LIBRARY
Burzum: Black Metal's most wanted Varg Vikernes steps out of the shadows
Alea jacta est (the die is cast)
"Sübterranea" (going underground) magazine (2010)
A division of "Metal Hammer" magazine
Penal Dementia. Varg Vikernes discusses his prison "breakout". In October 2003, Varg made the headlines once again having failed to return to prison following leave. Yes, leave from prison - that's how the Norwegian penal system works. Varg's mother later revealed to the press that his reason for fleeing was an assault and threats to his life that he received in jail. He was eventually caught in a stolen car headed for Sweden, having apparently gained access to the vehicle after halting down a family then forcing them at gunpoint to get out, a claim he denies. Furthermore, it was reported that Varg had possession of knives, a gas mask, mobile telephones, a Global Positioning System, maps, a compass and an AG-3 automatic rifle, all allegedly taken from a military storage facility.
"Carelessness. Despair. Anger", replies Varg when asked what led him to take such a drastic course of action, especially when he was relatively close to the end of his sentence. "Oh, and I was not arrested with any weapons in the car. They found an AG3 assault rifle in a cabin and an MP5 sub-machine gun in another (parked) car, and they accused me of having a PPK pistol as well, but they never found one. You should not trust everything you read in the press".
"Carelessness. Despair. Anger", replies Varg when asked what led him to take such a drastic course of action, especially when he was relatively close to the end of his sentence. "Oh, and I was not arrested with any weapons in the car. They found an AG3 assault rifle in a cabin and an MP5 sub-machine gun in another (parked) car, and they accused me of having a PPK pistol as well, but they never found one. You should not trust everything you read in the press".
***
"I know I could have done things differently but I don't think the end result was too bad", the article illustrates. So where did things go wrong in his eyes? "I don't know the scene outside Norway, so I can say very little about it, and my disdain is first and foremost directed at the rat Norwegians of the 1992-1993 scene. In a sense, the movement in Norway had to end up like a parody of itself, because only a few individuals ever knew what this was all about, even in 1991. There was no Black Metal scene in 1991, when Darkthrone and Burzum revolted against the Death Metal trend and did something else instead. Euronymous called it Black Metal, because he - unlike me - was a Venom fan and they had used that as an album title, and that name has been used ever since".
Many of those involved in this revolution have spoken about how they found themselves becoming strangely dissatisfied, caught up in a culture that promoted evil, darkness and extremity. Varg isn't exactly in disagreement with such a notion but is keen to separate himself (and a few "leaders") from those caught up in this hysteria.
"Euronymous in particular didn't want Black Metal to become a trend", he explains. "When we saw - in 1992 - that all the failures from the Death Metal scene all of a sudden wanted to play Black Metal instead, making it the new trend, we did everything we could to make Black Metal too extreme for everybody else. We imagined we could scare large groups of fans away. We used imagery and a language so extreme no sensible human being would in theory want anything to do with us. This worked fine, of course, only we didn't realize that there are so many insanely stupid human beings out there who still wanted to be "evil", and wanted to commit crimes, just to be accepted into our select group. Every time we saw that others still "liked us" and wanted to become our "friends", we had to stop up the madness, so to speak, and go even further to alienate ourselves from them".
"Because of this process, lead by Euronymous from his shop, we ended up promoting pure insanity and stupidity, alias "evil", and these who wanted to join our select group burnt churches, desecrated graves and so forth, to be accepted. Oh, and of course the insane interview mentioned previously was a part of this attempt to get rid of and scare off losers. What you talk about is the followers' point of view. They certainly were caught up in this subculture, but we - Mayhem, Darkthrone and Burzum - weren't".
Almost without exception, Varg stands by all his actions of the past, which, depending on your point of view, is either a sign of an honourable character true to himself, or one who is simply unable or too stubborn to recognize and learn from his mistakes. Given the controversial musings of the past, which include fairly recent writings on his website referring to "negroes and other inferior races", one wonders if race is also still important to Varg and where his political standpoint is situated in 2010.
