► - Covers made by Mayhem :
- California Über Alles (Dead Kennedys)
- Witching Hour (Venom)
- Danse Macabre (Celtic Frost)
- Into the crypt of Rays (Celtic Frost)
- Black Metal (Venom)
- Welcome to Hell (Venom)
- Procreation of the Wicked (Celtic Frost)
- Visual Aggression (Celtic Frost)
- Troops of Doom (Sepultura)
- Are you ready for some Darkness (Turbonegro)
- Commando (Ramones)
- No feelings (Sex Pistols)
► - The Mayhem logo was made by "Nella", a friend of Maniac.
► - Lyrics of "Burn my coffin" (Marduk - Those of the unlight) were written by Dead.
► - The opening riff to "Ye Entrancemperium" (Emperor - Anthems to the welkin at dusk) was written by Euronymous. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QkC2FTA6fc
► - The front cover of the Ep "Ancient Skin/Necrolust" is an old photo taken by Euronymous.
► - Among band members, only Necrobutcher went to the Pelle's funeral.
► - According to Varg Vikernes, Pelle once stabbed Euronymous with a knife.
► - Varg sent shotgun shells as a Christmas gift, including the shells Pelle used for his suicide.
► - According to Ulf Cederlund, the name "Morbid" was a reference to Celtic Frost's "Morbid tales" Ep.
► - Oystein was born from the union of Helge Aarseth and Inger Olga Been. Also he has a brother named Erik.
► - Oystein and Manheim listened a lot of electronica music beside metal.
Oystein liked a lot a band called "Tangerine Dream".
► - Pelle was fascinated by horror stuff, black humor, etc... but he was also fascinated by medieval history.
► - The "Outro" on "Deathcrush (Duet Burzum/Mayhem during a rehearsal) is a cover of "All the little flowers are happy" by The Young Ones and Cliff Richard.
Check at 5:50 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOgDpgJ-uBo
► - There is a song dedicated to Euronymous :
"Solefald - Red for fire, Black for death" recorded in 2006.
► - Maybe some of you would like to know what means the latin parts in "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas".
Then :
--> "Heic Noenum Pax."
"Here's no peace."
--> "De Grandae Vus Antiquus Malum Tristis Arcanas Mysteria Scriptum."
"In the ancient, old, evil, sad book ancient rites were written."
---·▪•●•▪·---
--> "Invoco Crentus Domini de Daemonium."
"I pray to the bloody lord of demons/evil spirits."
---·▪•●•▪·---
--> "Rex Sacriticulus Mortifer."
"Deadly king of Sacrilege."
---·▪•●•▪·---
--> "Psychomantum et precr exito Annos Major."
"Psychomantum, I beg of you to allow me to roam for eternity."
---·▪•●•▪·---
--> "Ferus Netandus Sacerdos Magus Mortem Animalium."
"Ferus = wild man", "Netandus = To swim in", "Sacerdos = priest", "Magus = wise man", "Mortem Animalium = Death to animals".
Maybe something about a sacrifice.
Unfortunately, whoever wrote it did not know much about Latin, because it seems the Latin is very bad.
► - In the song "My Death" from the album "Chimera", "Odium Humani Generis" means "I hate the human race".
► - Morbid - Disgusting Semla : A Semla is a traditional sweet roll associated with lent and especially shrove Monday.
It consists of a cardamom-spiced wheat bun which has its top cut off, and is then filled with a mix of milk and almond paste, topped with whipped cream.
The cut-off top serves as a lid and is dusted with powdered sugar.
► - Before his music career, Attila Csihar graduated as an electric engineer, and used to be a private teacher of math and physics.
► - Mayhem The band name is taken from the Venom song : Mayhem With Mercy.
► - Necrobutcher has one of the most important Mayhem collection, including several videos with Pelle.
Maybe some of these videos will be shared someday.....
► - Maybe some of you don't know what was the real first name of Dead ; Pelle or Per ?
Well, in fact it is the same ; Pelle is the Swedish diminutive of Per, this is the Scandinavian and Breton form of Peter.
► - Hellhammer and Necrobutcher were at the funeral of Oystein.
Not Metalion. And Manheim : ?
► - This is how Necrobutcher and Manheim met Oystein :
"We were in a band together for four years and then in the summer of '84 we moved to a mixed elementary school in the next village to where we grew up, called Ski.
Euronymous was in the band scene in Ski an I met him when I asked him to show me the way to the rehearsal place.
On the way there from the train station, we found out that we had the same taste in music and pretty much shared the same interest in splatter horror movies, electronic music and weird books ;
so we thought we could start a band together.
I invited Euronymous to our rehearsal place the next day and it turned out that we knew the same cover songs - some Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Venom.
We were just jamming some of that music in the beginning before we made our own music."
► - Bass lines on "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" were written by Necrobutcher but played by Varg Vikernes.
► - In the August 2008 issue of Revolver Magazine, Glen Benton (from Deicide) was asked a series of questions by readers of Revolver, many on the subject of his influences, his personal life and Deicide's legacy.
One of the more unique questions was sent in by reader "Anthony" who asked :
- "What really happened between you and Euronymous when you met in the early 90's ?
Glen responded :
- "This is how out of the loop I was.
I met him and he kind reminded me of Swiggy from "Laverne and Shirley".
Because I met him when I was a kid, too, at a baseball game.
I met him and I was like : "Wow, fuckin' Swiggy".
Anyway, I meet the guy and he's carrying a mace, but it looks like he stole the table leg of his mom's kitchen table and put, like, nails through it and shit.
And he was wearing this $1.99 cape that you'd buy at the dollar store during Halloween.
