Let’s start this interview by talking a little bit about Varg just in case some of our readers don’t know your music yet. Could you describe yourselves?
F: We are Varg, from Germany, doing something that we call “Wolf Metal” which is kind of a mix of pagan metal, melodic death metal and a lot of other influences… and it is in German [the lyrics].

Talking about this tour. This is your first North American tour! How does it feel?
F: Fucking great! We had a really nice show yesterday in Tempe (it was open air) and today it was sold out! We are in the road with Eluveitie and Wintersun and they are really good friends with us. We’ve toured a lot with them in Europe. So, it is a great experience, great road trip from the West Coast and then Canada and East Coast. So, it’s pretty awesome.

Like you just said: you are touring with Wintersun and Eluveitie, many of the concerts are already sold out. Is this a chance to show all these North American metalheads who you are?
M: Of course it is.
F: Absolutely. Yes!

Did the same thing that happened today happen in Tempe yesterday: a lot of people were still outside when you guys started to play?
S: Yesterday we had two opening acts so when we started to play it was kind of packed.
F: Today, that happened throughout the evening. Even for the Wintersun show: they had already played half the set and there were still people outside… waiting, waiting.

Which are the cities you guys are most excited to go to?
F: Actually Hollywood (today) was really nice for us. We had a really nice trip to the Hollywood sign but we couldn’t see it because of the fog (laughs). Then, we had a trip to the Hollywood Boulevard, got some nice dinner at Hooters… it was just like Disneyland for grownups. We are looking forward to New York and Canadian shows which are mostly sold out. Of course, all of the dates [a

re exciting] because we haven’t been at most of the cities [in the US]. It will be a good time… good experience.

Tonight you guys played “Rotkäppchen”. Why didn’t Anna Murphy (Eluveitie) play with you guys this time?
F: We did a lot of performances of “Rotkäppchen” with Anna [Murphy] on the European tours but I think she is a little bit ill at the moment so she needs all of her “reserves” for the Eluveitie show so, we just do it without her.

You have released “Guten Tag” in October. Could you tell us what were the main inspirations, themes, etc for this album?
F: It is surely a much more modern [album]. We kind of looked over the “borders” of pagan metal and just did whatever felt right. It was fun on the song writing and for us, it is fun to listen to the album now. We just did whatever we wanted to do and that’s pretty awesome for us.

How have the fans received the album so far?
F: Really great. The people that already liked us still like us, pretty much. And, we can catch a lot of new people with the new sound of Varg.
M: Actually, we got into the German album charts (just like the Billboard charts you have over here). We were in number 25. So, I think that’s kind of a proof that people liked it [the new album].
F: Now it is time to get known in the US.
M: Number 25 in the Billboard charts (laughs)
F: We are going to kick Lady Gaga’s ass (laughs).

One of the songs on this album is called “One Thousand Eyes”. Is this your first song in English? Why did you decide to sing in English this time?
F: Yeah, it is our only song in English. We did it [in English] because Jonne [Järvelä, lead singer of Korpiklaani who participated on the song recording] is from Finland and we are from Germany so it was the best thing to do: to do it in English.
S: It is the only language we “share”.

So, that was the

main reason…?
F: Yes, absolutely. Jonne is a good friend of ours. We’ve done many tours with Korpiklaani so, we just wanted to do something with him. We really like these “featuring” songs with friends of ours because it is always a great experience to do music with friends who are also musicians. So, you get new influences…you get some nice songs.

Was this a one-time thing or do you plan on writing more songs in English?
F: I think that if there are some more guests [participating on songs] we will do some more [songs] in English. Actually we did a cover version of Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town”, called “The Wolfs Are Back on Town”, which is half in English and half in German. But, we haven’t released it yet.

For all non-German speakers, could you tell us a little bit about Varg’s lyrics in general?
F: In general, it is all about humans being human, doing whatever you want to, fighting for your freedom, thinking about what are your targets and if what you are doing is really helping you to get to your targets: are you ok with yourself? Do you need to change anything?) The lyrics are just about life itself.
S: Question authority….

About your plans for 2013: any other “new” destinations on the agenda?
F: Yes. We will probably come back to the USA in the spring, hopefully.

And hopefully you guys will be able to play longer than 30 minutes!
F: Yeah… that’s the plan. It is going to be a longer set and we are already looking forward to it. Except for that, we are going to do a lot of song writing for the next album which will probably be out in 2014. We don’t know yet. We are going to do some summer festivals and just have a good time travelling all around the world.

Any messages to the SOM readers?
F: Absolutely! You should check our band and enjoy the fucking Wolfskult!

r>

Interview done by Deesse_de_la_nuit

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hunterbathory666 - 30 Januar 2013: All hail Varg! \m/

Oferiko - 05 April 2013: I read the review of the their album Blutaar, and decided to buy the album. Needless to say, it exceeded my expectation and I realized why the reviewer was so enthusiastic about this band. Awesome band, fantastic songs, and incredible sound.

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