Anna Murphy & Chrigel Glanzmann (Eluveitie)
February 2008
Could you give us a brief insight of how the band got together back then?
Anna: The project Eluveitie was formed in late 2002/early 2003 by Chrigel. Originally it was a mere studio project - actually not because that was the main idea of it, but rather because it was nearly impossible to find musicians to form a band like this back then. However, Chrigel wrote a couple of songs at that time and a bunch of ten musicians went to a studio in Mai 2003 to record a demo MCD, which was released in October 2003. This MCD called “Vên” was ardently received by scene and press, brought in zealous reviews and was sold out in a very short time. After such great reactions some members of the recording line-up decided to move on together and form a real band out of Eluveitie.
Can you tell me about your biggest influences as far as bands and individuals?
Anna: Basically it's an absolutely natural thing that the music you personally prefer and listen to a lot also influences the music you write as well as your style of playing. The metal parts of our music are often associated with In Flames or Dark Tranquillity, which is coherent. Certain members of the band enjoy melodeath to a great extent, which would explain where this influence came from. Regarding the concept of the lyrics, Celtic culture, history and traditions are our main influence.
What was your musical vision when you started the band?
Anna: When Chrigel founded the band, it had been a long-yeared dream of his to combine the two kinds of music he loved most (these being melodic death metal and authentic traditional Celtic folk music). That's what Eluveitie created at the very beginning and that's what we're still realizing today. The important thing herein (and also, what makes Eluveitie stand out from the mass) is, that two different musical frameworks are evenly divided within one setting. Besides that it’s very important to us that everything is played authentically, which is the reason we use so many authentic traditional instruments (like the Hurdy-gurdy or diverse bagpipes) that aren’t very common in metal.
How would you describe the music Eluveitie plays?
Anna: That’s a very hard question if you want to hear something beyond “Eluveitie plays melodic death/folk/Celtic pagan metal.” (Laughs) There have been statements like: “Eluveitie is In Flames with folk music”, which I think is complete bullshit. Our style is very individual and I would say (without wanting to sound pretentious) that is has the potential to gain a lot of fans outside the pagan metal scene. To sum it up: Eluveitie is Eluveitie and sounds like Eluveitie. (Laughs) Chrigel: Hahahah, Anna! Well, I can agree with her. And however - describing and labelling music and styles is actually the job of people working for the press, like you, not ours. (Laughs) But well… I'd simply describe it as mixture of modern, a bit Swedish styled melodic death metal with authentic traditional Celtic folk music.
How did you end up naming the band “Eluveitie” and what does it stand for?
Anna: The idea was just a name, which represents what the concept of the band is about. “Eluveitie” is an expression in Gaelic – the early Celtic language that was spoken by the Helvetians (as well as most Celtic tribes on the continent). It simply means “I, the Helvetian”. The author of this was a Gaul that lived about 2500 years ago. This expression was found during scientifical excavations, it was carved into a pot of clay.
You’ve been through several member changes. How stable your current line-up is at the moment?
Anna: Yes, Eluveitie “suffered” from a lot of line-up changes. Just take a look at this list of former members: Beni Häfeli, Dani Fürer, Gian Albertin, Sevi Binder, Dide Manfurt, Linda Suter, Sarah Kiener. The last person who left the band was Sarah and I took over her place about two years ago. Since then the line-up has been stable and we all hope it will stay like this in future!
Chrigel: Well, there were quite some changes in the line-up, true. Yet, the main change was in the very beginning - when Eluveitie became a real band, instead of just a studio projects. Most of the members of the studio line-up were more like guest musicians. And we it was about to establish a real band (with regular rehearsals, live shows), some of the studio line-up decided to join in (Sevan, Meri & myself), the others decided to leave (due to their lack of time to play in another band). But since our last album the line-up is steady.
You have already released two albums on a smaller label that were received well. Did they generate interest from a lot of record labels?
Anna: Quite a few labels made us good offers and there was a time where we were all slightly confused with this new situation actually. An offer from Nuclear Blast came as a very pleasant surprise, which (of course) made us grab pens and sign. (Laughs)
Chrigel: (Laughs) Yes! It was a really joyous situation last year, when we received quite a lot of offers and could actually choose between best offers of diverse really great labels. Very convenient! So, we are more than happy and thankful about how things went.