They brought me backstage and they said :
"Uranus (or whatever) from Mayhem is there and wants to meet you."
So, I went out there and met him.
And in his broken english, he said [in robotic, foreign accent] :
-" I did not have problem with you, but this band Gorguts.
They are not true death/black metal band."
And I was just sitting there with a big shit-eating grin on my face like :
"Yeah, that's cool man." and I really didn't know the importance of the guy.
To me he looked like another goofball fan."
► - Bard G. Eithun has released the following statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET regarding Benton's Euronymous story:
"It was with great interest I read the parts of the interview with Glen Benton in Revolver where he told about his meeting with Euronymous. It's is all the more interesting because I was there with both of them. At the time I worked at the Helvete shop, owned by Euronymous. We were at the venue [in Norway where DEICIDE was performing that night] selling the 'Kill the Christians' shirts which were famous at the time. Eric Hoffman [then-DEICIDE guitarist] approached me after their soundcheck asking what the shirts said in English. I explained him and he suggested me and Euronymous came with him to meet the band. We went back backstage and met the band and had a conversation with Glen Benton who was polite and friendly all the way. Anyway, at some point Benton started trying to impress us or whatever. He claimed he and his 'gang' had 'burned hundreds of churches' in the U.S. He had already heard about the few burnings in Norway apparently. Euronymous never mentioned GORGUTS or any other band but it's true that Euronymous wanted to express that he thought DEICIDE was an honest and true death metal band.
Anyway, the conversation ended and we gave the band one shirt each of the 'Kill the Christians' ones, and Brian Hoffman [then-DEICIDE guitarist] used his onstage, which generated a huge sale for us after their gig.
It's up to you whether you make a story of this or not. This is not really that important or groundbreaking news. It's just that I have just read several times that Glen Benton changes the facts and try putting himself in the chair of the one who mocked Euronymous when it in reality was a cheerful and respectful meeting, although a little funny one, seing that Glen claimed to have burned hundreds of churches. I was not a big DEICIDE fan at the time (still ain't), so for me it was not like meeting a fucking rock star or idol or anything so in the following years I never really reflected over the meeting until the recent years, actually, when I see that some fans almost mythize this event and spin their own stories around it.
Anyway, even though the meeting took place some 16-17 years ago, [it] doesn't mean people who were there have forgotten what happened.
Thx Pawel K.
Glen Benton talking about Euronymous : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzpBxFsZAjI
► - I've read some rumors like what the live in Annaberg in 1990 exists on vhs.
If you have more informations, let me know. Thx
► - Oystein was in contact with Bullmetal.
There is a rumor like what, Oystein or (Pelle himself) gave the lyrics of "Life Eternal" to him as a gift for his band Typhon..
But after Pelle committed suicide, Oystein finally used the lyrics for "DMDS".
Life Eternal version : Typhon
--> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UYCZJ_E-9M
► - According to Attila during an interview, his first nickname in Tormentor, before to join Mayhem was..... "Mayhem".
► - It seems that "Live in Leipzig" was released at the wrong speed.
It was probably recorded on a shitty tape deck...
Check it here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emgkfq6mBm8&feature=youtu.be
► - The very first song written by Mayhem was "Ghoul".
► - The guitar on the wall of Neseblod Records is not the one of øystein.
No information about what happened to his guitar. (Gibson les Paul Sunburst)
Thank you for asking, Julia ;)
Then, what happened to his guitar ?
It seems that Erik, the brother of Øystein has it.
Thx Finn ;)
► - At the New Year's Eve in 1991, a special event was arranged by Helvete.
Some people around "The Black Circle" were there and a couple of bands like Immortal, Thy Abhorrent were performing to this event.
Jon Nödtveidt from the band Dissection performed "The Freezing Moon" with Øystein Aarseth himself.
If somebody has more info. about this event, let me know.
Thx Pawel.
► - In 2012, to celebrate its 10th anniversary, a low-cost airline company asked to passengers to vote on a new set of heroes for their aircraft's tailfins.
There were four separate sweepstakes, for planes in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger.
In Oslo, Øystein was winning but he was not included on the short-list of candidates that were presented as the finalists because his family asked that he be excised from the campaign.
He was finally removed and his face was not appearing on the tail of the planes.
► - According to Attila during an interview, his first nickname in Tormentor, before to join Mayhem was..... "Mayhem".
► - It seems that "Live in Leipzig" was released at the wrong speed.
It was probably recorded on a shitty tape deck...
Check it here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emgkfq6mBm8&feature=youtu.be
► - The very first song written by Mayhem was "Ghoul".
► - The guitar on the wall of Neseblod Records is not the one of øystein.
No information about what happened to his guitar. (Gibson les Paul Sunburst)
Thank you for asking, Julia ;)
Then, what happened to his guitar ?
It seems that Erik, the brother of Øystein has it.
Thx Finn ;)
► - At the New Year's Eve in 1991, a special event was arranged by Helvete.
Some people around "The Black Circle" were there and a couple of bands like Immortal, Thy Abhorrent were performing to this event.
Jon Nödtveidt from the band Dissection performed "The Freezing Moon" with Øystein Aarseth himself.
If somebody has more info. about this event, let me know.
Thx Pawel.
► - In 2012, to celebrate its 10th anniversary, a low-cost airline company asked to passengers to vote on a new set of heroes for their aircraft's tailfins.
There were four separate sweepstakes, for planes in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger.
In Oslo, Øystein was winning but he was not included on the short-list of candidates that were presented as the finalists because his family asked that he be excised from the campaign.
