and make it like a three person song.
247. 14:30Basically three, you know, harmonies singing. Right?
248. 14:34And it's kind of interesting to, look at this because,
249. 14:38you know, we know, for instance, like...
250. 14:41this is a very long story, but I've tried to do a short read, but we know, for instance, that...
251. 14:49that we were pitching lower in the past. Right?
252. 14:52And you can kind of draw a steady line from modern day pitch,
253. 14:56which was kind of decided in the forties by the Germans.
254. 15:02And you can draw a direct line to to what we believe instruments were...
255. 15:07that is optimal tuning in the medieval times and even go back further
256. 15:11and it all traces back to natural natural harmonics
257. 15:15really like, you can take a recording
258. 15:18of a waterfall that is basically completely white noise to us. Right?
259. 15:22But there's still resonating tones into that that is louder than others.
260. 15:26Right. And easily coming out and you can draw
261. 15:28a direct lines on that.
262. 15:30So naturally we had to do that with Nikkal, obviously to put it at that sort of tuning. Right?
263. 15:35And what is harmonies then right?
264. 15:37Because if we go too far, people today would not understand it.
265. 15:41That's one of the reasons why we call it amplified. Right.
266. 15:44So so it's about interpreting but also making it relevant for today.
267. 15:48Of course. Yeah. Yeah.
268. 15:50One thing and one thing I absolutely love is that I don't understand
269. 15:54music on a deep level, but when I hear you speak,
270. 15:57I just can't help but get drawn into the way you talk about
271. 16:02like the sounds of everything and the clear passion you have that just pulls me in.
272. 16:06I'm just locked into all these different things in the way you seem to.
273. 16:10Obviously look at things and pick things apart.
274. 16:12And it's fascinating.
275. 16:14I love it. And it clearly comes across with everything you do.
276. 16:17It's a perfect mix of Kai bringing crazy things, crazy ideas, you making them.
277. 16:24Music and Maria, your beautiful voice on the front and just making it all sound.
278. 16:29Yeah, I love it when it's just the perfect mix of all three of you together.
279. 16:33It really is really special.
280. 16:36It's a very beautiful, creative way of working with sources and sound.
281. 16:40And, you know, I really appreciate it.
282. 16:44It's a way to create new meaning in the world in a very profound sense.
283. 16:48If you ask me.
284. 16:51I have to ask about Saturday.
285. 16:54When you play, can we expect anything special, new?
286. 16:57Look here, when we play here. Yeah, yeah.
287. 17:01Is there anything like what? What can we expect? Is it just,
288. 17:05you know, I've just got to fish for something, got to try.
289. 17:08Yeah, we have, we finally, finally found volunteers for sacrifice.
290. 17:13Oh yeah. That's always great.
291. 17:15And Maria is going to come in on the on the white horse
292. 17:20and I'm going to come on stage on a donkey, but I will sit the other way around. So.
293. 17:25Okay...
294. 17:30That's a better answer, than actually finding out.
295. 17:33Running to the insurance company.
296. 17:38Yeah, well, I.
297. 17:40I'll give you a surprise.
298. 17:42Yeah, of course.
299. 17:43I had to ask though, just in case.
300. 17:45I remember the last time we did one of you before.
301. 17:47I think Maria you were going to say something and I think it was, I cant remember if it was Chris.
302. 17:51Or Kai, you were like... Sshhhh....
303. 17:54and like you, I cant remember the words but you nearly slipped up on something once. And
304. 17:58It must have been Kai.
305. 17:59one of you is just like, I never slip...
306. 18:02One of you just quickly grabbed him and was like... Sshhh...
307. 18:06If you want a secret to stay a secret, just don't tell it to me.
308. 18:11That's easy.
309. 18:13Because then it's already two knowing it...
310. 18:16Unfortunately, I'm going to miss it on Saturday because that's when I'm starting my journey back to the US.
311. 18:22But I will be seeing you guys in Seattle.
312. 18:24Yes, I'm very much looking forward to that. Yeah.
313. 18:28And you're coming to the UK again soon,
314. 18:30so I'm going to get to see you I guess on...
315. 18:33Saturday will be the first time I've ever seen you guys live, so I can't wait for that.
316. 18:38But also to see you in the UK as well is going to be special.
317. 18:42Yeah, I know.
318. 18:44It's been postponed a while.
319. 18:46We haven't been there since the beginning of 2020.
320. 18:48Was actually the last show before the big break.
321. 18:52Yeah. In York. Yeah. Yeah.
322. 18:54And then that was.
323. 18:55That was and it was when the pandemic was just, like, biting our ass, like, really hard.
324. 19:00*Chomping noises*
325. 19:01Yeah, yeah.
326. 19:02Well, I quit smoking.
327. 19:03You quit smoking. Yeah?
328. 19:05You also also quit smoking.
329. 19:07Kai didn't quit smoking. He did for a little while. Then I started again.
330. 19:11That's the same for me.
331. 19:13I quit smoking before the pandemic. Then I started again.
332. 19:16As soon as my feet were on Danish ground, I was like,
333. 19:18I need a cigaret.
334. 19:21Yeah, wonderful.
335. 19:26I think.
336. 19:27Yeah, we can wrap it up there. Yeah. Because we want to see Wardruna.
