Band: FOREFATHER
Country of origin: Great Britain
Style: heathen metal
Questions by: Kai Mathias Stalhammar
Answers supplied by: Wulfstan (drums, guitars, bass, vocals)

Let’s start with the most remarkable differences between “Deep Into Time” and your latest work, “The Fighting Man”. In my opinion, the latter is less black metal, being hugely inspired by THIN LIZZY and few alike acts. Were you consciously distancing yourselves from a black metal scene, or this was a natural development, simply a desire to attain more distinguishable sound?

- FOREFATHER’s never been black metal and we never will be although everyone gets categorised rightly or wrongly. We don’t glorify pain, misery, darkness, evil, despair and torment. In fact, I think anyone who does actually enjoy any of the aforementioned is pretty deranged. Forefather is about pride, hope, fulfilment, inspiration and good and that will continue to be our theme. “The Fighting Man” is obviously a progression from “Deep Into Time”. If you can’t move forward from the standard of your debut then you’re not going to go anywhere. This is the first time that I’ve seen THIN LIZZY associated with FOREFATHER and I think probably the last time too. I’ve never listened to THIN LIZZY in my life!

“The Path Of Yesterdays” doubtlessly appears as one of “The Fighting Man’s” highlights, being slightly different – but in the same time bearing a trace of FOREFATHER’s typical approach to music. Any comments on this track, as well as somewhat bitterly nostalgic ambiences it’s utterly soaked with?

- “Paths…” was originally written and recorded for the “Deep…” album but we weren’t happy with it and left it off. We then put the demo version on the limited “Legends Untold” CD and finally a new studio version on “The Fighting Man”. Lyrically “Paths...” pays homage to ancient landscapes and the stories they could tell if gifted with speech (those that haven’t been covered in concrete).

Lyrically, “When Our England Died” strikes as one of the most exciting tunes off “The Fighting Man”. Let me assume that this one was supposed to be a sort of homage to your heathen ancestry…

- No, not at all. It relates to the battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings that took place in the North and South of England in 1066. The first was a great English victory over a Norwegian army and the second (only a few weeks later, after a brave march from the North to the South coast with a depleted army) was an unfortunate defeat at the hands of an invading Norman army. This led to the native English aristocracy being almost completely overthrown and replaced by oppressive Normans. “When Our England Died” is a tribute to the fyrdmen of the English armies in both battles.

Do you consider yourselves patriots? Would you die for your motherland on it’s demand (figuratively speaking, of course)?

- I see patriotism as being loyal to your government and / or monarchy and I have no such feelings towards the British government or monarchy. There’s no way I’d fight and die on their demand. They can fuck off! I’d fight against them though for sure! haha

What is patriotism to you? Sadly enough, nowadays we behold a certain kind of “anti-nationalistic” plague spread by all these narrow-minded freaks. F.ex. Germans (at least, the major bands) don’t even have a chance to compose a lyrical canvas based on historical events and Germanic mythological cycle. A nonsense, indeed. It seems like these non-entities simply confuse the notions of “fascism” / “nazism” with “nationalism” / “patriotism”, without even properly attempting to figure out what’s the difference! And as EU keeps on levelling the greatest variety of European cultures, simultaneously supporting racial and territorial integration, the situation only goes for the worst…

- Patriotism and nationalism are two different things if you ask me. Where as patriotism is simply loyalty to one’s government and / or monarchy, I see nationalism as loyalty to one’s folk and homeland. I am definitely the latter. Nationalism is a spanner in the works of the Global Agenda so obviously all people in power, in the media and so on constantly berate it. Accusations of nazism, fascism and the like work pretty well in discrediting people who go against the grain because most people are too ignorant to realise what’s really happening in the world and see through it.

Both works of yours have been released via Angelisc Enterprises, which (if I’m not mistaken) appears as the label created solely for the purpose of producing and marketing FOREFATHER’s efforts. It takes a lot of time and money, I assume. Hence, haven’t you ever thought of joining any label’s roster? What makes you continue making everything on your own?

- Signing with a bigger label would have the benefits of increasing exposure and so on but I would rather keep control of my music. I don’t want to let some record label make a load of money out of my music and end up with barely anything myself. It may take longer to reach more people without the help of a big label but in the end I’d say it’s worth it. There are lots of examples these days of big bands abandoning their labels and releasing their stuff on their own label.

Most of religiously-demented individuals out there always considered it horrifying to find out that a person is entirely responsible for whatever he / she does and how he / she acts. Not only does that mean that there’s actually no evil spirit or alike being to tempt them spiritually, but there’s also no divine ally who intervenes to save ‘em from peril. Would you say that Christians are completely unable to accept the premise of existentialism? Why the ridiculous self-hating tenets of Christianity? To accept responsibility for whatever befalls you is to realise that you’re alone in a place of infinite cruelty. Should we really blame Christians for fleeing from this cold view?

- I can’t understand how anyone could become a christian without being brain-washed from birth or just simple-minded. I certainly do not blame any christians that wish to abandon their faith.

Northern Ireland vs. Great Britain. It looks like there’s no end for this confrontation. Is there any solution you could personally suggest in order to resolve this problem and finally stop this abandoning withstanding?

- Yeah, give Northern Ireland back to the Republic of Ireland and let them sort it out. That would annoy stupid British patriots with their silly Union Jack flags but I couldn’t care less.

The phenomenon of war seems to be undying, for sure. On one hand, war reduces population thus preventing the planet from overpopulating, on the other one it simultaneously causes either (or both) mental or / and physical pain to various people and foremost to the “innocent” ones… However, this is not what I’d like to talk over with you. “Human wars and Nature” might be much more exciting subject to be discussed, don’t you think so?

- There was a time when war was very important because it was the main tool for forming the boundaries of nations. But now that these boundaries have been formed and are pretty stagnant and unlikely to change there’s little need for it (except when the political elite of the world decide that a little war would be good for business). The only wars for territory that I can see coming in the future will be civil wars between native and immigrant populations. We’re seeing it already to varying degrees.

What does Nature represent to you? Our attitude to it appears as incredibly severe, but what interests me most of all: will we ever find a perfect solution to attain harmless coexistence (if  there’s any)?

- Nature to me is just everything, existence. Of course it’s possible to live in harmony with it but money and finance are the gods of the ruling elites, not nature.

Please, describe each of the four elements by using human emotions. I mean, what kind of either feelings or sensations does earth, water, fire and wind arouse inside of you…

- I don’t know. It depends. If my house is on fire - panic. If Tony Blair (British Prime Minister) is on fire - laughter. I think I’ll pass on this one.

Do you know anything regarding Russia? Any metal bands coming from the country of mine you’ve heard lately?

- We have a few contacts in Russia apart from yourself. We stock various Russian bands like STIGMATIC CHORUS, DER GERWELT, NARGATHROND, ROSSOMAHAAR, STONEHENGE, RAKOTH and TALES OF DARKNORD in our mail-order catalogue. In general, Russian bands seem pretty good.

Anything else left to be said?

- Well I suppose I should point out Irond Records must have released Russian versions of “Deep Into Time” and “The Fighting Man” in Russia by the time you're reading this. A new FOREFATHER album is about to be recorded. It should be available around Autumn '01. Thanks for the interview.

FOREFATHER contact -
Email: ForefatherFyrd@aol.com
       AngeliscE@aol.com