"I believe in quality rather than quantity in relation to race as well", he replies. "There are both high- and low-quality individuals in all races. I know, but that doesn't change anything. I base my racist views on both scientific and empirical facts, unlike those who in this context disagree with me, and I couldn't care less if others dislike me for this. My political standpoint? Feudalism, I guess. Get the scum back in line, by force if necessary. And we mostly do need a slave caste... You really cannot tell if I am pulling your leg or not when I say this, can you?"
Frankly, no. So would Varg say provocation is still an important part of his communications?
"I would say honour is an important part of my communications, I never say something just to provoke, but I do sometimes provoke to say something..."
It's an intriguing comeback but politically what are the man's thoughts these days?
"My political thoughts? Really? I support the ancient democracy, which of course is very much unlike the ochlocracy [mob rule] they call "democracy" today, but I would not support such a rule if the world was still populated by (the inferior) modern man... so I support feudalism instead".
So there you have it. If you were looking for anything approaching what might be considered a reformed character then you will of course be disappointed. Varg is a man of extreme and often questionable views, and is proud of that fact. Whether you want to give the man your money and support is down to you. Whatever your thoughts though, for the time being he remains a relevant artist and one unlikely to be going away anytime soon.
"Belus" is out now via Byelobog Productions
Many of those involved in this revolution have spoken about how they found themselves becoming strangely dissatisfied, caught up in a culture that promoted evil, darkness and extremity. Varg isn't exactly in disagreement with such a notion but is keen to separate himself (and a few "leaders") from those caught up in this hysteria.
"Euronymous in particular didn't want Black Metal to become a trend", he explains. "When we saw - in 1992 - that all the failures from the Death Metal scene all of a sudden wanted to play Black Metal instead, making it the new trend, we did everything we could to make Black Metal too extreme for everybody else. We imagined we could scare large groups of fans away. We used imagery and a language so extreme no sensible human being would in theory want anything to do with us. This worked fine, of course, only we didn't realize that there are so many insanely stupid human beings out there who still wanted to be "evil", and wanted to commit crimes, just to be accepted into our select group. Every time we saw that others still "liked us" and wanted to become our "friends", we had to stop up the madness, so to speak, and go even further to alienate ourselves from them".
"Because of this process, lead by Euronymous from his shop, we ended up promoting pure insanity and stupidity, alias "evil", and these who wanted to join our select group burnt churches, desecrated graves and so forth, to be accepted. Oh, and of course the insane interview mentioned previously was a part of this attempt to get rid of and scare off losers. What you talk about is the followers' point of view. They certainly were caught up in this subculture, but we - Mayhem, Darkthrone and Burzum - weren't".
Almost without exception, Varg stands by all his actions of the past, which, depending on your point of view, is either a sign of an honourable character true to himself, or one who is simply unable or too stubborn to recognize and learn from his mistakes. Given the controversial musings of the past, which include fairly recent writings on his website referring to "negroes and other inferior races", one wonders if race is also still important to Varg and where his political standpoint is situated in 2010.
"I believe in quality rather than quantity in relation to race as well", he replies. "There are both high- and low-quality individuals in all races. I know, but that doesn't change anything. I base my racist views on both scientific and empirical facts, unlike those who in this context disagree with me, and I couldn't care less if others dislike me for this. My political standpoint? Feudalism, I guess. Get the scum back in line, by force if necessary. And we mostly do need a slave caste... You really cannot tell if I am pulling your leg or not when I say this, can you?"
Frankly, no. So would Varg say provocation is still an important part of his communications?
"I would say honour is an important part of my communications, I never say something just to provoke, but I do sometimes provoke to say something..."
It's an intriguing comeback but politically what are the man's thoughts these days?
"My political thoughts? Really? I support the ancient democracy, which of course is very much unlike the ochlocracy [mob rule] they call "democracy" today, but I would not support such a rule if the world was still populated by (the inferior) modern man... so I support feudalism instead".
So there you have it. If you were looking for anything approaching what might be considered a reformed character then you will of course be disappointed. Varg is a man of extreme and often questionable views, and is proud of that fact. Whether you want to give the man your money and support is down to you. Whatever your thoughts though, for the time being he remains a relevant artist and one unlikely to be going away anytime soon.
"Belus" is out now via Byelobog Productions
© 2010 "Sübterranea" magazine, UK