He was finally removed and his face was not appearing on the tail of the planes.
► - 1993. Some of last plans of Øystein before he got killed was to see in Autumn the "Jim Rose Circus Sideshow" and a Diamanda Galas concert. (Thank you Jannicke L. ;) )
- The "Jim Rose Circus Sideshow" was founded in Seattle in the early 90's.
They made several TV appearances and chosen to tour with Nin Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Korn and some others.
Also, you can see them as guests in the TV series X-files.
► - I've read a lot of rumors and interviews like what Occultus never recorded anything with Mayhem.
In 2011 a 7' called : "Mayhem - Helvete/ The Occultus session 1991" was released and many people said it was another bootleg with Pelle (Dead).
I asked to Occultus himself and he told me it was him, he is the singer on that 7'.
The vocals were not recorded in the 90's but years later.
Finally, it is official, some songs were recorded with Occultus.
Here is the proof :
(E-mails are hidden to protect the privacy..)
► -
This is what kind of stuffs among Black & Death metal records you could find when entering the Helvete shop.
Because, it is not a secret, Øystein & Manheim were fans of Electronic/industrial music.
"Einsturzenden Neubauten" (collapsing New-buildings) is a German industrial band formed in 1980.
They use of custom-builts instruments, made out of scrap metal and building tools, and noises in addition to standard musical instruments.
► - I made an update in "side-project" about a band called "Moon".
I delete it.
Supposing to be a side-project of Øystein, Pelle and Bariel from the band Imperator.
I made some researches but unfortunately I found anything.
Then, I have talk with Jon, Hellhammer and "Thrasher" who was working in Helvete shop, then always with Øystein and according to all of them, this side-project was a fake.
Him and Pelle never have a side-project called "Moon" and anything was recorded.
► - On December 29, 1992 a party was organized in a pub in Askim (Norway).
Members of Dissection, Fester, Mayhem and another band were there.
There was a concert :
- First band (?)
- Fester.
After a while they talk about them playing "Freezing Moon" and they did with Ole (Dissection) on drums, Øystein on guitar, Occultus on vocals and Jon Nödtveidt on guitar.
They started to play but Occultus was too drunk and fell on the drum set.
Then, they strated again with Jon on vocals.
They played :
- Freezing Moon
- Black Magic (Slayer)
- another song, I don't know yet.
► - The first rehearsal place was in a farm.
The room was built to house pigs.
Mayhem and Vomit rehearsed there.
► - The original Mayhem logo was made by Nella on the kitchen table at his parents house in 1985.
He got some leads from Øystein and Jørn.
The blueprint for the logo was the logo that Nella had made for a local band in Rjukan, called "Chainsaw", which had the same symmetry.
Later, Øystein or Jørn modified it a little by prolonging the lines.
Thx Finn and Nella.
► - In September 1989, Mayhem planned to play a gig in Singapore and then, in USSR.
After that they planned to go to South America to tour with Vulcano and Sarcofago and a small tour in Israel.
Unfortunately, all that never happened.
► - Rotterdam April 17, 1999.
For some reason Maniac was in hospital, but the band decided to do the show anyway.
And the singer was... Blasphemer!!
Tracklist :
1. Intro
2. I am thy Labyrinth
3. Freezing Moon
4. Intro to Carnage
5. Carnage
6. From the Dark Past
7. Symbols of Bloodswords
8. Drum solo/View from Nihil
9. Fall of Seraphs
10. Pure Fucking Armageddon
11. Silvester Anfang
12. Deathcrush.
(Thanks To Blasphemer for his confirmation and info.)
► - The Theban Alphabet.
Maybe you see this already on some other pages/websites.
I'll try to give a more detailed description.
Also know as the "Honorian alphabet", "Runes of Honorius" (by the name of his supposed creator : Honorius of Thebes) or "Witches' alphabet" it was/is use(d) in witchcraft as substitution ciphers to hide magical writings.
It was used in several books like Polygraphia, Occulta Philosophia.
About Honorius of Thebes, things are trouble... it seem he was an author from the Middle Ages who wrote "The sworn book of Honorius", a medieval grimoire, but a mystery still exists about his identity. Real author or mythical character ...?
Pelle Ohlin (Dead) used this alphabet to write "Morbid" on his jacket and some letters.
Check it :
► - In 2013 and 2014, Attila drew som symbols on his face as corpsepaint.
This is not from the Theban alphabet but some astral symbols.
Here you can see the reversed symbol of Saturn.
Originally it is related to peace but like Attila drew it, it is related to chaos.
► - Before to use "Dead" as nickname, Pelle was called "Geten", the Swedish word for "Goat".
If you look at the first page of "Year of the goat " you can read : Tillägnad Geten.
Translation : Dedicated to Goat.
► - 2015.
Teloch was invited to write the music to accompany the production of German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht's famous play "Mother courage and her children".
https://vimeo.com/119328205
► - In the booklet of : "Beneath The Remains - 1989" , Sepultura thanks Mayhem!
► - In the early 90's, Occultus had his own label : "Occultus Productions".
It was mainly a distribution label of K7, videos, posters... and some unofficial stuffs.
Also, Maniac too, had his own label : "Maniac Prod."
But only few demo/tapes were released.
► - The photo (the skull) on the back of "Wolf's Lair Abyss" album is the same than the one on Misanthropy Records logo.
It was taken by the founder and owner of the label ; Tiziana S.
► - The intro "Summon The Darkness" from Heaven Shall Burn by Marduk was originally composed by Euronymous as an introduction for "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas".
You can hear it on the bootleg : From The Darkest Past.
► - No Feelings.
