Why did you take such a name, «Nocturnal Rites»? Honestly speaking, when I first heard of your band, I considered you a black metal one…

- We've had this name since sometime back in ‘90. As you might know, we started out by playing some kind of death metal. We had numerous names back then and needed to settle for one. We through “Nocturnal Rites” had a nice ring to it and we made the decision. We actually thought about changing our name sometime in maybe ‘93 when we had grown into the band we are today. But we had come to be very well known in the underground so we kept it. Nowadays most people know what we're about.

If you can, please tell me a bit of your debut CD, since I never heard it (moreover, I never even saw it in music stores!)? By the way, did you leave Megarock because of the lack of promotion?

- Our debut CD is called «In A Time Of Blood And Fire». It sounds pretty much the same as the "Tales..." album. It has 9 songs. About Megarock: we initially signed a deal with Dark Age Music, which is a small label out of Sweden. Their intention was to licence our album to a bigger label in order to get better distribution and promotion. Unfortunately, Megarock didn't lift a finger for us. I still haven't seen an ad anywhere, they got us no interview and no tours. So Dark Age promised us that our 2nd album would be released through a proper label that could give us the kind of attention we needed. It eneded up is them selling our contract to Century Media.

You started as a band playing rather brutal music, however later you turned your heads to traditional heavy metal… Why so? Is there any special reason explaining this move?

- Changing didn't happen over night. We all grew up listing to heavy metal and I think that's the kind of music we all wanted to play. The change was gradual and we never really understood where we were heading before it was "too late". It started out by just a few riffs and ended up in us writing whole songs.

NOCTURNAL RITES' lineup endured numerous changes through years, right? Can you tell me why? Do the band's musicians have such a bad temper or what?

- Our first drummer Tommy moved to Stockholm whoch made it impossible for him to play with us. So we recruited Ulf. Then Mikael (former guitarist) grew tired of playing and simply quit the band. So we got Nils N. instead. Now lately Ulf injured his leg so he had to quit, so we have new drummer - Owe. Now you see why certain members had to leave the band. However, this isn't by far the only members we've had in the band. We've had like four different 2nd guitarists, numerous vocalists and so on. Most of them simply quit as we kept on going. We don't have a bad temper :)

As far as I understand you are a Swedish band, however it was the German ground that gave the world a lot of great power metal acts such as HELLOWEEN, RAGE, GAMMA RAY, BLIND GUARDIAN, etc. Does your origin harm your way in music? And what do you think of aforementioned bands, as well as their music? Did any of them influence you in any way?

- First of all, lots of German bands have influenced us. More than any Swedish bands. The only Swedish band I could imagine had something to do with our sound would then be EUROPE. But they haven't influenced us that much. I love all the bands you mentioned, especially HELLOWEEN. They've had a great impact on me and my writing through the years.

What are you main influences music and lyrics wise? Do you have any non metal influences such as classical music or anything else?

- As I mentioned, the German bands like HELLOWEEN and maybe SCANNER and RUNNING WILD. I'd say we're sort of mix between the German and the British sound. HELLOWEEN and GAMMA RAY meets JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN and SAXON. Sure, some classical music has influnced us. Personally I love all the great masters and their work. It's hard not to be influenced by them.

Who is responsible for your lyrics and what are the main ideas that you are trying to get across to the audience?

- Lately I have written all the lyrics. Sometimes we help each other out by coming up with a theme for a song. We have no message we want to carry out to people, it's mostly about fantasy, kings and queens and that sort of stuff. I think it goes hand in hand with the music. It really fits the songs we write.

What about your beliefs / religion? Do you have any rules in life that you follow?

- No rules. Play metal till the death.

How does your song writing process go? Do the lyrics appear the first ones or so does the music?  Are your guitar solos improvised? Is the whole band involved in songwriting or does one person compose the song and the others just play it?

- Fredrik, Nils N. or I come up with a riff or a part of a song, a verse for example. Then we just kind of build the song around that theme. Or at least that gives us an idea on how to continue. When we have an intro and the basic structure of the song we make a simple recording of it with a drum machine. Then Nils N. takes it home and figures out his lead parts. Then I use that first simple recording and write the lyrics. I then take the song to Anders's studio and show him my ideas for the vocals and he redoes and remodels it so it fits him. Then we rehearse the song and record it over and over again till we are pleased with it.