Did they support the recording of the new album or you already had the album together?
Anna: We had already finished recording the album when we got the offer.
Who is the main songwriter in Eluveitie? How do you work on songs?
Anna: Chrigel is the main songwriter. He creates the “basic grid” of the songs and everybody does something individual with his or her part. That’s quite a simple explanation, but with 8 members it’s quite difficult to state who does exactly what. Our guitarist Ivo writes some riffs apart from Chrigel and they sometimes work together. The folkies (the folk fraction) compose or arrange certain parts too, for example “Anagantios”: Meri wrote certain tunes (the basic one is a traditional) and arranged the whole song. In the end I added the Hurdy-gurdy accompaniment. Our methods of song writing have always functioned well and I think that we work together just fine.
How long did it take to write and record the album from start to finish?
Anna: I don’t even remember that exactly. The first song Chrigel wrote for “Slania” was “Primordial Breath”. It must have been shortly after we toured with Odroerir in September 2006. The last song was written a few weeks before we started the recording process, which lasted about 3 weeks.
This time you worked in Örebro. How was that?
Anna: It was great! Just to be in Sweden was cool since I’ve never even been to Scandinavia before. Working together with producer Jens Bogren went well too.
Chrigel: Yes, it was a pleasure to work with Jens. He's a really ably guy and a total workaholic (in a very positive sense)! Good guy.
Did you record everything there in Sweden?
Anna: Not quite. All the metal parts were recorded there (Chrigel’s vocals and some choirs included). The whistle, bagpipes, mandola and some choirs were recorded in Zürich, while Meri recorded most of the violin parts in the Devils Studio in Vaduz/Liechtenstein. Due to certain problems in the studio all the remaining violin parts as well as all the hurdy-gurdy tracks were recorded in our rehearsal room (at this point Merlin would probably like me to mention that HE led the recording process of the hurdy-gurdy and violin tracks and is the best producer in the world). Having all the folk parts together Merlin, Chrigel, Meri and I travelled to Sweden to join Jens Bogren for the mixing & mastering of our new CD. We also had to record the remaining choir parts as well as the female vocals for “Slanias Song”.
Did everything go smoothly in the studio? Do you have any funny anecdotes that happened in there?
Anna: Everything went pretty well! Of course we had to work under a little bit of time pressure, but that wasn’t a big problem. And hell yes, there’s very many funny anecdotes I don’t think you even want to know about. (Laughs) Some of them being to simply get drunk and act like idiots almost every evening (I’m not saying it’s that unusual, but it still was very funny). If Merlin wasn’t hanging from the wall he was either running around with knives pretending to be a serial killer or lying around on the floor. One day Merlin and Chrigel were stuck to their computer screens once again, so Meri and I decided to go for a walk in the Swedish countryside. It turned out that we almost got run over by a train (we were having a laugh standing by the tracks acting like depressed artists) and eventually started climbing rocks and trees in the woods. At nightfall we decided to panic about inexistent bears and returned “home” safely…
Well, let's see the album. How do you see it differs from the first two albums musically?
Anna: I think what makes the biggest difference is that it’s more diverse. You can find fast and brutal “kick-ass” songs like “Bloodstained Ground”, rather poppy ones like “Inis Mona” but also calm instrumentals. The musical development and also the musical direction Eluveitie is taking can definitely be heard on “Slania”.
Slania sounds like a girl's name. Who is she?
Anna: Yes, Slania was a girl that lived in the Helvetic Alps (about 2500 years ago). But the lyrics on our upcoming album aren’t dealing with her or her story (which is not known anyway). There’s no deeper meaning behind the album title. We were just looking for a nice title and one day, when Chrigel was doing some research on Gaelic inscriptions, he stumbled across an ancient tombstone. It was Slania’s tombstone. We immediately liked that name and decided to make it the album title.
There's also a song called "Slania's Song". What's that about?
Anna: The lyrics in the chorus (written by David Stifter) describe it best; “A m’atriia, a ‘ma Helvetia” means “Oh my fatherland, oh my Helvetia”, so you see it’s quite a patriotic text dedicated to the beautiful country we live in. Don’t ask me why it’s called “Slania’s Song” though. I was against it from the beginning on. (Laughs)
“Inis Mona” is more like a sailor's song. Can you tell me about that?