Maniac is a big fan of Punk rock, so it is not surprising that Mayhem played a cover of Sex Pistols at the Dynamo Open Air Festival on June 3, 2000 in Netherlands.
The song was "No Feelings".
► - DSP, Burzum and more by : Jannicke Wiese-Hansen.
Jannicke is a tatoo artist from Bergen, Norway.
At the time, she was a friend of Olve "Abbath" Eikemo & Tore Bratseth and she met Varg when he joined the band : Old Funeral.
Here is the first time she saw Varg :
"First time I saw Vikernes, he just drove me and some mutual friends to the place we were going to.
We didn't speak then... But soon after, we met again, and thats the first time we spoke...
17th of May is the National Day of Norway, so the 16th of May "everyone" goes out and gets drunk.... As did we.
And at this small party I met Vikernes.
I remember he was wearing a brown leatherjacket, where the inside of the pockets were so worn that it was really just big holes into the fabric of the jacket. This worked as one huge pocket going from one side around the back to the other. The reason why I am telling you that is that first time we met, I was amazed over how much stuff Vikernes could pull out of his pocket... Sodas (he didn't drink then neither of course) and yoghurts, etc... - He seemed to have the world in there. Dull I know... Nothing dramatic. Then we started hanging out."
All together played roleplaying with him as a GM.
Later, she started to make logos and covers for bands, and the first was the original Immortal logo.
The first Burzum logo was the next, then the first Burzum cover.
Enjoy!
► - In 2009, Anders Odden (Cadaver, Satyricon, Order, etc..) started to organise with the Inferno Festival the "Black Metal Bus Tour"which shows tourists the places where infamous incidents of the 90's happened.
Too commercial or not, It is a good opportunity to visit some important places and know more on how it was at the time.
► - The painting ("Black Metal") on the wall in the Helvete Basement was made by Culto Prietsu (Occultus).
Also, Culto made the logo of Helvete and all the flyers.
► - "Had det bra, og hils Jan og Jørn hvis du skulle snakke med dem".
Translation : "Goodbye, and salute Jan and Jørn if you were to talk to them."
This is the last words on e letter from 2005, from Varg to Anders.
► - About the first Varg's guitar,
It was a Westone Spectrum LX x198.
He confirmed it to me :
Unfortunately, it seems that his guitar was stolen in 2003.
► - Satan's Tidasler.
I asked some information to Culto about this.
It was a zine he released back in the old days when he was very much involved in satanism.
This zine is in Norwegian, including lots of info, story of satanism, practisin, etc.. It was the first of its kind.
(Photo : The True Mayhem Collection)
► - Morbid - Wings Of Funeral
The intro was taken from the movie "Evil Dead" - 1981.
► - Culto Prietsu is working on a cover of "Moonlight Shadow" (Mike Oldfield) and another famous song.
► - Byelobog Productions is owned by Varg Vikernes and his wife.
The name of the label means "White God".
► - There is another shop specialized in metal music called "Helvete" in Canada.
► - In 2002, a band named "WWJD" (What Would Jesus Do) was formed in Minnesota (USA).
They released a demo in 2003 and a full-lenght in 2011.
Their lyrics and some songs title are about Dead, Grishnackh and "anti-Euronymous".
For example :
- Euronymous was a pussy
- "Grand Declaration Of War" my ass
- Dead
- Euronymous (Hail Grishnackh)
- "Lamb of god, Sheep of christ, slit your throat, with Grishnackh's knife."
Because, it is not a secret, Øystein & Manheim were fans of Electronic/industrial music.
"Einsturzenden Neubauten" (collapsing New-buildings) is a German industrial band formed in 1980.
They use of custom-builts instruments, made out of scrap metal and building tools, and noises in addition to standard musical instruments.
► - I made an update in "side-project" about a band called "Moon".
I delete it.
Supposing to be a side-project of Øystein, Pelle and Bariel from the band Imperator.
I made some researches but unfortunately I found anything.
Then, I have talk with Jon, Hellhammer and "Thrasher" who was working in Helvete shop, then always with Øystein and according to all of them, this side-project was a fake.
Him and Pelle never have a side-project called "Moon" and anything was recorded.
► - On December 29, 1992 a party was organized in a pub in Askim (Norway).
Members of Dissection, Fester, Mayhem and another band were there.
There was a concert :
- First band (?)
- Fester.
After a while they talk about them playing "Freezing Moon" and they did with Ole (Dissection) on drums, Øystein on guitar, Occultus on vocals and Jon Nödtveidt on guitar.
They started to play but Occultus was too drunk and fell on the drum set.
Then, they strated again with Jon on vocals.
They played :
- Freezing Moon
- Black Magic (Slayer)
- another song, I don't know yet.
► - The first rehearsal place was in a farm.
The room was built to house pigs.
Mayhem and Vomit rehearsed there.
► - The original Mayhem logo was made by Nella on the kitchen table at his parents house in 1985.
He got some leads from Øystein and Jørn.
The blueprint for the logo was the logo that Nella had made for a local band in Rjukan, called "Chainsaw", which had the same symmetry.
Later, Øystein or Jørn modified it a little by prolonging the lines.
Thx Finn and Nella.
► - In September 1989, Mayhem planned to play a gig in Singapore and then, in USSR.
After that they planned to go to South America to tour with Vulcano and Sarcofago and a small tour in Israel.
Unfortunately, all that never happened.
► - Rotterdam April 17, 1999.
For some reason Maniac was in hospital, but the band decided to do the show anyway.
And the singer was... Blasphemer!!