What is the musical education of each of the members of the band?

- No one has any education, other than maybe basic lessons on each instrument. Like Anders has taken a few singing lessons years and years back. And some of us once started out by taking lessons in school.

Tell me about your gigs, how long are they usually? Do you just play or is there some kind of show apart from the music? Do you play any cover songs on your concerts? How big is the crowd that usually comes to your shows?

- If we do our own shows they are ususally about an hour or more. It all depends on how long the audience wants us to play. We try to make something exciting out of the show, not just playing the songs and then come off stage. It's hard to explain what we do, you'd have to come see us I guess. Yes, we've played a few cover songs over the years. I can't remember which ones we've done live, but at least we've rehearsed and fooled around with some WASP, TWISTED SISTER and old WHITESNAKE songs. The size of the crowd really differs from show to show. It depends on the size of the venue and so on. It can be everything from 100 to well over a thousand people.

I think that a ballad would sound good if you played one, but you don’t have any slow songs on “Tales of Mystery...” CD.  Why is that so? Do you have any slow songs on your previous albums? Are you planning to do one in the future?

- There will be a ballad ("The Legend Lives On") on the new album “The Sacred Talisman”. It was originally written for the "Tales..." album but we never got the chance of recording it properly. On the first album we have sort of a ballad called "Dragonisle".

What do you think of such term as “trend” when it comes to metal music in the shape of black metal, death metal, industrial as well as grunge and others?

- Trends in metal music come and go as they do everywhere else. It's bound to happen. I don't think it's that sad as long as the ones performing it do with heart and good intentions. But it's kind of sick when a lot of old metal bands come together when it's so obvious they do it just for the money.

Talking about the trends… Nowadays Sweden spawns a great number of power / speed metal bands which immediately become hell as famous (HAMMERFALL is the best example, I believe…) What do you think about this “phenomena”?

- It's truly great when new bands achieve success. It makes it a lot easier for older bands to sell albums and to tour and to have a lot of fun. When our first album got out in '95 no one was into metal. We thought we were the only Swedish band playing this kind of music and people thought we were really sick for doing it. I think any young band deserves success, especially if they play a type of music that has been "dead" for way too long.

Are you in any way familiar with Russian audience? What do you think of it? Is there any chance of seeing you live in Russia?

- Not very much. I've done some Russian interviews and received some mail from Russian fans but that's pretty much it. I think there's a chance of seeing us live anywhere as long as there is an interest for our music.

What are your plans for the future? Any touring? A new album? Or some other stuff that you will come up with? Do you think your music will go through some changes in the future?

- We just finished work on our 3rd album "The Sacred Talisman". It'll be out in Februay of '99. The songs sound  pretty much the same as on the "Tales..." album. It's still the good old “Nocturnal” sound. We chose a great studio this time and it was the first time we worked with a producer and he really made us perform at our best. It will be a really diverse album as it has all the ingridients. Really fast songs, heavy songs, a ballad and so on… Then we're touring through Europe this spring. That's all I know about the immediate future, for now.

And what will be your last Nocturnal message alike...?

- Keep fighting for metal. Buy all the albums you see and go to all the shows you can and so on. Hope to see you all soon.
 

NOCTURNAL RITES contact –
Email: nils.eriksson@swipnet.se
 

New album "The Sacred Talisman" out in February, till then - Visit the Official NOCTURNAL RITES Hall at: http://nr.power-metal.com/
Or come see us live:
 
NEVERMORE & NOCTURNAL RITES & SACRED STEEL + Support
 
21/02/99        Nurnberg        Hirsch
22/02/99        Minden          Musikbox
23/02/99        Bochum          Zeche
24/02/99        Bremen          Tivoli
25/02/99        Hamburg         Markthalle
26/02/99        Bischohswerda   East Club
27/02/99        Fraureuth       Ratskeller
28/02/99        Berlin          Columbia Friiz
01/03/99        Stuttgart       R?hre
02/03/99        Lingen          Alter Schlachthof
03/03/99        Heidelberg      Schwimmbad
04/03/99        Offenbach       Hafenbahn
05/03/99        Italy           T.B.A.
06/03/99        W?rgl/Kufstein  Komma
07/03/99        Will            Remise
08/03/99        Pratteln        Z7