Just two years ago, we had an interview with you here in LA. You were doing the Decibel Magazine Tour with Watain, The Devil’s Blood and In Solitude. Now with the Metal Alliance Tour, you are playing with 1349, Goatwhore Inquisition and Black Crown Initiate. What are the main differences that you see between these two tours?
I think this tour is more extreme, with Goatwhore … and Inquisition that comes straight from deepest underground. I love this band. We’ve toured with them in Europe two months ago and I just love to watch them onstage. They are just two guys and they kill!! My favorite band on this package.

Yesterday was the first concert of the tour. How was it?
Difficult…. Because it was a small venue. Probably the worse venue on this tour. But, it was good for the first show: we could try our equipment, gear, see if everything was working properly. And yeah… it was sold out! 750 people.

Many shows are already sold out for this tour and probably most of them will be too, in the next weeks to come. Does it still impress you to have all these sold out gigs or has it been pretty normal lately?
I don’t know… it just happens. We do what we do, pretty much the same [way]. The same about the music, about the new album: a few years ago we couldn’t [have] these kind of riffs, these kind of arrangements. And now, we can do pretty much what we want.

I don’t’ really care [about a concert being sold out or not], because before every show I feel exactly the same! Same stress, same “almost puking” feeling.

Really??? (laughs) You, Inferno, still gets nervous??
Yeah. It’s like that. Every fucking day… doesn’t matter if there are 200 or 5000 people. Small shows are sometimes more stressful than big ones, because you are in a closer contact with the p

eople. It’s a different energy. And I like it… I really enjoy it!

This time you guys are coming after the release of a new album “The Satanist”. How is the set-list looking like?
We changed the set-list… totally. We are going to play 5 songs from the new album and some old songs we’ve never played before, which is different. So, more focused on the atmosphere than brutality, as [it was] before. So, you can feel it and see it onstage.

About the new album: such a special release, after all that happened to the band. If you had to describe it in one or two words, how would you?
Yeah. The Satanist.

So, the title describes it perfectly?
Yes. It means a lot to us. It is a statement. It’s about us, who we are as people, as a band. And we are stronger than ever.

Last time we talked I also mentioned that I had the impression that Behemoth was getting bigger and bigger. I have the impression that the band has grown even bigger the past last two years. Has your life changed because of that, in a personal matter?
No… not because of the band. I’ve changed pretty much everything, during the last two years, yeah, except the band. My personal life totally “turned”. After Nergal’s sickness, it was like: to be or not to be. Pretty much the same situation happened to everyone in the band. Difficult decisions…which is good. Changes are good.

“Just amazing! I love to watch The Devil’s Blood… for me it is the new meaning of music…” These were your words about them last time. The music world just lost Selim… Did you guys stayed in contact after the tour you did here in 2012?
We met at some festivals and we talked. But not really [they didn’t keep in contact]. They didn’t do any tours after that o

ne…. Some festivals in Europe. That’s it. It’s very sad, because I still have to say the same. If someone asked me which is the band you want to tour with: The Devil’s Blood. It’s not going to happen again…

Selim had specific views about life and death. Do you share any of these views?
I was watching some interviews with Selim. Some of his views were pretty close to mine but some were not…

Do you still search for underground bands?
Oh yeah! A lot!

Any of them that you see that have potential to become like… bigger?
The problem is that the bands I like are not planning to play shows, play live or to be a regular band. Most of them are musicians in their 40s and in the underground scene for years now. A lot of Polish bands too. Inquisition is one of this type of bands. They are an exception.

Do you try to keep in touch with the underground scene?
Yeah, I do, with some of them [these bands] and also, so I know what’s going on. When Nergal was sick I recorded two albums with my other bands. I play guitar in one of them and recorded the drums for the other one. But, there is no time to play live. They are called Azarath and Deus Mortem.

How will be 2014 for Behemoth, after this tour?
It’s going to be a busy year. The schedule is…. [makes a weird sound]. We’ve got confirmed to almost 30 summer festivals. Right after this tour we’ve confirmed Russian dates with places like: Irkutsk – Siberia, Vladivostok… Then after summer festivals it will be time to do the Polish tour, Asia, Australia. In January/ February we will probably do another US tour.

Any messages to the SOM readers?
Thank you for your support and enjoy the show tonight.