Tracklist :
1. Intro
2. I am thy Labyrinth
3. Freezing Moon
4. Intro to Carnage
5. Carnage
6. From the Dark Past
7. Symbols of Bloodswords
8. Drum solo/View from Nihil
9. Fall of Seraphs
10. Pure Fucking Armageddon
11. Silvester Anfang
12. Deathcrush.
(Thanks To Blasphemer for his confirmation and info.)
► - The Theban Alphabet.
Maybe you see this already on some other pages/websites.
I'll try to give a more detailed description.
Also know as the "Honorian alphabet", "Runes of Honorius" (by the name of his supposed creator : Honorius of Thebes) or "Witches' alphabet" it was/is use(d) in witchcraft as substitution ciphers to hide magical writings.
It was used in several books like Polygraphia, Occulta Philosophia.
About Honorius of Thebes, things are trouble... it seem he was an author from the Middle Ages who wrote "The sworn book of Honorius", a medieval grimoire, but a mystery still exists about his identity. Real author or mythical character ...?
Pelle Ohlin (Dead) used this alphabet to write "Morbid" on his jacket and some letters.
Check it :
► - In 2013 and 2014, Attila drew som symbols on his face as corpsepaint.
This is not from the Theban alphabet but some astral symbols.
Here you can see the reversed symbol of Saturn.
Originally it is related to peace but like Attila drew it, it is related to chaos.
► - Before to use "Dead" as nickname, Pelle was called "Geten", the Swedish word for "Goat".
If you look at the first page of "Year of the goat " you can read : Tillägnad Geten.
Translation : Dedicated to Goat.
► - 2015.
Teloch was invited to write the music to accompany the production of German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht's famous play "Mother courage and her children".
https://vimeo.com/119328205
► - In the booklet of : "Beneath The Remains - 1989" , Sepultura thanks Mayhem!
► - In the early 90's, Occultus had his own label : "Occultus Productions".
It was mainly a distribution label of K7, videos, posters... and some unofficial stuffs.
Also, Maniac too, had his own label : "Maniac Prod."
But only few demo/tapes were released.
► - The photo (the skull) on the back of "Wolf's Lair Abyss" album is the same than the one on Misanthropy Records logo.
It was taken by the founder and owner of the label ; Tiziana S.
► - The intro "Summon The Darkness" from Heaven Shall Burn by Marduk was originally composed by Euronymous as an introduction for "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas".
You can hear it on the bootleg : From The Darkest Past.
► - No Feelings.
Maniac is a big fan of Punk rock, so it is not surprising that Mayhem played a cover of Sex Pistols at the Dynamo Open Air Festival on June 3, 2000 in Netherlands.
The song was "No Feelings".
► - DSP, Burzum and more by : Jannicke Wiese-Hansen.
Jannicke is a tatoo artist from Bergen, Norway.
At the time, she was a friend of Olve "Abbath" Eikemo & Tore Bratseth and she met Varg when he joined the band : Old Funeral.
Here is the first time she saw Varg :
"First time I saw Vikernes, he just drove me and some mutual friends to the place we were going to.
We didn't speak then... But soon after, we met again, and thats the first time we spoke...
17th of May is the National Day of Norway, so the 16th of May "everyone" goes out and gets drunk.... As did we.
And at this small party I met Vikernes.
I remember he was wearing a brown leatherjacket, where the inside of the pockets were so worn that it was really just big holes into the fabric of the jacket. This worked as one huge pocket going from one side around the back to the other. The reason why I am telling you that is that first time we met, I was amazed over how much stuff Vikernes could pull out of his pocket... Sodas (he didn't drink then neither of course) and yoghurts, etc... - He seemed to have the world in there. Dull I know... Nothing dramatic. Then we started hanging out."
All together played roleplaying with him as a GM.
Later, she started to make logos and covers for bands, and the first was the original Immortal logo.
The first Burzum logo was the next, then the first Burzum cover.
According to her, at the time black metal wasn't a term, they were so tight knitted back then, completely into atmosphere.
They were going into the woods by night, have candles/torches exploring old Nazi-bunkers and caves around Bergen, playing roleplaying all night until the morning light killed the magic.
For both of the Burzum covers, she used roleplaying book as inspiration, making a darker pencil version.
This is why we can see some similarities between "Det Som Engang Var" and the cover art of "The Temple Of Elemental Evil" drawn by David A. Trampier.
As her skills and style grew so did her list of admirers including Mayhem guitarist Øystein Aarseth - Euronymous - .
Here is the first time she met him :
"First time I met Øystein was kind of funny.. we knew of him, of course, the great Øystein who owned Helvete.
Me and a friend were going to Oslo and was asked to tell Øystein "hello" from Demonaz and the rest of the guys here in Bergen.
After we arrived in Oslo, we took the bus to Helvete, and were just about to go in when we suddenly got quite nervous, - but after a cig-break outside the shop, we went in..
Everything in Helvete was dark, and a plastic mannequin only dressed in a black cloak and with whitepainted eyes, was standing just inside next to the door, - and I think Diamanda Galas or Klaus Schulze was playing over the stereo.
Some of the Darkthrone guys were sitting behind the counter, eying us grimly...
We lost our heads, looked through all the records and left, without saying any "hello" to anyone...
After some hours we agreed on how silly we had been and went back to Helvete, - prepared to stand our ground, and firmly we went in, awaiting the same atmosphere inside as before... But behind the counter was only Øystein, smiling, mild and friendly.
We said our "hellos" and greetings from the guys from Bergen and he asked us if we were Jannicke and - her friends name - and we were very surprised and quite a bit proud of him already knowing who we were as well.