Anna: Inis Mona is the name of an isle. Todays scientists assume that the ancient Inis Mona is today’s Isle of Anglesey (in welsh still named Ynys Môn), in north of Wales (a funny marginal note here; this isle also has the village with the longest place name in Britain, which is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch). (Laughs) The most important collage of Druidry was established on Inis Mona. Celtic tribes from all over Europe sent their chosen ones to that isle, so that they could enjoy the highest druidic education, which took at least 20 years (by the way). Being a druid was not only one of the most important, honourable and also most difficult professions in the Celtic culture, it was more than just that. One could perhaps already describe it as a destiny. However, our song deals with an old and reputable Gaelic druid looking back and pondering over his life and days long gone by. Almost his entire life long he served as a wise counsellor, lawyer, scientist, teacher, doctor, physician… but he secretly still thinks about his youth he spent on Inis Mona having formed his entire life.
Chrigel: Cool you're calling it "sailors song". (Laughs) Cause you hit the bulls eye with that. The tune in the chorus of the song is based on an old traditional sailors song from Brittany.
As far as I know you shot a video for this song. Can you tell me about the shooting?
Anna: The shooting was done in two days. One for the outdoor shots which were made in Ermatingen (Meri’s home town) and one for the band shots which were made in the “Gaswerk”, a concert hall in Winterthur. That was one horrible day to be honest. We were awake all night cleaning up the damn place until we could start shooting early in the morning… some of us may look very tired on that video, ha!
Do you believe in metal videos? Do you think they can reach a broad audience?
Anna: I’m sure metal videos could reach a broad audience in the near future. The popularity of metal is increasing rapidly every year and there are more and more commercial bands that include metal elements in their music.
Is there any TV channel in Switzerland that plays metal?
Anna: To be honest, I have no idea. I never watch music channels intentionally, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything apart from pop/hip hop/nu-metal/whatever videos on television.
Chrigel: I lately heard that there is one.
What other topics are you dealing with in your lyrics?
Anna: As you know Celtic topics (especially the Helvetians) are central in Chrigel’s lyrics. Scientific research, historical literature or sometimes even a good historical novel can serve as a good basis. Another important topic is nature itself and the feelings created by the beauty of it.
Do you read a lot about the things you sing in your songs? Anna: I’m not an expert when it comes to the Celtic culture and mythology. I know what one should know and I actually used to read a lot about it a few years ago. Chrigel looks into this subject very intensely and has a lot of knowledge on this area.
Chrigel: Yes, of course I do. I think that's important.
Some might say that lyrics aren't really important when you can't understand it anyway. What do you think of that?
Anna: That’s complete bullshit. Either you’re interested in lyrics generally or you aren’t, you can’t just write them off if they’re expressed in a way that is difficult to understand.
What would be your favourite song on the album?
Anna: I can’t decide between Primordial Breath and Bloodstained Ground. Why? I think they’re perfect songs, no part ever gets boring and I especially love the guitar & drum parts.
The album will see the light of day in three different versions. What'll be the differences?
Anna: 1. The standard CD edition 2. A CD/DVD digipack edition including a bonus DVD featuring the Inis Mona video clip, live footage filmed at the Ragnaroek Festival 2007 and a photo gallery 3. A limited (500 pieces) mailorder edition available only through the Nuclear Blast mailorder including the CD/DVD digipak, 1 patch & a certificate packed in a noble “Slania-bag”. These things are fine with me if I think of how much I love special editions.
How much Eluveitie was a live band with the first two albums? How often you got the chance to play live?
Chrigel: During the “Vên”-period we slowly became a live band. And since “Spirit” we're pretty much playing our asses off! (Laughs) We just love to play live and so we do it quite often. And I think it's the same everywhere: Practice makes perfect. So, during the last 1,5 years we became a pretty good live band, I guess. That's at least what most of the concert reviews we get, say.
Now you are part of the upcoming Paganfest. How did you get on the bill?
Anna: The way that question is put it sounds like we did some illegal bribery deals to get on there! (Laughs) No sorry, we thank our booking agency “Rock the Nation” for that.
What do you expect from the tour?
Anna: I expect to improve on live skills a lot and hope we can gain many new fans by playing convincing gigs. As far as I know we will play for 30 minutes each night as the first or second (we switch the slot with Týr every day) band of the tour package. We haven’t planned our setlists yet.