337. 19:30We want to go see Wardruna.
338. 19:31Yeah, yeah.
339. 19:32I mean, thank you very much for doing this in this beautiful setting.
340. 19:37Thank you, mama, for borrowing it.
341. 19:38Yeah.
342. 19:40And again, thank you for the hospitality.
343. 19:43I don't think there's many bands that would invite us into their camp and feed us.
344. 19:48Give us. Well how many bands have a Viking camp?
345. 19:51Well that's it!
346. 19:52Well, that's that's one last thing I want to actually ask you, is that I guess not
347. 19:55everybody knows that you have like a full camp set up.
348. 19:58We told Runa... That rather than living in the hotel 20 minutes away.
349. 20:03We would love to just stay in some Viking tents.
350. 20:06If she can get some, we will have some ourselves.
351. 20:09And now we're hosting 47 people, which is Heilung.
352. 20:14And I Heilung crew and our booking agency, our record label, our merch people.
353. 20:18and some close family.
354. 20:21So yeah, yeah.
355. 20:23It's a tribe.
356. 20:24Yeah, it is.
357. 20:25But it's also like it's not really uncommon for us to do that here.
358. 20:28We, we, we've done that, you know. Many times...
359. 20:31Just to combine it with the music scene is pretty unique.
360. 20:34Yeah.
361. 20:34Because normally you would just have a crappy airport hotel somewhere, right?
362. 20:38And here we can cook on the fire, we can make a communal dinner every day, we swim in the sea.
363. 20:44We are sitting cozy here around the fireplace in the evenings.
364. 20:46It couldn't be better.
365. 20:47Yeah, that's it I mean.
366. 20:48I was going to ask how important that is, you think, to what you guys do and the music you make
367. 20:52and then the live performance you give effective, like at the end of it that you've lived
368. 20:56as a whole little tribe for...
369. 20:59Yeah, it ties us together.
370. 21:01I can tell you that that that we did measures on it right?
371. 21:04Because we have noticed that that the tribe goes sad
372. 21:09if we are on the road and we don't have enough outdoor... experiences.
373. 21:14Like a nature experience if you just keep it like this bunch of people
374. 21:19inside a bus, you know, or concrete, you know,
375. 21:23you know, we're not really going to live up to the healing idea.
376. 21:26We have fun on stage, right?
377. 21:28Because we are, you know.
378. 21:30Yeah, you know, we need to be free range, you know, Shamanistic workers.
379. 21:34Yeah. Not locked in.
380. 21:37Free range Shamanistic workers? Fully ecological...
381. 21:41We don't do caged shamans.
382. 21:44So I think that's going to be my new company name... "Free Range Shamistic Workers"
383. 21:50I mean...
384. 21:52Like, like the organic eating, you know, of course, you know, we don't feed them, you know, you know, all these extra, you know.
385. 21:58No, no. "FSW". Yeah.
386. 22:00Organic beer for all of you.
387. 22:02Organic beer for all the Shamanistic workers...
388. 22:05we don't really need any canned Vikings.
389. 22:08No. No canned Vikings...
390. 22:11I, yeah.
391. 22:11I that I think that's, it's when not many bands would live like this. I don't think...
392. 22:18They want the hotel, they want the showers, they want all the mod-cons.
393. 22:21They don't know what they're missing? No.
394. 22:23Like you said when you do a disservice when you described earlier...
395. 22:26you have like the whole hub in the middle with a big fire going and it's
396. 22:31I haven't seen like a modern thing around here, like all the bowls are wood,
397. 22:35And it's very much back to back to earth. And I love it.
398. 22:39I completely understand as somebody who has done Viking re-enactments over the years.
399. 22:43You know, this feels natural.
400. 22:47The hotel I'm staying at right now, does not.
401. 22:50It's a it's entirely different vibe. Yeah.
402. 22:53And it's also we used to live like that for a month.
403. 22:55I mean, like when I was, when I was
404. 22:59still living in Germany I...
405. 23:01started the tour in May and I was home in September, and that was...
406. 23:05Viking tour that is...
407. 23:06Viking tour from Viking market to Viking Market.
408. 23:10Tattooing yeah? Tattooing yeah.
409. 23:13That's just how it was...
410. 23:16I remember it was always very difficult to come home, to have walls again, to have ceilings.
411. 23:19To have shoes again...
412. 23:20And really like all of this, it's really it's kind of weird, right?
413. 23:25I mean, like in the beginning, you think like what the f*** am I doing bathing in the lake again.
414. 23:29You know man...
415. 23:31that's it, it feels like, that like you are, you live Heilung...
416. 23:38...Like it is you.
417. 23:40you know, you come to the festival, you live like this and it's very it's not like
418. 23:44you just go up on stage and become characters in a band, or you go up and and just perform.
419. 23:50Your just up there being yourselves playing music is not a performance.
420. 23:54It's very much who you are at the core,
421. 23:57And it's what makes you all so...
422. 23:58We amplify ourselves in a way...
423. 24:00Yeah, yeah. It's a theater for the gods.
424. 24:02Yeah, the ritual. Yeah.
425. 24:04That's where we end on that.
426. 24:06Thank you very much.
427. 24:08Appreciate it.
428. 24:08Thank you, guys. It was great to talk to you again. Skål!
429. 24:12Skål!