Not so dramatic maybe, but that was the first time we met."
She remember Øystein asked her to do a cover for Sigh but that was a bit too big and scary for her so she ended up not doing any work for them.
She also remember drawing the Deathlike Silence "No mosh" logo
--> Thank you very much Jannicke for the stories on how you met with Øystein and Varg ;)
► - Varg Vikernes on Earache Records ?
I heard some rumors like what Varg was approached by Earache Records in 1993.
Here is an interview with Digby, director of Earache :
yeah, once again, it's true.
Burzum was about to sign with Earache in 1993, soon after the debut 'Aske' was released on Euronymous' label 'Deathlike Silence'.
But after spending 2 full days with Varg, I backed out of the deal at the last minute.
Here's why:
Norwegian Black Metal was in its infancy and consisted of a handful of extreme bands and extreme personalities and musicians.
Tho it was such a small scene, it was already making shockwaves in the much larger worldwide Death Metal scene which Earache played a part in.
I was set on signing Burzum as I could tell from afar that Varg was a charismatic character and we assumed he would do well,
both as a musician and as a scene personality.
At the same time, UK's Kerrang! magazine unexpectedly ran a front cover story on the church burnings and all the general mayhem and insane stuff going on in Norway.
So we had to act fast to sign him- I paid for Varg to fly to UK the very next week,
for a meeting with Earache to conclude the signing arrangements,and it proved to be his only visit to these shores ever,
I believe.
So,in April 1993 Varg flew into Manchester airport -
where he set off all the metal detector alarms as he refused to take off his chain mail vest!!.
We had arranged a car to bring him to Nottingham- whereupon we (Varg, wearing his chain mail armour(!),
myself and Al Dawson, Uk label manager) sat down for our business meeting at the local Nottingham pizza house "Bella Pasta"
( its still there) and discussed the signing of Burzum to Earache.
Varg was all for it..and vowed to go back and tell Euronymous that he no longer wished to work for him,
and he was going to record music with the much more established Earache instead.
Varg impressed us during the meeting with his razor sharp intellect,
he talked at great length about a number of wide ranging topics,
so much so that we had finished our pizzas before he even touched his-then without prompting, and for no particular reason,
he began to air many of his racist viewpoints to us,
which was really ridiculous as Earache has traditionally promoted bands like Napalm Death who stand staunchly against racism
(as any sensible person would, naturally).
Unknown to us,the guy was very much informed by right wing politics,so much so,
we kinda put it down to his trying to appear 'evil' and of being full of adolescent bravado in front of his potential new label.
He also regailed us with stories of how he had burned a church down, which we knew all about
(it was front page news in Norway after all, as most older buildings being constructed of wood in Norway, its relatively easy)
for which he had been arrested, and later released.
But then to top the lot- he told in full gory detail, how he had committed the murder of a homeless person with a knife.
This extra stuff was unreal,it was like the ramblings of a complete fantasist.
Frankly, we didn't beleive a word of it.
(We now assume he was recounting - and taking 'credit' -for Bard/Faust's act of murder of a year earlier)
Varg stayed over at my house, where we played the demos for Burzum albums 2-3 and 4 ( thats what you call planning ahead!)
before he caught the flight back to Norway, but I was already getting cold feet over the signing,
because such right wing views are just not compatible with the labels standpoint.
On his return Earache backed out of the deal and broke off all contact, Varg didnt seem too phased.
So, I tried to know a bit more about this.
On June 26, 2015, I called Al Dawson - UK label manager - and asked him more details and how was Varg.
Here is his answer :
yes it is very true we were interested in signing Burzum back in 1992/93
I was talking directly with Varg for some time - this was long before the days of email -
I got his phone number from my Australian friend who was the editor of Kerrang magazine at the time.
I even spoke to his mother a few times.
I thought what he was doing musically was like no other metal music at the time and was a big fan
He had such a vision for Burzum that he already had the next two albums planned out
and even sent me cassettes of either the finished songs or near to perfect finished songs for these albums.
We decided that we would like to get to know him better so we offered him to fly from Norway to Nottingham to meet us.
There were no direct flights from Norway to Nottingham so we fly him into Birmingham international airport
with a car service to pick him up and drive him the 1hr drive to Nottingham (where the head office is based).
This was many years before 9-11 and other terrorist attacks but at this time you still had to walk through metal detectors
to get on the plane.
You can imagine my surprise when the car service pulled up in front of the office and Varg got out wearing full Viking Chain mail! This guy is the REAL DEAL!
Digby (the owner of Earache) and myself took him to the local pizza place for lunch.
We had a very good lunch with him maybe 3-4 hours and we saw that he was a very serious artist who took his work to heart.
We had deliberated a lot about signing someone so controversial but figured as fans of his music that was ultimately the most important thing - you understand?
We walked back into the office after lunch and one of the staff who had always been a fun loving and not very serious guy -
stood up and announced "If you guys sign church burners then I am quitting" we were like "wow what the fuck"
later that week we were in London and some metal music writers
we also not happy as they had heard the rumor we were in talks with Varg.
(When the Black metal mafia first came on the scene that rumoredly had a "hitlist" of people to attack - some being Kerrang writers who actually went into hiding to avoid getting attacked)
At this point we figured that it might be too much to handle,
that PLUS some of the stories Varg told us in our lunch meeting -
I said to Digby "I grew up with guys like this - he will be in jail in 6 months time"
Sure enough 6 months to the day we heard he was arrested and charged with the murder of Euronymous.