This will also go to the US. Will that be something new for the band?
Anna: Yes, definitely! Some of us haven’t even been to The States yet and we all wonder how it will be. As long as we don’t get arrested it’s okay. (Laughs)
What do you think about the other participating bands on the Paganfest?
Anna: Until now we’ve only met Korpiklaani personally before and had a good time, they’re sympathetic people. Concerning the music I can’t say much since I’m not really into pagan metal (I mean listening to it at home or going to concerts), I think I’ll enjoy the music of Moonsorrow the most. But I’m not jumping to conclusions just yet.
Chrigel: Well, we actually played with all of them once or several times… but I guess Anna was already too drunk to notice that. (Laughs) No, but of course I can agree: We actually just keep contact with Korpiklaani and don't know the other bands really well. Neither personally nor musically (the most members of our band actually aren't much into Pagan Metal personally). But I'm looking forward to have a good time with all the bands that take part on this tour!
You have 8 members in the band. Never felt too crowded on a stage? (Laughs)
Anna: (Laughs) If we had one more member somebody would have fallen off certain stages in the past. We’ve stood in front of stages before asking ourselves how in the world we will perform on them and there were times no musician could move during the concert. But that’s okay, it has never become a serious problem and it’s something that just belongs to us. We’re probably made to play on big festival stages. (Laughs)
Chrigel: True! (Laughs) But nevertheless I'm glad as hell that we use to play at more bigger stages today. (Laughs)
It's not easy to schedule recording and touring for 8 people. What if you cannot get all the members together?
Anna: We have already had long talks concerning this topic. The only solution to this problem is backup musicians for touring, not for recording though. Sime, our guitarist, won’t be able to come with us for the USA Paganfest tour, so Terji from Tyr will replace him.
There are quite so many well known Swiss hard rock bands (Gotthard, Krokus) but how about the metal scene? Any up and coming acts you could recommend?
Anna: Forest of Fog (Ivo’s one-man black metal project), Requiem and Tribes of Cain come to my mind when I think of rather “new” acts. I don’t think I have to mention bands like Celtic Frost or Coroner, which is the greatest band that ever existed. And a last tip for heavy metal fans: Sin Starlett! Check them out: http://www.myspace.com/sinstarlett
Chrigel: Hell yeah, I can totally agree with Anna naming Forest Of Fog here! In my personal point of view, FOF is one of the greatest black metal projects ever! I’m really a huge fan of it!
Do you keep in touch with any other bands?
Chrigel: Yes for sure. For example with Korpiklaani. Well, it’s not really what you’d call “close contact”, but we’re good friends with em and it’s always a big pleasure to share stage and beer with those Finnish freaks! :)
You obviously influenced by Celtic music and other kind of folk. But how about Swiss folk music? Is there any thing like that?
Chrigel: Yes and you can also hear this. There are a couple of Swiss/Helvetic tunes on our albums. I wouldn’t separate the terms “Swiss folk music” and “Celtic folk music” anyway! To call traditional folk music of a certain country “Celtic” is somehow weird anyway, because literally there sadly is no “Celtic” country anymore... at least not if you define “Celtic” as “equivalent to Celtic culture of 2000 - 3000 years ago”. But: A couple of European countries have Celtic roots for sure. And in most of them even today’s culture and today’s traditions and customs are heavily stamped by the ancient Celtic culture. In THAT sense you can still call those countries “Celtic”, I think. And so, the same aims for their traditional folk music. It’s actually “nowadays” music, but it has Celtic roots and you can clearly hear that, now matter from which “Celtic” country it comes. And so it’s the same with Swiss folk music. It’s a Celtic-rooted country, and it’s still today named after the Celtic tribe that once inherited this land: Helvetia. When we are talking about “Celtic” music, we use this word in a geographical sense - comprising the traditions of all western European countries with Celtic roots.
For closing, what were your Top 3 albums from 2007?
Anna: Hmm, I didn’t buy many CDs this year (shame on me). My personal highlight was the new “Desaster” album. The new “Helrunar” release wasn’t bad either and since nothing else comes to my mind I’ll mention that I’m listening to the new “Primordial” album right now. I’ve actually never listened to this band before and always refused to (I don’t know why), but I quite like it. (Laughs)