Let me know if you have any questions
best wishes my friend
Al
The next day I sent him another message and :
Hi Woody - oh so Varg still lives in France? I thought he had moved away? If you do see him - please say hello from me - thanks
In answer to your questions
1. Do you remember if Varg spoke about Euronymous, Dead and/or Deathlike Silence Prod. ?My memory is a little hazy after 20 + years but he did talk with a lot of detail about Bard and the murder of a gay man ..please note he did not mention Bard by name but said "a friend" and knew a lot of the details. All he said about Euronymous was he was unhappy with his deal and was planning to leave.2. Did he spoke about arsons ?
yes he spoke about the arsons but it was very much "we did this - we did that" meaning speaking as a group of like minded people not just himself.3. If I am not wrong, your lunch meeting was in February/March, he rehearsed already with Mayhem for De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas album.Did he told you something about this and about Snorre Ruch (from Blackthorn) ?
I believe the meeting was April 1993 as winter was over. He mentioning working with Mayhem but I do not recall if it was for the DMDS album or notI hope this helps
best wishes
Al Dawson
Thank you very much Al & Pawel ! ;)
► - Live in Jessheim, February 3rd 1990
Nella, Occultus and Thrasher were there.
The man on stage with the pig head was one of their friends, he travelled to the Jessheim gig with Thrasher, Occultus and another one.
After the gig, they travelled by train to Oslo and later to Ski, he scared alot of posers with blood on his face and jacket.
They arrived and stayed at Mayhem's apartment.
► - Live in Sarpsborg, February 28th 1990
The show was organized to support Slayer Mag.
The bands were :
- Buttocks
- Cadaver
- Equinox
- So Much Hate
- Mayhem
"So Much Hate" was a punk band from Oslo, only Metalion liked them.
We can see him on the video in front of the scene as the rest were out drinking heavily before Mayhem.
They had a great party after the Slayer Aid show, Pelle and Øystein were there.
► - June 2015.
Culto Prietsu (Occultus) did guest vocal on a song from the Norwegian death metal band Deathseeker.
► - In 2009, Culto Prietsu (Occultus) had a movie project with Steve Sylvester (Death SS) and more.
But it was never completed.
The title was : The Devil's Graal.
It is also a Death SS's song.
Here you can watch the trailer :
► - In 1996 the band started to rehearse.
Among one of their rehearsals, 2 guests were there.
Morgan and Legion from Marduk.
Legion did vocals on "Freezing Moon".
► -
Do you know who she is ?
Her name is Rebekka Sivertsen, she was born in Norway in early 90s.
She makes music and she is mainly a pop singer.
But what some of you may not know is that she is the first daughter of Varg Vikernes.
His official website :
► - Burzum : Ragnarok - A New Beginning.
Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson can be heard singing on this bootleg album on the last track entitled "Havamal".
Who is he ?
Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson : July 4, 1924 - December 23, 1993.
He was a sheep farmer, a writter and the founder of the "Asatruarfelagid" (a religious association promoting and continuing Norse Paganism) in 1972.
He wrote several book like "Rimur" in 1945 and some anthologies.
Also he released an album in 1982 in which he recites in rimur styla 75 stanzas from Havamal, Völuspa and Sigrdrifumal.
Here is the original version of Havamal used by Burzum :
--> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCXKF2xwh3Y
► - "Dra Til Helvete"
Øystein, Thrasher and Occultus got the famous slogan "dra til Helvete" from a song of Espen Beranek Holm.
They used it for Helvete shop flyer.
Here is the song :
(Photo from : The True Mayhem Collection)
► - When he joined Mayhem, Pelle was angry against some ex-Morbid members.
For him, Entombed was "Enwimped" and the only one who has been into Black/Death metal the whole time and not jumped around from one trend to another is Drutten (Lars G. Petrov).
He was especially angry with Uffe (Napoleon Pukes) and Nicke.
► - According to Varg, Øystein really ate a piece of Pelle's brain...
► - The French name of Varg is : Louis Cachet
"Louis" after a great Uncle and Cachet being the surname of his wife.
It was also the name of a French politician.
► - In 1991, Culto Prietsu (Occultus) was excluded from Mayhem.
The "Inner Circle" guys have threatened him to quit with black metal.
He found a burning cross in front of his house ; according to many rumors it was from Øystein.
It seems that it was not from him but from Varg, Varg put the burning cross.
► - "The Compendium - 2083" by Anders Breivik was the reason of the arrestation of Varg Vikernes in 2013.
"Interesting" but crazy manuscrit..
► - Some time ago, I talk with Zhema (from the band VULCANO ).
He knew Øystein around 1986 when he received a letter from him praising their "Blood Vengeance" album.
During next months they continued to exchange letters and they talk to a possibility to release the next Vulcano's album through Deathlike Silence Prod.
Also, they talk about an "Iron Curtain tour" through Poland, USSR, West Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, etc..
Later they planed a tour with Mayhem, Vulcano and Sarcofago.
Øystein had big plans for DSP like registered an official record label paying fees, taxes and VAT, move toward the "Iron Curtain" to distribute and disseminate the cast bands.
He also looked for bands from Central and South America.
Zhema never met Øystein and Dead unfortunately.
(Thank you very much Zhema and Vulcano for your time and answers!)
► - Øystein was a member of the communist party "Rød Ungdom" (The Youths Norwegians Communists).
But he did not stay long in this party..
► - Varg Vikernes founded the "Allgermanische Heidnische " (AHF) organization.
It was a social movement including several sub-divisions in several Northern European countries.
He founded the "AHF" from prison in 1997/98.
Also he founded the " Norsk Udemokratiks Hedensk Front " (Norwegian Undemocratic Pagan Front) and it became later the "Norsk Hedensk Front " (Norwegian Heathen Front).
In Germany it was under the name "Deutsche Heidnische Front" (DNF - German Pagan Front), founded by Hendrik Möbus from the band Absurd.
The "AHF" was dissolved in 2006.
► - This is the kind of book (among others) that could sometimes read Øystein.
Also, "Malleus Malfeicarum" is the title of a bootleg 7' and these words were said by Dead during the famous rehearsal :
► - "A Blast From The Ancient Past " is not really from Burzum.
It's the Ildjarn " Seven Harmonies Of The Unknown Truths " demo from 1992.
The keyboard intros were composed by the guy from : http://www.burzum.com/
► - In early 90's, some rumors were circulating like what Øystein killed Pelle.
I even remember to heard it when I started to listen Mayhem in 1997.
He was, partly and indirectly, responsible because he knew how was Pelle and encouraged him to commit suicide.
Then, "rumors" or not, this is debatable..
► - Varg has been sentenced to 21 years of jail in 1994.
However he tried to appeal against this decision in order to reduce the sentence.
► - Originally, "Daudi Baldrs" was supposed to be the first album of a side-project named : Lidskjalw.
Finally, Varg released it as a Burzum album.
Too commercial or not, It is a good opportunity to visit some important places and know more on how it was at the time.
► - The painting ("Black Metal") on the wall in the Helvete Basement was made by Culto Prietsu (Occultus).
Also, Culto made the logo of Helvete and all the flyers.
► - "Had det bra, og hils Jan og Jørn hvis du skulle snakke med dem".
Translation : "Goodbye, and salute Jan and Jørn if you were to talk to them."
This is the last words on e letter from 2005, from Varg to Anders.
► - About the first Varg's guitar,
It was a Westone Spectrum LX x198.
He confirmed it to me :
Unfortunately, it seems that his guitar was stolen in 2003.
► - Satan's Tidasler.
I asked some information to Culto about this.
It was a zine he released back in the old days when he was very much involved in satanism.
This zine is in Norwegian, including lots of info, story of satanism, practisin, etc.. It was the first of its kind.
(Photo : The True Mayhem Collection)
► - Morbid - Wings Of Funeral
The intro was taken from the movie "Evil Dead" - 1981.
► - Culto Prietsu is working on a cover of "Moonlight Shadow" (Mike Oldfield) and another famous song.
► - Byelobog Productions is owned by Varg Vikernes and his wife.
The name of the label means "White God".
► - There is another shop specialized in metal music called "Helvete" in Canada.
► - In 2002, a band named "WWJD" (What Would Jesus Do) was formed in Minnesota (USA).
They released a demo in 2003 and a full-lenght in 2011.
Their lyrics and some songs title are about Dead, Grishnackh and "anti-Euronymous".
For example :
- Euronymous was a pussy
- "Grand Declaration Of War" my ass
- Dead
- Euronymous (Hail Grishnackh)
- "Lamb of god, Sheep of christ, slit your throat, with Grishnackh's knife."
► - Candlemass - Bewtiched (video clip).
According to Messiah :
He did not know Pelle Ohlin.
Candlemass, other bands and fans used to hang out at Hard Rock Café in Stockholm back in 1987.
They used spread the words that they were gonna record the Bewitched video the next day.
The people who showed up are in it.
As simple as that.
► - The scar on the face of Varg Vikernes is due to a skiing accident when he was 11.
► - Around 2009/10, a guy using "MrMeddled" as a nickname made several cover/parody of Norwegian black metal bands like Burzum, Darkthrone, Emperor, Mayhem,...
The particularity of these covers is that they are made in a surf musical way.
You can find them on Youtube :
- The Burzums
- The Darkthrones
- The Emperors
- The Mayhems
► - A "Vargsmal II" was planned.
► - During his imprisonment, Varg has been in several prison :
- Oslo
- Bergen
- Ila
- Ullersmo
- Trondheim
- Berg
- Ringerike
- Tromsø
► - A videoclip of "Daudi Baldrs" was planned to be released.
Unfortunately it was canceled.
► -
According to Messiah :
He did not know Pelle Ohlin.
Candlemass, other bands and fans used to hang out at Hard Rock Café in Stockholm back in 1987.
They used spread the words that they were gonna record the Bewitched video the next day.
The people who showed up are in it.
As simple as that.
► - The scar on the face of Varg Vikernes is due to a skiing accident when he was 11.
► - Around 2009/10, a guy using "MrMeddled" as a nickname made several cover/parody of Norwegian black metal bands like Burzum, Darkthrone, Emperor, Mayhem,...
The particularity of these covers is that they are made in a surf musical way.
You can find them on Youtube :
- The Burzums
- The Darkthrones
- The Emperors
- The Mayhems
► - A "Vargsmal II" was planned.
► - During his imprisonment, Varg has been in several prison :
- Oslo
- Bergen
- Ila
- Ullersmo
- Trondheim
- Berg
- Ringerike
- Tromsø
► - A videoclip of "Daudi Baldrs" was planned to be released.
Unfortunately it was canceled.
► -
I am 99% certain that Euro's brother's name is NOT Erik (unless he has a second brother I don't know about?). I could send some proof. Contact me if you like: chagrynn@gmail.com For obvious reasons I don't want to do this via the comments section here.
RépondreSupprimerWow amazing info thanks a lot ! Hailz
RépondreSupprimerIncroyable.
RépondreSupprimerC'est fou ce qu'on peut en apprendre, des trucs inutiles, quand on est fan ultime de certains trucs !
Merci mille fois pour toutes ces informations